Game text

Template:Base point It displays text on players' screens. This text can be defined directly in the Hammer editor (unlike the similar env_message entity which uses the titles.txt file). This entity is suitable only for standalone bsp maps.

If your text is not displaying properly in a multiplayer game, try checking the "All Players" flag.

Warning:It is not suitable for any other usage, as it prevents localization and makes text editing impossible without a recompilation.

Warning:Don't use quotation characters (") in the Text Message field (not even \" characters). It will cause fatal errors with opening and/or compiling your map and may need to be fixed by manually editing the VMF in a text editor. Instead, use use detailed quotes (i.e. “ and ”).

In code, it is represented by theCGameTextclass, defined in themaprules.cppfile.

Keyvalues

Message Text ([todo internal name (i)]) <string>

Message to display onscreen. \n signifies a new line in the text.

Bug:Hammer will automatically change \n to /n. The only known workaround is to edit the vmf in notepad.  [todo tested in ?]

X (0 - 1.0 = left to right) (-1 centers) ([todo internal name (i)]) <string>

Horizontal position on the player's screens to draw the text. The value should be between 0 and 1, where 0 is the far left of the screen and 1 is the far right. -1 centers the text.

Y (0 - 1.0 = top to bottom) (-1 centers) ([todo internal name (i)]) <string>

Vertical position on the player's screens to draw the text. The value should be between 0 and 1, where 0 is the top of the screen and 1 is the bottom. -1 centers the text.

Text Effect ([todo internal name (i)]) <choices>

Text scan effect

Literal value	Effect	Description
0	Fade In/Out	The whole text is faded in, and then faded out.
1	Credits	Todo: Unknown - seems to act like Fade In/Out. Provide description.
2	Scan Out	The text is scanned in letter by letter, and the whole text is then faded out.

Color1 ([todo internal name (i)]) <color255>

The primary color used by all the text effects.

Note:The color values seem to be added to the background, so either a bright white background or black text will cause the message to be invisible.

Note:This keyvalue will default to black for entities not created in Hammer.

Color2 ([todo internal name (i)]) <color255>

The scanning color for the letter being scanned if the Text Effect keyvalue is set to Scan Out - usually a different shade of Color1.

Fade in Time (or character scan time) ([todo internal name (i)]) <string>

The time it should take for the text to fully fade in.

Fade Out Time ([todo internal name (i)]) <string>

The time it should take for the text to fade out, after the hold time has expired.

Hold Time ([todo internal name (i)]) <string>

The time the text should stay onscreen, after fading in, before it begins to fade out.

Note:This value defaults to zero for entities not created in Hammer.

Scan time (scan effect only) ([todo internal name (i)]) <string>

If the 'Text Effect' is set to Scan Out, this is the time it should take to scan out all the letters in the text.

Text Channel ([todo internal name (i)]) <choices>

You can have up to four individual game_text messages onscreen at once, stored in channels. Select which channel this text should be placed in, which will overwrite any active message already in that channel.

• 1 : Channel 1 (medium text size)
• 2 : Channel 2 (small text size)
• 3 : Channel 3 (large text size)
• 4 : Channel 4 (medium text size)
• 5 : Channel 5 (Mainly have to type this in Channel 5)

Master ([todo internal name (i)]) <string>

Legacy support: The name of a master entity. If the master hasn't been activated, this entity will not activate.

Name (targetname) <string>[ Edit ]

The name that other entities refer to this entity by, via Inputs/Outputs or other keyvalues (e.g. parentname or target).
Also displayed in Hammer's 2D views and Entity Report.

See also:  Generic Keyvalues, Inputs and Outputs available to all entities

Flags

• 1 : All Players

Inputs

Display

Display the message text.

Note:If the All Players flag is not set, the player must be the !activator of this input in order for the text to be shown.

SetText <stringRedirectInput/string> (in all games since )

Set the text to display.

SetPosX <floatRedirectInput/float> (in all games since )

Set the X position of the text. (0 - 1.0 = left to right) (-1 centers)

SetPosY <floatRedirectInput/float> (in all games since )

Set the Y position of the text. (0 - 1.0 = top to bottom) (-1 centers)

SetTextColor <color255RedirectInput/color32> (in all games since )

Set color of the front text.

SetTextColor2 <color255RedirectInput/color32> (in all games since )

Set color of the transition text.

See also

• point_message - A similar entity that displays a small custom message at a specific position in the game world.
• Customizable triggered HUD-message - How to create a new entity that is similar to game_text but can receive the message string via a triggered input.