Effect flags

GoldSrc

Source Engine

A set of bitflags for configuring client-side visual effects.

Usage From Hammer

Effect flags can be configured from Hammer. To do so, turn off SmartEdit and add a new keyvalue pair:

effects <n>

"n" is the sum total of the flags you want to use. For example, 66 would mean EF_BRIGHTLIGHT and EF_NORECEIVESHADOW.

Alternatively, you can add the following code (or similar) to the FGD entries of entities you wish to use effect flags on:

effects(choices) : "Effect Flags" : 0 : "For configuring visual effects. If you want to combine effects, simply type in the sum of the effect numbers, e.g., '72' for 64+8." =
[
	0: "0 - None"
	1: "1 - EF_BONEMERGE: Bonemerge always (very expensive!)"
	2: "2 - EF_BRIGHTLIGHT: Bright, dynamic light at entity origin"
	4: "4 - EF_DIMLIGHT: Dim, dynamic light at entity origin"
	8: "8 - EF_NOINTERP: No movement interpolation"
	16: "16 - EF_NOSHADOW: Don't cast shadows"
	32: "32 - EF_NODRAW: Don't draw entity (entity is fully ignored by clients, NOT server; can cause collision problems)"
	64: "64 - EF_NORECEIVESHADOW: Don't receive dynamic shadows"
	128: "128 - EF_BONEMERGE_FASTCULL: Bonemerge only in PVS, better performance but prone to disappearing. Use with Bonemerge."
	256: "256 - EF_ITEM_BLINK: Unsubtle blink"
	512: "512 - EF_PARENT_ANIMATES: Flag parent as always animating and realign each frame"
]

If you wish to use effect flags on enough entity classes, it may be worthwhile to create or modify a BaseClass instead of adding code to numerous entity classes individually.

Tip:Effect flags are enabled by default in TeamSpen's Hammer Addons.

Flags

•  EF_BONEMERGE : [1]
        Merges bones of names shared with a parent entity to the position and direction of the parent's.
•  EF_BRIGHTLIGHT : [2]
        Emits a dynamic light of RGB(250,250,250) and a random radius of 400 to 431 from the origin.
•  EF_DIMLIGHT : [4]
        Emits a dynamic light of RGB(100,100,100) and a random radius of 200 to 231 from the origin.

Confirm:Are EF_BRIGHTLIGHT and EF_DIMLIGHT only dlights, like their GoldSrc counterparts, or do they cast elights as well?

•  EF_NOINTERP : [8]
        Don't interpolate on the next frame.
  Bug:Causes crashes.  [todo tested in?]
•  EF_NOSHADOW : [16]
        Don't create a render-to-texture shadow, does not affect projected texture shadows.
  Note:Same as disableshadows 1.
•  EF_NODRAW : [32]
        Entity is completely ignored by the client, and stops drawing the entity.

Important:Can cause prediction errors if a player proceeds to collide with it on the server, so use rendermode 10 instead if this is a problem.

•  EF_NORECEIVESHADOW : [64]
        Don't receive dynamic shadows.
  Note:Same as disablereceiveshadows 1.
•  EF_BONEMERGE_FASTCULL : [128]
•  EF_ITEM_BLINK : [256]
        Blink an item so that the user notices it. Added for original Xbox, and not very subtle.
•  EF_PARENT_ANIMATES : [512]
        Assume that the parent entity is always animating. Causes it to realign every frame.
  Note:Does not function with the effects keyvalue.
•  EF_MARKED_FOR_FAST_REFLECTION : [1024] (in all games since )
        Marks the entity to render in fast water reflections.
  Note:Same as drawinfastreflection 1.
•  EF_NOSHADOWDEPTH : [2048] (in all games since )
        Stops env_cascade_lighting and env_projectedtexture from making shadows for this entity.
  Note:Same as disableshadowdepth 1.
•  EF_SHADOWDEPTH_NOCACHE : [4096]
        Don't cache this entity into shadow depthmaps, update it every frame.
•  EF_NOFLASHLIGHT : [8192] (in all games since )
        Stops projected textures from making shadows for this entity.
  Note:Same as disableflashlight 1.
•  EF_NOCSM : [16384] (in all games since )
        Don't cast shadows from cascade shadow maps.

Functions

• AddEFlags() / SetEFlags()
• RemoveEFlags()
• GetEFlags()
• IsEFlagSet()

See also

• entities.constants
• Non-FGD features
• Render Modes