monster_tentacle Last edited 1 month ago2024-09-24 13:51:00 UTC

monster_tentacle - Point Entity

Part of a burrowed Xen creature, tentacles are blind but extremely sensitive to sound. They will occasionally tap on nearby surfaces, looking for prey. When they pick up a sound they'll frantically strike at its location for a while.

They cannot be killed by the player's weapons: damaging them only makes them retreat into their holes temporarily. They must either be avoided or destroyed using other means (such as in Blast Pit).

Tentacles can move their beak between 4 levels (0, 256, 448 and 640 units high). Their reach is about 336 units. To kill a tentacle, use a trigger_relay to send an OFF triggerstate to it. This will make it play its dying sequence before sinking into the ground, after which it will permanently be removed. Triggering a tentacle using the "toggle" state (the default for normal triggering) will make it play its dying sequence indefinitely.

Attributes

• Name (targetname) - Property used to identify entities.
• Pitch Yaw Roll (Y Z X) (angles) - Sets the pitch (up / down), yaw (left / right) and roll (bank) respectively. The compass in WorldCraft / Hammer / J.A.C.K. corresponds to Yaw. Monsters will spawn facing this direction.
• Patrol Path or Target (target) - Name of a path_corner that the monster entity would start patrolling. Doesn't work for this monster.

• Render FX (renderfx) - Gives objects special render effects. Think of it as modifying whatever the Render Mode puts out. The options are as follows:
  • 0 = Normal
  • 1 = Slow Pulse
  • 2 = Fast Pulse
  • 3 = Slow Wide Pulse
  • 4 = Fast Wide Pulse
  • 5 = Slow Fade Away
  • 6 = Fast Fade Away
  • 7 = Slow Become Solid
  • 8 = Fast Become Solid
  • 9 = Slow Strobe
  • 10 = Fast Strobe
  • 11 = Faster Strobe
  • 12 = Slow Flicker
  • 13 = Fast Flicker
  • 14 = Constant Glow
  • 15 = Distort
  • 16 = Hologram (Distort and Fade)
• Render Mode (rendermode) - Controls the type of rendering that is used for an object. Options are:
  • 0 = Normal
  • 1 = Color
  • 2 = Texture
  • 3 = Glow
  • 4 = Solid
  • 5 = Additive
• FX Amount (0 - 255) (renderamt)
• FX Color (R G B) (rendercolor)

• Trigger Target (TriggerTarget) - The event to trigger when the Trigger Condition is met. Used by monsters.
• Trigger Condition (TriggerCondition) - This controls the condition under which a monster will trigger its Trigger Target. Doesn't work for this monster. The options are:
  • 0 = No Trigger
  • 1 = See Player, Mad at Player
  • 2 = Take Damage
  • 3 = 50% Health Remaining
  • 4 = Death
  • 7 = Hear World
  • 8 = Hear Player
  • 9 = Hear Combat
  • 10 = See Player Unconditional
  • 11 = See Player, Not In Combat

• Sweep Arc (sweeparc) - Size of arc centered from Yaw that the tentacle can move. Defaults to 130 if blank or 0.
• Tap Sound (sound) - Claw attack sound style:
  • -1 = None
  • 0 = Silo
  • 1 = Dirt
  • 2 = Water

• Animation Sequence (editor) (sequence)

Flags

• WaitTillSeen (1) - Stands in place until seen by a player.
• Gag (2) - Makes no idle sounds.
• MonsterClip (4) - Makes func_monsterclip solid/impassable to this monster.
• Prisoner (16) - Won't attack, or be attacked by, other monsters.
• WaitForScript (128) - Does nothing, not implemented.
• Pre-Disaster (256) - For some NPCs, switch to pre-disaster dialogues and behaviour (busy and won't follow players).
• Fade Corpse (512)

Notes

• Can't be peaceful (Prisoner) nor killed. However, it can get removed by killtargeting it with a trigger (which will remove it immediately) or by turning it off with a trigger_relay (which will make it play its dying sequence first).
• Responds uniquely to all three trigger states (use trigger_relay to send non-toggle):
  • ON - Make a noise at activator's position to react to (if valid)
  • OFF - Play a dying sequence and dies
  • Toggle - Play dying sequence indefinitely
• Can spawn in deathmatch regardless of mp_allowmonsters CVAR value.
• Can attack the player on ground regardless of cheating with "notarget".
• Not affected by func_monsterclip nor by world brushes.
• Glitch - Unconventionally, it can be thrown and float randomly in air if hit by a melee attack by monster_bigmomma, monster_gargantua, monster_human_grunt, etc., and also by a func_vehicle (since the 25th Anniversary Update.)
• The sound of buzzing flies can be heard around the tentacle's base, even before the tentacle has revealed itself.
• The number of tentacles varies per creature - the one in Blast Pit had 3 tentacles (each being a separate monster_tentacle, properly rotated to ensure their sweep arcs wouldn't overlap), but there are several places in Xen where single tentacles can be found.
• Your level has to be designed around the z-offsets of the beak strike levels, since these values are hardcoded in game code.