Hammer crash during compile

[Wheel-Knee]

Ok....here's my problem.....I had a leak in my map, I fixed the leak now when I complile hammer crashes during its "area(i think it was area) portal" process. Are there any ways to fix this? it gets to 20% and then dies.
I know it has to do with the leak, because if i open it up again, it compiles.
My vis and rad are set to normal. I'm using a 3d skybox.
Does it matter if a brush is sticking out thru the skybox?
I see in the brush entities there are area portals....do I need to use these?
Any help appreciated.

 

[Ti133700N]

Why would you want to make a brush that sticks through the sky? Do not use area portals for now, if you are not sure how to use them.

 

[@lPh@+OmEg@]

Try loading the pointfile and see if it shows anything (in your toolbar, select load pointfile). Try testing ur map by removing the brush sticking out of the box.

Key thing to do with mapping is testing ALOT, nearly everything is a test and go situation for mapping as if you wanna make it work well, you gotta test it well.

 

[Wheel-Knee]

Its not that I wanted the brush sticking thru the sky, there just happens to be one doing so.....I'd rather not carve it but if i have to I will...I have been testing...a lot......what is this pointfile you speak of.....what does it do?
what negative effects does a crack in your sky box cause? Because If i compile with a crack it takes like literally 20 hours to compile. If I open a 1 pixel x 1 pixel hole in my skybox it takes 5 mins. Thats a big difference considering I only changed one pixel!!!! What is with that? I'll just edit and check with my crack open! In the skybox that is

 

[Ti133700N]

In order for the lightning to be calculated, your map need to be sealed completly. When you make a 1x1 pixel open in your map, the lightning calculations won't be done, that's why it's alot faster to compile. The game will be run with fullbright 1 (It will look bad). 20 hours is alot. There are probably alot of things that would have to be fixed. Big open spaces can cause this. Make sure no brushes are intersecting each others. Apply the nodraw texture on the faces that are not visible.