monster_nihilanth Last edited 1 month ago2024-09-24 10:11:12 UTC

monster_nihilanth - Point Entity

Spawns the Nihilanth, the three-armed final boss which is like a controller but bigger and meaner. It is the runaway slave of Combine and the last of its generation and said to be the head controller of the invasion of the Xen Forces to Earth. It can teleport players to scripted locations, summon controllers and Vortigaunt slaves into its chamber, and also attack with electrical particles. It has a reserve of health in the form of sprites floating about it, each holding 1/20th of its health, which it absorbs as needed. When available, it can replenish this reserve using recharger crystals on the walls of its chamber, making it impossible to kill it without destroying the rechargers first.

Attributes

• Name (targetname) - Property used to identify entities.
• Pitch Yaw Roll (Y Z X) (angles) - Sets the pitch (up / down), yaw (left / right) and roll (bank) respectively. The compass in WorldCraft / Hammer / J.A.C.K. corresponds to Yaw. Monsters will spawn facing this direction.
• Patrol Path or Target (target) - Name of a path_corner that the monster entity would start patrolling. Not used by the Nihilanth.

• Render FX (renderfx) - Gives objects special render effects. Think of it as modifying whatever the Render Mode puts out. The options are as follows:
  • 0 = Normal
  • 1 = Slow Pulse
  • 2 = Fast Pulse
  • 3 = Slow Wide Pulse
  • 4 = Fast Wide Pulse
  • 5 = Slow Fade Away
  • 6 = Fast Fade Away
  • 7 = Slow Become Solid
  • 8 = Fast Become Solid
  • 9 = Slow Strobe
  • 10 = Fast Strobe
  • 11 = Faster Strobe
  • 12 = Slow Flicker
  • 13 = Fast Flicker
  • 14 = Constant Glow
  • 15 = Distort
  • 16 = Hologram (Distort and Fade)
• Render Mode (rendermode) - Controls the type of rendering that is used for an object. Options are:
  • 0 = Normal
  • 1 = Color
  • 2 = Texture
  • 3 = Glow
  • 4 = Solid
  • 5 = Additive
• FX Amount (0 - 255) (renderamt)
• FX Color (R G B) (rendercolor)

• Trigger Target (TriggerTarget) - The event to trigger when the Trigger Condition is met. Used by monsters.
• Trigger Condition (TriggerCondition) - This controls the condition under which a monster will trigger its Trigger Target. Not used by the Nihilanth. The options are:
  • 0 = No Trigger
  • 1 = See Player, Mad at Player
  • 2 = Take Damage
  • 3 = 50% Health Remaining
  • 4 = Death
  • 7 = Hear World
  • 8 = Hear Player
  • 9 = Hear Combat
  • 10 = See Player Unconditional
  • 11 = See Player, Not In Combat

• Animation Sequence (editor) (sequence)

Flags

• WaitTillSeen (1) - Stands in place until seen by a player.
• Gag (2) - Makes no idle sounds.
• MonsterClip (4) - Makes func_monsterclip solid/impassable to this monster.
• Prisoner (16) - Won't attack, or be attacked by, other monsters.
• Squad Leader (32)
• WaitForScript (128) - Does nothing, not implemented.
• Pre-Disaster (256) - For some NPCs, switch to pre-disaster dialogues and behaviour (busy and won't follow players).
• Fade Corpse (512)

Notes

• "TriggerCondition" is not working for this monster.
• When spawned, the Nihilanth does not attack immediately. You need to 'activate' it with trigger_auto (with its TargetState as ON) or any other way.
• Place info_node and info_node_air entities nearby so that the Nihilanth can spawn Alien Slaves and Alien Controllers periodically. Do note that the Nihilanth can spawn 4 of these at the same time assuming nothing block the nodes.
• Can't fade corpse.
• Can spawn in deathmatch.
• When the Nihilanth dies, it spins around in its tormented state indefinitely until it is turned OFF using a trigger_relay, which makes the player "touch" a trigger named n_ending placed in the level. See the Special entity names subsection below for information.
• 's name is "sprites/muzzleflash3.spr", used only by the Nihilanth (at least on vanilla HLDSK). You can edit it to something nicer if you want.

Special entity names

A lot of the Nihilanth's abilities and effects rely on other entities placed around the level. These entities use special names as detailed below:

• n_min and n_max: info_target entities with these names can be placed to override the default minimum and maximum floating heights of -4096 and 4096 units respectively. Do note that the Nihilanth tries to follow it's enemy's height as reference without exceeding those boundaries.
• n_recharger1, n_recharger2, etc.: Points (defined with info_target's) where reserve health sprites are spawned. Use trigger_relay to link between the info_target and a func_breakable to create a recharge crystal, for example. You can remove the recharge function with KillTarget keyvalue in any entities.
• n_draw1, n_draw2, etc.: Called when the Nihilanth is drawing reserve health sprites from n_recharger# of the respective number. A multi_manager of these names can be used to do the lightning effects when the Nihilanth is recharging its power.
• n_leaving1, n_leaving2, etc.: Called when the player gets hit by the Nihilanth's teleportation ball. Used in conjunction with n_teleport#. Must be killed to advance to the next number, achievable with a trigger_relay of this name with KillTarget filled with its own name.
• n_teleport1, n_teleport2, etc.: trigger_teleport entities used when the player gets hit by the Nihilanth's teleportation ball i.e. the player gets sent to this entity's destination. Used in conjunction with n_leaving#, and likewise must be killed to advance to the next trigger_teleport entity.
• n_dead: Called when the Nihilanth is "dead" (after rising and reaching n_max or hitting a solid above its head.). Use with trigger_relay or multi_manager to call any effects you want. The Nihilanth spins around in its tormented state indefinitely, until you trigger it with a trigger_relay with its Trigger State set to OFF.
• n_ending: A so-named trigger_teleport that teleports the player to the entity's destination when the Nihilanth has been turned OFF as explained above.