Yet Another Bug With Hammer: Random Exit

[Faulk_Wulf]

Okay, so Hammer is unstable, fine.
So Memory sometime can not be read...
So props can randomly leak for no reason...
So it performs illeagal opperations...

FINE.

Those kind of seem "normal".

But there's a new bug, and it just started today, so I'm blaming the update. Hammer doesn't just crash-- it exits. No warning, not skip in any other program... (Winamp doesn't even blink, screen doesn't flick...) Just **poof** and gone. I've gotten in the habbit of saving every two moves or so, but sometimes it'll exit like this just when I rotate an entity. Now the map itself compiles and runs fine. So this isn't it. And the only reason this isn't an enraged rant, is because I haven't lost anything major yet. I was just going to flip the names of "gun_drawer1" and "gun_drawer1a" around so that it opened correctly... And it exits.

I restarted it twice. Once it crashed/exited before I even moved 3 units. Second time I swapped the name, and clicked the [x] on the entity to exit the properties and save the map to test it... And it exited...

It's one thing for there to be a programming error causing a snafu, but when your program randomly exits after 2 edits or less... That's just stupid.

I get that programming isn't a cake walk... I know nothing about programming (yet- I'm going to college next year for that) so I'm not saying I can do better... But Valve is Valve... I don't need 5,000,000 bells and whistles for *my* maps... But a stable program to work with would be nice.

I'm only annoyed because Hammer being unstable isn't a revalation. I can't remember what Hammer was called before then, but it was unstable back on HL1.

There wasn't really a question here, just a rant...
But if you do know a cause for this, feel free to shout out.

:sniper:--------------[Hammer]

 

[Baj]

I have had that once.

I often get it locking up at a random time between 30 seconds and ten minutes after starting up, especially if Steam is not the first application I open.

 

[Luthig]

Mine is bad also. During the compile, it really starts slowing down around the PortalFlow section and then just crashes period. :angry:

 

[Baj]

Mine will hang the PC before I have had a chance to pick which map to load.
Generally if it stays for ten mins it will be fine all night.
Compiling is fine tho.
Long compiles are generally a mapping issue

 

[Luthig]

...
Long compiles are generally a mapping issue

I know, but...
Yesterday, before the "update" it compiled fine (and very quick), I made 3 small changes today (very minor) and now one of my props (static) got this really tripped out texture and it now crashes everytime I try to compile. It will no longer finish compiling.

Any ideas?

 

[Faulk_Wulf]

I have a map that's like 1,000 x 1,000 x 300 ... Currently it has a small hotel, two homes, and a gun-shop that was in progress. A small car wreck at an intersection, and some combine... Using a Batch file it takes me only 1m 30s to compile.

Only compiling problems I have ever had: Radom prop leaks for NO reason (they AREN'T leaking by any LOGICAL obvservations) and using a prop_physics instead of prop_dynamics and vice versa.

I had one Memory Could Not Be Read error when trying to use Func_Breakable_Surf on windows. I couldn't fix it so I just settled for the crappy Func_Breakable, cause I'm just doing this for fun, not for a public release.

I've had Hammer crash before, but not like this... I just would think Valve being the big company it is, and so in-tune with the modding community would be on this by now.

 

[Limpet]

Just a note: Don't group brushes and then try to carve with them. Hammer will lock up everything on your computer. I would know, I've done it twice. Doh!

 

[Luthig]

Lol, important safety tip! Thnx Limpet! :E

 

[Faulk_Wulf]

Yeah, I haven't carved for a long time, because I get weird vertex errors and god only knows what else. These drawers though are ticking me off.

The ammo sits in a little drawer (func_brush) and then the front of it is a door, below it is a second door. What SHOULD happen is that the drawer comes out, and then the front drops so that you can get the ammo. Well I parented backwards, so that when it went to drop the func_door down, the whole drawer went with. But if I switch the names around, Hammer exits...

I am going to attempt to completely rename them now, and see what happens. No edit means that it still crashes... *sigh*

[EDIT] Oooookay... So I cleared the names, and retyped them as "drawer1", "drawer1a", and "drawer1b" in the appropriate places I needed. No exit... ...Thaaaaank you Hammer... :dozey:

 

[WaterMelon34]

I can't run my maps on hammer. I have to compile and run the command to play my map in the game console lol.

 

[Pi Mu Rho]

I just would think Valve being the big company it is, and so in-tune with the modding community would be on this by now.

Yeah, they should go all-out to fix a problem that you appear to be the only one experiencing....

 

[Icewolf717]

So far I have not had this problem.. yet. Hopefully I wont because im just geting into mapping, ive only been mapping for about a week and I dont need hammer crapping out on me.

 

[Faulk_Wulf]

[EDIT - 9:08pm] I retract my previous retort at Phi Mu Rho. There's an appology a couple of posts down. Sorry.

...
However, Hammer is still VERY unstable in general. I get that Valve probably has bigger things on its mind. (Half-Life 3 comes to mind, plus there are bound to be expansions in the mean time.) But at the same time, Valve is very close to its modding community.
...

 

[Ennui]

Those are all different bugs. Valve knows of them and will do it while they can.

Also, if that post was supposed to totally "pwn" Pi Mu Rho, it didn't. And I'm inclined to say that "thrashed" is a rather poor adjective to describe what his comment did to you. Twas only a bit of sarcasm.

And watermelon, most mappers I know have that same problem (including me). It's safer anyhow to start up the program yourself then do it from console.

 

[Geronimous]

I see Hammer as an app with a mind of it's own. you have to work with it by it's own set of rules, which in time you get to discover yourself. Don't try crazy stuff, think hard before you start working on a solutio for something. or save your map, and try the stuff you want to try in a new map to see if Hammer accepts and compiles.

one of the rules of Hammer I am talking about is mentioned in this thread. Don't think of slicing a grouped set of brushes. Be careful with clipping multiple brushes at once in the first place. Use Hollow as little as you can and carve even less. Others are also simple: have at least 1024 Mb ram, close all other apps, close even the steam windows and the SDK window, save your work and restart Hammer once in a while, save often, make backups etc etc etc.

 

[Ennui]

hehe, mapping is more than just something you do... it's an art.

 

[Phisionary]

Don't think of slicing a grouped set of brushes. Be careful with clipping multiple brushes at once in the first place.

I've never had problems with this. I never did more than 30 at a time or so, but... meh.

Otherwise, yeah, I think that's all true.

 

[Faulk_Wulf]

I wasn't trying to "Pawn" him or anything like that. I just thought that his retort was poorly thought out in the context of this post. That is all. As stated: I repsect his position and the fact that he has been around longer than me, I just didn't appreciate the comment.

I realize that some/most of those bugs are different- I was just going on with the point that alot of people have various problems with Hammer and they should be adressed.

I understand that Valve has other things to do, however, and I understand how/why a program can continue to be buggy for so long.

I get that one should save their map often. I even said I knew this on my first post. I also stated that THAT particular bug was making it impossible for me to perform the edit desired and then save it.

I appologize if my retort came off as nothing more than a childish spat. This is not what I intended. If the comment had been made by some random person, I would have not cared nearly as much.

However, regardless: I formerly appologize for the post.
I am sorry.