Effect flags

GoldSrc

Source Engine

A set of bitflags for configuring client-side visual effects.

Usage From Hammer

Effect flags can be configured from Hammer. To do so, turn off SmartEdit and add a new keyvalue pair:

effects <n>

"n" is the sum total of the flags you want to use. For example, 66 would mean EF_BRIGHTLIGHT and EF_NORECEIVESHADOW.

Alternatively, you can add the following code (or similar) to the FGD entries of entities you wish to use effect flags on:

effects(choices) : "Effect Flags" : 0 : "For configuring visual effects. If you want to combine effects, simply type in the sum of the effect numbers, e.g., '72' for 64+8." =
[
	0: "0 - None"
	1: "1 - EF_BONEMERGE: Bonemerge always (very expensive!)"
	2: "2 - EF_BRIGHTLIGHT: Bright, dynamic light at entity origin"
	4: "4 - EF_DIMLIGHT: Dim, dynamic light at entity origin"
	8: "8 - EF_NOINTERP: No movement interpolation"
	16: "16 - EF_NOSHADOW: Don't cast shadows"
	32: "32 - EF_NODRAW: Don't draw entity (entity is fully ignored by clients, NOT server; can cause collision problems)"
	64: "64 - EF_NORECEIVESHADOW: Don't receive dynamic shadows"
	128: "128 - EF_BONEMERGE_FASTCULL: Bonemerge only in PVS, better performance but prone to disappearing. Use with Bonemerge."
	256: "256 - EF_ITEM_BLINK: Unsubtle blink"
	512: "512 - EF_PARENT_ANIMATES: Flag parent as always animating and realign each frame"
]

If you wish to use effect flags on enough entity classes, it may be worthwhile to create or modify a BaseClass instead of adding code to numerous entity classes individually.

Tip:Effect flags are enabled by default in TeamSpen's Hammer Addons.

Flags

EF_BONEMERGE : [1]

Merges bones of names shared with a parent entity to the position and direction of the parent's.

EF_BRIGHTLIGHT : [2]

Emits a dynamic light of RGB(250,250,250) and a random radius of 400 to 431 from the origin.

EF_DIMLIGHT : [4]

Emits a dynamic light of RGB(100,100,100) and a random radius of 200 to 231 from the origin.

Bug:In Black Mesa, the dynamic light from both EF_BRIGHTLIGHT and EF_DIMLIGHT appears every frame, but not removed if the game is paused. This means that in pause mode, a huge number of lights will appear and reduce performance, then they will crash the game. Safe to use only in multiplayer mode.

EF_NOINTERP : [8]

Don't interpolate on the next frame.

Bug:Causes crashes.

EF_NOSHADOW : [16]

Don't create a render-to-texture shadow, does not affect projected texture shadows.

Note:This flag is applied when setting disableshadows 1.

EF_NODRAW : [32]

Entity is completely ignored by the client, and stops drawing the entity.

Important:Can cause prediction errors if a player proceeds to collide with it on the server, so use rendermode 10 instead if this is a problem.

EF_NORECEIVESHADOW : [64]

Don't receive dynamic shadows.

Note:This flag is applied when setting disablereceiveshadows 1.

EF_BONEMERGE_FASTCULL : [128]

EF_ITEM_BLINK : [256]

Blink an item so that the user notices it. Added for original Xbox, and not very subtle.

EF_PARENT_ANIMATES : [512]

Assume that the parent entity is always animating. Causes it to realign every frame.

Note:Does not function with the effects keyvalue.

EF_MARKED_FOR_FAST_REFLECTION : [1024] (in all games since )

Marks the entity to render in fast water reflections.

Note:This flag is applied when setting drawinfastreflection 1.

EF_NOSHADOWDEPTH : [2048] (in all games since )

Stops env_cascade_light and env_projectedtexture from making shadows for this entity.

Note:This flag is applied when setting disableshadowdepth 1.

EF_SHADOWDEPTH_NOCACHE : [4096]

Don't cache this entity into shadow depthmaps, update it every frame.

EF_NOFLASHLIGHT : [8192] (in all games since )

Stops projected textures from making shadows for this entity.

Note:This flag is applied when setting disableflashlight 1.

EF_NOCSM : [16384] (in all games since )

Don't cast shadows from cascade shadow maps.

Functions

Warning:Make sure not to confuse EF_ effect flags with EFL_ entity flags (aka EFlags). Always use the following AddEffects series of functions for the EF_ flags on this page, and never AddEFlags. Even some of Valve's own code and past versions of this article have made this mistake!

• AddEffects() / SetEffects()
• RemoveEffects()
• GetEffects()
• IsEffectActive()

See also

• entities.constants
• Non-FGD features
• Render Modes