Entity Last edited 2 months ago2024-08-07 11:04:52 UTC

Entities are elements of a map that perform certain functions. While brushes make up the structure of a map, entities define all aspects of a map that make a map playable and interactive.

In User posted image GoldSrc, there are two different types of entities: point entities and brush entities. Brush entities are brushes that perform functions beyond being the static geometry of a level, such as doors and triggers. Point entities are used to manage all other game logic, including playing sounds, defining level starts/ends, placing enemies and models, spawning items, and much more.

Every entity has a dictionary of keys and values which holds information about the entity such as its class name, name, offset in the map, the facing direction, and various entity-specific values. In the level editors, there will be a dedicated UI panel displaying these entries in a listbox for the currently selected entity in the editor. As for what entity classnames and key values are available for any particular game, most level editors read FGD file(s) set up for the game.

Each User posted image GoldSrc and User posted image Source game has a different set of entities available to it. Specific entity information can be found in the respective game's entity guides, either official or third-party. TWHL hosts Entity Guides for some GoldSrc games like Half-Life and Counter-Strike, though not in any official or authoritative capacity.
For some reason, GoldSrc prohibits an entity having the same targetname value as its classname (e.g. you can't have a multisource entity be named multisource). You will see warnings about this in the various entity guide pages, but it applies to all entities, just to be clear.

Comments

You must log in to post a comment. You can login or register a new account.