Discouragement Field

The Discouragement Field or Laser Field is a special energy field in Portal 2 which blocks only the player, not other objects. It can be considered as the counterpart to the Emancipation Grid. However, contact with the field instantly kills the player.

Instance

Laser Field example.

• Download these two instance files: death_field_128x128.vmf and death_field_256x256.vmf and put them into your instance folder under instances\gameplay. (If only text comes up and you can't download it, press ctrl+A, copy it, paste it in Notepad, and save as death_field_128x128.vmf under All Files (for the 128x128 one)).
• Create a new func_instance in your map, select VMF Filename and click Browse... on the right and select one of the two death field instances.
• The Discouragement Field is now ready and active on default. If you want to activate or deactivate the field, follow these steps:
  • Give the func_instance a name (Fix Up Name), for example death_field_1.
  • Create a trigger or button somewhere and give it these outputs:

	My Output	Target Entity	Target Input	Parameter	Delay	Only Once
	OnTrigger	death_field_1	instance:enable;Trigger	<none>	0.00	No

(for activation)

	My Output	Target Entity	Target Input	Parameter	Delay	Only Once
	OnTrigger	death_field_1	instance:disable;Trigger	<none>	0.00	No

(for deactivation)

Manual Creation

Alright, for this tutorial we're going to create a Laser Field with a width of 128 units. Select the tools/toolsnodraw texture and create a 128w 1l 128h block brush.

Now click Shift + A to open the Texture Application Tool, select the front and the back face of the brush, apply the effects/laserplane texture and click "Fit".

Click for preview.

Note:I recommend that, after you hit "Fit," you also allign it to the top, as well as adding 250 to the 'Y' axis. This will add to the visual effect by removing the annoying yet very common gap in the middle part of the field.

Next, tie the brush to a entity by clicking the toEntity button on the lower right side of the Hammer Interface and make it a func_brush with the following settings:

Property Name	Value
Name	deathfield1_brush
Render FX	Constant Glow
Solidity	Never Solid

Now, we want the Laser Field to kill the player when they try to pass through it. For this, create a 128w 1l 128h block brush that overlaps the first brush you made, apply the tools/toolstrigger texture to every face and make it a trigger_hurt with these settings:

Property Name	Value
Name	deathfield1_trigger
Damage	1000
Damage Type	ENERGYBEAM

And of course, make sure the Clients flag is enabled, otherwise it won't work.

To make it look like the lasers aren't just coming out of nowhere, create two prop_static entities. One to the left and one to the right of the Death Field brush. Select the model models/props/fizzler.mdl and set the skin to "2".

Click for preview.

Now create an ambient_generic and place it roughly in the middle of the brush. Use the following settings:

Property Name	Value
Name	deathfield1_sound
Sound Name	Laser.BeamLoopMega
Volume	8
SourceEntityName	deathfield1_brush

The flags Start silent and Is NOT looped must be disabled!

Alright, the Laser Field itself is ready to be used in game now, but for sure you want to use the possibilty of turning it on and off in your map. For this example we will use a prop_floor_button. Name it something like "button" and create the outputs:

	My Output	Target Entity	Target Input	Parameter	Delay	Only Once
	OnPressed	deathfield1_brush	Disable		0.00	No
	OnPressed	deathfield1_trigger	Disable		0.00	No
	OnPressed	deathfield1_sound	StopSound		0.00	No
	OnPressed	deathfield1_light	TurnOff		0.00	No
	OnUnPressed	deathfield1_brush	Enable		0.00	No
	OnUnPressed	deathfield1_trigger	Enable		0.00	No
	OnUnPressed	deathfield1_sound	PlaySound		0.00	No
	OnUnPressed	deathfield1_light	TurnOn		0.00	No

Congratulations! You have created a fully funcional Laser Field for use in your map!