Creating An Auto Portal

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This guide will show you how to create auto portals.

Stationary Auto Portals

Walk through Auto Portals

The Frame

What the auto Portal Frame should look like.

Create a prop_static entity and set it's World Model to models/props/autoportal_frame/autoportal_frame.mdl

The Portal

Create a prop_portal entity and enter the following properties:

Property Name	Value
Name	portal
Start Activated	Inactive
Portal Number	Portal Number Here

Note:Portal 1 is the Blue Portal and Portal 2 is the Orange/Red Portal.

Position the prop_portal2 units above the bottom of the portal frame (prop_static entity). Now center it based off the "bars" of the portal frame using the "top (x/y) view".

Warning:If placed improperly, the portal will be inside the wall making the portal useless

What the positioning of the portal should look like

Portal Spawn Sound

Create an ambient_generic entity and enter the following properties:

Property Name	Value
Name	sound_portal_spawn
Sound Name	Portal.open_blue or Portal.open_red
Max Audible Distance	333
Source Entity Name	portal

Go to flags and modify the following:

	Flag
		Start Silent

Portal Spawn Shake

Create an env_shake entity and name it to shake_portal_spawn. Put this entity fairly close to where the player triggers it if the player is near by the portal. There isn't a specific spot to put it at.

Optional (Recommended)

If you want to make this a prefab, following these steps to will make things easier

Create a logic_relay and set its name to relay_portal_spawn

Add the outputs:

	My Output	Target Entity	Target Input	Parameter	Delay	Only Once
	OnTrigger	portal	SetActivatedState	1	0.00	No
	OnTrigger	shake_portal_spawn	StartShake		0.00	No
	OnTrigger	sound_portal_spawn	PlaySound		0.00	No

Centered Auto Portals

Centered Auto Portals are used for floors, ceilings, and portals that you don't "walk through"

Aligning the portal

What the the portal should look like when centered

Do your best to perfectly center the portal with the auto-portal frame.

Warning:If placed improperly, the portal will be inside the floor making the portal useless.

Rotating

An unrotated prop_portal

A rotated prop_portal (would be on the ceiling)

Simply rotate the entire portal and make further corrections afterwards.

Note: Rotating the prop_portalwill make the portal look like it is in the same position in Hammer, you will have to rely on which direction the origin (yellow line in 2d view) is facing

Implementation

Make the Portal spawn

Make some entity trigger the relay_portal_spawn

For example with trigger_once:

	My Output	Target Entity	Target Input	Parameter	Delay	Only Once
	OnTrigger	relay_portal_spawn	Trigger		0.00	No

Making the Portal close

To make the portal close, you set the active state to 0,

here's in example with trigger_once:

	My Output	Target Entity	Target Input	Parameter	Delay	Only Once
	OnTrigger	portal	SetActivatedState	0	0.00	No

Looped Automatic Portals

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Construction

Step 1: Portal Frame

The layout of the auto portal frames.

To start, select the entity tool, and create a prop_static for each portal you intend to have in your map. Set the model to "models/props/autoportal_frame/autoportal_frame.mdl" for each one. The models should be placed and arranged at the locations the portals themselves will be.

Step 2: Creating the Portals

Example of how the prop_portal should be positioned.

Next, create a prop_portal for each of your portals, one for your red portal, and then any additional ones for your blue portals. For the sake of this tutorial, we will be creating 3 blue portals.

These prop_portals need to be positioned in the center of each portal frame, similar to the screenshot provided. They will also need to be rotated to be facing outward from the wall.

Note: Rotating a prop_portal will make the portal look like it is in the same position in the Hammer Editor, you will have to rely on which direction the origin (yellow line in 2D view) is facing.

Name your red portal “portal_red_0”, and name the three blue portals “portal_blue_0”, “portal_blue_1”, and “portal_blue_2”. If you have extra auto portals in your map, you can increase the number in the name.

For the red portal, change its properties to the following settings:

Property Name	Value
Start Activated	Inactive
Portal Number	2

For the blue portals, change their properties to the following settings:

Property Name	Value
Start Activated	Inactive
Portal Number	1

Step 3: Creating the Logic Relays

Diagram of how the logic_relays will work.

In order to make our sequential auto portals work, we will be employing the use of several logic and math entities. The one we will begin with is logic_relay.

To start, we are going to want to create four logic_relay entities for our blue portals:

• 2 relays for the first blue portal. The first relay will be used to initialize the portal opening/closing sequence, while the second relay will open the first portal after the last portal has fizzled.
• 1 relay for each of the remaining portals in the sequence.

For first portal’s initial relay, name it “relay_blue_0_int”, and give it the following I/O:

	My Output	Target Entity	Target Input	Parameter	Delay	Only Once
	OnTrigger	portal_blue_0	SetActivatedState	1	0.00	No

For the remaining relays, you will want to add an additional I/O to fizzle the previous blue portal as well. Name these relays “relay_blue_1”, “relay_blue_2”, and “relay_blue_3” respectively.

The I/Os for these should look like this:

relay_blue_1

	My Output	Target Entity	Target Input	Parameter	Delay	Only Once
	OnTrigger	portal_blue_1	SetActivatedState		0.00	No
	OnTrigger	portal_blue_0	Fizzle		0.00	No

relay_blue_2

	My Output	Target Entity	Target Input	Parameter	Delay	Only Once
	OnTrigger	portal_blue_2	SetActivatedState		0.00	No
	OnTrigger	portal_blue_1	Fizzle		0.00	No

relay_blue_3

	My Output	Target Entity	Target Input	Parameter	Delay	Only Once
	OnTrigger	portal_blue_0	SetActivatedState		0.00	No
	OnTrigger	portal_blue_2	Fizzle		0.00	No

Step 4: Create the Logic_Case Entity

The logic entities to be used.

Now that we have our relays set up, we can move onto adding the remaining logic entities we’ll need to make this work. The entities in question are:

• logic_timer
• logic_case
• math_counter

The first one we’ll create is the logic_case. This entity will be responsible for triggering the relays on each portal. Create the logic_case entity, and give it the following parameters:

Property Name	Value
Name	case_spawn_portals
Case 01	1
Case 02	2
Case 03	3
Case 04	4

Next, you will need to give it the following I/Os:

	My Output	Target Entity	Target Input	Parameter	Delay	Only Once
	OnCase01	relay_blue_0_int	Trigger		0.00	No
	OnCase02	relay_blue_1	Trigger		0.00	No
	OnCase03	relay_blue_3	Trigger		0.00	No
	OnCase04	relay_blue_0	Trigger		0.00	No

Step 5: Create the Logic_Timer Entity

Next, we will make the logic_timer entity. Place one in your map, and give it the following parameters:

Property Name	Value
Name	portals_timer
Start Disabled	Yes
Use Random Time	No
Refire Interval	5

Then, give it the following I/O:

	My Output	Target Entity	Target Input	Parameter	Delay	Only Once
	OnTimer	portals_counter	Add	1	0.00	No

Step 6: Create the Math_Counter Entity

Finally, we add a math_counter entity, which will allow our setup cycle through the portals every time it has a value added to it (via the logic_timer).

Place one in your map, and give it the following parameters:

Property Name	Value
Name	portals_counter
Start Disabled	No
Initial Value	0
Minimum Legal Value	0
Maximum Legal Value	5

The reason we set the maximum value to five is to allow a looping point in the portal opening/closing sequence.

• A value of 1 triggers the initial relay for the first blue portal.
• A value of 2 triggers the relay for the second blue portal.
• A value of 3 triggers the relay for the third blue portal.
• A value of 4 trigger the second relay for the first blue portal.
• Finally, value of 5 triggers a self-reset of the counter, with the reset value being set to 2.

To sum up, you will want to set the “Maximum Legal Value” to how many relays you have set up, +1 to act as a looping point. This sequence will be kept running thanks to our logic_timer entity.

Add the following I/Os to the math_counter entity:

	My Output	Target Entity	Target Input	Parameter	Delay	Only Once
	OnHitMax	!self	SetValue	2	0.00	No
	OutValue	portals_case	InValue		0.00	No

Implementation

Assuming that you have your auto-portals in their places (and have their entities set up), you can now make a trigger the player will walk into to start the sequence.

Trigger the Auto-Portal Sequence

The trigger_once that is used to activate the red portal and logic_timer.

Create a brush textured with tools/toolstrigger, and press Ctrl + T to turn it into a brush entity. Change this entity into a trigger_once, and give it the following I/Os:

	My Output	Target Entity	Target Input	Parameter	Delay	Only Once
	OnStartTouch	portal_red_0	SetActivatedState	1	0.00	No
	OnStartTouch	portals_timer	Enable		0.00	No

When the player walks into the trigger’s volume, it will activate the red portal first, then after 5 seconds, the blue portals will open and close in a looped sequence.

Fizzling the Auto-Portals

Normally when you go through a cleanser field in-game, the portals you places with fizzle out. However, because of the particular way these auto portals are set up, walking through a a cleanser will not fizzle them. Because of this, we will need to create a workaround solution.

Fizzling the red portal is no issue, it can easily be fizzled on it’s own with a trigger brush. However, the blue portals will be more complicated, as simply making them fizzle with the aforementioned trigger with cause all of them to fizzle, regardless of whether they are active or not. The timer that runs the loop will also continue running if there isn’t something to disable it. To tackle the blue portals, we’ll need to employ the use of relays and logic_branches..

The logic_branch and logic_relay used to manage the fizzling of a portal

To start, place a logic_branch near each of the blue portals you have placed down. Then, place an extra relay next to them as well. Name the branch entities "branch_blue_0", "branch_blue_1", and "branch_blue_2". Name the new relays "relay_blue_0_fizzle", "relay_blue_1_fizzle", and "relay_blue_2_fizzle".

• We will use the branch entities as a means of either enabling or disabling an accompanying relay.

For each portal’s branch, leave them with their default parameters, and give each of them I/Os similar to this:

	My Output	Target Entity	Target Input	Parameter	Delay	Only Once
	OnFalse	relay_blue_0_fizzle	Disable		0.00	No
	OnTrue	relay_blue_0_fizzle	Enable		0.00	No

For the relays themselves, change the following parameter:

Property Name	Value
Start Disabled	Yes

Then, add an I/O that looks similar to this to each of them:

	My Output	Target Entity	Target Input	Parameter	Delay	Only Once
	OnTrigger	portal_blue_0	Fizzle		0.00	No

With this all set up, the you can now connect these relays to a trigger of your choosing. In this case, we’ll be connecting them to a trigger_portal_cleanser.

To learn how to make a portal cleanser, go to this page for more information.

Once you have created your portal cleanser, you’ll now be ready connect your relays and timer. To do this, insert the following I/Os into the trigger_portal_cleanser:

	My Output	Target Entity	Target Input	Parameter	Delay	Only Once
	OnStartTouch	portal_red_1	Fizzle		0.00	Yes
	OnStartTouch	relay_blue_2_fizzle	Trigger		0.00	Yes
	OnStartTouch	relay_blue_1_fizzle	Trigger		0.00	Yes
	OnStartTouch	relay_blue_0_fizzle	Trigger		0.00	Yes
	OnStartTouch	portals_timer	Disable		0.00	Yes

With this all added, your auto-portals should now fizzle out properly, depending on which ones are open and which ones are closed.

See also

• Creating a rotating portalgun

• Portal Level Creation