Particle systems.

[Ibanez]

They suck. I’ve been trying to wrap my head around this whole system, and people have told me that you need to edit .gcf files, which I can’t even find, and you need to have an info_particle_system, and so on. So far what I’ve done is follow this tutorial as far as I could (I’m trying to make a water droplet effect so my properties are a little different), and I’m using the in-game particle editor thing (which is quite neat).

Now my problem is this: How the hell do I a) place the actual effect where I want to, and b) change its properties such as how fast it falls and how often?

[pfannkuchen_gesicht]

you need to extract the particlesmanifest.txt and add you file to the list
and you can change the speed of the fall down in movement basic by changing the gravity on the z-axis and you can change the emit count in the emitter properties

[Ibanez]

Okay, it makes more sense now. I can’t have one thing pointing at multiple other things of different types. I just have to make them target each other when they’re fired. Okay, similar to JA.

Now, since this thread is a-rollin’, how do I go about making those neat switches with props that animate, such as the one where you throw a lever and when it connects sparks fly and it fires its trigger? I looked all over the net and the valve developer community and I can’t find anything. I don’t want to use that god-awful static red button texture that valve has.

[EDIT: Oh, I tried func_rot_button, which seems perfect, but that’s only for brushes. It won’t let me use the lever handle prop as a button.]

[Ibanez]

You, sir, are my hero. That was perfect. If I have questions about mapping, would you be overly enraged if I were to PM you with questions? I won’t bother you for stupid little things and I will be sure to scour the web for what I need before bothering you.