Newbie DarkRadiant Questions

[Bikerdude]

As I have 4gb and my d3/Dr exe's have been patched with the 4gb patcher (see my thread), I will see if this maps dmap's on my setup, but I will also do a optimize run-through on all clip brushes in the map.

[AluminumHaste]

I would like to try also, I have 6 GB of ram, but Doom 3 is not patched for me.

[Rek]

Try this:

 

• Create the model:
• models/darkmod/lights/extinguishable/ chandelier_6candles_longchain.lwo OR...
• models/darkmod/lights/extinguishable/ chandelier_6candles.lwo
• Name it Chandelier1
• Optionally give it noShadows 1
• Optionally convert it to func_pendulum and give it speed 0.5

 

• Create light_extinguishable_moving and place it at about the height of the model candle flames but in the centre of the chandelier.
• Give it target ExtinguishChandelierScript
• If pendulum then bind it to the chandelier

 

• Create a atdm:target_callscriptfunction and stick it in the middle somewhere.
• Name it ExtinguishChandelierScript
• Give it call ExtinguishChandelier

 

Create a plain text script file if you haven't already got one named mymap.script and put it in your maps folder

Put in it:

 

void ExtinguishChandelier()
{
$Chandelier1.setSkin("chandelier_candles_out");
}

 

Create a plain text skin file called say mymap.skin and put it in a skins folder

 

Put in it:

 

skin chandelier_candles_out
{
model models/darkmod/lights/extinguishable/chandelier_6candles.lwo
model models/darkmod/lights/extinguishable/chandelier_6candles_longchain.lwo

textures/particles/candlefire nodraw
models/mapobjects/hell/Site3/archviletemple/candle_d nodraw
}

 

Thank you for your reply, but i had to do somethong incorrect with the scripts . I tried that and I extinguished the light but the candles were still lit. Dont know what I sc.ewed up. I copied the scripts into the notepad and named it according to your instructons. I haven't found the skins folder so I made a new one . And when you wrote "Give it call ExtinguishChandelier", did you mean to create a property "call" and value "ExtinguishChandelier"? Im really noob at these things :/

Edited December 11, 2010 by Rek

[Fidcal]

Yes, that is correct. On the atdm:target_callscriptfunction entity give it the property and value:

 

call ExtinguishChandelier

 

What that does is when it gets triggered from the light going out it will operate the script which changes the skin appearance of the visible candles from lit to unlit.

 

Post again if still problems.

[Fidcal]

Melan: Have you perhaps got monsterclip that just covers entities such as furniture, lamp posts, wall trim etc? if so then pathfinding will be created on top so be just as complex if not more so even though it correctly stops the AI frob bumping into things. I always try to raise my monsterclip to the ceiling and make it as simple a maze as possible not just closely follow the entity shapes precisely.

[Melan]

Fidcal: that in fact is what I did - raised monsterclip up to the ceiling or sky, and covered large areas with it. When I nuked these huge brushes, dmap was (mostly) successful. So there must have been something wrong there.

[Serpentine]

Perhaps monsterclip acts as an entity and as such, the same behavior of what happens when func_statics touch visportals and break them for AI, is happening. I have a feeling this could lead to a crash should you have a single entity which touches two or more visportals and extends past them. Since when this entity is seen it would open all of the portals and might open them in some order which is not intended or something. I'd be on the lookout for other entities, static'd brushes and such that intersect with visportal faces.

 

A look around with r_showportals 1/2 might show up visportals which either arnt being created or cant close. Most often the ones that break AI wont show up at all as they are not used(it seems) in the construction of the visleafs(as if they fail to seal) but are used in the AAS calculations, which seems to be what causes the crashes/circling. I'm just guessing tho

[Fidcal]

Try deleting all the aas, cm, and proc files in the map folder then dmap again.

 

Another experiment might be to convert some of the big visportals (I'm assuming city streets here) into stone to seal off an area to see if it stops the crashing. If so, then investigate that area and its visportals to see if they can be done another way.

 

I had a bad visportal round a door the other day. It wasn't crashing though. But it took me a long time to find an internal leak which I know I fixed but still the visportal didn't show. Finally, I moved it one unit and turned it round so the visportal face was on the opposite side then suddenly it worked. Made no sense but sometimes you just got to fiddle about. I imagine the dmap processing is rather complex and very sensitive so can get in a twist. Especially as the map gets very big.

 

A big caulk block doesn't help; I tried that a year ago. To test you need to select a section, save it as a prefab, then delete it then seal that volume with a big caulk block.

 

Once you can get the map dmapping again you can gradually restore it until it fails to get some idea where the problem might be.

[Bikerdude]

A big caulk block doesn't help; I tried that a year ago. To test you need to select a section, save it as a prefab, then delete it

There was an annoying part of town that I used this method to fixed the section and then reimport etc..

[Melan]

Try deleting all the aas, cm, and proc files in the map folder then dmap again.

Well, this has at least shown the basic problem with the pathfinding: no AAS and CM files were generated. The crash happened before Doom3 could get to them. The problem is that it is not the game that crashes but the DMAP process.

 

[edit]Bikerdude, did it DMAP on your PC?

Edited December 11, 2010 by Melan

[Rek]

Yes, that is correct. On the atdm:target_callscriptfunction entity give it the property and value:

 

call ExtinguishChandelier

 

What that does is when it gets triggered from the light going out it will operate the script which changes the skin appearance of the visible candles from lit to unlit.

 

Post again if still problems.

 

Still not working. I was trying that all over again and no change

[Bikerdude]

[edit]Bikerdude, did it DMAP on your PC?

 

Compiled just Fine, so I think your gonna have to increase the amount of ram in yer pc. In fact what are specs of your whole pc..?

 

Gimme the make and model of your mobo/ram and 2-3 of your prefered supplies in hungary and I`ll try and find the cheapest deal etc.

 

[update]

I've just looked at D3's memory usage when in-game and after 1st compile it started at 353Mb and leveled off at 1.3Gb and DR sitting at 753M. And then without restarting D3 I did a another compile and it peaked at 1.5Gb...!!!

Edited December 12, 2010 by Bikerdude

[Fidcal]

Still not working. I was trying that all over again and no change

 

Check your spellings for typos in all the various places so they match: properties, script and skin files etc.

 

Also this forum splits long lines over two so where I posted script and skin defs you might need to combine the lines again. I can't post them because they will go wrong again.

 

If you can't get it to work, if you want you can zip it all up, your map, skin, script files, etc. exactly in their folders as you would when packaging your FM and upload it somewhere then pm me the url to look at. You need everything or I can't check it - it might be you have put something in the wrong path. The script must be in the maps folder. It MUST be named exactly the same as your map file except with the script suffix (make sure your plain text editor has not saved it as eg, mymap.script.txt or something stupid.) The skin file must be the skins folder which must either be in the darkmod folder or your map game folder if you've done one.

 

When you run the map and shoot out the light with a water arrow, have a look in the console to see if any error message.

[Fidcal]

I've just looked at D3's memory usage when in-game and after 1st compile it started at 353Mb and leveled off at 1.3Gb and DR sitting at 753M. And then without restarting D3 I did a another compile and it peaked at 1.5Gb...!!!

This makes me think there is some error building up. I've noticed in my own FM if I have a long session and do lots of dmaps over an hour or so that it might crash. If I relaunch then it dmaps.

 

I've got 8GB but I think eventually I might have to look at what you did to extend Doom's use of memory.

[Fidcal]

Yeah, just got another malloc error after 3 or 4 dmaps. Just after I see something like 2.8GB in use out of 8GB. Over 71,000 handles. Seems huge. All I know of handles if file and device handles but no doubt these days it encompasses probably every function call. Reboot and Vista is about 11,000 handles from the start.

 

My guess is that dmap is almost certainly recursive so in large open FMs it struggles. I'm going to look for Biker's old thread to see about that thing that gives Doom more RAM access see if that fixes this.

 

Biker: can you point me towards this info about the RAM fix you got? I'm not sure where to look.

 

Melan: have you tried rebooting and closing down everything you can except doom before dmapping?

[Melan]

Compiled just Fine, so I think your gonna have to increase the amount of ram in yer pc. In fact what are specs of your whole pc..?

And the AI pathfind and all? That's actually very good news, since it means it is a memory issue, and I can go about building. Plus now I know what my little brother will be buying me for Christmas.

 

Not very fair on builders with weak PCs, though. And this sort of thing shouldn't happen on a Carmack engine! John!!!!!

 

[edit]

Melan: have you tried rebooting and closing down everything you can except doom before dmapping?

Yes. In fact, I also closed down my browser (170 MB) and a variety of small apps (250 MB). At the beginning stages, I could just run DR and Doom3 parallel to each other, but I had to stop that some time ago. Then I couldn't dmap and map in the same Doom3 session. So yeah, it has sorta been building up as the level grew. At the moment, DR is eating up 880 MB by itself!

Edited December 12, 2010 by Melan

[Bikerdude]

Biker: can you point me towards this info about the RAM fix you got? I'm not sure where to look.

http://www.ntcore.com/4gb_patch.php

 

And the AI pathfind and all?

yup

Edited December 12, 2010 by Bikerdude

[Fidcal]

Thanks. Seems to be working! I've just had a session with maybe 10 dmaps with no malloc crash. See how it goes over the next few days but it looks really good.

 

So, for anyone to use this they need what? Windows 64 bit, minimum 4GB RAM, and this patch?

[Bikerdude]

So, for anyone to use this they need what? Windows 64 bit, minimum 4GB RAM, and this patch?

No requirements, it will help anyone who is having malloc errors. Obviously you have to have enough ram 3gb+ in the first place, this patched worked for me when running Win7x86 with 3.25Gb. But it may even help people with only 2Gb on Xp if doom is hitting the 1.2Gb self imposed limit.

[7upMan]

Does this patch also work for 32bit operating systems like my Win XP 32 SP3?

[Bikerdude]

Its windows independent (WinXp-Win7), and it works with any .exe file!

[Fidcal]

Well then why are we not shouting this from the rooftops and getting EVERYBODY to use it! It's dead easy to set up - one click and even backs up doom exe.

 

I think we need to put this up somewhere - perhaps on the wiki - as absolutely recommended.

 

Why doesn't Windows do this itself? Why does it impose a restriction? Why is the sky blue? Answers on a postcard please.....

[Bikerdude]

Why doesn't Windows do this itself?

LOl Fids you crack me up, when have you know windows to do or make anything easy for the end user...

 

I believe nborhmore got quite vocal about in my thread, but your right we should make this patch manitory for all TDM users - players/mappers alike.

[SiyahParsomen]

Then, can mappers increase the max number of entites for their maps?

 

If I call correct it was 4096 or 8192 for per map.

[Fidcal]

It's already technically 8192 but mostly we can only get half of that because of other complexities. So my guess is that with 4GB we might have more chance of approaching 8192. Remains to be seen.

 

@Biker: Oh yeah, about my query about Windows helping - it was a rehysterical question.