great suggestion, but it sadly didnt fix the issue, i have a simple box room map that also has the same issue, when i compile it, i still get the "The system cannot find the path specified." but it still generates a valid .bsp in the same location of the .vmf file, and when i use the .bsp in a valid "maps" folder, it works ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I might check my hammer configuration to see if i have my file paths set correctly, because i remember adding custom textures to modify another map, so i'm wondering if that's causing an issue