Talk:Creating an energy ball launcher and catcher

I've got this down in-game but it might be a bit before I can write up the tutorial. I will try to get to it sometime in the coming week. --Remmiz 01:16, 17 Nov 2007 (PST)

Sure take your time with it.--Gear 01:30, 17 Nov 2007 (PST)

From what I've seen, Valve utilized quite an annoying method of templating for it. Took me a little time to figure it out. --Baliame 04:24, 17 Nov 2007 (PST)

Yeah, they actually make the catcher outside the world and just build it as an entity inside the world. I just went ahead and built mine directly in the room. --Remmiz 10:59, 17 Nov 2007 (PST)

If Valve does it, there is probably a good reason for it. --Gherghetta 10:59, 29 Nov 2007 (UTC)

I highly doubt that. I'm sure its just built outside the map due to cluttering concerns as this is quite a bit of stuff in one little area.--Remmiz 20:12, 28 Nov 2007 (PST)

Isn't clutter concern a pretty good reason? I don't really know how building something outside of the world and then just building it in as an entity works, but doesn't it mean than you can use that same entity again, without stuffing all the stuff into the map again?--Gherghetta 14:40, 29 Nov 2007 (PST)

The thing is though that they don't just reuse the same one. I really see no other advantage to creating it the way Valve did. --Remmiz 16:23, 29 Nov 2007 (PST)

Personally I don't like the way valve did it as it is error prone. If you look at chamber 13 the catcher in the floor isn't centered in the hole properly. I can only imagine the reason for this is because is you can't tell inside hammer that it is wrong. Also I'm pretty sure their reason is the whole prefab is likely a carryover from half life 2 because there is another light source and sprite that is not used in portal, but exists in the stand alone room. It is also far off in the distance, and in the portal maps they put a much larger hole in the wall than is really needed for the portal usage so I would assume that they are using half-life 2 methods for creating that as well. These vestigial entities prove that sometimes Valve does something a certain way because it is easier for Valve wants to do it that way, which isn't the same as the best way to do it --Caldaan 14:24 4 Dec 2007 (EST)

Oh yeah there are also logic relays that allow you to reset the catchers which is never used in portal, but is used on half-life 2 as a certain monster has the ability to kick the balls out of the cathers. --Caldaan 14:44 4 Dec 2007 (EST)

Hm. Maybe. I still think there's somethin we haven't thought of, but thats no reason to do it. How do you get this information anyway? How do you know they build it outside the map?--Gherghetta 18:10, 30 Nov 2007 (PST)

Decompiling. Also, you can just fly around with noclip and see the red glows out in the middle of nowhere. --Remmiz 20:46, 30 Nov 2007 (PST)

I think they just used a prefab system that places it outside the map. I was just looking to make my own prefabs but the decompiler seems to have screwed some things up like the trigger_multiple used to catch the balls. --Bluestrike 02:03, 1 Dec 2007 (PST)

I didn't realize this discussion tab was here or I would have asked first. But I noticed it wasn't updated yet so I figured I would write it out. --Caldaan 18:29, 19 Nov 2007 (EST)

Oh no problem, saves me some work. You did it exactly as I would have too. Very good work! Could use some pictures though as this is a somewhat difficult thing to build. --Remmiz 17:36, 19 Nov 2007 (PST)

I'm going to add some pictures today actually --Caldaan 11:00, 20 Nov 2007 (EST)

Whoa we might need to organize this a bit more.--Gear 20:43, 19 Nov 2007 (PST)

I don't think the theory is necessary for tutorials, or if you definitely want to add it, just put it on the top. --Baliame 08:09, 20 Nov 2007 (PST)

MrTwoVideoCards, when you put in values for the func_train for the ball trap arm sounds, did you just want to make it easier for someone to create it, or did you think they were set the same in every map? Because they aren't. And you can't hear the sound anyway, because the EMP drowns out the sounds. My initial comments on the train have been diluted a bit through the editing process, however I only included it in the tutorial because it is technically a working function in the game, even if it can't be heard. And I specifically didn't put units on it because they aren't all the same in every map that uses the ball catchers. Why I don't know since I would assume it was a prefabof some sort. But they units didn't seem to be all that important to Valve. --Caldaan 21:27, 1 Jan 2008 (EST)

The sounds: Doesn't matter at all really. It's obviously something you wouldn't want to panic about because it majorly lacks importance.

The scales: It's a very good idea to normalize these scales, you don't want neither an exaggeratedly monstrously huge nor a tiny little catcher. But thenagain, it's not like the catcher won't work at ANY scale (unless it's too small to recieve the ball), so I wouldn't worry about this one either. --Baliame ^(talk) 20:36, 1 Jan 2008 (PST)

I submit that it would be more efficient to make trigger_ball_trap a trigger_once instead of a trigger_multiple, and then leave out disabling itself since a trigger_once does that automatically. —Yar Kramer 13:58, 29 Jan 2008 (PST)

I believe that replacing the path_track and func_tracktrain with a single func_door makes a bit more sense. Or better yet, just leave the whole thing out. Sure, the sounds don't come out right, but everything else still functions and it saves a bit of time for me. --Darthkillyou 20:47, 26 Feb 2008 (PST)