npc_dog

Dog

npc_dog is a point entity available in Half-Life 2, Half-Life 2: Episode One, Half-Life 2: Episode Two, and Half-Life 2: Deathmatch.

Dog is one of the main characters introduced in Half-Life 2. Dog can play fetch and pick up things.

Dog does not have any battle AI, and therefore will simply run away when faced with enemies. All of Dog's battle scenes in Half-Life 2 were scripted.

Warning:If Dog has an active follow behavior (the only extra behavior he's capable of), he will prioritize it, and will not be able to use his fetching behavior. Turning it off (with deactivate input) allows him to play fetch.

Note:The convar dog_max_wait_time controls for how long he waits after throwing an object before giving up and searching for another, if it's not thrown back at him. The default is 7 seconds.

Note:Some keyvalues, spawnflags, effect flags, inputs, or outputs might not affect an NPC, based on the functionality and coding of the NPC.

Scripting Dog for playing fetch

Main article:  Playing fetch with Dog

Keyvalues

BaseNPC keyvalues

CBaseCombatCharacter: Relationship (Relationship) <string> !FGD <string|targetname or classname> <string|disposition> <int|rank> Changes whether this entity likes or dislikes certain other things. Used like the ai_relationship entity, with this entity as the subject. Values for disposition are: D_HT: Hate D_FR: Fear D_LI: Like D_NU: Neutral Physics Impact Damage Scale (physdamagescale) <float> Multiplier for damage amount when this entity is hit by a physics object. With a value of 0 the entity will take no damage from physics. CAI_BaseNPC: Target Path Corner (target) <targetname> The path_corner that this NPC will move to after spawning. Squad Name (squadname) <string> NPCs that are in the same squad (i.e., have matching squad names) will share information about enemies and will take turns attacking and covering each other. Hint Group (hintgroup) <string> Hint groups are used by NPCs to restrict their hint-node searching to a subset of the map's hint nodes. Only hint nodes with matching hint group names will be considered by this NPC. Hint Limit Nav (hintlimiting) <boolean> Limits NPC to using specified hint group for navigation requests. Does not limit local navigation. Sleep State (sleepstate) <choices> Holds the NPC in stasis until specified condition. See also Wake Radius and Wake Squad. 0: None 1: Waiting for threat 2: Waiting for PVS 3: Waiting for input, ignore PVS 4: Auto PVS 5: Auto PVS after PVS Wake Radius (wakeradius) <float> Auto-wake if player comes within this distance. Wake Squad (wakesquad) <boolean> Wake all of the NPCs squadmates if the NPC is woken. Enemy Filter (enemyfilter) <targetname> Filter entity to test targets against. Ignore unseen enemies (ignoreunseenenemies) <boolean> Prefers visible enemies, regardless of distance or relationship priority. DamageFilter: Damage Filter (damagefilter) <targetname> Name of the filter_damage_type entity that controls which entities can damage us.

Flags

BaseNPC flags

Wait Till Seen : [1] Prevents this NPC from seeing (or being seen) until it enters a player's viewcone. Gag : [2] Won't make IDLE sounds until it's angry. Fall to ground (unchecked means teleport to ground) : [4] Drop Healthkit : [8] Causes this NPC to drop an item_healthvial upon dying. Efficient : [16] Don't acquire enemies or avoid obstacles Wait For Script : [128] Forces this NPC to "wait" in an idle state until it finishes playing a scripted_sequence. Long Visibility/Shoot : [256] By default, increases a NPC's sight range to 6,000 units and allows it to attack from anywhere within that distance. Fade Corpse : [512] Think outside PVS : [1024] Allows this NPC to run its regular AI outside of any player's PVS. Template NPC : [2048] Marks this NPC as a template for entities like npc_template_maker. The NPC will not spawn on its own. This is not needed for point_template. Do Alternate collision for this NPC (player avoidance) : [4096] Note:This flag is disabled in episodic for player companions, because the StartScripting input does this. Don't drop weapons : [8192] Ignore player push : [16384] (in all games since ) Entity won't give way to player.

Inputs

SetPickupTarget <targetname>

Sets the target entity for Dog to pickup.

SetThrowTarget <targetname>

Set Dog's throw target (pass in !player if you want the player).

Note:If blank, or points to an missing entity, Dog will default to the player.

StartCatchThrowBehavior <targetname>

Tells Dog to start playing with the player. You can pass the name of the object you want him to play with, otherwise he'll just use the closest phys_object.

StopCatchThrowBehavior <targetname>

Stop the catch and throw behavior.

StartWaitAndCatch

Tells Dog to wait for the player to throw an object at him.

This input should be used if you want Dog to wait for a specific prop indefinitely, not giving up after dog_max_wait_time has passed.

StopWaitAndCatch

Tells Dog to stop waiting for the player.

PlayerPickupObject

Tells Dog the physgun just picked up an object.

If Dog was previously told to StartWaitAndCatch, and a prop sends this input to Dog (most likely by using OnPhysGunPickUp on it), it'll override his target prop, and make him now do 'wait-and-catch' with that new prop.

SetThrowArcModifier <float>

Used to pass in a modifier for Dog's object flight arc.

It is the scale factor indicating the maximum ratio of height to total throw distance. Values close to 0 (but above it) make for flatter trajectories; 0.01 for effectively completely flat.

Values above 1 make for increasingly tall projectories. 0 and below also seem to do that. -1 means no height maximum.

TurnBoneFollowersOff

Turn Dog's bone followers off.

TurnBoneFollowersOn

Turn Dog's bone followers on.

Note:Bone followers mean that individual parts of Dog's skeleton (specifically, his head and pelvis) have their own physics shadows, i. e. more detailed physics.
It improves his collision at the cost of consuming an edict per follower.
Turning them off frees up an edict and makes him less prone to knocking stuff over, which may be desirable during scripted events.

BaseNPC inputs

CAI_BaseNPC: ActivateSpeedModifier  !FGD DisableSpeedModifier  !FGD Break Smash into pieces. If this is not possible, disappear. BecomeRagdoll  (in all games since ) Remove itself and instantly become a ragdoll with zero force (just go limp). OnDeath, etc. outputs will NOT be fired. ForceInteractionWithNPC <string> <string>  (in all games since ) Force the NPC to use a dynamic interaction with another NPC. Syntax is <targetname> <dynamic interaction>. ForgetEntity <targetname> Clears out the NPC's knowledge of a named entity. UpdateEnemyMemory  (in all games since ) Update (or create) this NPC's memory of of the given entity. GagEnable GagDisable Gagged NPCs won't speak (or moan, caw, etc.) unless made to be a choreographed scene. HolsterWeapon  (in all games since ) UnholsterWeapon  (in all games since ) Force the NPC to holster or unholster their weapon. Ignored if the NPC is scripting or if the NPC doesn't use weapons. HolsterAndDestroyWeapon  (in all games since ) Same as HolsterWeapon, except the weapon is destroyed once it has been concealed. IgnoreDangerSounds <float> Ignore danger sounds for the specified number of seconds. InsideTransition  !FGD OutsideTransition  !FGD SetBodyGroup <integer> HACK: Sets this NPC's body group (from 0–n). SetEnemyFilter <string> SetHealth <integer> Set the NPC's health. SetMaxLookDistance <float> (only in ) Sets the maximum look distance for the NPC. Defaults are 2048 and 6000 for long range NPCs. SetRelationship <string|targetname or classname> <string|disposition> <int|rank> Changes whether this NPC likes or dislikes certain others. Used like the ai_relationship entity, with this NPC as the subject. Values for disposition are: D_HT: Hate D_FR: Fear D_LI: Like D_NU: Neutral SetSquad <string> Change the name of this NPC's squad. Leaving the parameter blank will remove the NPC from any existing squad. StartScripting StopScripting Enter/exit scripting state, where NPCs ignore a variety of stimulus that would make them break out of their scripts. They ignore danger sounds, ignore +Use, don't idle speak or respond to other NPCs' idle speech, and so on. Wake Wakes up the NPC if it is sleeping. CBaseCombatCharacter: KilledNPC  !FGD Tells the entity it killed something. Despite the name, this can include a player. This input will be automatically sent by the victim when they die. physdamagescale <float> Scales damage energy when this character is hit by a physics object. With a value of 0 the NPC will take no damage from physics. DamageFilter: SetDamageFilter <string> Sets the entity to use as damage filter. Pass in an empty string (no parameter) to clear the damage filter.

Outputs

OnDogThrow

Fires when Dog throws an object.

OnDogPickup

Fires when Dog picks up an object.

OnDogCatch

Fires when Dog catches an object.

BaseNPC Outputs

OnDamaged Fired when this NPC takes damage (!activator is the damage inflictor). OnDamagedByPlayer Fired when this NPC is hurt by a player (!activator is the attacker or vehicle driver [if friendly fire]). OnDamagedByPlayerSquad Fired when this NPC is hurt by a player OR by one of the player's squadmates (!activator is the attacker or vehicle driver [if friendly fire]). OnDeath Fired when this NPC is killed (!activator is the killer). OnDenyCommanderUse Fired when this NPC has refused to join the player's squad. OnForcedInteractionAborted Fired when the NPC aborts a forced interaction for some reason (target NPC died, couldn't be pathed to, etc.). OnForcedInteractionStarted Fired when the NPC starts a forced interaction. OnForcedInteractionFinished "NPCs in actbusies can no longer perform dynamic interactions." Todo: What does this mean? OnHalfHealth Fired when this NPC reaches half of its maximum health. OnHearCombat Fired when this NPC hears combat sounds. OnHearPlayer Fired when this NPC hears the player. OnHearWorld Fired when this NPC hears a sound (other than combat or the player). OnFoundEnemy <targetname> Fired when this NPC establishes line of sight to its enemy. OnLostEnemy Fired when this NPC loses its enemy. Usually due to the enemy being killed/removed, or because this NPC has selected a newer, more dangerous enemy. OnLostEnemyLOS Fired when this NPC loses line of sight to its enemy. OnFoundPlayer <targetname> Fired when this NPC establishes line of sight to its enemy, and that enemy is a player. OnLostPlayer Fired when this NPC loses its enemy, and that enemy was a player. Usually due to the enemy being killed/removed, or because this NPC has selected a newer, more dangerous enemy. OnLostPlayerLOS Fired when this NPC loses line of sight to its enemy, and that enemy is a player. OnSleep Fired when this NPC enters a sleep state. OnWake Fired when this NPC comes out of a sleep state.

See also

• Dog - for overall character information.