Advanced mapping help? Created 12 years ago2012-11-04 13:56:43 UTC by poorboy22

Hey guys.
So I've got this really cool scare idea but I'm not quite sure how to pull it off.

My idea: The player enters a dark room with only one red spotlight shining on a ghost sitting on a chair (idle animation.) Once the player moves a little bit closer the ghost disappears and the chair topples over.

What I've already done: I've already animated everything needed, i.e the chair falling over and the ghost disappearing. The model is ready for use. (Two separate anims: "idle" and "drop".)

What I need help with: I don't know what entities to use in the map. I'm not very familiar with triggers and such so I just need to know what entities to use and how to use them.

Much appreciated (:

-poorboy22

Triggers are not advanced mapping.
Use trigger_multiple or trigger_once, cycler_sprite to display your model in the world, use a multi_manager if you need to trigger more than one entity, there are tutorials on that here at twhl.
I'm not however sure how you change animations in gs maybe someone else can provide some input on that.

scripted_sequences could help with what you need. I used it once to make gman appear and disappear like the silly bitch he is. Also it can handle the animation stuff as well.

Alrighty.. I'll give the tutorials a look. Thanks guys*

1. Create a cycler_sprite, and set the sprite path to your ghost model. Ingame it will default to the first animation in the model's animation set (which should be your "idle"). Targeting your cycler_sprite will cause the model to change animations to the next one in the set (which should be your "drop").

2. Create a trigger_once that your player will pass through. Target your cycler_sprite with the trigger_once.

3. Create a trigger_relay. Give it a name and set "kill target" to your cycler_sprite.

4. Create a second trigger_relay, and give it the same name as your cycler_sprite. Set its target to the trigger_relay you made in step 3. Set "delay before trigger" to however many seconds you want the ghost to stick around before disappearing.

What you've just done: made a model that will sit idle until targeted by an invisible wall. Upon passing through the trigger, the ghost will animate and then disappear a few seconds later. There's numerous ways to do this, but I think this is probably the simplest and most efficient.

Thanks for the help* But I've still got a few problems. For one, my VHE still crashes when I try to use cycler_sprite (as mentioned in one of my other forums.) And I don't have a trigger_once entity in my entity list :? the only trigger entities in my list are trigger_auto, trigger_changetarget, trigger_camera and trigger_relay.

Those are brush based entities, you select a block you just made, right click and then select Tie to entity.

If Hammer is crashing when you use a model on a cycler_sprite, there's something up with your FGD. I've had that problem before, and I'm guessing you're using a vanilla Half Life FGD, am I right?
You can either manually edit it or use a different, probably older HL FGD. Unfortunately I don't have one readily available for you, so you might have to do some searching.

Okay-- so I've downloaded a CS fgd and put it's cycler_sprite in my half-life fgd file, so now the models are rendering in my map in 3d view Just one question, will using the entity from a CS fgd have any effect on compiles or cause any other problems in the future?

It might if you use an entity that HL does not have like bomb_target.
But probably wont.