Area Portal Leak Strangeness

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Oct 6, 2008
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Ok, I run compile - get an area portal leak - nothing new here easy to fix or so I thought.

When I run point file - I don't get any lines to follow for the leak, If I do they go off and lead nowhere, or sometimes though the skybox (map is sealed no leaks into the void) or the go out (about 3 feet) of the area_portal and then right back to the area_portal.

Any ideas of what's going on or how to fix?
 

Crash

func_nerd
aa
Mar 1, 2010
3,315
5,499
You probably have an origin point to something misaligned out of your map. Select your whole map and look at the point file line again. There's probably a circle connected to one end. That's the origin. You just need to drag it back into the world (preferably to whatever it's for.)
 
Oct 6, 2008
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thanks - it's a weird and really frustrating item

Do i just drag it in anywhere or to 0,0,0 or the center of the broken portal?
 

Pocket

Half a Lambert is better than one.
aa
Nov 14, 2009
4,694
2,579
Wait, hold on. What do you mean by "areaportal leak"? Because an areaportal leak (described using that exact phrase in the compile log) is when you put an areaportal someplace where you can loop back around on it without going through another areaportal, which causes bugs like this... but I suppose it's also possible to have a real leak (described as "Entity at [coords] has leaked!" and also "*** leaked ***") where a func_areaportal was the entity that happened to cast a ray out into the void. It sounded like you were describing the latter, but then I decided to check whether a real Areaportal Leak™ creates a confusing pointfile like the one you're describing.

...It does!

w9Gh4Yi.png


So I'm assuming that's the problem you're talking about. The cause is, as I said, not a real leak into the void but an areaportal that doesn't completely seal off an area. Two possible reasons for this:
  1. Your portal doesn't actually stretch all the way to the edges of the hole it's covering. This can happen easily if your hole has some kind of doorframe or displacements (like the tunnels in Dustbowl) and you didn't hide them when you drew the brush. Props, func_details, and displacements don't count! It has to go all the way to the world brushes that form the walls. Use the panel on the right to hide displacements and details to make sure.
  2. You sealed one opening between two areas with a func_areaportal but not another. For a really simple example, imagine two adjacent rooms with two doorways in the wall between them, and only one of them is covered. With a full-sized map, making sure every necessary opening has been covered can quickly get complicated and it's easy to leave something out. This could also be caused by forgetting to turn one of your areaportal brushes into an actual func_areaportal.
 

Vel0city

func_fish
aa
Dec 6, 2014
1,947
1,589
Also, one thing I'd like to do is whenever I'm placing areaportals I put my func_detail visgroup into hide mode. Things like door frames and window frames should be func_detail but brush entities can't seal an areaportal, just like how a brush entity can't seal a leak to the void. Areaportals can clip into brush entities just fine.
 
Oct 6, 2008
1,947
445
Steve, that picture is pretty much a perfect example - If and when I do get a line it's like that - short and goes no where. Usually I can follow them around (the loop back to the portal identified) and fix the leak.

Let's say that image is in a doorway to a room with one other door and a window both sealed with portals and the entire structure is world geometry - what would then cause the leak and how to fix? It's driving my nuts - lol

Edit: I'm also seeing two area portals in my vis groups tab - checking to see it this could be apart of it.

Edit 2: I'm also getting the line coming right back to the same portal on th same side - a short line
 
Last edited:

henke37

aa
Sep 23, 2011
2,075
515
Yes, areaportal leak pointfiles do go in a loop that starts and ends with the same areaportal. You are to break the loop with geometry and/or additional area portals.
 
Oct 6, 2008
1,947
445
yes I know that but in this case I get a point file line that goes out from the portal and stops or it loops right back to itself on the same side without going around anything - there's nothing to seal.

My sealed map also now no longer seems to be sealed - all I've been doing is fixing portals to make sure they all touch world geometry items. If I try to load lin file there isn't one for this error. I've tried cordon and the big box methog to solve it. For example - big box method - all I have showing is the box, 3 skyboxs (top,bottom, side) says I have a leak - the item is sealed, geometry good and there's no lin file to load to get the leak line. This thing is kinda making me wish I hadn't loaded hammer back onto my machine - lol
 

ics

http://ics-base.net
aa
Jun 17, 2010
841
540
I doubt that you have managed to create a situation where your map leaks like it cannot be fixed. It's just something you are missing that is right there that causes that.
 

Pocket

Half a Lambert is better than one.
aa
Nov 14, 2009
4,694
2,579
If you're on the verge of pulling your hair out, you may be better off deleting all your areaportals and starting over, compiling that version just to make sure there are no other outstanding issues before rebuilding and recompiling (VBSP only, of course) every time you think you've partitioned off another major area so you can narrow down the problem once one comes up.