cubemap limit?

[WAR_Nuker]

ok so i have 90 cubemaps in my map see....some of em arent being constructed properly, and are just rendering the skybox. there are no leaks in my level either....so i was wondering if the reason for their not being constructed properly might be because of a possible cubemap limit?

 

[Mechagodzilla]

I had (and still have) the same problem. I have no idea what causes it.

So yeah. Any help, forum people?

 

[Mess]

There is a limit on how many cubemaps you can have, but it's a lot more than 90. I can't remember off the top of my head but it's in the logfile when you compile.

 

[jmjneary]

you type buildcubemaps when you run the map

 

[Rof]

The official cubemap limit seems to be 1024. You might try ensuring all the cubemaps are snapped to grid locations.

If you look in the .bsp file with bspzip after doing buildcubemaps (do "bspzip -dir mapname.bsp"), do you see envmap textures of the form "cXXX_YYY_ZZZ.vtf" (where XXX, YYY, ZZZ are the coordinates) for every cubemap in your map?

 

[WAR_Nuker]

well i fooled around with the cubemaps and came up with this one solution. if it doesnt work at its current location, move it to a nearby location. sometimes it'll work, sometimes it won't. it's pretty much a guess and check thing. however i cant seem to figure out a foolproof method of eliminating this problem. so basically, keep running the map and then bust out the "impulse 81 env-balls" to see which cubemaps are/arent workin (after of course you build the cubemaps). if you find one that doesnt work, move it to a nearby location in hammer, rerun the map, and see if that fixes the problem.

 

[Mechagodzilla]

I tried that (as well as adding a couple more for redundancy/better coverage), but I think it made things worse. Even less of 'em are working.
I'm going to try deleting and replacing all them, room by room, because there are nearly fifty busted cubemaps in the map and I am not going to trial-and-error my way through muliple compiles by moving each one an inch at a time.

 

[brisck1]

The safest way is to place the cubemap near the area you want it to create reflections and assign brush faces manuallly (within it's properties) of which that cubemap should be assgned to.

 

[WAR_Nuker]

replacing em doesnt work. tried it. move em around and when you go to compile, click fast run vis and no run rad....and keep run bsp on normal. this will dramatically descrease compile time. on the downside, your level will be fully lit (a result of no run rad) and have bad framerate (a result of fast run vis). doing this might make guessing and checking less burdensome. set up your vis groups too. no point in compiling stuff you arent intending to test out (ie props and such). since you dont feel like guessing and checking, try redoing your whole cubemap plan into a different one and see how well that works for you. deleting and replacing them in the same spot makes no difference (i wish it would). to keep things simple, use as few cubemaps as possible. also, make sure there arent any leaks in your map. yeah i think thats about as much advice as i can give.