npc_vortigaunt

This article is about the vortigaunt entity. For the main article about the character, see Vortigaunt.

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

This NPC allows multiple models (for slaves), but defaults to vortigaunt.mdl. Also see the Half-Life Continuity page about the vortigaunt.

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

Important:In Black Mesa this NPC is copy of npc_alien_slave.

Dedicated Console Variables

sk_vortigaunt_armor_charge <int>

Amount of energy to charge the player with (Default: 30 (in ) / 15 (in )).

sk_vortigaunt_dmg_claw <int>

Damage from a claw melee attack (Default: 10).

sk_vortigaunt_dmg_rake <int>

Damage from a rake melee attack (Default: 25).

sk_vortigaunt_dmg_zap <int>

Damage from a zap range attack (Default: 50 (in ) / 25 (in )).

sk_vortigaunt_health <int>

Vortigaunt spawn health (Default: 100).

sk_vortigaunt_armor_charge_per_token <int> (only in )

Amount of charge per token (Default: 5).

Keyvalues

World model (???) <model path>

The model to appear as. Use this to create slave vorts.

Allow Armor Recharging (???) <boolean>

Can this vort recharge the HEV suit?

Regenerate Health (???) <boolean>

Whether or not the vortigaunt will recover his own health over time like vital allies, while in combat.

PlayerCompanion:

Always transition (AlwaysTransition) <boolean> (in all games since )

This NPC will always teleport to a Player Squad Transition Point if they're not within the trigger_transition.

Prevent picking up weapons? (DontPickupWeapons) <boolean> (in all games since )

This NPC will NOT be allowed to pick up weapons they find on the ground.

Is this a vital ally? (GameEndAlly) <boolean> (in all games since )

This NPC will cause the game to end if killed.

TalkNPC:

Use Sentence (UseSentence) <string>

Sentence spoken when the NPC gets +used by a player

Un-Use Sentence (UnUseSentence) <string>

Sentence spoken NPC gets used again

Don't Use Speech Semaphore (DontUseSpeechSemaphore) <boolean>

Friendly NPCs are not allowed to speak if another friendly NPC is speaking. In some cases, we don't want speaking NPCs to prevent other NPCs from speaking (for instance, if there is a friendly NPC speaking for a long time on a monitor). To make this NPC not prevent other NPCs from talking, make it not grab the semaphore when it speaks.

BaseNPC keyvalues

Relationship (???) <string> !FGD Changes whether this NPC likes or dislikes certain others. Used like the ai_relationship entity, with this NPC as the subject. Format: <string|targetname or classname> <string|disposition> <int|rank>. Values for disposition are: D_HT: Hate D_FR: Fear D_LI: Like D_NU: Neutral 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. Physics Impact Damage Scale (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: Damage Filter (damagefilter) <targetname> Name of the filter_damage_type entity that controls which entities can damage us.

Flags

BaseNPC flags

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

Inputs

EnableArmorRecharge, DisableArmorRecharge

Allow or prevent armor recharging on players

ExtractBugbait <targetname>

Causes the vortigaunt to extract bugbait from the named target passed in.

ChargeTarget <targetname>

Force the vortigaunt to charge the named target.

EnableHealthRegeneration, DisableHealthRegeneration

Allow/stop the vortigaunt to start regenerating his health over time, like vital allies.

TurnBlue <boolean>

"If true, turn blue. If false, turn green." Used to toggle the blue-purple skin tinting on vortigaunts with the "vortigaunt_blue.mdl" model variant. This is used for the Transcendent Vortigaunts in Episode 1's opening sequence and the Episode 2 sequence in which Alyx is being healed. It does not, however, cause their eyes to become light blue.

TurnBlack <boolean>

"If true, turn black. If false, be seen."

Todo: Eh?

BeginCarryNPC  (in all games since )

Override our animations for 'carrying' an NPC.

EndCarryNPC  (in all games since )

Stop overriding our animations for 'carrying' an NPC.

PlayerCompanion:

OutsideTransition  (in all games since )

Use this input to teleport the NPC to a hint node with the "Player Squad Transition Point" hint type.

EnableAlwaysTransition  (in all games since )

DisableAlwaysTransition  (in all games since )

If enabled, this NPC will always teleport to a Player Squad Transition Point even if they're not within the trigger_transition.

MakeGameEndAlly  (in all games since )

MakeRegularAlly  (in all games since )

Determines whether the game should end if this character dies.

EnableWeaponPickup  (in all games since )

DisableWeaponPickup  (in all games since )

Enables/disables weapon pickup.

GiveWeapon <classname> (in all games since )

Gives the NPC a weapon immediately.

ClearAllOutputs  (only in )

Clears every output that this NPC has.

TalkNPC:

SpeakResponseConcept <string> (in all games since )

Speak the specified response concept immediately.

BaseNPC inputs

AddHealth <integer> (in all games since ) RemoveHealth <integer> (in all games since ) Add to or remove from the NPC's health. SetHealth <integer> Set the NPC's health. 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. physdamagescale <float> Scales the damage taken when this character is hit by a physics object. 0 means this feature is disabled for backwards compatibility. SetBodyGroup <integer> HACK: Sets this NPC's body group (from 0–n). 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. DamageFilter: SetDamageFilter <string> Sets the entity to use as damage filter. Pass in an empty string (no parameter) to clear the damage filter.

Outputs

OnFinishedExtractingBugbait

Fires when the vortigaunt's finished extracting bugbait from a target.

OnFinishedExtractingTauCannon

Fires when the vortigaunt's finished extracting the tau cannon from the jeep.

OnFinishedChargingTarget

Fires when the vortigaunt has finished charging a target.

OnPlayerUse

Fires when a player +USEs the vortigaunt. (!activator is the player.)

PlayerCompanion:

OnWeaponPickup

Fires when this NPC picks a weapon off the ground or a gun rack.

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

• Vortigaunt