Hammer Causing Entire Computer Freeze-Up

[Snazzy Jovial Wyrm]

As the title suggests, I've been having a problem where Hammer would end up freezing up my entire computer everytime I try to compile a map. It hasn't started doing this when I first began development on the map, and I know for certain it isn't Hammer just being hammer because the program has never caused my entire PC to freeze up during map compilation. I checked to see if there are any leaks in the map, but there is no pointfile generated, which tells me that there are not. I don't know what the problem is. The map I am currently working on is a wacky version of Degroot keep that has a lot of trees and towers scattered about. I was gonna be using this map for a Gmod animation. Any help would be great!

 

[Da Spud Lord]

More complex maps can take longer to compile.

 

[Snazzy Jovial Wyrm]

More complex maps can take longer to compile.

But do they cause your entire computer to freeze up to the point of not running anything at all? That is the problem here. I understand that Hammer will say it's not responding while it compiles a map, and that it'll take a while tocompile, but never before has it ever froze up my entire computer. I've always been able to do other things aside form play games while hammer compiles map.

 

[Da Spud Lord]

Are you using an underpowered computer? Or, did you recently play around with the priority settings for Hammer and/or various system applications?

 

[trees]

Decompiled maps are typically broken and can't be recompiled as is. Some things like areaportals for example might need fixing, but I haven't ever done this and can't really help you with it.

In any case I recommend getting CompilePal. Unlike hammer, compiling with it doesn't freeze your computer so you can keep using it while doing so.
https://github.com/ruarai/CompilePal

 

[Snazzy Jovial Wyrm]

Are you using an underpowered computer? Or, did you recently play around with the priority settings for Hammer and/or various system applications?

I do not believe I've changed any settings prior to the first time the freezing started, and my PC is capable of running games like TF2, Gmod, Payday 2, and Subnautica at the very least a decent framerate while on max settings, so I doubt it's underpowered.

Decompiled maps are typically broken and can't be recompiled as is. Some things like areaportals for example might need fixing, but I haven't ever done this and can't really help you with it.

In any case I recommend getting CompilePal. Unlike hammer, compiling with it doesn't freeze your computer so you can keep using it while doing so.
https://github.com/ruarai/CompilePal

I'll check and see if that'll work.

 

[trees]

To clarify, using CompilePal won't fix the problem. The problem is the decompiled (thus broken) .vmf of Degrootkeep you're working on. I don't know much on the subject, but others might be able to help you fix it.

 

[Snazzy Jovial Wyrm]

To clarify, using CompilePal won't fix the problem. The problem is the decompiled (thus broken) .vmf of Degrootkeep you're working on. I don't know much on the subject, but others might be able to help you fix it.

I see. The version I'm using is the original map, and I will say for certain that it was one hell of a mess. I was surprised the map even runs in the game. There were various amounts of areas in the map where props and entities were sticking out into the void, a ton of hidden textures that weren't even set to nodraw, and not to mention that the entire back end of the castle was opened up to the void as well. I noticed that the entire map and its skybox area is wrapped in a skip box. Whenever I removed this box, Hammer would take even longer to compile, so I just kept it in.

 

[Snazzy Jovial Wyrm]

So, I've been using CompilePal, and this is what it's been displaying:

Starting a 'Full - Both' compile.
Starting compilation of cp_degrooooowtkeep
Valve Software - vbsp.exe (Mar  6 2018)
8 threads
materialPath: J:\programs\files\Steam\steamapps\common\Team Fortress 2\tf\materials
Loading J:\programs\files\Steam\steamapps\common\Team Fortress 2\tf\maps\custom\cp_degrooooowtkeep\cp_degrooooowtkeep.vmf
ConVarRef mat_reduceparticles doesn't point to an existing ConVar
Patching WVT material: maps/cp_degrooooowtkeep/nature/blendgroundtocobble001_wvt_patch
Patching WVT material: maps/cp_degrooooowtkeep/nature/blendgroundtograss008_wvt_patch
Patching WVT material: maps/cp_degrooooowtkeep/nature/blendrockgroundwallforest003_wvt_patch
Patching WVT material: maps/cp_degrooooowtkeep/nature/blendrockgroundwallforest_wvt_patch
Patching WVT material: maps/cp_degrooooowtkeep/nature/blendgroundtograss008_nodetail_wvt_patch
fixing up env_cubemap materials on brush sides...
ProcessBlock_Thread: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (0)
ProcessBlock_Thread: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (1)
Processing areas...done (0)
Building Faces...done (0)
Chop Details...done (1)
Find Visible Detail Sides...
Merged 2120 detail faces...done (1)
Merging details...done (0)
FixTjuncs...
PruneNodes...
WriteBSP...
done (1)
writing J:\programs\files\Steam\steamapps\common\Team Fortress 2\tf\maps\custom\cp_degrooooowtkeep\cp_degrooooowtkeep.prt...Building visibility clusters...
done (1)
*** Error: Skybox vtf files for skybox/sky_trainyard_01 weren't compiled with the same size texture and/or same flags!
Can't load skybox file skybox/sky_trainyard_01 to build the default cubemap!
*** Error: Skybox vtf files for skybox/sky_trainyard_01 weren't compiled with the same size texture and/or same flags!
Can't load skybox file skybox/sky_trainyard_01 to build the default cubemap!
Finding displacement neighbors...
Found a displacement edge abutting multiple other edges.
Finding lightmap sample positions...
Displacement Alpha : 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10
Building Physics collision data...
done (1) (1179894 bytes)
Static prop models/props_2fort/window005.mdl outside the map (1241.00, 1792.00, 568.00)
Static prop models/props_medieval/medieval_tall_window.mdl outside the map (1224.00, 1640.00, 400.00)
Placing detail props : 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...Error! To use model "models/props_medieval/capflag/bannerflag.mdl"
      with detail_prop, it must be compiled with $staticprop!
Error loading studio model "models/props_medieval/capflag/bannerflag.mdl"!
10
Compacting texture/material tables...
Reduced 6180 texinfos to 4219
Reduced 61 texdatas to 54 (1701 bytes to 1327)
Writing J:\programs\files\Steam\steamapps\common\Team Fortress 2\tf\maps\custom\cp_degrooooowtkeep\cp_degrooooowtkeep.bsp
Wrote ZIP buffer, estimated size 4135, actual size 3251
11 seconds elapsed
Valve Software - vvis.exe (Mar  6 2018)
8 threads
reading j:\programs\files\steam\steamapps\common\team fortress 2\tf\maps\custom\cp_degrooooowtkeep\cp_degrooooowtkeep.bsp
reading j:\programs\files\steam\steamapps\common\team fortress 2\tf\maps\custom\cp_degrooooowtkeep\cp_degrooooowtkeep.prt
2264 portalclusters
9487 numportals
BasePortalVis:       0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (3)
PortalFlow:          0...1...2...

Hammer seems to freeze my computer everytime at portalflow whenever I try to compile in it. Hasn't happened to me with CompilePal, only just taking a while. I'm gonna wait and see what happens with it. The model error can be ignored. I may have changed a banner entity into a detail entity by mistake. As for the skybox errors, that may most likely be because I haven't rebuilt the cubemaps yet.