TF2/Making an Arena map

Arena is a new gamemode for TF2 that came along with the heavy update. In this gamemode, you don't respawn until your whole team is dead. The goal is to kill everyone on the enemy team, or to capture the center control point of the map. The control point is locked for 60 seconds in Valve's Arena maps, and cannot be captured until it's unlocked.

This article will tell you how to set up the Arena gamemode.

Arena gamemode entities

First we'll need an entity to check when a team captures the center control point.

• team_control_point_master

Property Name	Value
Name	master_control_point

	My Output	Target Entity	Target Input	Parameter	Delay	Only Once
	OnWonByTeam1	counter_red_win	Add	1	0.00	No
	OnWonByTeam2	counter_blu_win	Add	1	0.00	No

This adds the value of 1 to the math_counters we're about to make. It makes sure the game ends after the amount of wins you want in your map.

• math_counter

This entity will make sure your team wins the match after the specified amount of rounds. It also triggers a text on-screen that tells you your team want. Change the Maximum Legal Value to the amount of wins required to win the match. Don't forget to change it on the second math_counter too.

Property Name	Value
Name	counter_red_win
Maximum Legal Value	3

	My Output	Target Entity	Target Input	Parameter	Delay	Only Once
	OnHitMax	text_red_game_win	Display	<none>	0.00	No
	OnHitMax	end_game	EndGame	<none>	6.00	No

• math_counter

This is the same as above, but for the blue team.

Property Name	Value
Name	counter_blu_win
Maximum Legal Value	3

	My Output	Target Entity	Target Input	Parameter	Delay	Only Once
	OnHitMax	text_blu_game_win	Display	<none>	0.00	No
	OnHitMax	end_game	EndGame	<none>	6.00	No

• game_text

This text will be displayed when the red team wins.

Property Name	Value
Name	text_red_game_win
Message Text	Red Wins the Game!
Color2	240 0 6

• Check the "All players" flag.

• game_text

This text will be displayed when the blue team wins.

Property Name	Value
Name	text_blu_game_win
Message Text	Blue Wins the Game!
Color2	0 0 240

• Check the "All players" flag.

• game_end

This entity ends the game when your team has reached the score limit.

Property Name	Value
Name	end_game

• logic_auto

You probably already have this entity in your map. This enables stalemate to be triggered when the time limit is up.

	My Output	Target Entity	Target Input	Parameter	Delay	Only Once
	OnMapSpawn	tf_gamerules	SetStalemateOnTimeLimit	1	0.00	No

Note:This will display as a broken output.

• tf_logic_arena

This entity will be used to send an output when a round starts and when the control point is enabled. Specify the amount of seconds you want before it's activated here. 60 is the default setting.

Property Name	Value
CapEnableDelay	60

Note:This entity does not exist in the tf.fgd file, so you'll have to enter the keyvalues and outputs manually.

• Save your map, close it in hammer and open it in notepad.

• Press ctrl+F and search for tf_logic_arena

• Add this text above "origin":

connections
{
		"OnCapEnabled" "cap_flag,ShowModel,,0,-1"
		"OnArenaRoundStart" "relay_round_start,Trigger,,0,-1"
		"OnCapEnabled" "relay_cap_enable,Trigger,,0,-1"
}

• Save the vmf and close notepad.

• Open the modified vmf in Hammer

Now the outputs in the tf_logic_arena should look like this:

	My Output	Target Entity	Target Input	Parameter	Delay	Only Once
	OnCapEnabled	cap_flag	ShowModel	<none>	0.00	No
	OnArenaRoundStart	relay_round_start	Trigger	<none>	0.00	No
	OnCapEnabled	relay_cap_enable	Trigger	<none>	0.00	No

The first output displays the model for the control point when it has been enabled. The other two triggers the relays for the round start and control point activation.

• logic_relay

This will be used for outputs when the round starts. The reason we made the tf_logic_arena trigger a relay, instead of having the outputs in itself, is because it's easier to change the relay outputs than the tf_logic_arena outputs in notepad.

Property Name	Value
Name	relay_round_start

• logic_relay

This will be used for outputs when the control point is enabled.

Property Name	Value
Name	relay_cap_enable

That's about it for the basic gamemode.

Control point setup

Now we'll set up the center control point entities.

• prop_dynamic

This is the base model for the control point. It will be configured to change skin when a team captures it.

Property Name	Value
World Model	models/props_gameplay/cap_point_base.mdl
Name	prop_cap_1

• team_control_point

This is the control point.

Property Name	Value
Name	cap_flag
Print Name	#Arena_cap
Index	3
BLUE model bodygroup	0

• Check the "Start with model hidden" flag. This is because it will be displayed when the control point is enabled

• trigger_capture_area

This is the trigger area, that will let the teams capture it after it's enabled. You can modify these values to suit your map.

Property Name	Value
Name	cap_trigger
Control point	cap_flag
Number of RED players to cap	3
Number of BLUE players to cap	3
Time to cap (sec)	4

	My Output	Target Entity	Target Input	Parameter	Delay	Only Once
	OnCapTeam1	prop_cap_1	Skin	1	0.00	No
	OnCapTeam2	prop_cap_1	Skin	2	0.00	No

That's it! It should be working now. Don't forget to add a spawnroom if you want to try it out.

What you might want to add, is for the relay_round_start to trigger the spawndoors to open.

Now, if you test your map, you will notice the server will wait for players. Open up the console and write sv_cheats 1;bot. This will add a bot to the server and lets you play the map.