[article] Climbing a wall ledge

This is a discussion topic for the article "Climbing a wall ledge" by Wild Card which can be found here

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But I dont have hands...

You didn't really explain how this is better than just putting a big func_ladder in front of the wall bud. A clipped edge and a couple more poly's are all I see here...

Actually I find getting up in the morning rather difficult sometimes.

A_S has a good point, such as ... you should explain it to such that the AAA_trigger brush can sit on top of the wall as well (incase you don't want a nicked corner on your brush) ... but it gave me an idea ... brainstorms on ideas for wall jumping in a map

Firstly, the difference between this methode and just having a plain ol ladder is that the 1unit ladder here emits no noise since the player isnt on it long enough. (Good for MP games). And in some cases, a ladder would look silly. Like in the screenshot in the tut.

As for the positionning of the AAA brush, it is best that it remains 1 unit in size. You can have it in front if you want, it still works, but not as well. Having it on top of the wall prevents the player from grabbing ahold to it. The way I have it in the tut is, IMO, the best way, since getting up isnt hard, and your only removing a 1 unit triangle out of you brush. I've played it time and time again, you dont see the difference unless your actively looking for it and you know its there.

Add to the tutorial that it makes no noise, as that's the only reason someone would do it this way. What if you made a few 1 unit ladders at strategic places up a high wall, would you be able to climb it without sound that way? I'd test it but I don't have hl installed.

Im not sure about the many 1 unit ladders. It depends how the engine works. If the engine makes the noise as soon as the player touches the ladder, then it would make noise, If its the individual ladder brushes which are coded to make the noise, then I dont think so. Im not sure.

But the main reason aswell, that this trick dosent emit any sound, is because the player kinda kicks off the ladder when he reaches the top.

Always hated that annoying little sound, danke.

A method that has all the advantages and none of the defects of this tutorial is as follows:

At the edge of your brush, create a number of clip-brush steps of length 1 unit, very steeply shelved but not so steep that the height difference between them is greater than the max. step height in HL. The player can just walk up the brush now.

Wc, delete this and do a tutorial of the one Gollum suggested.

Sure thing. I'll do that when I have more time.

I think WC's method is better really. If you made the clip brushes in steps like gollum suggested you would have to clear those steps or you would fall when you jumped. However if it is a ladder, you simply have to jump against the side of it and you'll catch it. I think this more closely simulates grabbing the ledge with your hands.

I haven't seen this noticed:

How will a player know that he can actually grab the wall and climb up? He doesn't see no ladder. And this was never applied in Half-Life, so he probably wouldn't think about it.

I've seen this trick used in a mod that was released in 2002, and I only found this after quite a while...

I like this, especially if it makes no ladder noise. The clip-brush stairs are good, but always seem wierd when you are going down them - but I suppose this func_ladder method would allow a player to climb backwards and forwards along the length of the wall, which could be a bit odd as well. With this ladder method, you could have a ledge, on a wall which you could jump and hold onto, then you could have another wall opposite that you could jump to from the first ledge, sort of like in splinter cell or prince of persia (if you are on a ladder and jump, you fly out from it). Not sure if that would work out well though.

Well, this could bring about a new generation of secret areas in maps. Both for HL and HL2. Since, as Captain P mentioned, it took him quite a while to find out about it. It could also be a great teaser for players.. Having a Gauss rifle up on a ledge visible to all, but only acquired by few.

Unno, it was just an idea I had so I decided to share it. We'll have to wait and see for a map to make heavy use of this trick to see if its good or not and if its worth it.

I agree with Captain... how could the player know that he can jump the wall ?
And I agree with Wild Card too (lol?): a way to make secret areas.

Just put in the map's readme file that you can climb ledges. And for all those who don't read readme files... This is our way of getting back at you.