Continually moving ants? Created 16 years ago2007-08-09 19:32:48 UTC by Sheepdog

Alright, well I've been mapping for a while, but I still don't have a vast knowledge of all the entities and what all they can do. I've always used these tutorials and I looked around for a few days and I haven't seemed to find exactly what I was looking for, so I decided to see if anyone could help me from here.

Well, what I was wanting to do was to make an anthill with ants moving around it, and I wanted them to go inside and loop through, so they can come out... eh.. yeah.

I tried some trains, but couldn't get them to work right. I need them to be able to run without being triggered, and I need a lot to run on one path (probably hundreds or thousands)

Can this be achieved? Or is it something simple that (me being retarded) I overlooked. If noone knows anything, I might just abandon it since it isn't a key part of the map, but I think it would look pretty nice.

Oh, and since I'm here, is there a way to stop sounds from playing if say, a bomb explodes (cs map)?

All help will be greatly appreciated... and sorry for such a long post

if the ants are really small (like they usually are) you can just use some scrollTEXTURES to make little dots or small ant pictures moving along the surface. A scrolling texture works with a conveyer, which there are options to make it not solid and no push for the player. You can also set the speed in the parameters. To make a scrolling texture, type the word 'scroll' in lowercase because the textures name.

i.e. scrollANTTEX1A

When making the texture, it defaultly moves to the right, so the ants on the texture image should head to the right. In hammer, the direction can be adjusted with the face tool. As mentioned the speed can be changed in the func_conveyer parameteres. The geometry for this should be flat to the ground, and the faces without the ant texture should be nulled since it unnecessary to have them, so all thats left is a small flat graphic of hundreds of moving ants, using minimal geometry and no paths or triggers to make it start.

Experiment, it can work.

Are you making a map where you're in an ant hill?

Hm... Well I see what you mean, but I don't know if it will look smooth around corners, because I was wanting them to turn maybe...

I'm making this for a larger scaled cs map (rats like but not as large; de_gophers if that gives you an idea) in a small front yard type area. The whole thing I was wanting to do with them, is to make them actually have tunnels that two hills would go down through and meet at some place in the ground, where I could put the easter egg with credits and whatnot, with all the ants walking(?) all through it (only accessible by noclip and spectate). Oh, and trigger_hurts at the top.

For those purposes I don't think scrolling textures would work... :

Idk, maybe I could experiment with them...

So is there any other way to make them as trains or anything in that essence?

Well, you can do it with trains (look up a tutorial), but the sheer number you want would be impossible. Even if they were sprites there would be too much for the engine to handle.

Scrolling textures are the only way to go about it, I know they wouldn't look so good, but the performance would at least be normal.

Have them move toward a scripted_sequence but put a trigger_teleport somewhere before the scripted_sequence so they continuously get thrown back.

or put them in the background so it doesn't look bad (as you're only going to see one side of it anyways).

Alright thanks for all the replys

I think I've scratched the idea of putting ants actually in the ground...

I've looked at all the tuts here (and a lot of other places) about trains, but they don't say anything about them running without being triggered, or more than one on the paths. With what Strider was saying, if i drastically cut down on trains, like maybe 10 or maybe 20, or whatever it takes, how would I go about doing that; like would it be hard to explain? And would it be possible to actually do it with trains? Because I want it out in the middle of the map, so I think I'll just abandon the idea if the trains won't work...

Sorry for being so stubborn

from hole to hole? if you make them disappear at a nearby destination when they exit the hole, you can limit the func_train usage alot. in fact, for ever straight line, you could probably use a single func_train

No no. I just want them to kind of circle the hill a little so i can put a trigger_hurt in it so the player takes small rapid damage. I'd just need maybe 20 ants or so. After hearing this, if I would get it to work, I'd probably only have one, or just not have them connected.

Well if they're only going to circle the hill just make the Ants (via { textures or simple brushwork, depending on the size), then make them all func_rotating (setting the origin brush to the centre of the hill). Simple.

Alright well I tested the func_rotating and it doesn't look too bad. I was wanting the ants to go into the hole but I really don't care anymore. I fired it up on a test and it looked pretty good...

Thanks for everyone's help and extremely quick responses. If I get it done soon I'll probably post it on here.

Thanks again,
Sheep