Node building on big maps question

[Kyka]

Ok. So I have a map that is nearing completion, and it has 51500 sidedefs. And the nodebuilder refuses to build it. (I am using zdbsp.)

Now the weird thing is that I have another map that has 55100 sidedefs, so like 4k more sidedefs, and this map builds fine.

So my question is this. What other factors might affect the nodebuilders ability to build the nodes besides simply the number of linedefs?

Any thoughts appreciated. Thanks people.

[Creaphis]

Maybe the map you're currently working on has a much stronger trend towards sector shapes that require sidedef splitting by the nodebuilder? Unlikely, as one person's style will not vary that much from map to map. Maybe ZDBSP is choking on something else. Try other nodebuilders.

[Graf Zahl]

What error do you get?

[Super Jamie]

Have you tried ZenNode?

[Graf Zahl]

Zennode will not be able to build nodes on such large maps. They far exceed the limits of the original node format.

With >50000 sidedefs there's almost no chance that the resulting BSP will be below 64k segs. 80000 segs are a more likely outcome. ZSBSP should handle such maps just fine. It had no problems building nodes for the largest KDiZD maps which ended up with far more than 100000 segs.

[Kyka]

Creaphis said:

Maybe the map you're currently working on has a much stronger trend towards sector shapes that require sidedef splitting by the nodebuilder? Unlikely, as one person's style will not vary that much from map to map. Maybe ZDBSP is choking on something else. Try other nodebuilders.

I think this is actually one of the simpler maps in the project. Fewer tiny details, more focus on overall architecture, so that probably isn't the problem. Having tried all other nodebuilders in the past, I found that zdbsp worked the best with big maps like these.

Graf Zahl said:

What error do you get?

No particular error. It simply says "The nodebuilder did not build the required structures." or a message similar to that, but doesn't say why.

Super Jamie said:

Have you tried ZenNode?

I found that zenNode did not work so well on large maps, as Graf mentioned.

Graf Zahl said:

Zennode will not be able to build nodes on such large maps. They far exceed the limits of the original node format.

With >50000 sidedefs there's almost no chance that the resulting BSP will be below 64k segs. 80000 segs are a more likely outcome. ZSBSP should handle such maps just fine. It had no problems building nodes for the largest KDiZD maps which ended up with far more than 100000 segs.

So there is no good reason why the nodebuilder shouldn't rebuild the map nodes.

Hmmm.

If you are interested, I could send you the map to see what you make of it. Let me know, will PM you a link.

Thanks for the replies everyone.

[Graf Zahl]

Please do so. Maybe I find something.

[Graf Zahl]

Which version of ZDBSP are you using? I just rebuilt the nodes with 1.11 and the level seems to work fine.

[Kyka]

Thanks for taking a look at the maps Graf.

I don't know what version I am using, how do I check that? It is probably an older version, I have been using the same DoomBuilder for the last 18 months or so...

[hawkwind]

The current version of zdbsp is 1.13. If you have the latest DoomBuilder2, it is contained in the distro. Or you can get it from here

To get the version number , right click zdbsp.exe, click Properties,and click the Version tab.

[Kyka]

Thanks Hawkwind for explaining that. And for the link. :)

I checked, and my version says 1.8.

[Graf Zahl]

1.8 is very, very old and contains some serious bugs. You really should upgrade ZDBSP.

But good to see this resolved.

[Kyka]

I am glad that a newer version of zdbsp will remove this nodebuilding limit that I have run into. I had some ideas for this map that I was going to drop in order to save some linedefs, but now I won't have to. Yay.

Thanks heaps everyone for the help/info.