intermittent compile issue, vrad crashes with inexplicable 0x3 error code

[Fennecai]

I have an aggravating issue with vrad that seems to be caused by an obscure bug with the tools. At the very least, the post-compiler seems to have odd symptoms whenever this happens. As the title of this post says, vrad has started to randomly crash with a 0x3 return code right as it is writing the bsp. The only reason I suspect the hammer addons is because turning them off in my compiling process fixes the issue every time (its the only thing that consistently works); and when this crash happens, the log seems to be running the compile tools multiple times even though i only have it set up to run once. Additionally, I've noticed issues with an incomplete .prt file every time it fails to compile (its only a few lines long).

the issue is not anything with the map as far as i can tell, as i have sometimes run into the issue upon re-compile without me changing anything in the map whatsoever.

Here is what i've tried to fix it:

• verified game files (no change)
• used cordons to find the issue (doesnt help because the map is in two distinct sections, and the map compiles fine regardless of which one i have cordoned. only crashes with both visible.)
• compiling under a different map name (no change)
• delete custom assets (worked once, but then it started crashing again even with the asset no longer present)
• *put quotes around the postcompiler path in the compile window (worked for 1 compile then it crashed again)
• remove displacements (worked but only once and then it started crashing again)
• compiling some other map (worked, of course, but like....what's the point if the map I'm working on doesn't work?)

For the compile log, please see the attached mega.nz link (I can't attach directly because of file size limits. Wish I was joking.)

https://mega.nz/file/RvpV3b4b#8eMcVYP6vfSp22zTOCqmw91Ovv7irruRuZJKXcZRouo

[TeamSpen210]

With the compile log size, the compile tools never clear logs, just continually append to them, so if this is an old map it couldd just have heaps of junk. The last log indicates the packfile is 290.532mB, and there's a known issue where the Valve compile tools fail if the map file is too big when reading - not normally an issue since VRAD is the only one to add lots of data, and you usually pack later. Current solution is to change the "pack dump" postcompiler option, it has one which will write everything to a folder instead, then you can copy it in after with another tool.

[Fennecai]

well, the log file is actually brand new and the map isnt much older. i've deleted the log file a few times while trying to debug this weird issue. also notice how the log shows vbsp, then the postcompiler a hundred times, then vvis etc.

that said though i am aware of the pack dump option, just didnt think of it. might try that and pack with another tool if my current solution ends up failing. (i found that using gmod's vrad fixes the issue pretty reliably lol, its a hacky solution but seems to work fine for now.)

thanks.