Talk:List of base entities

list of base.fgd entities ?

Am I right in assuming that this is a list of all entities described in the orangebox/bin/base.fgd ?

If so there seem to be quite a few missing ... there should be around 178 PointClass entities and 58 SolidClass (Brush) entities.

I'd be happy to help as long as I know what the plan is. --Beeswax 16:52, 26 Feb 2008 (PST)

• NPC entities described in base.fgd = npc_puppet and npc_furniture. All others are in Halflife2.fgd.
• No weapon_s or item_s are described in base.fgd. --Beeswax 21:07, 26 Feb 2008 (PST)

If that's true, I think this page should be deleted. It's irrelevant: if you need to know its contents, you already have the list open in a text editor in front of you! A list of C++ base entity classes though - that would be useful. --TomEdwards 00:52, 27 Feb 2008 (PST)

For the non-savvy user, the list on an .fgd file might be a little too frightening to skim through. I believe small, compact lists like these still help with that, if not only for the fact that they contain links to the entity pages. I wouldn't vote deleting unless it really serves no purpose at all. --Etset 03:11, 27 Feb 2008 (PST)

Why would a non-savvy user even need to skim through it? The contents of base.fgd are only relevant for people making new entities, and if you can read C++ the FGD language is hardly a challenge. Anyway, I'm not proposing a deletion but a re-purposing. :-) --TomEdwards 07:35, 27 Feb 2008 (PST)

base classes : I think we all agree that huge lists like Category:Entities are less helpful than shorter, well-categorised and explained 'glossary' indices such as filter (6), constraint (9) and the awesome assaults (3). My guess is that the entity baseclasses are a good place to start but I would expect some (legacy) exceptions. I would certainly appreciate advice on how to approach this from people who really know how certain groups of entities work together in practice, and/or have a deeper (eg C++ level) understanding of baseclasses than the fgd provides. --Beeswax 09:32, 27 Feb 2008 (PST)

Tom: Is a C++ base entity class the same as an fgd BaseClass? If so (there are 50 in base.fgd, and 18 in halflife2.fgd) I can help with that. --Beeswax 09:32, 27 Feb 2008 (PST)

There's no correlation. Base classes in C++ are things like CBaseEntity, which everything, ever, is derived from, and CBaseActor, CBaseToggle (a brush entity), and so on. In FGDs they're used for layering up common properties, inputs and outputs of entities - not the entities themselves. --TomEdwards 11:04, 27 Feb 2008 (PST)

base.fgd entities : Distinguishing which entities are available in which games/mods would be useful for this VDC wiki, but also particularly for mod documentation projects. OK, not much fun for non-savvy browsing, but a useful reference nonetheless. Perhaps inline tags (eg {{fgd_base}} , {{fgd_halflife2}}, {{fgd_hl2mp}}, {{fgd_cstrike}}, {{fgd_dod}}, {{fgd_portal}}, {{fgd_tf}} etc) could be used to flag entity pages and simultaneously auto-populate categories for fgd base entities, fgd halflife2 entities, etc ? (A number of entity pages have already been 'flagged' using Template:Game-base and Template:Game). - again I'm happy to help but I'd like some assurance that I'm working within a sound conceptual framework :) --Beeswax 09:32, 27 Feb 2008 (PST)

eg Template:fgd_halflife2 =
This entity is available in all [[Half-Life_2]]-based games.<includeonly>[[Category:FGD_Halflife2_Entities]]</includeonly>

eg Template:fgd_base =
This entity is available in all [[Source]]-based games.<includeonly>[[Category:FGD_Base_Entities]]</includeonly>