VERC: The Art of Ladder Making Last edited 1 year ago2022-09-29 07:55:37 UTC

Ok so you have a platform you want to get to, but every time you try to make a ladder, you can?t climb it. Well, lets fix that right away.

Now a good ladder should consist of three parts -- First is the ladder, which is the surface that you actually climb. Next is the physical ladder, which is what the player sees in game. Last is the CLIP brush, which I?ll explain later.

To start off, make your physical ladder (from now on referred to as the Ladder Brush). Make it the right size and apply and align the textures as you wish. When you've done that, clone it and place the newly created brush (from now on referred to as the Func Brush) directly in front of the Ladder Brush.

Select the Func Brush and using the Texture Replace tool, apply to all the faces the AAATRIGGER texture. Once that is done, clone the Ladder Brush again but this time place it directly behind. Now using the same method as before, select the newly created brush (from now on referred to as the CLIP Brush) and replace the original textures with the CLIP texture. You now have the three components that will make up your mighty ladder.

Now, to make it work. Position the Ladder Brush where you want your ladder to go, and with it still selected, press Ctrl+T to tie it to an entity. This will bring up the Object Properties window. Scroll down the Class list till you find func_illusionary. Select it, and in the Attributes box select Render Mode. Now on the right, click the drop arrow next to Normal and select Solid. Now back in the Attributes box select FX Amount and enter 255 in the field to the right. You can now close this Window.

The next step is to Select the CLIP Brush and place it in the EXACT location of the Ladder Brush. Be sure to line it up in all three views.

Now the Last thing we need to do is to Select the Func Brush and place it directly in front of the Ladder Brush. With the Func Brush still selected press Ctrl+T to tie it to an entity. This will bring up the Object Properties window again. Now scroll down the Class list till you find func_ladder. Select it. Now close the Object Properties Window and that?s it.

You now have a working ladder. Compile your map and off you go.

The reason why we made the Ladder Brush a func_ illusionary and not a func_wall is because everything, from the player to the bullets, will pass through a func_ illusionary. This is not the case with a func_wall.

When the CLIP texture is applied to all sides of a brush, it will block the player?s movement but will still let her see and shoot through to the other side. This makes it the perfect tool for those areas you want the player to be able to ?look but not touch?. This is good if the ladder is in the middle of a room rather than up against a wall.

Using this "func_ illusionary + CLIP brush" method for fences and railings will also stop bullet holes from appearing in thin air, which, in my opinion, looks fugly.