Dont know if Im chasing a ghost or not.. Here's the latest compile log:

** Executing...
** Command: "i:\steam\steamapps\wildcard832\sourcesdk\bin\source2009\bin\vbsp.exe"
** Parameters: -game "i:\steam\steamapps\wildcard832\half-life 2\hl2" "C:\Users\Nicolas\Desktop\Titanic\Titanic.vmf"

Valve Software - vbsp.exe (Sep 15 2011)
6 threads
materialPath: i:\steam\steamapps\wildcard832\half-life 2\hl2\materials
Loading C:\Users\Nicolas\Desktop\Titanic\Titanic.vmf
ConVarRef mat_reduceparticles doesn't point to an existing ConVar
Could not locate 'GameData' key in i:\steam\steamapps\wildcard832\half-life 2\hl2\gameinfo.txt
fixing up env_cubemap materials on brush sides...
ProcessBlock_Thread: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (2)
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 (0)
Find Visible Detail Sides...
Merged 114 detail faces...done (0)
Merging details...done (0)
FixTjuncs...
PruneNodes...
WriteBSP...
done (7)
writing C:\Users\Nicolas\Desktop\Titanic\Titanic.prt...Building visibility clusters...
done (0)
Creating default LDR cubemaps for env_cubemap using skybox materials:
   skybox/sky_day01_01*.vmt
 ! Run buildcubemaps in the engine to get the correct cube maps.
Creating default HDR cubemaps for env_cubemap using skybox materials:
   skybox/sky_day01_01*.vmt
 ! Run buildcubemaps in the engine to get the correct cube maps.
Finding displacement neighbors...
Finding lightmap sample positions...
Displacement Alpha : 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10
Building Physics collision data...
done (1) (2696810 bytes)
Placing detail props : 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10
Compacting texture/material tables...
Reduced 12775 texinfos to 6776
Reduced 26 texdatas to 21 (624 bytes to 446)
Writing C:\Users\Nicolas\Desktop\Titanic\Titanic.bsp
16 seconds elapsed

** Executing...
** Command: "i:\steam\steamapps\wildcard832\sourcesdk\bin\source2009\bin\vvis.exe"
** Parameters: -game "i:\steam\steamapps\wildcard832\half-life 2\hl2" -fast "C:\Users\Nicolas\Desktop\Titanic\Titanic"

Valve Software - vvis.exe (Sep 15 2011)
fastvis = true
6 threads
reading c:\users\nicolas\desktop\titanic\Titanic.bsp
reading c:\users\nicolas\desktop\titanic\Titanic.prt
5118 portalclusters
13145 numportals
BasePortalVis:       0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (4)
Optimized: 2272468 visible clusters (0.00%)
Total clusters visible: 12931836
Average clusters visible: 2526
Building PAS...
Average clusters audible: 4901
visdatasize:5626070  compressed from 6551040
writing c:\users\nicolas\desktop\titanic\Titanic.bsp
7 seconds elapsed

** Executing...
** Command: "i:\steam\steamapps\wildcard832\sourcesdk\bin\source2009\bin\vrad.exe"
** Parameters:  -game "i:\steam\steamapps\wildcard832\half-life 2\hl2" -noextra "C:\Users\Nicolas\Desktop\Titanic\Titanic"

Valve Software - vrad.exe SSE (Sep 15 2011)

      Valve Radiosity Simulator
6 threads
[Reading texlights from 'lights.rad']
[45 texlights parsed from 'lights.rad']

Loading c:\users\nicolas\desktop\titanic\Titanic.bsp
Setting up ray-trace acceleration structure... Done (5.82 seconds)
26685 faces
8 degenerate faces
1812435 square feet [260990704.00 square inches]
0 Displacements
0 Square Feet [0.00 Square Inches]
26677 patches before subdivision
zero area child patch
240973 patches after subdivision
0 direct lights
BuildFacelights:     0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (2)
BuildVisLeafs:       0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (124)
transfers 29376037, max 1994
transfer lists: 224.1 megs
GatherLight:         0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (1)
    Bounce #1 added RGB(0, 0, 0)
Build Patch/Sample Hash Table(s).....Done<0.1143 sec>
FinalLightFace:      0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (37)
FinalLightFace Done
0 of 0 (0% of) surface lights went in leaf ambient cubes.
ThreadComputeLeafAmbient: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (9)
Writing leaf ambient...done
Ready to Finish

Object names       Objects/Maxobjs  Memory / Maxmem  Fullness
------------       ---------------  ---------------  --------
models                   1/1024           48/49152    ( 0.1%)
brushes               7233/8192        86796/98304    (88.3%) VERY FULL!
brushsides           47852/65536      382816/524288   (73.0%)
planes               11102/65536      222040/1310720  (16.9%)
vertexes             40608/65536      487296/786432   (62.0%)
nodes                10574/65536      338368/2097152  (16.1%)
texinfos              6776/12288      487872/884736   (55.1%)
texdata                 21/2048          672/65536    ( 1.0%)
dispinfos                0/0               0/0        ( 0.0%)
disp_verts               0/0               0/0        ( 0.0%)
disp_tris                0/0               0/0        ( 0.0%)
disp_lmsamples           0/0               0/0        ( 0.0%)
faces                26685/65536     1494360/3670016  (40.7%)
hdr faces                0/65536           0/3670016  ( 0.0%)
origfaces            18803/65536     1052968/3670016  (28.7%)
leaves               10576/65536      338432/2097152  (16.1%)
leaffaces            33831/65536       67662/131072   (51.6%)
leafbrushes          13462/65536       26924/131072   (20.5%)
areas                    2/256            16/2048     ( 0.8%)
surfedges           208836/512000     835344/2048000  (40.8%)
edges               125808/256000     503232/1024000  (49.1%)
LDR worldlights          0/8192            0/720896   ( 0.0%)
HDR worldlights          0/8192            0/720896   ( 0.0%)
leafwaterdata            0/32768           0/393216   ( 0.0%)
waterstrips           2853/32768       28530/327680   ( 8.7%)
waterverts               0/65536           0/786432   ( 0.0%)
waterindices         60000/65536      120000/131072   (91.6%) VERY FULL!
cubemapsamples           0/1024            0/16384    ( 0.0%)
overlays                 0/512             0/180224   ( 0.0%)
LDR lightdata         [variable]     8410340/0        ( 0.0%)
HDR lightdata         [variable]           0/0        ( 0.0%)
visdata               [variable]     5626070/16777216 (33.5%)
entdata               [variable]         339/393216   ( 0.1%)
LDR ambient table    10576/65536       42304/262144   (16.1%)
HDR ambient table    10576/65536       42304/262144   (16.1%)
LDR leaf ambient      5118/65536      143304/1835008  ( 7.8%)
HDR leaf ambient     10576/65536      296128/1835008  (16.1%)
occluders                0/0               0/0        ( 0.0%)
occluder polygons        0/0               0/0        ( 0.0%)
occluder vert ind        0/0               0/0        ( 0.0%)
detail props          [variable]           1/12       ( 8.3%)
static props          [variable]           1/12       ( 8.3%)
pakfile               [variable]      212435/0        ( 0.0%)
physics               [variable]     2696810/4194304  (64.3%)
physics terrain       [variable]           2/1048576  ( 0.0%)

Level flags = 0

Total triangle count: 79432
Writing c:\users\nicolas\desktop\titanic\Titanic.bsp
2 minutes, 59 seconds elapsed

** Executing...
** Command: Copy File
** Parameters: "C:\Users\Nicolas\Desktop\Titanic\Titanic.bsp" "i:\steam\steamapps\wildcard832\half-life 2\hl2\maps\Titanic.bsp"

You'll notice the waterindices are still very high, aroudn 91-93%. Odd thing is, if I add just one step to my Third Class section (see screenshot) then rather than getting this clean compile, I get the following, with a stack overflow:

[code]** Executing...
** Command: "i:\steam\steamapps\wildcard832\sourcesdk\bin\source2009\bin\vbsp.exe"
** Parameters: -game "i:\steam\steamapps\wildcard832\half-life 2\hl2" "C:\Users\Nicolas\Desktop\Titanic\Titanic.vmf"

Valve Software - vbsp.exe (Sep 15 2011)
6 threads
materialPath: i:\steam\steamapps\wildcard832\half-life 2\hl2\materials
Loading C:\Users\Nicolas\Desktop\Titanic\Titanic.vmf
ConVarRef mat_reduceparticles doesn't point to an existing ConVar
Could not locate 'GameData' key in i:\steam\steamapps\wildcard832\half-life 2\hl2\gameinfo.txt
fixing up env_cubemap materials on brush sides...
ProcessBlock_Thread: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (2)
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 (0)
Find Visible Detail Sides...
Merged 114 detail faces...done (0)
Merging details...done (0)
FixTjuncs...
PruneNodes...
WriteBSP...
done (7)
writing C:\Users\Nicolas\Desktop\Titanic\Titanic.prt...Building visibility clusters...
done (1)
Creating default LDR cubemaps for env_cubemap using skybox materials:
skybox/sky_day01_01*.vmt
! Run buildcubemaps in the engine to get the correct cube maps.
Creating default HDR cubemaps for env_cubemap using skybox materials:
skybox/sky_day01_01*.vmt
! Run buildcubemaps in the engine to get the correct cube maps.
Finding displacement neighbors...
Finding lightmap sample positions...
Displacement Alpha : 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10
Building Physics collision data...
done (1) (2697594 bytes)
Placing detail props : 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10
Compacting texture/material tables...
Reduced 12780 texinfos to 6782
Reduced 26 texdatas to 21 (624 bytes to 446)
Writing C:\Users\Nicolas\Desktop\Titanic\Titanic.bsp
16 seconds elapsed

** Executing...
** Command: "i:\steam\steamapps\wildcard832\sourcesdk\bin\source2009\bin\vvis.exe"
** Parameters: -game "i:\steam\steamapps\wildcard832\half-life 2\hl2" -fast "C:\Users\Nicolas\Desktop\Titanic\Titanic"

Valve Software - vvis.exe (Sep 15 2011)
fastvis = true
6 threads
reading c:\users\nicolas\desktop\titanic\Titanic.bsp
reading c:\users\nicolas\desktop\titanic\Titanic.prt
5118 portalclusters
13145 numportals
BasePortalVis: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (5)
Optimized: 2272468 visible clusters (0.00%)
Total clusters visible: 12931836
Average clusters visible: 2526
Building PAS.

I dont see that. Thing is, they dont show up as invalids when checking for problems.

In fact, I found two of the brushes, in staircases. Thing is, the steps are func_details. But if I turn them back to world brushes, they're fine. But back to entities, and they degenerate. Even deleting and re-creating doesnt seem to fix.

[edit]
Still on the hunt for the 8 other degenerate brushes. However I did find the cause (but not yet the solution) to the stack overflow. Deleting some staircases in the Third Class Entrance resolves the error, and then brings me back to waterindices being very full...

Dunno if its still even possible but can you still "export to map?"

That used to remove all invalids.

Finished sizing out the spiral staircases, in the game they need to be slightly bigger than on the real ship (per blue prints) due to the collision hull of the player. One thing I've noticed in the last several compile logs are the following errors:

10 degenerate faces
[...]
Stack overflow in neighbors

Im not sure what degenerate faces are, the map reports no problems, and as far as I can tell, I've had at least 8 for a very long time now.

The stack overflow is new, since the last few compiles, but Im not sure whats causing it. I thought it was the spiral staircases but I removed those and no dice. I'll have to check that some more.

Also, it seems ZHLT isnt for HL2?

There's been a lot of work done at the ship's bow now. Again the architecture isnt as simple as the upper decks at the middle of the ship. Some third class spaces here but mostly crew spaces. The firemen and trimmer sleeping areas, 54 and 24 men per room, respectively. Along with a seamen sleeping area for 44. Their respective mess halls as well as the spiral staircases which descend from D Deck down to the Tank Top to give access to the Firemen and Trimmers to the boiler rooms and coal bunkers.

Not a whole lot to see in the screenshot though. Brush count is at 7420 now. Hammer is starting to slow down a times, and has even crashed on a few occasions. Guess Valve didnt plan on maps having that many brushes in a single level. The fact that almost all brushes are 1 unit or some at 2 units doesnt help either I bet.

Cut.. Split... I dunno if those two concepts are interchangable. I do admit that parts went separate ways though. LOL

It was also cut vertically if you recall :P

Focus shifted from the stern to the bow now that the major work at the stern is complete. That is, Third and Second Classes down to G Deck as well as the Third Class entrance and stairs. Also finished some of the crew areas on C Deck below the Forecastle, and the Third Class open area below the Well Deck. Not much to easily show in screenshots but I should be able to get another Youtube out in a week or so.

With all the added staircases, the brush count went up real quick, now at 7005.

I recommend cutting it vertically. Last time it was cut horizontally, it sank.

I think it would be more fun to have it all in one giant map, but I'll cut it up if I have to for performance reasons.

Make a single player mod. You can rescue the poor folks this time and change history.

If he can't get it within the limits maybe but big maps can be cool too.