Entity (Source 2)

GoldSrc

Source Engine

Source 2

An entity is an object within Source 2 defined by having characteristics which differentiate it from the world.

Types of entities

Note:These types are only from perspective of map editors and are based on FGD definitions or how map compilers deal with them ^[confirm]

Types	Info
By Form
Point entity	Created at a specific position point on the grid. Some require a model to be selected for them in order to function fully.
Mesh entity	Mesh entities replace the Source brush entities. Since Source 2 no longer uses a BSP brush structure, entities that need to be associated with geometry are now tied to Hammer meshes instead.
Path entity	Only recently added. They can be created with the currently hidden Path Tool (Shift + P).
By Internality
Internal entity	Processed by resourcecompiler then either deleted or merged into another entity. They do not exist when the map is running, so they won't count to the entity limit. Internal entities get special treatment by the map compile tools, and are removed from the final product, usually stored in a special chunk.
Non-Internal entity	Not processed by resourcecompiler and remains as a separate entity. These are typically interactive objects or characters that the player can interact with or that affect gameplay.

Limitations

Main article:  Entity limit

For reasons of memory allocation, there is a limit to the number of entities Source 2 can manage at once.

The combined size (in bytes) of a map's entity data should also be considered, even if the number of entities is within safe limits. Large amounts of entdata can take a noticeably long time to transmit from server to client, and may lead to crashes.

See also

• Category:Entities
• Adding Point Entities (part of a series of tutorials)
• Creating Brush Entities (ditto)
• Entity creation (a quick reference)
• Entities in Depth
• List of Entities
• Coding Your First Entity
• Console command dump_entity_sizes
• Constraint
• preserved entity
• Void