Hey all! started having an issue with running a BSP for My hl2 maps after a steam update yesterday. The issue is it pretends to run the maps, and finishes like normal. But when I go to test the map, it is a previous version of said map. I even tried renaming it, and saving it, then running it as the new name, but hammer errors out because it can't find the corresponding BSP file.?.? I even saved the bulk of My map as a preset, and created a new map, then inserted it into the new map to run it, and it worked once, but went back to not creating a new bsps after that. Why does hammer now need to have an existing bsp file, to make a bsp file??? I've renamed maps different things before without a problem, but now it's an issue. Why is steam updating/messing with an 11 year old game anyway?? BTW, Here are a few pics of the last render of said map.

Do you have your compile log?

I found the issue I was having, and fixed it. (I had forgot to unselect a few brushes when I was moving one on the other side of the map, and really skewed out) But then after I deleted it, I encountered a new issue after adding some stairs, and other things. Now the map just crashes when I try to play it. Grrrr.

Here's the compile log for the last render attempt after I removed some of the brushes I added, but it still crashes. The only thing left that I added was the stairs. But they were made with the arch primitive tool, so I doubt it would cause a crash.

** Executing...
** Command: "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\Half-Life 2\bin\vbsp.exe"
** Parameters: -game "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\Half-Life 2\hl2" "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\sourcesdk_content\hl2\mapsrc\keep001cat.vmf"

Valve Software - vbsp.exe (Sep 20 2013)
1 threads
materialPath: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\Half-Life 2\hl2\materials
Loading C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\sourcesdk_content\hl2\mapsrc\keep001cat.vmf
Could not locate 'GameData' key in c:\program files (x86)\steam\steamapps\common\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 (12)
ProcessBlock_Thread: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (11)
Processing areas...done (0)
Building Faces...done (1)
FixTjuncs...
PruneNodes...
WriteBSP...
done (1)
writing C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\sourcesdk_content\hl2\mapsrc\keep001cat.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 (3) (672184 bytes)
Placing detail props : 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10
Compacting texture/material tables...
Reduced 2450 texinfos to 2060
Reduced 28 texdatas to 26 (816 bytes to 706)
Writing C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\sourcesdk_content\hl2\mapsrc\keep001cat.bsp
29 seconds elapsed

** Executing...
** Command: "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\Half-Life 2\bin\vvis.exe"
** Parameters: -game "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\Half-Life 2\hl2" -fast "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\sourcesdk_content\hl2\mapsrc\keep001cat"

Valve Software - vvis.exe (Sep 20 2013)
fastvis = true
1 threads
reading c:\program files (x86)\steam\steamapps\common\sourcesdk_content\hl2\mapsrc\keep001cat.bsp
reading c:\program files (x86)\steam\steamapps\common\sourcesdk_content\hl2\mapsrc\keep001cat.prt
6478 portalclusters
25053 numportals
BasePortalVis: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (226)
Optimized: 1965777 visible clusters (5.41%)
Total clusters visible: 36336766
Average clusters visible: 5609
Building PAS...
Average clusters audible: 6477
visdatasize:10224769 compressed from 10572096
writing c:\program files (x86)\steam\steamapps\common\sourcesdk_content\hl2\mapsrc\keep001cat.bsp
4 minutes, 8 seconds elapsed

** Executing...
** Command: "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\Half-Life 2\bin\vrad.exe"
** Parameters: -game "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\Half-Life 2\hl2" "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\sourcesdk_content\hl2\mapsrc\keep001cat"

Valve Software - vrad.exe SSE (Sep 20 2013)

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

Loading c:\program files (x86)\steam\steamapps\common\sourcesdk_content\hl2\mapsrc\keep001cat.bsp
Setting up ray-trace acceleration structure... Done (2.66 seconds)
19354 faces
36 degenerate faces
4552413 square feet [655547520.00 square inches]
0 Displacements
0 Square Feet [0.00 Square Inches]
19318 patches before subdivision
zero area child patch
zero area child patch
zero area child patch
285310 patches after subdivision
20 direct lights
BuildFacelights: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (136)
BuildVisLeafs: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (1001)
transfers 83647174, max 3968
transfer lists: 638.2 megs
GatherLight: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (5)
Bounce #1 added RGB(182633, 186007, 178328)
GatherLight: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (6)
Bounce #2 added RGB(45962, 42157, 35386)
GatherLight: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (5)
Bounce #3 added RGB(15260, 12683, 9754)
GatherLight: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (5)
Bounce #4 added RGB(5451, 4144, 2910)
GatherLight: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (6)
Bounce #5 added RGB(2050, 1426, 913)
GatherLight: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (5)
Bounce #6 added RGB(783, 496, 289)
GatherLight: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (5)
Bounce #7 added RGB(303, 175, 92)
GatherLight: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (6)
Bounce #8 added RGB(118, 62, 29)
GatherLight: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (5)
Bounce #9 added RGB(47, 22, 9)
GatherLight: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (5)
Bounce #10 added RGB(18, 8, 3)
GatherLight: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (5)
Bounce #11 added RGB(7, 3, 1)
GatherLight: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (5)
Bounce #12 added RGB(3, 1, 0)
GatherLight: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (6)
Bounce #13 added RGB(1, 0, 0)
GatherLight: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (5)
Bounce #14 added RGB(0, 0, 0)
Build Patch/Sample Hash Table(s).....Done<0.2559 sec>
FinalLightFace: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (48)
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 (77)
Writing leaf ambient...done
Ready to Finish

Object names Objects/Maxobjs Memory / Maxmem Fullness
------------ --------------- --------------- --------
models 19/1024 912/49152 ( 1.9%)
brushes 1585/8192 19020/98304 (19.3%)
brushsides 18028/65536 144224/524288 (27.5%)
planes 22814/65536 456280/1310720 (34.8%)
vertexes 28410/65536 340920/786432 (43.4%)
nodes 12114/65536 387648/2097152 (18.5%)
texinfos 2060/12288 148320/884736 (16.8%)
texdata 26/2048 832/65536 ( 1.3%)
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 19354/65536 1083824/3670016 (29.5%)
hdr faces 0/65536 0/3670016 ( 0.0%)
origfaces 7546/65536 422576/3670016 (11.5%)
leaves 12134/65536 388288/2097152 (18.5%)
leaffaces 21945/65536 43890/131072 (33.5%)
leafbrushes 9258/65536 18516/131072 (14.1%)
areas 2/256 16/2048 ( 0.8%)
surfedges 127511/512000 510044/2048000 (24.9%)
edges 67166/256000 268664/1024000 (26.2%)
LDR worldlights 20/8192 1760/720896 ( 0.2%)
HDR worldlights 0/8192 0/720896 ( 0.0%)
leafwaterdata 1/32768 12/393216 ( 0.0%)
waterstrips 2186/32768 21860/327680 ( 6.7%)
waterverts 0/65536 0/786432 ( 0.0%)
waterindices 35091/65536 70182/131072 (53.5%)
cubemapsamples 1/1024 16/16384 ( 0.1%)
overlays 0/512 0/180224 ( 0.0%)
LDR lightdata [variable] 23991528/0 ( 0.0%)
HDR lightdata [variable] 0/0 ( 0.0%)
visdata [variable] 10224769/16777216 (60.9%)
entdata [variable] 49034/393216 (12.5%)
LDR ambient table 12134/65536 48536/262144 (18.5%)
HDR ambient table 12134/65536 48536/262144 (18.5%)
LDR leaf ambient 40747/65536 1140916/1835008 (62.2%)
HDR leaf ambient 12134/65536 339752/1835008 (18.5%)
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] 1/2226 ( 0.0%)
pakfile [variable] 212077/0 ( 0.0%)
physics [variable] 672184/4194304 (16.0%)
physics terrain [variable] 2/1048576 ( 0.0%)

Level flags = 0

Total triangle count: 57346
Writing c:\program files (x86)\steam\steamapps\common\sourcesdk_content\hl2\mapsrc\keep001cat.bsp
22 minutes, 21 seconds elapsed

** Executing...
** Command: Copy File
** Parameters: "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\sourcesdk_content\hl2\mapsrc\keep001cat.bsp" "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\Half-Life 2\hl2\maps\keep001cat.bsp"

I notice in the images you have a lot of spiral stairs. From what I remember the source engine has a lot problems with these types of brushes.

Try removing them and see if the crash continues. If it doesn't, try making the stairs with less steps.

Also bare in mind, if you plan on having AI in the map, you will run into issues with nav meshing on spiral stairs.

Ahhh that makes sense.
I made them 4 units high, and 4 units apart.
Not sure if players can climb them if I make them further apart.
I'm planning on having it as a multiplayer team death-match/castle-siege.kinda thing.. Maybe port it into Might & Magic- Dark Messiah multiplayer eventually. I'll try and lessen the # of steps, and see if the can still be climbed