sprites showing through world geometry

o.k., Ive been at this for some time, searching for specific help, and I've come to the conclusion that im just gonna have to post it,....

My sprites will render every which way except for the right way. I set my render mode to "additive" and they show in-game but your able to see them from across the map, and THROUGH geometry. I set their rendermode to "world space glow", and they dont appear at all. I even copy sprites from Valve maps and try to compile those, and they either dont show, or show through walls. I' set their FX from default to 100, and no change. they look good with "additive" enabled, but they just appear through all geometry. Im just having all kind of problems with these sprites! May someone please explain to me why their doing this, and how to resolve it?

• post your compile log.
• try and set your sprites to glow.
• set the alpha to 120 or so, this is done in the render fx box (i think)

I bet its a leak, though I've never had that problem.

well, heres my compile log:

fixing up env_cubemap materials on brush sides...
ProcessBlock_Thread: 0...1...2...3...4...5..Brush 419081: WARNING, microbrush
Brush 419100: WARNING, microbrush
Brush 419115: WARNING, microbrush
Brush 419065: WARNING, microbrush
Brush 411080: WARNING, microbrush
Brush 408136: WARNING, microbrush
.6...7...8...9...10 (3)
**** leaked ****
Entity light (265.68 1233.35 -18.28) leaked!

FindPortalSide: Couldn't find a good match for which brush to assign to a portal near (3396.0, -3072.0, -762.5)
Leaf 0 contents:
Leaf 1 contents: CONTENTS_SOLID
viscontents (node 0 contents ^ node 1 contents): CONTENTS_SOLID
This means that none of the brushes in leaf 0 or 1 that touches the portal has CONTENTS_SOLID
Check for a huge brush enclosing the coordinates above that has contents CONTENTS_SOLID
Candidate brush IDs:

FindPortalSide: Couldn't find a good match for which brush to assign to a portal near (3396.0, -3072.0, -83.0)
Leaf 0 contents:
Leaf 1 contents: CONTENTS_SOLID
viscontents (node 0 contents ^ node 1 contents): CONTENTS_SOLID
This means that none of the brushes in leaf 0 or 1 that touches the portal has CONTENTS_SOLID
Check for a huge brush enclosing the coordinates above that has contents CONTENTS_SOLID
Candidate brush IDs:

FindPortalSide: Couldn't find a good match for which brush to assign to a portal near (3396.0, -3072.0, 57.0)
Leaf 0 contents:
Leaf 1 contents: CONTENTS_SOLID
viscontents (node 0 contents ^ node 1 contents): CONTENTS_SOLID
This means that none of the brushes in leaf 0 or 1 that touches the portal has CONTENTS_SOLID
Check for a huge brush enclosing the coordinates above that has contents CONTENTS_SOLID
Candidate brush IDs:

FindPortalSide: Couldn't find a good match for which brush to assign to a portal near (3396.0, -3072.0, 116.5)
Leaf 0 contents:
Leaf 1 contents: CONTENTS_SOLID
viscontents (node 0 contents ^ node 1 contents): CONTENTS_SOLID
This means that none of the brushes in leaf 0 or 1 that touches the portal has CONTENTS_SOLID
Check for a huge brush enclosing the coordinates above that has contents CONTENTS_SOLID
Candidate brush IDs:

FindPortalSide: Couldn't find a good match for which brush to assign to a portal near (3396.0, -3072.0, 246.0)
Leaf 0 contents:
Leaf 1 contents: CONTENTS_SOLID
viscontents (node 0 contents ^ node 1 contents): CONTENTS_SOLID
This means that none of the brushes in leaf 0 or 1 that touches the portal has CONTENTS_SOLID
Check for a huge brush enclosing the coordinates above that has contents CONTENTS_SOLID
Candidate brush IDs:

FindPortalSide: Couldn't find a good match for which brush to assign to a portal near (3396.0, -3072.0, 378.5)
Leaf 0 contents:
Leaf 1 contents: CONTENTS_SOLID
viscontents (node 0 contents ^ node 1 contents): CONTENTS_SOLID
This means that none of the brushes in leaf 0 or 1 that touches the portal has CONTENTS_SOLID
Check for a huge brush enclosing the coordinates above that has contents CONTENTS_SOLID
Candidate brush IDs:

FindPortalSide: Couldn't find a good match for which brush to assign to a portal near (3396.0, -3072.0, 661.0)
Leaf 0 contents:
Leaf 1 contents: CONTENTS_SOLID
viscontents (node 0 contents ^ node 1 contents): CONTENTS_SOLID
This means that none of the brushes in leaf 0 or 1 that touches the portal has CONTENTS_SOLID
Check for a huge brush enclosing the coordinates above that has contents CONTENTS_SOLID
Candidate brush IDs:

FindPortalSide: Couldn't find a good match for which brush to assign to a portal near (3908.0, -3072.0, -762.5)
Leaf 0 contents:
Leaf 1 contents: CONTENTS_SOLID
viscontents (node 0 contents ^ node 1 contents): CONTENTS_SOLID
This means that none of the brushes in leaf 0 or 1 that touches the portal has CONTENTS_SOLID
Check for a huge brush enclosing the coordinates above that has contents CONTENTS_SOLID
Candidate brush IDs:

*** Suppressing further FindPortalSide errors.... ***
Processing areas...done (0)
Building Faces...done (0)
Chop Details...done (0)
Find Visible Detail Sides...
Merged 148 detail faces...done (0)
Merging details...done (0)
FixTjuncs...
PruneNodes...
WriteBSP...
done (1)
Creating default cubemaps for env_cubemap using skybox sky_day03_03...
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......1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10
Building Physics collision data...
done (2) (777239 bytes)
Emitting linux collision data (use -nolinuxdata to disable).
Building Physics collision data...
done (1) (1068437 bytes)
Error! To use model "models/props_building_details/building_tem002_window01_bars.mdl"
with prop_static, it must be compiled with $staticprop!
Error loading studio model "models/props_building_details/building_tem002_window01_bars.mdl"!
Placing detail props : 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10
Writing C:\Program Files\Steam\SteamApps\lancon@cox-internet.com\sourcesdk_content\hl2mp\mapsrc\dm_closequarters.bsp
40 seconds elapsed
Memory leak: mempool blocks left in memory: 48
Memory leak: mempool blocks left in memory: 13

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

No vis information, direct lighting only.
8667 faces
18 degenerate faces
884209 square feet [127326224.00 square inches]
9 displacements
7201 square feet [1036965.56 square inches]
166 direct lights
BuildFacelights: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (1039)
Build Patch/Sample Hash Table(s).....Done<0.0499 sec>
FinalLightFace: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (1)
FinalLightFace Done
Ready to Finish
0 of 1 (0% of) surface lights went in leaf ambient cubes.
ComputePerLeafAmbientLighting: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10

Object names Objects/Maxobjs Memory / Maxmem Fullness
------------ --------------- --------------- --------
models 53/1024 2544/49152 ( 5.2%)
brushes 1831/8192 21972/98304 (22.4%)
brushsides 13830/65536 110640/524288 (21.1%)
planes 8532/65536 170640/1310720 (13.0%)
vertexes 16293/65536 195516/786432 (24.9%)
nodes 9615/65536 307680/2097152 (14.7%)
texinfos 4186/12288 301392/884736 (34.1%)
texdata 986/2048 31552/65536 (48.1%)
dispinfos 9/0 1584/0 ( 0.0%)
disp_verts 1145/0 22900/0 ( 0.0%)
disp_tris 1920/0 3840/0 ( 0.0%)
disp_lmsamples 8921/0 8921/0 ( 0.0%)
faces 8667/65536 485352/3670016 (13.2%)
origfaces 4301/65536 240856/3670016 ( 6.6%)
leaves 9669/65536 541464/3670016 (14.8%)
leaffaces 11490/65536 22980/131072 (17.5%)
leafbrushes 10206/65536 20412/131072 (15.6%)
surfedges 59702/512000 238808/2048000 (11.7%)
edges 35844/256000 143376/1024000 (14.0%)
worldlights 165/8192 14520/720896 ( 2.0%)
waterstrips 1165/32768 11650/327680 ( 3.6%)
waterverts 0/65536 0/786432 ( 0.0%)
waterindices 19629/65536 39258/131072 (30.0%)
cubemapsamples 185/1024 2960/16384 (18.1%)
overlays 31/512 10912/180224 ( 6.1%)
lightdata [variable] 2945596/0 ( 0.0%)
visdata [variable] 0/16777216 ( 0.0%)
entdata [variable] 147413/393216 (37.5%)
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] 1/31284 ( 0.0%)
pakfile [variable] 1857139/0 ( 0.0%)

Win32 Specific Data:
physics [variable] 777239/4194304 (18.5%)

Total Win32 BSP file data space used: 8679118 bytes

Linux Specific Data:
physicssurface [variable] 1068437/6291456 (17.0%)

Total Linux BSP file data space used: 8970316 bytes

Total triangle count: 25063
Writing c:\program files\steam\steamapps\name\sourcesdk_content\hl2mp\mapsrc\dm_closequarters.bsp
17 minutes, 28 seconds elapsed

** Executing...
** Command: Copy File

-----There isnt a problem now, i dont believe,....I have copied yet another sprite form a valve map into mine, and now it works, not sure why, but it does, and i dont believe I have any leaks.... I've checked. I set the sprites to glow, but you can only see them from afar, and very, VERY faintly, but they are there. The sprite that i insterted from a Valve map worked like it was supposed to. i dont believe that the alpha is changed through the render fx mode, i usually leave that to normal,..but then again that may be the problem, lol,....so thanks anyway...

Riven said:
-----There isnt a problem now, i dont believe,......

I see s**tloads of them.

micro brushes used to cause leaks, i assume they still do.

i may not be reading this thread correctly, but i can assure you that compile logs do not report errors that should be totally ignored.

fix the errors, then when they are gone, tell us if your other problems went away.

First off, get rid of the microbrushes. CTRL+SHIFT+G I think, then paste the brush number, and delete it.

Fix the leak. Load>Pointfile and follow the red line, patch the hole.

Findportalside stuff, look around the Snarkpit and there should be a
page about it, I can't find it at the moment. EDIT:
Voila,
the link.

Can't load the model window01_bars.mdl, change the prop_* type.

You do have some errors, but the big thing is the leak and
microbrushes. Leaks are the biggest pains in the ass, and cause
tons of things to go wrong.

oh, gee thank you,....i have been having these problems lately like that, i wouldnt think microbrushes would have that kind of effect on lighting. I would get these pitch black brushes and others would fade appear on one side and see through on the other. as far as the window prop goes, i forgot to delete that, this map is still in the building process, i have gone through and optimized it somewhat, but i was gonna figure the leak part out later, and fix it then, but i thank you for answering all those questions fairly simply, thank you!

I love the SnarkPit!

And you need to run VVIS before VRAD.

You would think the terms: "Brush 419100: WARNING, microbrush" would catch a person's eye right off the bat.

Just be lucky you aren't mapping for Half LIfe 1, cause finding a leak there is a major pain in the a**.

As the other guys say you need to pay attention to the compile log and fix any issues it reports - that's what the compile log is there for. In the case of your sprites being visible through geometry, though, the leaks etc may not have been the problem.

Materials which have the "ignorez" attribute set to 1 in its material vmt file are rendered in front of everything else - if the sprite is on the other side of a wall, it will still be rendered in front of that wall. Unknowningly you probably set your sprite to use one of these materials (typically, materials with the _noz suffix have this "ignorez" attribute set to 1).