Blueprints

Get a file called TREEQBSP and use it to QBSP your map. It writes this beautifully SHORT leak file, although TREEQBSP does take a little longer. I have the impression that TREEQBSP is searching through the entire PTS file to find the area that enters the map, and saves only a few points on each side of this location, which means the PTS file is usually around only 2,000 or so points! A SHORT leak file means you do not have to run Quake with -Particles anything - the leak file is always under 10k and Quake can handle it easily. Also, TREEQBSP deletes a .PTS file if there is no leak, something regular QBSP doesn't do (it leaves 0-byte .pts files). One more wonderful thing, it gets rid of old QBSP's numbrushplanes == max_map_planes error, which I got when I was too close to being finished with ICE LAND 3! Oh, yes, and it supports multiple wad files so you may use it with Worldcraft! Do I sound excited?! :} Note: I get a ton of point off plane errors with Tree, but I basically ignore them.

Make sure your BSP and the .PTS file is in the map directory (I use a batch file for this). Then run Quake. Once you're in the game, you will be able to type "POINTFILE" at the console. Now, run around inside your map and look for a white line. Your leak is there, where that white line is entering the "play area" of your map. If you still don't see a white line anywhere inside your map, then go outside your map (use noclip) and look for the white line that's outside your map. Once you come close to any section of the line, you can see that the line has a grayscale pattern. Find the black end, and follow the section of line until it turns to white. That is the direction in which lies your leak! Follow the line in that direction and you will find your leak. Remember, the white end points to it if you are *outside* your map. If you are inside, you will follow the direction of the line in which it fades to black. It's funner than following a rainbow, cuz the pot of gold (your leak) sometimes exists. :} If it does exist, your leak is at the point where the line enters into the inside (play area) of your map. No doubt, when you see the leak staring at you in the face, you will say, "Oh, DUH!" That's okay. You had other things on your mind. That's what I tell myself. If the leak doesn't exist (the white line just ends, and does not enter your map *anywhere*) then try exporting your map to .MAP format, closing, and reopening your newly-created .MAP file.

Leaks are, pure and simple, a pain. It's better to just never create them! So how do you NOT create leaks?

1) Run QBSP and VIS from time to time. QBSP will report leaks and other errors so run them at critical stages in your map. When you come to a point (and you probably will) that VIS reports leaf portals saw into leaf then you must abandon running VIS -FAST and begin running VIS -LEVEL 1. This takes longer, but you will not get the error and you will still be able to test out your map in Quake without all the doors and illusionaries disappearing. One of my maps with about 2600 numportals took 41 minutes to VIS -LEVEL 1, but it was worth the wait. If I'm getting right close to being done with a map, I must be able to run through it and see everything that is supposed to be there and make sure my r_speeds numbers are down.

2) If you find you have a leak, delete the last thing you did or the brush / area that you believe is the offender. You can "UNDO" these deletions later (if your editor supports it). I group three or so items then delete them. If the error still generates, I UnDelete them and then try different items.

QBSP: Mixed face contents in leafnode

What was last brush added that had a moving texture (sky, lava, water, slime etc)? Chances are, that's the offending brush. If QBSP is run often enough to make sure the map continues to build properly, a person can keep track of *when* an error started occurring, which very important. If several brushes with moving textures have been added, go to where two moving texture brushes have been placed near each other. Brushes with differning moving textures such as sky and water (and lava, slime, etc) do not like to overlap each other. An overlap is most likely why this error was generated. In Gold Rush, I was able to put 2 differing water textures touching each other, but I had to be careful that they never overlapped. If you place many brushes of the *same* moving texture together they may be overlapped without problems.

QBSP: numbrushplanes == max_map_planes

This is where I switched versions of QBSP that I was using. I believe my old QBSP just ran out of memory space for the array it was building (I read that on TF Console). The new QBSP I use, called TREEQBSP, however a little slower, is the most wonderful QBSP I've used to date. I will still use QBSP to build levels with Worldcraft, until I get this error. Then I build it in DOS (just because I like the way it looks better) with TREEQBSP. Also, when hunting down a leak, TREEQBSP is the one to use because of the way it seeks through the pointfile to find the actual location of the leak itself, and keeps only 2k or so lines of points to generate - which means three things: 1) I'm never again going to have to look at a HUGE, LONG, TWISTY, CONFUSING pointfile line and 2) I'm never again going to have to run Quake with -PARTICLES X0,000 anymore... which means a third thing... no more "laggy" player performance while looking for a leak after loading in a 1.2 Megabyte point file!

VIS -FAST: leaf portals saw into leaf

Stop using VIS -FAST and start using VIS -LEVEL 1. This is not an error in the map, it's an error in the VIS algorithm!