prop_sphere

prop_sphere is a point entity available in all Source games. It is not in any of Valve's FGDs, however.

It is essentially a prop_physics with a perfectly spherical VPhysics collision model. If you want to create an spherical entity, it is far more efficient to use prop_sphere than try to create a spherical collision mesh!

Tip:The only spherical model in Half-Life 2 is models\combine_helicopter\helicopter_bomb01.mdl.

Bug: The collision mesh will not be visible with the vcollide_wireframe 1 command.

Stock FGD

If you don't intend to make any changes to the entity's C++ code, use this:

@PointClass base(BasePropPhysics, RenderFields) studioprop() = prop_sphere : "Creates a perfect sphere."
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Extending prop_sphere

Visit this snippet, on how you can improve the existing prop_sphere code.

Stock Keyvalues

BasePropPhysics:

Physics Impact Damage Scale (physdamagescale) <float>

Multiplies damage received from physics impacts. 0 means the feature is disabled for backwards compatibility.

Impact damage type (Damagetype) <boolean>

If true (1), damage type is sharp and the object can slice others.

Damaging it Doesn't Push It (nodamageforces) <boolean>

Whether damaging the entity applies force to it.

Scale Factor For Inertia (inertiascale) <float>

Scales the angular mass of an object. Used to hack angular damage and collision response.

Confirm:Doesn't actually affect inertia?

Mass Scale (massscale) <float>

Multiplier for the object's mass.

Override Parameters (overridescript) <string>

A list of physics keyvalues that are usually embedded in the model. Format is key,value,key,value,....

Health Level to Override Motion (damagetoenablemotion) <integer>

If specified, this object will start with motion disabled. Once its health has dropped below this specified amount, it will enable motion.

Physics Impact Force to Override Motion (forcetoenablemotion) <float>

If specified, this object will start motion disabled. Any impact that imparts a force greater than this value will enable motion.

DXLevelChoice:

Minimum DX Level (mindxlevel) <choices>

The entity will not exist if the engine is running outside the given range of DirectX Versions. Replaced by SystemLevelChoice from Left 4 Dead onwards.

Warning: If these are used, the object may break when the user switches their DirectX settings.

Maximum DX Level (maxdxlevel) <choices>

• Default (no bounding)
• DX7
• DX8
• DX8.1
• DX9 SM2
• DX9 SM3

SystemLevelChoice:

Minimum CPU Level (mincpulevel) <choices> (New with Left 4 Dead)

A user with a CPU level lower than this will not see this object rendered in-game. CPU levels are determined by the Effect detail setting.

Maximum CPU Level (maxcpulevel) <choices> (New with Left 4 Dead)

• 0: Default
• 1: Low
• 2: Medium
• 3: High

Minimum GPU Level (mingpulevel) <choices> (New with Left 4 Dead)

A user with a GPU level lower than this will not see this object rendered in-game. GPU levels are determined by the Shader detail setting.

Maximum GPU Level (maxgpulevel) <choices> (New with Left 4 Dead)

• 0: Default
• 1: Very low
• 2: Low
• 3: Medium
• 4: High

GMODSandbox:

Allow Physics Gun (gmod_allowphysgun) <boolean> (Only in Garry's Mod)

If set, players cannot use Physics Gun on this entity.

Sandbox Tool Whitelist (gmod_allowtools) <string> (Only in Garry's Mod)

If set, only given tools can be used on this entity. You need to supply the tool class names, the names of the .lua files of those tools. This also includes the context menu properties!

RenderFields:

Render Mode (rendermode) <choices>

Set a non-standard rendering mode on this entity.

• 0: Normal
• 1: Color
• 2: Texture
• 3: Glow
• 4: Solid/Alphatest
• 5: Additive
• 6: Removed, does nothing
• 7: Additive Fractional Frame
• 8: Alpha Add
• 9: World Space Glow
• 10: Don't Render

Render FX / Transparency (0 - 255) (renderamt) <integer>

Transparency amount, requires a Render Mode other than Normal. 0 is invisible, 255 is fully visible.

Render Color (R G B) (rendercolor) <color255>

Color tint.

Disable Receiving Shadows (disablereceiveshadows) <boolean>

Prevent the entity from receiving shadows on itself.

RenderFXChoices:

Render FX (renderfx) <choices>

Preset pattern of appearance effects.

• 0: None
• 1: Slow Pulse
• 2: Fast Pulse
• 3: Slow Wide Pulse
• 4: Fast Wide Pulse
• 5: Slow Fade Away
• 6: Fast Fade Away
• 7: Slow Become Solid
• 8: Fast Become Solid
• 9: Slow Strobe
• 10: Fast Strobe
• 11: Faster Strobe
• 12: Slow Flicker
• 13: Fast Flicker
• 14: Constant Glow
• 15: Distort
• 16: Hologram (Distort + fade)
• 17: Scale Up
• 22: Spotlight FX
• 23: Cull By Distance
• 24: Fade Wider Pulse
• 26: Fade Near

To do: 18-21, 25

Stock Flags

BasePropPhysics:

• 1: Start Asleep.
• 2: Don't take physics damage.
• 4: Debris - Don't collide with the player or other debris.
• 8: Motion Disabled.
• 64: Enable motion when grabbed by gravity gun.
• 128: Not affected by rotor wash.
• 256: Generate output on +use.
• 512: Prevent pickup.
• 1024: Prevent motion enable on player bump.
• 4096: Debris with trigger interaction.
• 8192: Force server-side (Multiplayer only; see sv_pushaway_clientside_size)
• 1048576: Gravity gun can ALWAYS pick up. No matter what.

BreakableProp:

• 16: Break on Touch
• 32: Break on Pressure

Stock Inputs

BasePropPhysics:

Sleep

Tell the prop to quit moving. Any physics forces (excluding gravity and water buoyancy) will cause the object to resume moving as usual. Sleeping also occurs automatically when the object has no physics forces to keep it awake, and when it is no longer moving a noticeable amount.

Wake

If the object was told to sleep, tell it to start moving again.

DisableMotion

Tell the object to stop moving completely. No physics forces will re-enable motion, not even Wake.

EnableMotion

If the object's motion has been disabled entirely, tell it to resume movement as usual. This will also Wake the object, if it is Sleeping.

DisableFloating

If the object would normally float when in water, tell it to not float. There seems to be no way to re-enable floating behavior, but programming a method to do this should be fairly simple (CALLBACK_DO_FLUID_SIMULATION).

RenderFields:

Alpha  <integer>

Sets the entity's transparency to a number from 0 (invisible) to 255 (fully visible). Requires the entity to have its Render Mode (rendermode) set to a number other than 0.

Color  <color255>

Sets an RGB color for the entity.

Stock Outputs

BasePropPhysics:

OnMotionEnabled

Fired when motion has been enabled on the prop, either via the Health Level to Override Motion keyvalue or from the EnableMotion input.

OnAwakened

Fired when the prop has woken (force has been applied to it while it was asleep, or the Wake input has been called).

OnOutOfWorld

Fired whenever the object is detected to be outside the world. Specifically, it checks if the object is outside of the world's bounding box or if the object is traveling at over 2000 units per second in any cardinal direction.

OnPlayerUse

Fired when the player has +used the prop.

Note:This output (but not any of the other pickup-related ones) will fire only if the Generate output on +USE spawnflag is set.

OnPhysGunDrop

Fired when the player has dropped the prop (from either +use or the gravity gun). !activator is the player.

OnPlayerPickup

Fired when the player has picked the prop up with +use or the gravity gun (in Half-Life 2).

OnPhysGunOnlyPickup

Fired when the player has picked the prop up with the gravity gun specifically.