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Can NOT seem to make info_player_start trigger anything!
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 Re: Can NOT seem to make info_player_start trigger anything!
Posted by MeatStick on Mon Dec 6th at 1:29am 2004

I want to tie specific things to the player spawning/re-spawning in deathmatch. Most of which at the moment are effect related. I've tried all kinds of crap but I just can't seem to figure out how to make the info_player_start TRIGGER anything at all with its output. For instance, making it say something on the screen by having it output linked to a game_text entity. That's not what I actually want but at this point I'm just trying to make the act of spawning/respawning DO SOMETHING in addition to just spawning. Am I going about this the wrong way? Do I have to create some kind of brush or what ever and have it activate when the player touches it, such as falling slightly from an elevated respawn position? I can't even get THAT to work. This is driving me NNNNUUUUTTTS!.

If you can explain to me what I'm not understanding I'd appreciate it. Thanks.



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 Re: Can NOT seem to make info_player_start trigger anything!
Posted by MeatStick on Mon Dec 6th at 1:44am 2004

Btw, I realize (to some extent anyway) the difference between triggers and buttons and other stuff, etc. However, in my mind (and perhaps wrongly!) I *assume* the info_player_start *SHOULD* fire outputs when a player respawns there. If that's true then I just don't get what I'm missing to make it DO stuff when the player respawns.



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 Re: Can NOT seem to make info_player_start trigger anything!
Posted by KungFuDiscoMonkey on Mon Dec 6th at 2:42am 2004

I've never heard of info_player_start being able to trigger anything but you could have it located in some kind of other trigger entity so that when a person spawned they'd trigger the entity and that would trigger whatever.



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 Re: Can NOT seem to make info_player_start trigger anything!
Posted by ReNo on Mon Dec 6th at 2:54am 2004

An info_player_start entity doesn't really have any need to trigger anything, as it will only occur when the player spawns at the start of the map. In HL1 you would use a trigger_auto to automatically trigger something on the map loading, its most likely the same in HL2.

An info_player_deathmatch is of course a different matter, did you mean you are using this entity, or are you using the info_player_start?
[addsig]



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 Re: Can NOT seem to make info_player_start trigger anything!
Posted by Nanodeath on Mon Dec 6th at 2:59am 2004

Building off of what KungFu said, I'd make a trigger_multiple (or whatever other trigger you want) and have its OnTrigger output turn itself off, and the OnEndTouch turn itself back on...or maybe just a delay. I dunno, no easy or 100% way :/



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 Re: Can NOT seem to make info_player_start trigger anything!
Posted by Leperous on Mon Dec 6th at 11:08am 2004

As Reno said- info_player_starts are for single player. Load up the hl2dm FGD in Hammer and you'll have info_player_deathmatch entities. However, these don't have any outputs either, and I don't think there are any entities with a player-spawn output.

Obviously one solution would be to place the player starts a height above the ground, and encase them in a trigger (which targets the game_texts or whatever you want).





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 Re: Can NOT seem to make info_player_start trigger anything!
Posted by MeatStick on Mon Dec 6th at 4:01pm 2004

Ok I mistakenly had both info_player_start and deathmatch, thinking I had to have at-least one of the _start's in place. From the replies I gather I should completely stop using the info_player_start and use only (about 32...) _deathmatch. Np there.

BUMMER that the entitiy (_deathmatch) itself does not produce some kind of firable/monitorable mechanism when it is activated by the act of a player spawning! Considering the extremely interesting/complex ways things *appear* to offer I'm shocked that this one doesn't offer a simple way to monitor the act of spawning!

I will try to use a t_mult and see if I can get it to work. To me this is a very clucnky way of doing what I'm after because I'll have to take a number of things into account to make it ONLY activate when a player spawns there, and not repeatedly activate if the player keeps standing there, or walks out then back in to the spawn area, etc. For that the only way I can think of will be to pysically prevent the player from re-entering the "spawn" area once they leave, etc. Clunky





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 Re: Can NOT seem to make info_player_start trigger anything!
Posted by Leperous on Mon Dec 6th at 4:08pm 2004

Yes, which is why I suggested you raise the spawn points off the ground (perhaps by 128 units or so) so the player drops out of it, and it's too high for anyone to jump into. Perhaps some kind of funky "spawn chute" would work



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 Re: Can NOT seem to make info_player_start trigger anything!
Posted by MeatStick on Mon Dec 6th at 4:25pm 2004

Unfortunately, what I have in my head (and fully built already) for the spawn mechanism doesn't allow (physically) the player to actually 'drop' like that for more than a few inches. However! Perhaps I could make it so the trigger area is at the very top, and incredibly THIN, so the spawning player model's head would initially be in the thin trigger to make it happen! As long as I (bummer : /) modify the spawn area architecture enough to prevent the player from being able to jump up putting their head back into the thin trigger this might just work. I'm trying to keep it simple while being still being cool because I have to duplicate it 31 times so... whew



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 Re: Can NOT seem to make info_player_start trigger anything!
Posted by Neural Scan on Mon Dec 6th at 4:29pm 2004

I have the perfect solution!

Make them shoot out of the ground with a trigger_push (or similar) instead! That would be hilarious...





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 Re: Can NOT seem to make info_player_start trigger anything!
Posted by Cyantist on Mon Dec 6th at 4:35pm 2004

Whoa, crazy thought! May work great though, if it's done right.. otherwise would there be problems with re-spawns, especially when a player is standing directly above the _deathmatch entity?

Another work around thought is that the trigger could be turned off when a player approached it, but just long enough so that it'll be on when a player automagically spawns there.

I agree: it's unfortunate if a work-around has to be used to get player spawn to trigger something, especially if it causes a physical restructuring of the map. I'm curious, is Adrenalin Gamer or another DM mod likely to add this functionality? Reno? It's certainly a feature that would make a lot of sense.




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 Re: Can NOT seem to make info_player_start trigger anything!
Posted by Tracer Bullet on Mon Dec 6th at 5:19pm 2004

I suppose you could make sort of a doughnut shaped trigger around each spawn that would temporarily disable the trigger under the spawn point so that players just running through that volume of space would by not trigger your effects, but one who spawns inside the doughnut would

[addsig]



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 Re: Can NOT seem to make info_player_start trigger anything!
Posted by ReNo on Mon Dec 6th at 5:57pm 2004

Then there is always the risk that a player might spawn inside that doughnut thing while somebody had already turned off the trigger by running through it, thereby stopping the effect occuring. [addsig]



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 Re: Can NOT seem to make info_player_start trigger anything!
Posted by MeatStick on Mon Dec 6th at 6:00pm 2004

lol I like the push-from-ground idea however, again, the architecture (as currently exists in my map) doesn't allow that. However that's stilla very interesting idea and might be more entertaining than trying to top-down approach. In any event I appreciate all the ideas and feedback in this topic. The bottom line seems to be I will simply have to re-work the spawn mechanism, from a structural standpoint, to achieve the effects I'm after. Luckily (and intentionally) the design of the spawn structure does not (will not) allow a player to re-enter the physical space of the spawn itself, once the player has left it. I suppose with enough effort I could actually create some kind of push-pull trigger system that actually automatically moves the player out of the structure, but that would defeat one of the things I had in mind. There's a reason to stand there for a minute looking around after you spawn, if you want to.



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 Re: Can NOT seem to make info_player_start trigger anything!
Posted by MeatStick on Mon Dec 6th at 6:49pm 2004

I think an elegant final solution to prevent someone from being in the spawn-area when another player is *brought* there using my mechanism will be to fire off a nice plump explosion to incenerate anyone that might be hanging around to long

M O V E!...





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 Re: Can NOT seem to make info_player_start trigger anything!
Posted by KungFuDiscoMonkey on Mon Dec 6th at 7:48pm 2004

How bout have spawn rooms that spawn the player, trigger whatever, then teleport you to the actual spawn location in the main map.



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 Re: Can NOT seem to make info_player_start trigger anything!
Posted by ReNo on Mon Dec 6th at 7:50pm 2004

Good idea, you could just make it instantaneous so that nobody even notices [addsig]



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 Re: Can NOT seem to make info_player_start trigger anything!
Posted by thundercleese on Mon Dec 6th at 8:37pm 2004

You'd have to do this for each spawn point you wanted right? [addsig]



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 Re: Can NOT seem to make info_player_start trigger anything!
Posted by MeatStick on Mon Dec 6th at 8:42pm 2004

? quoting thundercleese
You'd have to do this for each spawn point you wanted right?

I'm going to have to do this anyway. What ever I finally decide to do has to be duplicated 31 more times to be consistent with what I have in my head. And I'm being stuburn and REALLY want to get what's in my head into the map so this is gonna take quite some time to implement. If possible, I'll try and design the peices in a way more easily suitable for duplication but there's no getting around that requirement in the end.

The teleport idea is interesting. If it's really *instant* then that might be the best choice. Plus, teleporters will auto telefrag someone standing there anyway, right?





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 Re: Can NOT seem to make info_player_start trigger anything!
Posted by Nanodeath on Mon Dec 6th at 8:44pm 2004

I think this is probably the best way to do it...also, on a side note, if you want to having moving spawn points you have to have teleporting, too...say if you want to spawn on a train or something.




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