Evil Evil Slime

[CommiDan]

I am building a CTF level which takes place in 2 towers sperated by a lake of slime, but Ive run into a problem where either the whole level (outdoors part the zoning for the towers is working fine) is filling with slime or there is no slime at all & I cant figure out why, I had a mover (a boat) on the slime & thought that might have caused it (because the underside was cutting the portal sheet) but I moved it (looks like a hovercraft now, Ill fix that later) & the zone still doesnt work, I have looked up every tutorial I can find & Im sure that all the segment match up & that there are no holes & I put the water sheet down last & all that but I still have no slime (or all slime) & a useless transparent sheet. If any veteran mappers have a solution as always Im open to suggestion.

[TaoPaiPai]

First:I have to say that your level description sounds Tremendously original (towers+slime lake,hmmm..),beware of somebody stealing your idea...

about your problem ,you should completely delete the mover and rebuild.
Maybe that won't be enough.I'm afraid movers are very vicious things they sometimes have a mile-wide invisible aura that cuts through all the bsp causing strange events (like invisible opbstacles) and sometimes they can't be fixed at all.

[ChrisToth.hu]

Maybe your zoneportal doesn't completely seal the slimezone. If it's overhangin it might cause problems but if it's just the correct shape that might be messy too.

Try to:
1. delete the portal
2. rebuild
3. delete the zoneinfo
4. rebuild
5. add an extremely huge overhanging zone portal (shouldn'tt hang into other zones or zone portals!!)
try with both a solid, semis-solid and non-solid sheet (it won't block anything - sometimes it works sometimes causes BSP holes)
6. add a new slimezone
7. rebuild

[CommiDan]

Tried it & tried it again & again & again & again (see a pattern forming here) so I know that the sheet is big enough & doesn't have any holes in it

[ChrisToth.hu]

Search your level for BSP holes. They could cause problems if they are away from the zone.

If no BSP errors then open up the build options and tinker around with the BSP rebuild sliders. Try all kind of variations , they might help. But be careful if you mess up something with it then you'll get BSP holes and/or high node counts.

[Luminuis]

ok, there's a way to tell if the zone portal worked, I can't believe no one mentioned it but...Allright, make your zone portal and all, then in your 3D view switch the mode to zone/portal, it won't show anything, but then REBUILD the geomtry and there should be a diff color in the part where the slime should be and then a diff color where it shouldn't be, seperate where the lake surface would be, the move has nothing to do with it and you can add it afterwards, then while still in z/p mode click on the bottom of the lack and add your slime zone. unless the are without and with slime are the SAME color, in which case you have a hole or a place where your portal lets the two zones touch.

[ChrisToth.hu]

Yeah, but that's obvious.

We could then start our explanation like: "You know there is a program called Windows, thats an OS...."

If it turns out that he doesn't know anything about the viewmodes then alright let's explain, but would you appreciate that if I handled you as a LAMER???

[Luminuis]

no, But that's not as basic as it seems, i was just making sure, but what if he DIDN'T know it or just did know it but DIDN'T THINK OF IT.

It's possible, just think about it, I put up the simplest explanation he then needs to look *unless it works* for somewhere that connects the two zones.

[ChrisToth.hu]

Hey, okay then. Good points Gabriel.
Now CommiDan have a method to check the zoneportal.

[Luminuis]

the only way it could be better is if it told you where the ZP didn't reach. I'v had zoning problems before in the original Unreal *has been modding that for almost as long as it has been out* and I just recently upgraded to UT...I love UT...and when I was Zoning, this was my biggest problem, i'll have a tunnel *did a sewer map with somewhere near 400 zones* that I didn't think fo and it would connect the zones. but once you know it didn't work you can start looking at least

Good luck Commi, and awesome map Idea, though someone will steal it (just put lava, no slime, and it's different, with some diff textures) I feel for you, but modder that I am, I'd never do that.

[ChrisToth.hu]

What kind of place is the zoneportal in? Is it a terrain or a pit...?

[CommiDan]

alrighty I know what the zone view is & the frame view, but Im a little lost as to how the BPS cut view works & how do I check for BPS holes???

[ChrisToth.hu]

BSP holes are easy to notice.

Have you noticed surfaces which you can look through but from only one direction? Or a Hall of mirrors effect?
If yes then you have your BSP hole. (They look like black shapes on the Z/P view.)

[CommiDan]

nope I havent seen any HOMs or oneway windows or any of that & nothin black has shown up on my z/p view so I cant figure out why the little sucker wont work:(

[ChrisToth.hu]

Are the two zones completely separated. (diff color in z/p view.)

Try to put in two zone portal sheets above each other. This sound funny but might work.

BTW how did you create the zone portal/slime sheet?

[CommiDan]

used a water sheet off of special brushes

[ChrisToth.hu]

Have U tried different solidity settings?
Right click on sheet in 2d window and under solidity try all three versions. (rebuild)

[Luminuis]

solidity? that isn't it. he has a hole somewhere, the slime has to be Non-solid, or it did in Ued1, did they fix that? and try putting multiple sheets on the exact same level everywhere.

Or make a sheet the size of the entire grid. Option #2 works. Done it before.

[TaoPaiPai]

Post the map!
We'll give it a look.

[ChrisToth.hu]

Or send it in an e-mail.