unexpected symbol 'Re'

[DaMaN]

Well, one of the maps I've been working on for quite a while has just decided it didn't want to work. Here's the compile log:

Code: Select all

materialPath: d:\program files\valve\steam\steamapps\SourceMods\Obsidian\materials
Loading D:\Program Files\Valve\Steam\SteamApps\*******\sourcesdk_content\hl2mp\mapsrc\defence\oc_d2_prebeachhead_BETA3.vmf
"materials/nature/water002a.vtf": cached version doesn't exist
Brush 220003: File D:\Program Files\Valve\Steam\SteamApps\*******\sourcesdk_content\hl2mp\mapsrc\defence\oc_d2_prebeachhead_BETA3.vmf, line 228045: unexpected symbol 'Re'
Side 5
Texture: TOOLS/TOOLSTRIGGER

Needless to say I opened up the file in Scite and searched all through the file for 'Re', the brush, the texture, the line number, etc. I haven't been able to figure out where the .vmf f***ed up. Which is really annoying.

And now, of course, it freezes hammer whenever I try to open the file, so I can't try copying/pasting the file.

I do of course have backups, but this version I've been working on for quite some time without doing an additional backup - it's a real pissoff. (I don't have a backup for about 5 hours of work, because it was the tiny tiny tweaking of the map I was doing - move this entity up, change this timing, etc.)

I guess I'll have to decompile the most recent compile and painstakingly re-create all the stuff I added.

*sigh* Sometimes I really hate Hammer.

[The fox]

You couldnt open the map in hammer or? If you can replace whatever texture has ToolsTrigger one at a time and recompile. Once it changes the texture name delete the brush and recompile. If you cant open it in hammer open the .vmf in notepad and paste the text here and ill take a look on it.

[Hickadam]

If memory serves, when you save your level in hammer, it generates a bunch of files, I'm not sure how many or of what file type, but I think one of them is a map backup file, one that hammer autosaves every 20 minutes or something.

Open hammer, and try opening all the files in the directory with the same mapname, but file extension other than .vmf.


Good luck, we're pullin for ya.

[The fox]

If memory serves, when you save your level in hammer, it generates a bunch of files, I'm not sure how many or of what file type, but I think one of them is a map backup file, one that hammer autosaves every 20 minutes or something.

Open hammer, and try opening all the files in the directory with the same mapname, but file extension other than .vmf.


Good luck, we're pullin for ya.

Hammer do auto-save the .vmf if that option is ticked. Im not sure where it stores the .vmf files tho. Might be worth looking around in your STEAM folders and see if you can find anything related.

[DaMaN]

You couldnt open the map in hammer or? If you can replace whatever texture has ToolsTrigger one at a time and recompile. Once it changes the texture name delete the brush and recompile. If you cant open it in hammer open the .vmf in notepad and paste the text here and ill take a look on it.

Thanks for the offer, but the .vmf is over 30,000 lines long. (It's a big map). I tried searching for the string "Re" and got no results. There's a ton of brushes using the nodraw and trigger textures, so it's not like that narrows it down.

==========

Alright, well, it seems my last working backup isn't as far back as I thought. (And I had turned off autosave 'cause it was lagging hammer). So anyways, I spent two hours adding everything back in, and guess what! It crashed again! And now it won't open the updated map!!! >:( Grrr... Fortunately, I made a backup of my backup before adding everything in, so I've still got the majority of the map intact. I think the problem is that I'm exceeding the maximum number of entities/solids/entity-solids/whatever. So I'm going to have to screw around with that tonight, and see if I can't delete a few things to make it stop crashing. Arg.

I've got to remember to make my maps a tiny bit smaller... 1/2 the max hammer size is getting out of control...

[Hickadam]

You turned off the autosave because it was lagging hammer....



NO...



Just no...


I mean, it bugs me when hammer stops responding for 2 seconds every 20 minutes, but dude.... Think of the time you would have saved if you would have left that on.


It's sorta like system restore in windows. Real tech gurus turn it off and never use it. Hell, I never use it. But the ONE TIME you need it is when you turn it off.

[DaMaN]

You turned off the autosave because it was lagging hammer....



NO...



Just no...


I mean, it bugs me when hammer stops responding for 2 seconds every 20 minutes, but dude.... Think of the time you would have saved if you would have left that on.


It's sorta like system restore in windows. Real tech gurus turn it off and never use it. Hell, I never use it. But the ONE TIME you need it is when you turn it off.

When you are mapping for 3 hours straight, that's 9 times you get interrupted by hammer stopping responding. It starts to get really damn annoying, so you turn it off and accept the consequences. In this case, I really don't think the autosave would have done squat, as by the time I noticed that the map wasn't able to be reloaded into hammer, it would have autosaved twice, hence the autosave would also be b0rked. Hence, it wouldn't have saved me any time, it would have cost me those nine times when hammer interrupted.

But regardless, i'm fairly certain that the problem is too big of a map. I'm going to try adding half the number of monsters and triggers I wanted to in an attempt to get it to work.

And this time, I'll see about saving a different file name after each minor change. (thismap_v1, thismap_v2, thismap_v3... thismap_v183, etc.) That way I'll be able to see where exactly things start screwing up.

[fug4life]

True, I've had auto save, save my arse a couple of times now.
I recon I got through 100 filename changes maybe 150+ in my last map. And I'm well over that now in the next map.
I don't keep it the same for too long. I know It's a pain in the asrse to wipe all the old shit off after, but I don't spring clean often but when I do I'm quite unforgiving. I've got into the habit of backing up to an external hdd and online storage whenever possible. although you are bound to loose an hour, here or there at some point. Sometimes when your on a roll, means somethings gonna happen.
I have an empires map sat on a pc that I'd like to turn convert, and I'd like to use the pc as an obsidian server. but having difficulty hooking up a monitor to it.

Hope your back on track soon... waiting to play

[DaMaN]

Well, finally back on track... sorta...

I still haven't figured out what was screwing up, but after mapname_a to mapname_j it hasn't majorly screwed up, so I'm happy.

I've still gotta add cubemaps in, and perhaps an env_sun, but then it should be ready for some beta testing

EDIT: GAH!!! I added in all the cubemaps i wanted, and it screwed up the map AGAIN!! (I saved a copy before adding the cubemaps, so no worries there). *sigh*

Note to self: make maps smaller...

EDIT2: Ok, I finally got all the cubemaps in place, but they aren't building properly... of course... *sigh*...

[Hickadam]

Craps...


Well, if your cubemaps aren't building, it might be a leak, too many cubemaps in one area, or something to do with HDR.

I know cubemaps get wonky if you use HDR with a skybox that doesn't have $hdrbasetexture or something. I usually scam the system by modifying my vmt files to add that line, but i'm having issues of my own right now with green blotches reflecting on my surfaces.

If the cubemaps are still wrong afte that, try picking the individual surfaces for each cubemap. A pain, but it might work.

[DaMaN]

Well, i wouldn't be surprised if it's because I have too many cubemaps - the map has something like 300 or so. Not sure how i can limit the number of cubemaps while still getting the desired effect, but...

I'm not using HDR (vid card doesn't support it), and it would be a pain to pick individual surfaces for cubemaps, so I'll try deleting a number of cubemaps - see if that works.

[TheMoon]

Code: Select all

materialPath: d:\program files\valve\steam\steamapps\SourceMods\Obsidian\materials
Loading D:\Program Files\Valve\Steam\SteamApps\*******\sourcesdk_content\hl2mp\mapsrc\defence\oc_d2_prebeachhead_BETA3.vmf
"materials/nature/water002a.vtf": cached version doesn't exist
Brush 220003: File D:\Program Files\Valve\Steam\SteamApps\*******\sourcesdk_content\hl2mp\mapsrc\defence\oc_d2_prebeachhead_BETA3.vmf, line 228045: unexpected symbol 'Re'
Side 5
Texture: TOOLS/TOOLSTRIGGER

I once got this error too, just with "unexpected symbol '!'" instead of 'Re'. Took me some time to figure that it hadn't to do ANYTHING with Brushes, Sides or Textures. It just wanted to tell me that I named an NPC "w00t!" and that he didn't like the "!" in it. After deleting it in notepad, everything went right.
Dunno if that helps you.