Compiling Errors...

[Terin]

I edited the geometry of a level of mine, exported a .ass file with BlueStreak, and tried to compile it. It comes up with this error:


couldn't parse definition #1
couldn't parse file c:\program files\microsoft games\halo 2 map editor\data\scenarios\multi\mylevel\structure\myle vel.ass

#ERROR structure import pipeline failed for scenarios\multi\mylevel\mylevel

How can I fix this?

[et_cg]

Make sure you have a couple things on a checklist while troubleshooting;


Did you link your geometry to an object named: b_levelroot ?I cant really think of much else I'd add to that.

[Terin]

Nope. Was already linked, I tried unlinking and relinking and it didn't do anything.

[fletcher77]

c:\program files\microsoft games\halo 2 map editor\data\scenarios\multi\mylevel\structure\vel. ass

the folder has to be the same name as the ass.
Change it to
c:\program files\microsoft games\halo 2 map editor\data\scenarios\multi\vel\structure\vel.ass
and don't put spaces in the name! you can make the name longer then just vel.

[Terin]

There are no spaces in the name. The quote box did that.

[fletcher77]

There are no spaces in the name. The quote box did that.
Just make sure the folder is the same name as your ass file. IN RED

c:\program files\microsoft games\halo 2 map editor\data\scenarios\multi\vel\structure\vel.ass

[Terin]

http://img297.imageshack.us/img297/1443/patherrorct4.png

There are no path errors. I even exported another .ass file in a new path, and it came up with the same error. It's a problem with the .ass file. Should I post my max file, in case there's a problem with that?

[FireScythe]

Just make sure the folder is the same name as your ass file. IN RED

c:\program files\microsoft games\halo 2 map editor\data\scenarios\multi\vel\structure\vel.ass

The parts you highlighted in red have absolutely no relation to each other, I regularly call my .ass files "bsp" while in "multi\mylvl\structure".

It may be worthwhile deleting your .scenario, .ass, and any other files related to your level and re exporting from scratch.

[TheGhost]

I doubt there is a problem with the exporter, but could you open up the ASS file and post the first ~20 lines please? Thanks.

[fletcher77]

The parts you highlighted in red have absolutely no relation to each other, I regularly call my .ass files "bsp" while in "multi\mylvl\structure".

It may be worthwhile deleting your .scenario, .ass, and any other files related to your level and re exporting from scratch.
if you have more then one ass file in the mylvl\structure it was causing the error for me.
Make sure that it is linked right. the box to the b_levelroot not the other way around.

[TheGhost]

That's not the problem, fletcher. Tool can't parse the file correctly, so it probably has nothing to do with the actual data in the file. If it were he would probably get something like "geometry has no root node" or something similar. It's saying it physically cannot parse or READ the data from said file. This usually happens when tool is looking in the wrong directory or for the wrong file.

[Terin]

For some reason, the listener does not write anything after I export it.

I'll try redoing it from scratch, and see if that does anything.

EDIT: Deleting the data and tags folders changed nothing. I got the same error.

[FireScythe]

TheGhost means open the .ass file in notepad and post the first 20 or so lines.:)

[Terin]

;### HEADER ###
2
"MAX"
"9.0"
"accountname"
"computername"

;### MATERIALS ###
2

;MATERIAL 0
"f_im flat_light_scratchy"
""

;MATERIAL 1
"+sky"
""

;### OBJECTS ###
2

;OBJECT 0 - 'b_levelroot'
"SPHERE"
""
""
-1
554.3020000000

;OBJECT 1 - 'Box01'
"MESH"
""
""

[Evil_Dude]

Does tool say anything other than what you said in your first post? I had a similar error message (http://www.h2vista.net/forums/showthread.php?t=4628) not too long ago.

[Terin]

Yes, that's my error message, except it says definition #1, not #5. That might make a difference, maybe not. I guess I better dig through my max file.

What do I do to fix it? Find invisible faces and delete them?

[Evil_Dude]

There are certain things that cause them.
Don't use the cap function on editable polys' borders.
Don't extrude or chamfer edges that only border one edge.
Stuff like that.
The way i found mine was to start with definition #1 (which, in your case, is the object named "Box01") and start detaching groups of faces into their own objects, attaching them to b_levelroot, recompiling, and seeing which definition causes the problem. Once you have the area narrowed down far enough, nuke the whole area and start over, this time using different modeling techniques. It's a painful process and it took me a long time to figure out, but I don't know of anything else. Maybe if I learned to script 3ds max and make something to search all faces and take out the ones with invalid normals...

[Terin]

Alright, I took out an entire base and there error is gone. Good thing I cloned it before. Thanks for the help, Evil_Dude.