Disappearing Portal Cells Intersecting Sphere Errors

LarryG on 17/11/2010 at 00:50

I've been studiously ignoring these errors since they go away on the second optimization step of a complete processing (see below) and nothing bad ever happens at the indicated locations, despite my trying to make something bad happen there. Should I do something about them? Is this something a blocking brush will correct?

Code:

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Portalized......let's light, eh? (type 10)
ObjAnimLightLevel starting out...719.3111.1540.875.455.238.3108.2810.3429.126.345.1478.583.1537.1695.337.723.1578.1538.710.228.2438.779.2096.404.1163.1545.2906.677.869.2033.1976.37.206.335.764.1112.1683.1519.2023.348.1273.1551.1415.505.2037.2406.2015.3274.800.1463.560.1125.2794.2387.794.1356.465.354.2032.2904.1787.860.1495.1900.1282.785.443.1251.2441.2035.617.2758.3294.1363.806.3405.477.130.2782.836.1292.309.823.3396.186.549.797.2791.2456.191.989.2820.809.2825.2034.2846.428.1360.1549.2025.2029.340.2058.750.782.1138.192.886.296.2582.2379.703.2760.449.180.1475.1791.1357.1416.3431.1229.225.3153.507.343.1591.476.904.3417.2824.1543.854.133.3114.746.1790.3238.20.2048.351.717.336.1786.2468.1547.2089.1580.401.2475.452.739.1346.1291.742.131.2987.870.980.166.3034.820.791.1359.1076.1691.1352.18.1544.399.3422.1278.729.1394.2041.755.871.3156.210.1361.344.2030.1134.702.1689.3124.176.1140.803.773.403.2024.36.1796.1696.2038.839.679.2297.412.2298.2433.1120.815.761.1536.2031.440.1355.515.2838.227.158.1541.1141.722.1539.405.3372.2306.3226.1347.731.1312.1487.2804.1358.2849.734.1794.3110.2424.3352.390.1294.1542.402.3147.2982.1765.711.243.2049.473.1437.1546.3375.767.712.581.2036.748.1522.3109.2013.3433.681.1793.994.758.1198.1798.136.835.207.1468.1127.1471.430.1362.2026.1129.3145.342.162.1516.360.444.1264.861.770.1136.1132.466.1458.525.1117.788.2296.329.1901.3158.3425.3401.714.2505.812.1674.2186.1345.1067.3113.776.211.461.2449.704.339.1323.3275.1073.1902.1484.1026.876.2344.1313.379.736.11.1693.311.1521.346.3301.419.2420.458.
328 of 328 anim lights reached surfaces

ObjLightLightLevel starting out...2454.1337.1250.904.1381.1762.2026.339.1975.1211.1760.1228.2040.2296.875.1378.1478.1212.1737.1330.2033.1380.238.2432.3098.684.1743.1475.1336.1335.1293.1205.1587.152.2977.1893.343.2974.2430.2463.2440.1749.886.199.1902.1758.679.1025.1204.2019.1383.681.2186.1468.336.1755.1219.1766.476.2966.1331.1757.1735.1428.1753.1458.340.1820.1759.3401.1586.1377.2018.2037.2983.1771.1376.920.1588.1738.1595.198.1674.1584.1305.1216.337.1223.1772.2466.345.1384.2024.2968.1222.1375.1750.2038.2020.418.1773.427.1484.2088.1329.3121.1209.2305.3105.3102.1028.2437.3115.1307.1983.1808.1596.2970.1776.1310.914.2849.1495.346.2961.1769.1708.1784.1863.1379.1764.946.2980.3352.2049.1594.2032.959.1739.1736.892.420.1326.1980.1900.728.1798.985.2023.915.1333.893.1981.664.2504.1487.243.2012.1754.919.3096.1778.1338.344.2582.1325.1589.2031.2035.1145.1334.1203.1306.1741.1208.2494.898.1597.535.908.903.1593.1752.1744.2025.1061.2759.675.1783.2422.1782.1901.1988.1225.1327.1767.1761.2048.231.2034.2011.1768.1742.3396.1984.3405.1309.1308.1756.1779.895.1041.1987.1734.871.1777.1471.342.3112.1328.1780.2029.421.1763.1382.1774.296.2036.225.1740.1751.1585.1229.1332.650.1137.1221.1770.1220.2030.2443.1207.1590.2017.2756.
245 of 245 object lights reached surfaces
...we inserted 613 lights
including 245 regular from objects, 328 animated
portal_cells_intersecting_sphere: too many cells @ (530. 447. 502.5)
portal_cells_intersecting_sphere: too many cells @ (544.75 433. 490.)
portal_cells_intersecting_sphere: too many cells @ (543. 435. 457.)
portal_cells_intersecting_sphere: too many cells @ (515. 435.25 457.)
portal_cells_intersecting_sphere: too many cells @ (491. 447. 446.5)
portal_cells_intersecting_sphere: too many cells @ (496. 447. 446.5)
portal_cells_intersecting_sphere: too many cells @ (554. 447. 439.)
portal_cells_intersecting_sphere: too many cells @ (574. 718. 454.5)
portal_cells_intersecting_sphere: too many cells @ (505. 447. 442.)
portal_cells_intersecting_sphere: too many cells @ (522. 447. 439.)
portal_cells_intersecting_sphere: too many cells @ (526. 444.5 477.)
All future level builds will be "optimized", until you disable 'optimize_bsp'
Rerun 'optimize' for a fully optimized one.
...let's light, eh? (type 10)
ObjAnimLightLevel starting out...719.3111.1540.875.455.238.3108.2810.3429.126.345.1478.583.1537.1695.337.723.1578.1538.710.228.2438.779.2096.404.1163.1545.2906.677.869.2033.1976.37.206.335.764.1112.1683.1519.2023.348.1273.1551.1415.505.2037.2406.2015.3274.800.1463.560.1125.2794.2387.794.1356.465.354.2032.2904.1787.860.1495.1900.1282.785.443.1251.2441.2035.617.2758.3294.1363.806.3405.477.130.2782.836.1292.309.823.3396.186.549.797.2791.2456.191.989.2820.809.2825.2034.2846.428.1360.1549.2025.2029.340.2058.750.782.1138.192.886.296.2582.2379.703.2760.449.180.1475.1791.1357.1416.3431.1229.225.3153.507.343.1591.476.904.3417.2824.1543.854.133.3114.746.1790.3238.20.2048.351.717.336.1786.2468.1547.2089.1580.401.2475.452.739.1346.1291.742.131.2987.870.980.166.3034.820.791.1359.1076.1691.1352.18.1544.399.3422.1278.729.1394.2041.755.871.3156.210.1361.344.2030.1134.702.1689.3124.176.1140.803.773.403.2024.36.1796.1696.2038.839.679.2297.412.2298.2433.1120.815.761.1536.2031.440.1355.515.2838.227.158.1541.1141.722.1539.405.3372.2306.3226.1347.731.1312.1487.2804.1358.2849.734.1794.3110.2424.3352.390.1294.1542.402.3147.2982.1765.711.243.2049.473.1437.1546.3375.767.712.581.2036.748.1522.3109.2013.3433.681.1793.994.758.1198.1798.136.835.207.1468.1127.1471.430.1362.2026.1129.3145.342.162.1516.360.444.1264.861.770.1136.1132.466.1458.525.1117.788.2296.329.1901.3158.3425.3401.714.2505.812.1674.2186.1345.1067.3113.776.211.461.2449.704.339.1323.3275.1073.1902.1484.1026.876.2344.1313.379.736.11.1693.311.1521.346.3301.419.2420.458.
328 of 328 anim lights reached surfaces

ObjLightLightLevel starting out...2454.1337.1250.904.1381.1762.2026.339.1975.1211.1760.1228.2040.2296.875.1378.1478.1212.1737.1330.2033.1380.238.2432.3098.684.1743.1475.1336.1335.1293.1205.1587.152.2977.1893.343.2974.2430.2463.2440.1749.886.199.1902.1758.679.1025.1204.2019.1383.681.2186.1468.336.1755.1219.1766.476.2966.1331.1757.1735.1428.1753.1458.340.1820.1759.3401.1586.1377.2018.2037.2983.1771.1376.920.1588.1738.1595.198.1674.1584.1305.1216.337.1223.1772.2466.345.1384.2024.2968.1222.1375.1750.2038.2020.418.1773.427.1484.2088.1329.3121.1209.2305.3105.3102.1028.2437.3115.1307.1983.1808.1596.2970.1776.1310.914.2849.1495.346.2961.1769.1708.1784.1863.1379.1764.946.2980.3352.2049.1594.2032.959.1739.1736.892.420.1326.1980.1900.728.1798.985.2023.915.1333.893.1981.664.2504.1487.243.2012.1754.919.3096.1778.1338.344.2582.1325.1589.2031.2035.1145.1334.1203.1306.1741.1208.2494.898.1597.535.908.903.1593.1752.1744.2025.1061.2759.675.1783.2422.1782.1901.1988.1225.1327.1767.1761.2048.231.2034.2011.1768.1742.3396.1984.3405.1309.1308.1756.1779.895.1041.1987.1734.871.1777.1471.342.3112.1328.1780.2029.421.1763.1382.1774.296.2036.225.1740.1751.1585.1229.1332.650.1137.1221.1770.1220.2030.2443.1207.1590.2017.2756.
245 of 245 object lights reached surfaces
...we inserted 613 lights
including 245 regular from objects, 328 animated
Calculating path find cells............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
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darthsLair on 17/11/2010 at 02:23

Hi Larry. Yes you can use blockable brushes to seal the offending area, or eliminate Terrain brushes that aren't needed, as I did in Escape Hammer Hill. Too many cells intersecting sphere ! Beta testers may have a problem in those areas, and possibly ai as well. I got rid of my problem areas so I wouldn't end up moving buildings and such.

LarryG on 15/12/2010 at 03:01

I must be doing it wrong. I just get more portal_cells_intersecting_sphere errors when I add in a blocking brush.

darthsLair on 15/12/2010 at 03:50

Yes, blockables increase cell count. In the past I have just eliminated complex vertices. The only time I had to use blockable brushes was to restore AiPathinding. They are supposed to keep the AI from seeing a problem area so it will pathfind. Also vision blocking capability.

Here are few explanations, none which actually speak on intersecting cells. Some do however mention it, but there evidently is no definite answer.

(http://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=14663&highlight=blockable) http://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=14663&highlight=blockable

(http://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=72595&highlight=blockable) http://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=72595&highlight=blockable

(http://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=14663&highlight=blockable) http://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=14663&highlight=blockable

I am in hopes that once the Coders have finished with the Source Code, that it will be possible to eliminate some of these tiresome errors without compromising the game quality. :cheeky:
Lets keep hoping !:thumb:

LarryG on 15/12/2010 at 04:25

The odd thing is that the area around the indicated point looks fine. The red cube at the center of the screen is the center for the portal_cells_intersecting_sphere: too many cells @ (530. 447. 502.5). I don't see a tremendous amount of complexity. Is a portal_cell something other than a normal cell? To me it looks like there is only one cell and that point is at its center ... ???

[ATTACH]805[/ATTACH]

Haplo on 15/12/2010 at 04:46

To shed some light (now that we can check what is exactly happening):

It appears that when the engine detects a set of cells intersecting a given sphere, it starts from the root of the BSP tree and goes through all the cells in the stack. The "Too many cells" error is shown when the number of processed cells becomes equal to (BSPSPHR_OUTPUT_LIMIT - 1), which is 511. At this stage no more cells are processed, the function is aborted and the first 511 cells are used only.

fibanocci on 7/5/2015 at 08:46

Since there are not many threads about that error, I wanted to mention this:
I had this problem recently and I spent some days solving it.
I got those 'Portal Cells Intersecting Sphere' - errors all over the map, first of all in narrow places (near walls, in corridors).
All the lights have a radius, there are no brush lights.
I accidentally deleted a couple of room brushes with lokal weather (fog, rain, lokal ambient light) and the errors went away. After setting up new room brushes with the same lokal weather, the errors came back.
To make it short: It was the 'precipitation'-tag in lokal weather that caused the problem. I just passed that part.

Unna Oertdottir on 8/10/2016 at 12:08

I just got this warning with snow :erg:
Without snow, everything is fine.
I wonder how this can be fixed.