[Question] Hammer - No AM Lab Doors

General Development Black Mesa
#1

Hi everyone.
I’ve been looking for the generic lab doors (the ones that slide when you enter a lab in anomalous materials) for a while, but I can’t seem to find it in the entity - model finder.

Also, on another note, with the am_door1.mdl (bigger sliding doors when entering new areas in AM and other sciency areas), I put two of them side by side and rotated the other to ‘lock in’ but I’m not sure exactly how to make them both slide out. They don’t do anything when I walk in them, and I’ve made them both prop_dynamic.
https://prntscr.com/8ifwnk

I’m new to this, so just figuring out these things. Thanks!

#2

  1. That is because they are not models. They are brushes with a func_door entity. To make them, create the door as just a square brush, press the “to entity” button on your sidebar, and select “func_door” from the window that comes up.

  2. These doors work by having an invisible func_door brush occupying the same space and handling all the door logic. The prop_dynamic is then parented to that entity.

#3

Ah, I see what you mean, mostly. I looked at the first AM map from BM and took a look at their doors. There’s a Trigger on both sides of the door to open when you walk to it, but also, like you said, an invisible block the same size of the door.
However, creating a square brush, making it an entity, and selecting ‘func_door’ doesn’t do much. There isn’t a model selector or anything, so I’m still not sure how they linked it to that model. There’s only a ‘name’ area which seems to have the name of what would be a model. And for the generic lab doors I can’t find, I’m still not sure how to make them a func_door without being able to find it.

#4

It’s not linked to a model, the doors are just flat rectangular brushes with the texture labdoor_00 or labdoor_00_open depending on whether you want them to look locked or not.

As for the big doors, the connection to the func_brush happens on the part of the prop_dynamic that you already have: putting the name of the invisible func_door in the prop’s “parent” field will cause the prop to follow that door.

#5

You have to give the func_door a name, then open the prop_dynamic’s properties, and in the parent box, put the name of your func_door. Objects essentially follow or mimic their parent’s movement. The invisible func_door does all the actual movement, I/O, etc., the prop_dynamic just follows it.

The generic lab doors are just func_doors with one of the lab\labdoor materials applied.

Also, instead of two triggers - one on each side - you can just use one that spans the length that both would. Not important, just a little cleaner.

EDIT: NINJAS.

#6

When in doubt, decompile!
https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/BSPSource

(For learning, not copypaste)

#7

No need, Black Mesa includes all the source VMFs for SP.
Also if one doesn’t understand func_doors and parenting, you need to read some documentation, otherwise decompiling will probably just confuse you.

#8

Thanks for the help guys! Only just started two days ago, so this is invaluable information. We’ll see how things go!

#9

We include all the source vmfs with the game now. When in doubt, copy/paste into your map, then separate out all the layers to figure out what’s going on. You can work out how we’ve done nearly anything, like this. It was invaluable to me when I got into mapping for BMS.

#10

Indeed, it’s interesting to see how a lot of the ‘props’ are designed - most windows are really just blocks put together with textures and into a func_detail. Same with quite a lot of other stuff. It’s coming along, by the way:
https://prntscr.com/8iu5wh
(This is my first ‘test’ map. It’s just a generic science lab with an elevator (blocked off) and a door (blocked off) so I can learn how to make BM-style environments).

I also did an unreachable area behind the player spawn point with a curved hallway - I’m quite proud of it - and how simple it is to do!
https://prntscr.com/8iu6j3

Can’t wait to get this textured up and lit. But as for now, details and main structure.

Oh, and I learnt something important: PUT ‘FRAMES’ AROUND YOUR STRUCTURES! (eg. the elevator door)

#11

It looks like you’ve got a good handle on the map development pipeline; that always gave me trouble, as I often skipped orangemapping entirely and wound up paying for it when things didn’t line up…

#12

Yeah, seems like a fairly solid start - you’ve got the right approach.

Not sure if you’re mapping for MP or SP, but if you’re mapping for MP, keep an eye out for making too many unreachable areas - in MP they often detract from the focus of the map rather than add to it, like they do in SP. My Gasworks devblog can give a bit of insight and information into the process (and mistakes!) of mapping for BMS MP, if you’re interested.

#13

Thanks guys. I learnt to start off orange-blocking after reading your dev post about gasworks.
As for the map, it’s just a singleplayer test map, for myself really - to find out the right lighting, etc, to learn how to make a Black Mesa themed map for my future projects - whatever they may be.
Thanks!

Founded in 2004, Leakfree.org became one of the first online communities dedicated to Valve’s Source engine development. It is more famously known for the formation of Black Mesa: Source under the 'Leakfree Modification Team' handle in September 2004.