combine_mine

 

Combine Mine

Demonstration of the first bug. Once the mine has settled, it checks what is below it. Since there's a gap in the middle, the first thing the line encounters is the world.

 combine_mine is a point entity available in the Half-Life 2 series. Known as "hoppers" by citizens, these mines embed themselves into the ground and are agitated when a hostile target gets close. If the target gets too close, the mine will retract its arms and hop towards the target (similar to a bouncing betty), exploding upon contact with any surface. These mines can be carried and deployed by Claw Scanners.

Mines are friendly to most types of Combine units and attack anyone who they don't regard as a friend. If a friendly NPC/player is nearby, the mine's light will turn green and may refuse to bounce unless an enemy gets closer to it than the ally.^[confirm]

Mines can be picked up by the gravity gun, after which they join the player's side and attack Combine units while regarding the player and their allies as friends.

Note:combine_mine is not actually a NPC. It's technically just a basic model entity (CBaseAnimating) and doesn't use most NPC features, like relationships.

Warning: Zombies, headcrabs, and antlions are always targeted by mines, but combine_mine uses a hardcoded list of Combine classes to be friendly towards by default and to be armed against while friendly to the player. Some Combine classes are missing from this list, most notably npc_manhack and npc_stalker, and as a result mines will mistakenly regard them as hostile to the Combine and friendly to the player.

Code Fix: This list is located in CBounceBomb::IsFriend() and can be modified to accept the missing classes or even be replaced by a more robust system.

 Placement Tip: Like all physics objects, this entity can collide with skybox brushes, so make sure your skybox has enough room for the combine_mine to be thrown into the sky without seemingly exploding randomly. (at least ~1024 units above the ground could work)

Bug: Mines determine if they are on solid ground by drawing a line down from their center and checking if the line hits an entity or world geometry first. This can lead to them falsely interpreting the player's head or certain physics objects (or combinations of them) as the ground, causing them to float in the air when the player/object moves.

Code Fix: This can be fixed in CBounceBomb::SettleThink() by changing the trace distance from 1024 units to something much smaller, like 8.

This entity is also tied to bounce_bomb, combine_bouncemine.

This entity is also in the code for . Its functionality is not guaranteed.

In code, it is represented by class CBounceBomb, defined in combine_mine.cpp.

Keyvalues

Bounce (bounce) <boolean>

Whether the mine should bounce up in the air before exploding. (Normally they do, to improve their damage on infantry, but things like very soft clamping surfaces and additional attachments, may make hopping look unrealistic.)

Lock Silently (LockSilently) <boolean>

Whether the mine plays a sound when its clamps close.

Start Disarmed (StartDisarmed) <boolean>

Whether the mine begins dormant.

Citizen modified (Modification) <integer>

'Normal' is default Combine behavior. 'Cavern' (used in This Vortal Coil) detonates earlier in its jump, and in Episode 2 has a different default skin.

Confirm:The skin can be added in games pre-Episode 2 as well.

Explosion Damage (ExplosionDamage) <integer> !FGD

Manually adjust damage from explosion. To do: When is this used? It doesn't appear in code.

Explosion Radius (ExplosionRadius) <integer> !FGD

Manually adjust range of explosion. To do: When is this used? It doesn't appear in code.

Explosion Delay (ExplosionDelay) <float> !FGD

Confirm:Seen in code, but doesn't appear to function?

Model:

World Model (model) <string>

The model this entity should appear as. 128-character limit.

Skin (skin or ModelSkin ) <integer>

Some models have multiple skins. This value selects from the index, starting with 0.

Collisions (solid) <choices>

Method of collision for this entity.

• 0: None
• 1: BSP (QPhysics) !FGD
  Bug: In Portal 2, if an entity using QPhysics collisions is hit by Gel, the game will crash!
• 2: Bounding Box
• 3: Oriented Bounding Box !FGD
• 4: Oriented Bounding Box, constrained to Yaw only !FGD
• 5: Custom/Test !FGD
• 6: VPhysics

Body Group (body or SetBodyGroup) <integer> !FGD

Sets the the active $bodygroup.

Hitbox Set (hitboxset) <string> !FGD

Sets the $hboxset to use.

Sequence (sequence) <integer> !FGD

Default animation sequence for the model to be playing after spawning.

Playback Rate (playbackrate) <float> !FGD

A multiplier of the framerate at which animations are played, negative values are accepted. Default is 1.0

Cycle (cycle) <float> !FGD

The current frame of the currently playing animation, on a range from 0-1.

Lighting Origin (LightingOrigin) <targetname>

Select an entity (not info_lighting!) from which to sample lighting instead of the entity's origin.

Lighting Origin Offset (LightingOriginHack) <targetname> !FGD

The info_lighting_relative from which to sample lighting instead of the entity's origin. Not in .

Damage Filter Name (damagefilter) <targetname>

When this entity receives damage, it will filter by this entity.

Start Fade Distance (fademindist) <float>

Distance at which the entity starts fading. If <0, the entity will disappear instantly when end fade is hit. The value will scale appropriately if the entity is in a 3D Skybox.

End Fade Distance (fademaxdist) <float>

Distance at which the entity ends fading. If <0, the entity won't disappear at all. The value will scale appropriately if the entity is in a 3D Skybox.

Fade Scale (fadescale) <float>

If specified in the worldspawn, or if the engine is running below DirectX 8, entities will fade out even if the fade distances above aren't specified. This value gives more control over when this happens: numbers smaller than 1 cause the entity to fade out at further distances, and greater than 1 cause it to fade out at closer distances. Using 0 turns off the forced fade altogether. See also $noforcedfade.

Render Mode (rendermode) <choices>

Set a non-standard rendering mode on this entity.

• 0: Normal
• 1: Color
• 2: Texture
• 3: Glow
• 4: Solid/Alphatest
• 5: Additive
• 6: Removed, does nothing
• 7: Additive Fractional Frame
• 8: Alpha Add
• 9: World Space Glow
• 10: Don't Render

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Render FX / Transparency (0 - 255) (renderamt) <integer>

Transparency amount, requires a Render Mode other than Normal. 0 is invisible, 255 is fully visible.

Render Color (R G B) (rendercolor) <color255>

Color tint.

Render FX (renderfx) <choices>

Preset pattern of appearance effects.

• 0: None
• 1: Slow Pulse
• 2: Fast Pulse
• 3: Slow Wide Pulse
• 4: Fast Wide Pulse
• 5: Slow Fade Away
• 6: Fast Fade Away
• 7: Slow Become Solid
• 8: Fast Become Solid
• 9: Slow Strobe
• 10: Fast Strobe
• 11: Faster Strobe
• 12: Slow Flicker
• 13: Fast Flicker
• 14: Constant Glow
• 15: Distort
• 16: Hologram (Distort + fade)
• 17: Scale Up
• 22: Spotlight FX
• 23: Cull By Distance
• 24: Fade Wider Pulse
• 26: Fade Near

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To do: 18-21, 25

Shadow Cast Distance (shadowcastdist) <integer>

Sets how far the entity casts dynamic shadows. 0 means default distance from the shadow_control entity.

Disable Shadows (disableshadows) <boolean>

Prevent the entity from creating cheap render-to-texture shadows. Does not affect shadow mapping.

Disable Receiving Shadows (disablereceiveshadows) <boolean>

Prevent the entity from receiving shadows on itself.

Model Index (modelindex) <short> !FGD

Changes the entity's model to a precached model on the map.

Warning: Using an invalid value will instantly crash the game, this includes 0 and 1.

Texture Frame (texframeindex) <integer>

The frame number for any animated textures on this entity.

Model Scale (modelscale) <float> (in all games since ) !FGD

A multiplier for the size of the model. Negative values are accepted. Does not alter the physics collisions in most cases, however. Not in , , , sdk 2013.

Warning: Negative or extremely high values can cause crashes!

Base:

Classname (classname) <string>

The classname defines the type of entity. Classnames can be changed using AddOutput, which will influence how the engine deals with the entity in certain circumstances.

Name (targetname) <string>

The name that other entities refer to this entity by.

Global Entity Name (globalname) <string>

Name by which this entity is linked to another entity in a different map. When the player transitions to a new map, entities in the new map with globalnames matching entities in the previous map will have the previous map's state copied over their state.

Parent (parentname) <targetname>

Specifies a movement parent. An entity will maintain its initial offset from its parent. An attachment point can be added to the end of the name, separated by a comma. Every entity can be parented, even point entities. Entities which are parented will be forced to transition to the next map, such as from a trigger_transition. Some entities which aren't intended to be parented may not function correctly. phys_constraint can be used as a workaround to parenting.

Origin (X Y Z) (origin) <coordinates>

The position of this entity's center in the world. Rotating entities typically rotate around their origin.

Pitch Yaw Roll (X Y Z) (angles) <angle>

This entity's orientation in the world. Pitch is rotation around the Y axis, yaw is the rotation around the Z axis, roll is the rotation around the X axis.

Note:This works on brush entities, although Hammer doesn't show the new angles.

Flags (spawnflags) <integer>

Toggles features of an entity, its specific number is determined by the combination of flags added.

Response Contexts (ResponseContext) <string>

Pre-defined response system contexts for this entity. Format is key:value,key:value,.... Contexts may be filtered.

Effects (effects) <integer> !FGD

Combination of effect flags to use.

Local Time (ltime) <float> !FGD

The local time of the entity, independent of the global clock. Used mainly for physics calculations.

Next Think (nextthink) <float> !FGD

Amount of time before the entity thinks again.

Hammer ID (hammerid) <integer> !FGD

The entity's Hammer ID. Mainly used by plugins and debugging commands, such as ent_keyvalue. Can be manually assigned with the "hammerid" or "id" keyvalue. Entities spawned at run-time are not assigned any Hammer ID.

Inputs

Disarm

Disarm this mine (open hooks and shut off) if not placed by player.

Model:

skin <integer>

Selects a skin from the model's index, starting with 0.

SetBodyGroup <integer>

Sets the the active $bodygroup.

Ignite

Makes the entity catch on fire indefinitely.

IgniteLifetime <float>

Makes the entity catch on fire for a given amount of time.

IgniteNumHitboxFires <integer> (removed in )

Makes the entity catch on fire with a given number of hitbox fire particles. Does not function correctly in onward.

IgniteHitboxFireScale <float> (removed in )

Makes the entity catch on fire with a given scale for hitbox fire particles. Does not function correctly in onward.

BecomeRagdoll

Kills the entity and creates a client-side ragdoll from the model. Input is only passed if the model contains $collisionjoints, for other models phys_convert can be used instead.

SetLightingOrigin <targetname>

Sets the entity's lighting origin to use this entity's position.

SetLightingOriginHack <targetname> (removed in ) 

Deprecated. Offsets the entity's lighting origin by their distance from an info_lighting_relative. Use SetLightingOrigin instead.

fademindist <float>

Sets distance at which the entity starts fading. If <0, the entity will disappear instantly when end fade is hit. The value will scale appropriately if the entity is in a 3D Skybox.

fademaxdist <float>

Sets distance at which the entity ends fading. If <0, the entity won't disappear at all. The value will scale appropriately if the entity is in a 3D Skybox.

SetModelScale <vector> (only in )

Multiplies the size of the model. Does not alter the physics collisions in most cases. Can take two values separated by a space, in which case the first value would be the target model scale and the second value would be the number of seconds the change in scale will be spread over. If there is no second value, the model will scale instantly.

Tip:The modelscale keyvalue can be AddOutputed as a workaround for other games with this input missing.

Warning: Negative or extremely high values can cause crashes!

Alpha <integer>

Sets the entity's transparency to a number from 0 (invisible) to 255 (fully visible). Requires the entity to have its Render Mode (rendermode) set to a number other than 0.

AlternativeSorting <boolean>

Swaps the rendering order of the entity. Used to attempt to fix sorting problems when rendering, for example an object rendering in front of translucent materials.

Color <color255>

Sets an RGB color for the entity.

SetDamageFilter <targetname>

Sets a filter for this entity for when it receives damage.

EnableDamageForces

Allows the entity to be pushed by damage done to it (usually force amount correlates with the damage done).

DisableDamageForces

Prevents the entity from being pushed by damage done to it.

EnableShadow

Allows the entity to draw a render target shadow.

DisableShadow

Prevents the entity from drawing a render target shadow.

Base:

Kill

Removes this entity and any entities parented to it from the world.

KillHierarchy

Functions the same as Kill, although this entity and any entities parented to it are killed on the same frame, being marginally faster than Kill.

SetParent <string>

Move with this entity. See Entity Hierarchy (parenting).

SetParentAttachment <string>

Change this entity to attach to a specific attachment point on its parent. The entity will teleport so that the position of its root bone matches that of the attachment. Entities must be parented before being sent this input.

SetParentAttachmentMaintainOffset <string>

As above, but without teleporting. The entity retains its position relative to the attachment at the time of the input being received.

ClearParent

Removes this entity from the the movement hierarchy, leaving it free to move independently.

AddOutput <string>

Evaluates a keyvalue/output on this entity.
Format: <key> <value>
Format: <output name> <targetname>:<inputname>:<parameter>:<delay>:<max times to fire, -1 means infinite>

FireUser1 to FireUser4

Fire the OnUser outputs; see User Inputs and Outputs.

Use  !FGD

Same as a player invoking +use; may not do anything. Can also be invoked by creating an output that does not specify an input.
This input is not included in Valve's FGDs.

DispatchEffect <string> (removed in ) !FGD

Dispatches a special effect from the entity's origin. Removed and replaced entirely by the particle system since .

DispatchResponse <string> !FGD

Dispatches a response to the entity. See Response and Concept.

AddContext <string>

Adds to the entity's list of response contexts. Format is <key>:<value>.

RemoveContext <string>

Remove a context from this entity's list. The name should match the key of an existing context.

ClearContext <string>

Removes all contexts from this entity's list.

Outputs

OnPulledUp

Fired when this mine is uprooted with the gravity gun.

Model:

OnIgnite

Fired when the entity catches fire, such as from an env_entity_igniter or the Ignite inputs.

Base:

OnUser1 to OnUser4

These outputs each fire in response to the firing of the like-numbered FireUser1 to FireUser4 Input; see User Inputs and Outputs.