env_laser Last edited 5 years ago2019-05-19 03:49:40 UTC

env_laser - Point Entity

The env_laser entity creates a damaging line composed of a loop of sprites with various effects. It is a derivative of the env_beam entity.

Attributes

• Render FX (renderfx) - Gives the beam certain visual effects.
  • Normal (0) - No visual effects.
  • Slow Pulse (1) - Beam slowly pulses with transparency. Faint.
  • Fast Pulse (2) - Beam quickly pulses with transparency. Faint.
  • Slow Wide Pulse (3) - Beam slowly pulses with transparency. Strong.
  • Fast Wide Pulse (4) - Beam quickly pulses with transparency. Strong.
  • Slow Fade Away (5) - Seemingly unused.
  • Fast Fade Away (6) - Seemingly unused.
  • Slow Become Solid (7) - Seemingly unused.
  • Fast Become Solid (8) - Seemingly unused.
  • Slow Strobe (9) - A very slow strobe effect between visible and invisible.
  • Fast Strobe (10) - A medium strobe effect between visible and invisible.
  • Faster Strobe (11) - A very fast strobe effect between visible and invisible.
  • Slow Flicker (13) - Beam flickers in and out of visibility.
  • Fast Flicker (13) - Beam quickly flickers in and out of visibility.
  • Constant Glow (14) - Seemingly unused.
  • Distort (15) - Beam has a slight fast pulsing of transparency.
  • Hologram (Distort + fade) (16) - Beam has a slight fast pulsing of transparency. Fades out with distance.
• Name (targetname) - Name is a general attribute used to identify entities.
• Pitch Yaw Roll (Y Z X) (angles) - Seemingly unused.
• Target of Laser (LaserTarget) - Sets the entity that marks the end of the laser. The laser will start at the env_laser entity and end at the entity named here.
• Brightness (1 - 255) (renderamt) - Sets the transparency of the beam. Scales from 1 (invisible) to 255 (solid).
• Beam Color (R G B) (rendercolor) - Sets the colour of the beam.
• Width of beam (pixels*0.1 0-255) (BoltWidth) - Sets the width of the beam. Measured in tenths of a unit. This attribute works like a radius; the beam will actually be twice as wide as the defined value.
• Amount of noise (0-255) (NoiseAmplitude) - Sets how erratic the beam will be. The beam will always start and end at the usual points, but the path of the beam will move randomly to a degree defined by this attribute. Scales from 0 (perfectly straight beam) to 255 (wildly moving beam).
• Sprite Name (texture) - This defines which sprite file the entity will use to form the beam. This accepts an input of the form "path/filename.spr" (starting from the root folder). (Example: "sprites/laserbeam.spr").
• End Sprite (EndSprite) - This defines a sprite that will be placed at the end of the beam. This accepts an input of the form "path/filename.spr" (starting from the root folder). (Example: "sprites/glow01.spr"). The sprite will have the same colour as the beam, and seems to use a render mode of "glow". The size of sprite seems to be locked to the default, regardless of the size of the beam.
• Texture Scroll Rate (0-100) (TextureScroll) - Sets how fast the sprites move along the beam. Scales from 0 (no movement) to 100 (extremely fast).
• Starting Frame (framestart) - Sets which frame of animation that the sprite should use.
• Damage / second (damage) - Sets how much damage the beam should do when you walk through it. Note that the damage is only dealt in a straight line between start and end point, regardless of any fluctuation in the beam from the Amount of Noise attribute.

Flags

• Start On (1) - If enabled, the beam will be turned on upon map start. Otherwise you will need to trigger the env_beam to turn it on.
• StartSparks (16) - If enabled, the start of the beam will spark when it is activated.
• EndSparks (32) - If enabled, the end of the beam will spark when it is activated.
• Decal End (64) - If enabled, the beam will draw a scorch decal on a surface it hits.

Notes

• The env_laser is almost identical to the env_beam entity. It lacks many options that env_beam has that are not particularly relevant to a laser. Thus, in most cases, using an env_beam instead of an env_laser would be advisable. However, the env_beam does not have the options to draw a sprite at the end of the beam, nor can it draw the scorch decals where the beam travels. Using an env_laser is only advised if you have a particular need for these functions.
• info_targets are often used for stationary start/end points. To make moving beams, use func_trains.
• The fluctuation of a beam (via the Amount of noise attribute) seems to be affected by the length of the beam; longer beams will be more affected by the same noise value.
• The sprite used in the beam does not seem to animate, though if the sprite has multiple frames, you can choose which frame it uses.
• If multiple entities have the same name as the Target of Laser, the beam will randomly choose a target from those entities. This can be used to create a random function by placing buttons triggered by damage in the path of the beams.

Related Pages

• env_beam
• Tutorial: Laser and Beam Effects

Example Maps

• VERC Archive: las_beam.zip
• VERC Archive: sdk_env_beam.zip