Turning ladders on and off ? Created 5 years ago2019-04-07 20:16:42 UTC by kruk

Hi, this might be really a basic thing but i cant rly find a way to make this ...
So simply i wanted to turn on and off func_ladder, i do manage to remove ladders with killtarget but is it possible to start a lvl with a disabled ladder and then enable it ect ?
I have this scenario of rope you can climb being dropped down in the mid of a room by a certain event and i don't really know how to manage it.

I'm not sure, but maybe func_wall_toggle would work: https://twhl.info/wiki/page/func_wall_toggle_%28Half-Life%29 ?
If it modifies collision and not just turns invisible then placing it around the ladder would prevent it from being used.

The only solution I know wouldn't work for your specific situation.

I made a map where a ladder lowers down from the ceiling. The func_ladder brush entity is always there, but it's inside a null textured func_door entity that is using the exact same dimensions. When the actual ladder descends, the null door also moves down through the floor and the ladder becomes usable.

The issue with your setup is that there would always be some invisible brush blocking the area where the rope would appear later.

Yup, pretty much. There's no way to actively move, enable or disable a ladder (save for removing the entity entirely via killtarget) (in vanilla Half-Life). As folks above suggested, the only real way to "turn on" a ladder is to cover the ladder in some way with something that can be removed (which is an issue if you need to move through that space). func_wall_toggle is good for that, func_door can also work.

Your best bet would be to find some way to justify not being able to move through where the ladder "appears".

What might work for you is to instead of using func_ladder, you create an extremely thin staircase, with each step being 18 (=the default value of sv_stepsize... actually you might have to make it 17, don't know) units tall and 1 pixel deep. Then turn that into a func_wall_toggle. If you think it looks ugly, you can make it invisible and combine it with a func_illusionary that is the visual representation of the rope, which you then hide/reveal with two env_render entities.

Thx for your reply guys ;] so at least now i'm sure there is no standard way XD with is surprising since by pure logic i did think it will work just like a func_wall_toggle 0o. But yeah woud need to do some "redesing" and move the ladder in to a room corner or by the wall ;] heh so yeah workarounds as usual in vanilla XD. Ehh sometimes i regret not starting a mod on Spirit XD. But i just really need to finish this on the base game ;]