Create your own Niagra falls, or die trying.
I suppose all good maps featuring rivers in them have waterfalls. Even the not-so-great ones do. From the pathetic 'undertow' waterfall, to the mighty 'op4_riverstation' rapids, they're quite handy things to have just to spice up your map. I'll use the river as shown in 'undertow' here as a base to work with, as it's fairly simple to make (although beware of making small buggy tunnels!).
This tutorial will also cover making the flowing streams that lead up the the fall itself.
First of all, you'll need some func_water entities (with any old water texture on them) for where the river is. Set the following properties:
render mode- texture
fx amount- 0
This will make the water brush itself completely transparent but still 'swimmable', as something else is actually providing the push. Next, make the brush that is to be the waterfall itself. Try to make it as realistic as possible, perhaps by making the river "dip" at the surface just as it goes over the edge. Next, copy all the func_water entities that are a part of the flowing river, tie them to world ("de-entify" them if you will), select the waterfall brush, and make them all into a func_conveyor entity covered with the scrollwater1 texture, with the following properties:
render mode- texture
fx amount- any value depending on transparency you want; '150' works well
You also need to alter the conveyor speed ('150' provides a moderate push), and tick the not solid flag. Also set the directional arrow for where the water pushes you to...
One more final effect- if you fancy some spray at the bottom, place a couple of env_sprites around the base of the waterfall:
render mode: additive
FX amount: about '150'
FX colour: blue?
Sprite name: sprites/xsmoke1.spr
Scale: depends on size of waterfall!
You should now have several func_water entities, with another large func_conveyor completely covering it (when I say "covering" I mean that each brush that goes into making it should be exactly the same size, and in the same
position, as the func_water brushes).
Hopefully, if you go and compile this, you'll now have a river that pushes you downstream. You'll now need something to stop people from floating back up the waterfall though- try covering it with a trigger_push entity acting downwards. Finally, some sounds would be nice- how about some ambient_generic entities playing 'ambience/waterfall1.wav'? It's a bit tricky to get it working properly, so I advise lots of tweaking and experimenting! And if all else fails, then just decompile a map with one in and use it...
This tutorial will also cover making the flowing streams that lead up the the fall itself.
First of all, you'll need some func_water entities (with any old water texture on them) for where the river is. Set the following properties:
render mode- texture
fx amount- 0
This will make the water brush itself completely transparent but still 'swimmable', as something else is actually providing the push. Next, make the brush that is to be the waterfall itself. Try to make it as realistic as possible, perhaps by making the river "dip" at the surface just as it goes over the edge. Next, copy all the func_water entities that are a part of the flowing river, tie them to world ("de-entify" them if you will), select the waterfall brush, and make them all into a func_conveyor entity covered with the scrollwater1 texture, with the following properties:
render mode- texture
fx amount- any value depending on transparency you want; '150' works well
You also need to alter the conveyor speed ('150' provides a moderate push), and tick the not solid flag. Also set the directional arrow for where the water pushes you to...
One more final effect- if you fancy some spray at the bottom, place a couple of env_sprites around the base of the waterfall:
render mode: additive
FX amount: about '150'
FX colour: blue?
Sprite name: sprites/xsmoke1.spr
Scale: depends on size of waterfall!
You should now have several func_water entities, with another large func_conveyor completely covering it (when I say "covering" I mean that each brush that goes into making it should be exactly the same size, and in the same
position, as the func_water brushes).
Hopefully, if you go and compile this, you'll now have a river that pushes you downstream. You'll now need something to stop people from floating back up the waterfall though- try covering it with a trigger_push entity acting downwards. Finally, some sounds would be nice- how about some ambient_generic entities playing 'ambience/waterfall1.wav'? It's a bit tricky to get it working properly, so I advise lots of tweaking and experimenting! And if all else fails, then just decompile a map with one in and use it...
