Rotating beams? Created 17 years ago2006-10-17 12:48:08 UTC by Viktor

Okay, I want to add some eye candy on my map, and I have an already finished idea. The idea is that there will be a kind of "apparatus" thst looks like the Matter Analyser in original Half-Life (Anomalous Materials - Unforseen Consequences). The idea is that my apparatus will shoot out 5 beams of light from 5 different "emitters", that are specifically motioned: they are divided into pairs, and 1 central. The paired ones will rotate, one clockwise, one counter-clockwise. The emitters construction:

Topmost 2: o=====O=====o (CCW)

Middle 2: o===O===o (CW)

Lowest 1: O (Stationary).

Now, the problem is, I can't make the beams follow the tips of the emitters! (The emitters themselves look like cones of metal that should produce the beams) I tried grouping the ready-made func_rotating's with info_target entities, so that the targets would move with the emitters. No use!

Any ideas?

BTW, hello everyone, I'm new to the forum!

It's impossible to use func_rotating's for this, you need to make it a func_train and place the paths. The origin of the train should be used as one of the targets of the beams, it should then work.

Grouping objects only changes your control over them in Hammer, and doesn't affect the compiled map any. It certainly won't allow you to have two entities move togethor.

Viktor, you may find this usefull: http://twhl.co.za/mapvault_map.php?id=3151

Thanks guys,I worked it out!

Though my "device" looks rather weird now. It's a shame that the "path_corner" entity is so huge. They overlap each other and almost competely hide the brushwork (in editor only).

Though, I made a HUGE lot of mess. I copied the whole thing over to a separate map to work easier with it (reduced compile times). But even then... First I didn't figure out that each path_corner must be connected to a next one.Then I wrote wrong entity names on the triggers. Then I had to create some extra triggers, to trigger the differently named func_trains together at same time. Can anyone tell me how I can use a multimanager? I never figured out how it works! It has only name as an attribute.

Also, is there any fast way to find decent sprites for my beams in half-life folder? I don't like the dull boring laserbeam.spr. While at the same time previewing all sprites with an env_sprite can be quite a lot of work. Can you suggest me some nice sprites?

The multi_manager is one of the most usefull entities in HL. And setting it up is very easy. An example:

Lets say you have a button. When you use this button, a light goes on. 2 seconds later, the ground shakes and some debris from the ceiling falls down. 4 seconds after that, an alarm sound is triggered.

Now how to set this up with a multi_manager?

Make the buttons first, and let it target start_seq_mm
Place a light entity and name it light1
Place an env_shake and name it shake1
Place an env_shooter and name it spawn_debris1
Place an ambient_generic and name it alarm_snd1

The properties of these are up to you.

Now place a multi_manager and name it start_seq_mm.
Now click the smartedit button. You'll see two more buttons: add and delete. Click add. Type light1 in the key field and 0 in the value field. Then click Ok.
Click add again. Now add shake1 as the new key and 2 as the new value. Click ok. Click add again. Now add spawn_debris1, 2. Click ok. Click add, alarm_snd1, 4. Click ok.

Now what happends is when you use the button, the multi_manager is triggeren and it will trigger all these entities you've just added. First the light. 2 seconds later, the shake and debris. 4 seconds later, an alarm is triggerd.

Thats all. Hope you understand it.

You can change the size of path_corner entities in the editor by editing the fgd, but without proper knowledge you may do something wrong.

Thank you guys! Now I can start all those pesky different-named func_train's at once!

But about sprites, which ones are best for beams?

By best I mean good looking.

Here's a good list of
sprites with pictures.