Lifts & Trains

[Team Xlink]

Hello.

I am confused about lifts and trains.

I have read this:

http://www.quake-1.com/wc16a-tutorial/e ... html#jump2

It says this:

Elevators - Func_Plats
Elevators are fairly simple devices. Make the brush you want to use as a the elevator so it's in the 'up' position (at the TOP of it's intended travel range). Tie it to the func_plat entity and set the height to the number of units to the bottom and the speed you want it to travel. When the game starts the lift will automatically be in the down position ( at the BOTTOM of it's intended travel range) waiting for it to be activated. The problem is: What do you do when you want the lift to start at the top? Well, you can't do it with a func_plat then. Use a func_door, just set the direction for the door to "down". If you need the lift to be a platform and not a column then set the doors lip to the distance it needs to travel down.

How do we measure the number of units it needs to travel?

What units are they?

Also for the trains, what if you wanted to create a curved roller coaster type train? IS it possible to bind a brush or the "track" as a entity that it will follow?

Thank you.

[Downsider]

For the first question, if you click and drag a box selection in Worldcraft, it should tell you the area and L W and H values in the status bar on the bottom right.

For the second one, I believe you'll need rotating brush support in your engine, then create your own entity in QC that will move to a different entity, and essentially follow them like simple waypoints.

[ceriux]

i just use doors for elevators hah lol...

[Wazat]

How do we measure the number of units it needs to travel?

What units are they?

Also for the trains, what if you wanted to create a curved roller coaster type train? IS it possible to bind a brush or the "track" as a entity that it will follow?

Thank you.

Quake only has one unit, the infamous unnamed quake units. Basically, pick a part of your platform's brush (let's say the top surface). Take the Z coordinate of that part in your platform's top position, and choose the Z coordinate of where that exact piece should be when the platform finishes moving. Subtract the two and you have your "height".

For doors the process is similar; however, doors also have a "lip" and maybe other settings that can modify it further. Doors are advantageous in that they are more controllable -- you can have a door-based platform that toggles up and down by button, for example.



To make a brush follow a roller-coaster path, you'll want a "func_train". This object will travel from waypoint to waypoint. The waypoints are set up in a string using "target" and "targetname". The first waypoint's target should match the targetname of the waypoint it leads to. The second waypoint's target should match the third's targetname. This pattern continues onwards until you loop the waypoints back to the first one (or I believe you can leave target empty to simply make the train stop forever at that position). Then set the func_train's target to the first waypoint you want it to travel to. Give the func_train a targetname (and I think some other settings?) to make it controlled by trigger. This will get your brush to follow the path in a loop when triggered (or stop at the last one if you didn't loop it).

Unfortunately, this will not rotate the brush at all. To rotate brushes, you need a special engine like the mission pack that had rotating brushes (Armagon? Both?) or one of the newer engines like DP. There is also the Custents mod and others that perform a QC hack, though a bit less successfully than proper engine support.

I hope that sets you on the right path. Good luck!

[Dr. Shadowborg]

Unfortunately, this will not rotate the brush at all. To rotate brushes, you need a special engine like the mission pack that had rotating brushes (Armagon? Both?) or one of the newer engines like DP. There is also the Custents mod and others that perform a QC hack, though a bit less successfully than proper engine support.

Actually the SoA Missionpack used QC hacks to do it's rotation. (this is actually where the custents rotation code came from)

If there actually are any engine support concerns, they are undoubtably rendered moot at this point because the original engine source released by iD already had the support added in, meaning that all engines derived from that code should already support rotations.

That said IIRC, I think the real requirement was that the BSP be compiled with a version of qbsp that supported it.

I strongly suspect that the hamsters probably have gotten to you again.

(/me not trying to start a fight, just doing a joke with Wazat where he mentioned something about hamsters manipulating his memories.)

[Wazat]

Actually the SoA Missionpack used QC hacks to do it's rotation. (this is actually where the custents rotation code came from)

If there actually are any engine support concerns, they are undoubtably rendered moot at this point because the original engine source released by iD already had the support added in, meaning that all engines derived from that code should already support rotations.

That said IIRC, I think the real requirement was that the BSP be compiled with a version of qbsp that supported it.

Ah, I see. I remember custents having some oddities and didn't think to compare with Armagon. I suspect, in retrospect, that those oddities were actually "features" being deliberately displayed (i.e. rotating platforms going through the player rather than crushing him).

I strongly suspect that the hamsters probably have gotten to you again.

It's true. Last night, they stole my memories of my first love! And they removed all my memories of how to fly an F-16 and replaced them with Spanish soap operas! At least, that's what I remember them doing... I think. Damn hamsters!

[Team Xlink]

Thank you for the help.


Also, for the engine side of it:

http://www.quake-1.com/docs/quakesrc.org/129.html

EDIT: Where in Worldcraft does it say the z coordinate?

[Dr. Shadowborg]

Ah, I see. I remember custents having some oddities and didn't think to compare with Armagon. I suspect, in retrospect, that those oddities were actually "features" being deliberately displayed (i.e. rotating platforms going through the player rather than crushing him).

Part of that was that the hamsters got to poor old General WarT too and made him forget to add the func_movewall (except on that one rotating door) and the trigger_hurt for the gears.

In all honesty though, hipnotic rotation isn't exactly the easiest stuff to use. (strangely enough, the hipnotic code itself seems to have an obsession at times with requiring you to use multiple different entities when you can just have one entity do it all O_o)