Func_tracktrain

I want a Func_tracktrain to go around in cirlces, following my path_track all by itself. I cant get it to move. What am I doing wrong? There must be a way to make it go by itself. Now it just stands still.

It is for HL2dm im trying this.

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set the initial speed to a number : 50 or 100.

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Frodo Greenman
www.halfwit-2.com

also, if you want it to loop make sure you have your last path_track set to link to the first one.

and that your first is a move_track (or more_path maybe not in your case but just check it out)

You know ... if it's going in a perfect circle. All you need to do is place a func_rotating several units away to act as the pivot point (make sure you make the rotation axis vertical) and make it the "trains" parent, which should be some object like func_brush ... or something. It should work, I haven't tried it, but if it did it'd be much less of a hassle to be "processed" in an MP game, if my understanding is correct.

You could even make buttons that are parented to the func_brush that make the func_rotating, stop, go forward, and reverse direction.

If you wanted it to stop at "junctions" you could have triggers that make it stop only if someone is standing there waiting to get on.

There's all sorts of ways you can do things that will probably run better then the most straightforward one. (Not to mention, this is easier then train tracks, it seems, you just have to align it properly, which would be easy, since you could just place the rotating in the middle of the cylinder that would make up this "round track")

Of course ... if the track really isn't round, this wont work.

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Blame it on Microsoft, God does.

Thanks alot.

It just hit that i could use a func_rotating instead, silly me. But i can have use of a tracktrain as well in another part of this crazy map, that might suck. But it could be cool.

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The only reason I suggested a rotating instead is that it consumes less bandwidth during play. It's server managed, not client managed, so, in return it's very consuming.

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Blame it on Microsoft, God does.

I dont know why i didnt think of the func_rotating. I will have several objects orbiting a center, so i dont know why the hell i thought i should use a tracktrain =).

So you mean that a func_rotating consumes less bandwitdh while a tracktrain eats more?

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I know you like good music. Go to http://peak.sorkmos.com/PEAK/ and start DL. now.

Yes. If I'm not mistaken, a func_rotating is an entity that can be managed on the players computer. While, I know for a fact that the train track entity is managed by the server, to ensure that everything syncs up on all players computers. This, of course, causes an overall slowdown for everyone, whether you're near the train or not. So, it'd be best to use something that the client can predict on it's own.

I believe the issue comes about because a traintrack can go in any direction and such, while a rotating can easily be predicted based on it's limited values. Things like turning it on or off or switching direction are also predicted (however, the actual trigger would need to come from the server, but that's nothing compared to every little movement being managed)

Does that make sense? It worked the same way in HL1 ... so I imagine they couldn't do much about it based on how the entity works.

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Blame it on Microsoft, God does.

That does make lots of sense. But do you really think that a quite advanced tracktrain actually would consume any bandwidth that is worth saving in, or if it is about very small amounts not actually worth mentioning?

I guess it could be a matter in the HL1 engine (which I recently read is called Goldsource?!, never heard that before) but could it really be that in source?
I mean, the entity works propably the same, but maybe you have more memory to play with or something like that. I dont know anything really =).

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I know you like good music. Go to http://peak.sorkmos.com/PEAK/ and start DL. now.

As a rule of thumb: you want to optimize as much as humanly possible.

However, I'm not sure if it really has anything to do with the actual engines. Because, it doesn't matter whether source "does it better" or not. There is still a large amount of network traffic when the server manages something. Software only optimizes to a point, then it relies on hardware ... and that part hasn't changed.

Anyway, I was just pointing it out, you can have train tracks in MP maps, it's just really easy to over do them and lag everything out. So, if there's a faster alternative, I'd suggest taking it. Not to mention ... using a func_rotating in this situation is faster to produce! It just depends on the options you wish it to have.

Gold Source engine eh? Is that a fancy name for Quake 1 or something? Just because they altered the engine I doubt it's completely fair to now imply that the HL1 engine was developed in house.

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Blame it on Microsoft, God does.

Alright. ill try and keep my tracktrains down as much as possible.

I read on the valve developer community that it was the HL1 engine that was called Goldsource. Dont know what it comes from.

And Its funny that HL2 contains some quake 1 code.

I guess they could have just renamed it. Or maybe its just called that for some reason.

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I know you like good music. Go to http://peak.sorkmos.com/PEAK/ and start DL. now.