Map Crashing Server help!

[Nizzem]

Whenever I get my map hosted on a server and it comes up in rotation the server crashes shortly after. Since it has happened on more than 1 server I assume it's caused by my map.. I went through my log and the only errors i found was a "Zero area child patch" I did some research and can't figure out how to fix it. But I'm not to sure that it's causing the crashes...

Heres my log if anyone can look for something out of the ordinary..

Valve Software - vbsp.exe (Sep 21 2007)
4 threads
materialPath: c:\program files\valve\steam\steamapps\nizzem\team fortress 2\tf\materials
Loading C:\Program Files\Valve\Steam\SteamApps\nizzem\sourcesdk_conte nt\tf\mapsrc\ctf_strife_b3.vmf
fixing up env_cubemap materials on brush sides...
ProcessBlock_Thread: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (0)
ProcessBlock_Thread: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (1)
Processing areas...done (0)
Building Faces...done (0)
Chop Details...done (0)
Find Visible Detail Sides...
Merged 338 detail faces...done (0)
Merging details...done (0)
FixTjuncs...
PruneNodes...
WriteBSP...
done (0)
writing C:\Program Files\Valve\Steam\SteamApps\nizzem\sourcesdk_conte nt\tf\mapsrc\ctf_strife_b3.prt...Building visibility clusters...
done (0)
Creating default LDR cubemaps for env_cubemap using skybox materials:
skybox/sky_hydro_01*.vmt
! Run buildcubemaps in the engine to get the correct cube maps.
Creating default HDR cubemaps for env_cubemap using skybox materials:
skybox/sky_hydro_01*.vmt
! Run buildcubemaps in the engine to get the correct cube maps.
Finding displacement neighbors...
Finding lightmap sample positions...
Displacement Alpha : 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10
Building Physics collision data...
done (2) (678894 bytes)
Placing detail props : 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10
Compacting texture/material tables...
Reduced 5446 texinfos to 2536
Reduced 160 texdatas to 142 (4785 bytes to 4127)
Writing C:\Program Files\Valve\Steam\SteamApps\nizzem\sourcesdk_conte nt\tf\mapsrc\ctf_strife_b3.bsp
17 seconds elapsed

** Executing...
** Command: "c:\program files\valve\steam\steamapps\nizzem\sourcesdk\bin\o rangebox\bin\vvis.exe"
** Parameters: -game "c:\program files\valve\steam\steamapps\nizzem\team fortress 2\tf" -fast "C:\Program Files\Valve\Steam\SteamApps\nizzem\sourcesdk_conte nt\tf\mapsrc\ctf_strife_b3"

Valve Software - vvis.exe (Nov 8 2007)
fastvis = true
4 threads
reading c:\program files\valve\steam\steamapps\nizzem\sourcesdk_conte nt\tf\mapsrc\ctf_strife_b3.bsp
reading c:\program files\valve\steam\steamapps\nizzem\sourcesdk_conte nt\tf\mapsrc\ctf_strife_b3.prt
1397 portalclusters
3911 numportals
BasePortalVis: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (1)
Optimized: 108167 visible clusters (0.00%)
Total clusters visible: 1192116
Average clusters visible: 853
Building PAS...
Average clusters audible: 1327
visdatasize:467780 compressed from 491744
writing c:\program files\valve\steam\steamapps\nizzem\sourcesdk_conte nt\tf\mapsrc\ctf_strife_b3.bsp
1 second elapsed

** Executing...
** Command: "c:\program files\valve\steam\steamapps\nizzem\sourcesdk\bin\o rangebox\bin\vrad.exe"
** Parameters: -game "c:\program files\valve\steam\steamapps\nizzem\team fortress 2\tf" -noextra "C:\Program Files\Valve\Steam\SteamApps\nizzem\sourcesdk_conte nt\tf\mapsrc\ctf_strife_b3"

Valve Software - vrad.exe SSE (Nov 8 2007)

Valve Radiosity Simulator
4 threads
[Reading texlights from 'lights.rad']
[34 texlights parsed from 'lights.rad']

Loading c:\program files\valve\steam\steamapps\nizzem\sourcesdk_conte nt\tf\mapsrc\ctf_strife_b3.bsp
Setting up ray-trace acceleration structure... Done (8.76 seconds)
7065 faces
2 degenerate faces
1433839 square feet [206472896.00 square inches]
126 Displacements
124336 Square Feet [17904386.00 Square Inches]
7063 patches before subdivision
zero area child patch
zero area child patch
zero area child patch
zero area child patch
200809 patches after subdivision
274 direct lights
BuildFacelights: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (42)
BuildVisLeafs: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (107)
transfers 17771790, max 510
transfer lists: 135.6 megs
GatherLight: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (1)
Bounce #1 added RGB(744115, 569902, 470080)
GatherLight: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (0)
Bounce #2 added RGB(251391, 170583, 120434)
GatherLight: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (1)
Bounce #3 added RGB(68618, 45662, 29884)
GatherLight: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (1)
Bounce #4 added RGB(25657, 15889, 9264)
GatherLight: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (0)
Bounce #5 added RGB(9693, 5729, 3065)
GatherLight: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (1)
Bounce #6 added RGB(4082, 2220, 1071)
GatherLight: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (0)
Bounce #7 added RGB(1777, 893, 390)
GatherLight: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (0)
Bounce #8 added RGB(807, 370, 146)
GatherLight: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (1)
Bounce #9 added RGB(375, 157, 55)
GatherLight: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (0)
Bounce #10 added RGB(178, 67, 21)
GatherLight: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (1)
Bounce #11 added RGB(85, 29, 8)
GatherLight: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (1)
Bounce #12 added RGB(41, 13, 3)
GatherLight: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (0)
Bounce #13 added RGB(20, 6, 1)
GatherLight: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (1)
Bounce #14 added RGB(10, 3, 1)
GatherLight: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (1)
Bounce #15 added RGB(5, 1, 0)
GatherLight: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (0)
Bounce #16 added RGB(2, 1, 0)
GatherLight: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (0)
Bounce #17 added RGB(1, 0, 0)
GatherLight: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (1)
Bounce #18 added RGB(1, 0, 0)
Build Patch/Sample Hash Table(s).....Done<0.1403 sec>
FinalLightFace: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (24)
FinalLightFace Done
0 of 0 (0% of) surface lights went in leaf ambient cubes.
ThreadComputeLeafAmbient: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (13)
Writing leaf ambient...done
Ready to Finish

Object names Objects/Maxobjs Memory / Maxmem Fullness
------------ --------------- --------------- --------
models 73/1024 3504/49152 ( 7.1%)
brushes 1834/8192 22008/98304 (22.4%)
brushsides 13805/65536 110440/524288 (21.1%)
planes 8578/65536 171560/1310720 (13.1%)
vertexes 12840/65536 154080/786432 (19.6%)
nodes 3569/65536 114208/2097152 ( 5.4%)
texinfos 2536/12288 182592/884736 (20.6%)
texdata 142/2048 4544/65536 ( 6.9%)
dispinfos 126/0 22176/0 ( 0.0%)
disp_verts 8686/0 173720/0 ( 0.0%)
disp_tris 13632/0 27264/0 ( 0.0%)
disp_lmsamples 243674/0 243674/0 ( 0.0%)
faces 7065/65536 395640/3670016 (10.8%)
hdr faces 0/65536 0/3670016 ( 0.0%)
origfaces 4443/65536 248808/3670016 ( 6.8%)
leaves 3643/65536 116576/2097152 ( 5.6%)
leaffaces 9030/65536 18060/131072 (13.8%)
leafbrushes 4588/65536 9176/131072 ( 7.0%)
areas 3/256 24/2048 ( 1.2%)
surfedges 53049/512000 212196/2048000 (10.4%)
edges 33330/256000 133320/1024000 (13.0%)
LDR worldlights 274/8192 24112/720896 ( 3.3%)
HDR worldlights 0/8192 0/720896 ( 0.0%)
leafwaterdata 0/32768 0/393216 ( 0.0%)
waterstrips 912/32768 9120/327680 ( 2.8%)
waterverts 0/65536 0/786432 ( 0.0%)
waterindices 15609/65536 31218/131072 (23.8%)
cubemapsamples 48/1024 768/16384 ( 4.7%)
overlays 60/512 21120/180224 (11.7%)
LDR lightdata [variable] 7775616/0 ( 0.0%)
HDR lightdata [variable] 0/0 ( 0.0%)
visdata [variable] 467780/16777216 ( 2.8%)
entdata [variable] 246086/393216 (62.6%)
LDR ambient table 3643/65536 14572/262144 ( 5.6%)
HDR ambient table 3643/65536 14572/262144 ( 5.6%)
LDR leaf ambient 16819/65536 470932/1835008 (25.7%)
HDR leaf ambient 3643/65536 102004/1835008 ( 5.6%)
occluders 0/0 0/0 ( 0.0%)
occluder polygons 0/0 0/0 ( 0.0%)
occluder vert ind 0/0 0/0 ( 0.0%)
detail props [variable] 1/12 ( 8.3%)
static props [variable] 1/79852 ( 0.0%)
pakfile [variable] 5190864/0 ( 0.0%)
physics [variable] 678894/4194304 (16.2%)
physics terrain [variable] 36562/1048576 ( 3.5%)

Level flags = 0

Total triangle count: 21058
Writing c:\program files\valve\steam\steamapps\nizzem\sourcesdk_conte nt\tf\mapsrc\ctf_strife_b3.bsp
3 minutes, 28 seconds elapsed

** Executing...
** Command: Copy File
** Parameters: "C:\Program Files\Valve\Steam\SteamApps\nizzem\sourcesdk_conte nt\tf\mapsrc\ctf_strife_b3.bsp" "c:\program files\valve\steam\steamapps\nizzem\team fortress 2\tf\maps\ctf_strife_b3.bsp"

[spaceweasels]

First, I suggest you run the full vvis when releasing a map, not fast vvis. I know it's a drag, on my current map, full vis take almost 4 hours.

Second, when I have had maps that crash, it's most often due to bad entities. The compiling process won't sort out bad entities. Use the check for problems option in Hammer. It might be able to give you a clue.

Hope that helps.

[drpepper]

something i found on another forum

zero area child patch is 1 face that doesn't have an area, what i mean is that for some reaosn it considers the face just a line. this is because you vertex eidited out one of them (why you merge always), or it can't define teh grid co-ordinates (why you don't let them poke out). these can happen any time and can be a pain to find.

[Nizzem]

I did run full vis and -final when i released it... I just compiled it this morning quickly to get a log up here.

The check for problem only finds my logic entity that outputs to the tf_gamerules entity..

I think I may have done some vertex manipulation without merging.. but it would be next to impossible to find now..

[drpepper]

not necessarily.
cut your map in 2. complete skybox, and compile. try and recreate problem. keep cutting the half that reproduces the problem and that should give you a better and better idea of where its at. you might just need to redo a small section of your map instead of starting from scratch.

hope that helps even a little bit.

[Snipergen]

oooh my goooood this is a bitch problem. I've had it once too and i couldn't find it out, had to throw my map away since the css days (lucky me i was just starting to add detail)

I think its bad carving, bad brushes, but you can't find them. Only option left is doing what drpepper suggests.
I really really hope this works for you man.

[Logo]

You should be able to use cordon groups to do what drpepper says