zero area child patch problem

I searched for this and found a thread and followed all of the advice given, but to no avail.

I only have 2 lines that say "zero area child patch" after compiling, and I have selected the entire square that the map lies inside, and deselected every single brush, including entity brushes, with the entity vis group turned off. Still have found nothing.

He stated it was a 0x0x0 shape or something, but I have found none of those.

Here is my compile log. I have a couple other problems but I don't think those are related and slow down fps very much:

** Executing...
** Command: "c:\program files\valve\steam\steamapps\dj_arendee\sourcesdk\bin\vbsp.exe"
** Parameters: -game "c:\program files\valve\steam\steamapps\dj_arendee\half-life 2\hl2" "C:\Program Files\Valve\Steam\SteamApps\dj_arendee\half-life 2\hl2\maps\findthezero"

Valve Software - vbsp.exe (Jan 19 2005)
1 threads
materialPath: c:\program files\valve\steam\steamapps\dj_arendee\half-life 2\hl2\materials
Loading C:\Program Files\Valve\Steam\SteamApps\dj_arendee\half-life 2\hl2\maps\findthezero.vmf
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 (2)
Processing areas...done (0)
Building Faces...done (1)
Chop Details...done (0)
Find Visible Detail Sides...
Merged 530 detail faces...done (0)
Merging details...done (1)
FixTjuncs...
PruneNodes...
WriteBSP...
done (2)
writing C:\Program Files\Valve\Steam\SteamApps\dj_arendee\half-life 2\hl2\maps\findthezero.prt...done (0)
[color=white]WARNING: node without a volume
WARNING: node without a volume
[/color]Creating default cubemaps for env_cubemap using skybox sky_day03_06...
Run buildcubemaps in the engine to get the correct cube maps.
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 (14) (4393784 bytes)
Emitting linux collision data (use -nolinuxdata to disable).
Building Physics collision data...
done (4) (6098808 bytes)
Placing detail props : 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10
Writing C:\Program Files\Valve\Steam\SteamApps\dj_arendee\half-life 2\hl2\maps\findthezero.bsp
56 seconds elapsed
Memory leak: mempool blocks left in memory: 48
Memory leak: mempool blocks left in memory: 6

** Executing...
** Command: "c:\program files\valve\steam\steamapps\dj_arendee\sourcesdk\bin\vvis.exe"
** Parameters: -game "c:\program files\valve\steam\steamapps\dj_arendee\half-life 2\hl2" -fast "C:\Program Files\Valve\Steam\SteamApps\dj_arendee\half-life 2\hl2\maps\findthezero"

Valve Software - vvis.exe (Dec 15 2004)
fastvis = true
1 threads
reading c:\program files\valve\steam\steamapps\dj_arendee\half-life 2\hl2\maps\findthezero.bsp
reading c:\program files\valve\steam\steamapps\dj_arendee\half-life 2\hl2\maps\findthezero.prt
1088 portalclusters
3236 numportals
BasePortalVis: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (12)
Optimized: 20284 visible clusters (0.00%)
Total clusters visible: 421186
Average clusters visible: 387
Building PAS...
Average clusters audible: 965
visdatasize:223751 compressed from 295936
writing c:\program files\valve\steam\steamapps\dj_arendee\half-life 2\hl2\maps\findthezero.bsp
15 seconds elapsed

** Executing...
** Command: "c:\program files\valve\steam\steamapps\dj_arendee\sourcesdk\bin\vrad.exe"
** Parameters: -game "c:\program files\valve\steam\steamapps\dj_arendee\half-life 2\hl2" -noextra "C:\Program Files\Valve\Steam\SteamApps\dj_arendee\half-life 2\hl2\maps\findthezero"

Valve Software - vrad.exe (Mar 8 2005)
----- Radiosity Simulator ----
1 threads
[Reading texlights from 'lights.rad']
[45 texlights parsed from 'lights.rad']

Loading c:\program files\valve\steam\steamapps\dj_arendee\half-life 2\hl2\maps\findthezero.bsp
9461 faces
2 degenerate faces
5630092 square feet [810733312.00 square inches]
447 displacements
5736 square feet [826012.38 square inches]
9459 patches before subdivision
zero area child patch
zero area child patch
147053 patches after subdivision
739 direct lights
BuildFacelights: 0
** Executing...
** Command: Copy File
** Parameters: "C:\Program Files\Valve\Steam\SteamApps\dj_arendee\half-life 2\hl2\maps\findthezero.bsp" "c:\program files\valve\steam\steamapps\dj_arendee\half-life 2\hl2\maps\findthezero.bsp"

---

I made a new save file called find the zero just so i could find it. I was thinking the zero area child patch could be what is slowing down my map's fps.

I have marked in green the other problems that Did not affect the zero area child patch problem after I compiled without those vis-groups. I think the "multiple displacement abutting other edges" problem was the fact that I made a statue out of displacements. No harm done there, the statues have been checked everywhere and do not affect framerate or anything else. The "node without a volume" has been there since the beginning and I have no idea what that is, ill look it up in a minute.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Straight from interlopers error page:

zero area child patch

A solid in your level has a face with no area. My guess is that VRAD is trying to create a lightmap for a face that doesn't exist. Maybe you have an invalid brush? First check hammers problemchecker (alt+p in hammer). If that doesn't help, find the brushes using the cordon tool or visgroups. Or, do what www.snarkpit.net suggested, find the offending face with a text-editor...

hmm, text editor? What is that? sounds interesting.

I need help. I have tried placing an enormous hollow brush around my map to see if it would help. And depending on how large or where I stretch the brush, it changes the number of times it says "zero area child patch"

I have tried looking for a brush with no area on a face but i have not found anything. I have turned off all vis groups leaving only the bsp brushes behind, then deleted all unneccesary bsp's that were left, and still I have the problem.

At one point when I turned off all vis groups and had no entities, it gave me a leak error, so I went to the location of the leak and it took me out somewhere in the middle of nowhere with no brushes whatsoever even when I tried drag-selecting them.

please help

Leaks are found using pointfiles, and they're very useful. Map >> Load pointfile. (If I remember right, that's the path).
That will tell you about any leaks from the previous compile. The only bad part is you have to compile again to check for new leaks.

Do that, then try looking in the problem manager thing to find the brush causing the other problems.

If that doesn't work, you can always search the map (by loading the VMF into notepad or something like that) for a size that is 0x0x0. It'll find it. Just make sure you mimic the format in the file.

I hope that at least points you in the right direction.
Also, always fix leaks instead of enclosing the entire map in a box. The box doesn't solve the problem, it just makes new areas to render.

---

Blame it on Microsoft, God does.

Ok thanks, but it wouldn't let me load the pointfile until i placed an entity into the map, when I did so the leak was gone. (which i guess is normal?) Also, I will look through the text editor, but there are so many brushes that it will be difficult. And I don't think its going to come out 0x0x0, i think it'll probably come out as teh same coordinate, like (654,500,-58)(654,500,-58)(654,500,-58)

i'll look around but if anyone has any tips on how to speed up the notepad process let me know.

I think your problem may have been that you had no entities in the map... youre not really supposed to compile a map with no entities.

---

"If you talk at all during this lesson, you have detention. Do you understand?"

• My yr11 Economics teacher