physbox weight

Ok... I'm working on a room in my map that looks out onto the front yard, and there are a couple windows in the room which I wanted realistic blinds above. This link shows a picture of what I have now (please, ignore the ugly green wallpaper):

http://ramrod.unl.edu/~radikal/room1.jpg

Each blind segment is tied together with hinges so that the whole thing can sway and move like a real set of blinds would. Each piece is a func_physbox. The problem is, they ALWAYS sag like that... I want blinds that are evenly spaced, and preferably, with no spaces whatsoever between pieces. I've tried adjusting the "weight scale" field of the physboxes but nothing changed. Also, I've messed around with the load scale on the hinges, also to no avail. Any ideas?? thanks!

Try messing with the lenght constraint sysyem they have.

what aboud making them simple func_door_rotating? every blind with the same name so they're triggered together.

btw maybe i didn't understand your problem right. I assume they must rotate together and completely cover the window when closed

i don't think a func_door_rotating will work... I want the blinds to simply sway naturally...so if you bump them or shoot them they'll move, not so that on "+use" they do some sort of lifting, sorry.

with the hinges they sway perfectly, the blinds just "weight too much"... and it looks like they're sagging with spaces between each section.

Try using a length constraint on the blinds...but use only one and make sure that all your func_ physbox have the same name and instead of using entity 1 and entity 2 in the length contraint just use entity 1 then in the side profile in the map drag the little round thing in the middle of the length contraint to the desired spacing between ONE of the blinds. (READ THE TIRE SWING TUTORIAL ON THE SITE TO GET A BETTER IDEA OF WHAT I AM TALKING ABOUT FOR THE LENGTH CONTRAINT)

The problem doing that though is that you might not be able to open and close the blinds.... if you dont care if they open then hopefully that will work out for ya

i think the problem with that is i don't want them to just rotate individually, but rather move fluidly as if there was one rope tying them all together.

Why don't you try evertyhing on this thread and see what works, fooling around and using trial and error is usually the easiest way instead of sitting still until someone gives you the answer. If you just dick around you can learn different things about the editor as well.

well i'vebeen working on this problem for 2 weeks now while snarkpit was down.... i tried length constraints, normal constraints, the hinges, even phys_thrusters to hold em up... i'm just askin for suggestions because i just might havfe done something incorrectly or in a different way

ah ok. maybe they oppose too much resistance because are all tied together or are affected by a kind of friction.

But i never seen similar blinds. I think they can only be rotated by
rotating that vertical stick on the side, or pulling a little rope

He's not trying to get the blinds to move on a track, or rotate around using the stick on the side. He's trying to get the blinds to hang realistically so that when shot or pushed they will sway and ripple like real blinds. He's having trouble getting each individual blind to stay together, right now there are unwanted gaps for unknown reasons. He wants to figure out why, and it looks like no one has ever tried this before so maybe no one will know how to do it.

Should make a nice prefab when its sorted :biggrin:

well...this is what happens when length constraints are added between each blind.... its not pretty so if you're easily offended by disturbing images..... lol ok so it's not that bad but it is a bit rediculous

http://ramrod.unl.edu/~radikal/crazyblinds.jpg

Wow crap dude, that is messed up. I'm starting to think this is an unaswerable question. I have no ideas.

Nice pic though.

you may want to try the constraint system manager entity. also, I guess
things like this really lag a map if they are for MP, so be cautious of
that

I wonder if setting a material type (e.g. wood.light) overrides the
"Mass Scale" parameter of the physbox. I know it does for some things
(like health).

You might try making the mass scale really small (0.0001 or something) on all the slats to see if that helps at all.

And I'd second the constrainmanager thing. I've had terrible problems
with physboxes that are acted on by multiple constraints, you get
things that propel themselves around in a juddering heap.