Up until now, we have just been doing normal compiles during our tests, and we haven't really paid much attention to any of the advanced features or what each specific option controls. Doing normal compiles is just fine for testing, but let's explore the different stages of the compile process and how to tweak the settings to our liking.
Before you even think about compiling a map, you should always check it for problems. In Hammer, press Alt + P to check the map for problems. If you're neat, organized, or just plain lucky, you will not have any problems, and a happy dialog box will appear as follows:
If you don't have any errors, great! You can go ahead and compile. However, if you do have errors, you will see a list of everything that's wrong in your map, as shown in the following screenshot:
A few common errors and their solutions are:
Invalid solid structure
Solution: Concave or other type of brush. Click on Fix to resolve or recreate the object.
There...