WiseTele: Teleporting

This tutorial was originally created by wisemx. It was originally posted on SDKnuts.net.

Introduction

Teleports aren’t difficult to create and with a little imagination you can use them for interesting effects in your maps.

In this project the events are:

1. Player starts out on Earth.
2. Takes teleport form Earth.
3. For 2 seconds is in a starfield.
4. Ends up on the Moon.
5. Can teleport directly back to Earth.

Creation

The teleport itself is a trigger, and is created like so:

1. Create a normal brush textured entirely with tools/toolstrigger.
2. Press Ctrl+T and select trigger_teleport from the list.
3. Your new trigger_teleport doesn’t need any properties other than the Remote Destination.
4. If you will be sending commands to this trigger_teleport then give it a name, otherwise don’t name it.

The Remote Destination can be either an info_teleport_destination or an info_target. I prefer to use the info_teleport_destination because it is more obvious when you are creating the map and you can preserve angles with it. Yes, preserve angles, to an extent. If you place the info_teleport_destination upside down the player will come through the teleporter upside down. The info_teleport_destination is placed in your map just like an info_player_start, it even looks the same.

You can add sound events to your teleporters by using a named ambient_generic. Assign a sound to the ambient_generic then create an output from the trigger_teleport.

	My Output	Target Entity	Target Input	Parameter	Delay	Only Once
	OnStartTouch	Sound01	PlaySound		0.00	No

Also on your ambient_generic, check the Start silent and Is NOT looped flags. I haven’t used any sounds in this project but I would use custom sounds for any teleporters in an actual map.

In this project I’ve added an env_starfield for effect. I’ve also created a small, entirely black room outside the map for this env_starfield. The interior of the 144x144x144 room is textured with halflife/black. (Porter's note: I would recommend tools/toolsblack instead. It has no $surfaceprop, and VRAD won't waste time computing lighting for it.) I’ve placed an info_teleport_destination in this room and two triggers.

The first trigger is a normal trigger_multiple that enables the trigger_teleport.

Once the player is on the moon it’s important to stop the starfield at the right time or it will continue to show after the player has teleported. Just a simple matter of timing. The beams for the teleporters are an effect created with an env_beam. The target for each env_beam is an info_target, which is the same entity can can be used in place of the info_teleport_destination if you choose. Experiment with the properties on the env_beam, you can achieve just about any effect you need with these.

In this project what I’ve created for the teleporters on the ground is a mixture of brushwork and props. These are the properties for each of the groups in this project.

Earth

The trigger_teleport taking us to the starfield:

• Start Disabled: No
• Remote Destination: StarsDest
• Flag: Clients

	My Output	Target Entity	Target Input	Parameter	Delay	Only Once
	OnStartTouch	StarsTele	Disable		0.00	No
	OnStartTouch	Stars01	TurnOn		0.00	No

The info_teleport_destination for the Moon teleport:

• Name: DestEarth

Starfield room

The trigger_multiple which enables the teleport trigger:

• Start Disabled: No
• Flag: Clients

	My Output	Target Entity	Target Input	Parameter	Delay	Only Once
	OnTrigger	StarsTele	Enable		2.50	No

The trigger_teleport taking us to the Moon:

• Name: StarsTele
• Start Disabled: Yes
• Remote Destination: DestMoon
• Flag: Clients

	My Output	Target Entity	Target Input	Parameter	Delay	Only Once
	OnStartTouch	Stars01	TurnOff		2.50	No

The info_teleport_destination for the Earth teleport:

• Name: StarsDest

The env_starfield effect:

• Name: Stars01

Moon

The trigger_teleport taking us to Earth:

• Start Disabled: No
• Remote Destination': DestEarth
• Flag: Clients

The info_teleport_destination for the starfield teleport:

• Name: DestMoon

If you are interested in creating random destinations for your teleports Edit Life has created a tutorial.

Update: I added two additional effects to the sample project below. Once you are on the moon all color will be gone and the gravity will be reduced.