Talk:Entity

Would it be useful to put up class hierarchies for entities?—ts2do 18:31, 22 May 2006 (PDT)

Please, i understand the engine quite well but i get lost when it comes to what code applies to what. Thats the main thing holding me back from actually doing a Mod. If you can point out things like the entity classes and hierachies i think it would help a lot. Angry Beaver 21:31, 22 May 2006 (PDT)

There should be a template created for a link...I think hierarchies should have their own pages as well as consistant naming, maybe pages should be named like CBaseFlex...the actual class—ts2do 21:40, 22 May 2006 (PDT)

Any class requests?—ts2do 17:24, 27 May 2006 (PDT)

Funcs and entity-only compiles

If I compile my map with entities only, what will happen to my brush entities? Will their settings change? What about their positions? --TomEdwards 02:49, 20 Feb 2007 (PST)

I'm pretty sure brush entities are treated the same as any other entity. --Daedalus 08:50, 20 Feb 2007 (PST)

World brushes are kept speratley, when you do an entity only compile it jsut dumps the entity data leaving the world data intact and places the new entities. So if you made changes to world brushes they wouldn't show up. --Angry Beaver 11:12, 20 Feb 2007 (PST)

If you move brushes of func_ entities, you want to do a full compile. Entity-only is great for tweaking logic or input/output systems. You can change func_ and trigger_ properties, just not the position or dimension of their brushes. Otherwise you may have solid brushes instead in-game. If you change lighting, VRAD must be re-run for it to update. It is much faster to compile, you will be able to reload the map and see the changes. (See: VBSP for compile options.) —Ninjaofsauce (talk) 20:33, 5 December 2021 (PST)

Point entity vs. brush entity

Say you were to have a detail for a map that you were considering making a model, not something so high poly that you couldn't make it in Hammer though... If you use approximately the same number of faces and everything, would it be better performance-wise to make it a brush entity or a model (or would it be the same)? Thelonesoldier 19:58, 22 Feb 2007 (PST)

You'll get better performance if you use models, since Source lowers the Level of Detail (how much it draws) as you get further away from it. World geometry can't do that, and will still be expensive if you're 10 feet or 100 feet away from it, wheras a model would lose detail (becoming quicker to render) or simply not be rendered at all. --Daedalus 21:06, 22 Feb 2007 (PST)

I should have thought of that. Thanks. Thelonesoldier 21:58, 22 Feb 2007 (PST)

While thats a large part of the equation its not quite right, there are func_lod for brushes to dissapear at given distances. But the biggest concern when choosing model over worl brushes is lighting and player interaction. If its lots of different materials world brushes would be better as model can only have 1 material type (glass concrete, etc) and models also have to have simplified collision hulls designed for them. This can create weird interactions for the player, the other issue is lighting. models tend to have lighting glitches as they usually recive a flat level of light with a few highlights depending upon mesh density and a few other things, brushes give you excelent control with thier lightmap property.--Angry Beaver 22:16, 22 Feb 2007 (PST)

definition

• Entity : A object defined within the Source Engine as having characteristics which differentiate it from "the world" (world brushes).

According to worldspawn, "The worldspawn entity that is present on every map. It represents all world brushes. It also stores ..." ie: "world brushes" are in fact Game Entities ? Which definition is correct ? --Beeswax 11:17, 9 Apr 2008 (PDT)

World brushes are all a part of the same entity. So they're both right. :p --TomEdwards 11:44, 9 Apr 2008 (PDT)

E!=W and W=E are contradictory statements. You are saying that all the brushwork is tied to the worldspawn entity by default, tying a brush to another entity (eg func_detail) overrides the default, but in both cases, every brush is also an entity. --Beeswax 13:16, 9 Apr 2008 (PDT)

Yes, but since all non-entity brushes can all be represented by a single property setting, they aren't entities themselves, otherwise, the map would always leak. Solokiller 13:22, 9 Apr 2008 (PDT)

Ah! I'm beginning to get it!: so a Brush can be either a "World Brush" (part of the worldspawn entity), or a "Brush-Based Entity" ? In itself, each Brush is just a lump of geometry with VMT properties ...? --Beeswax 14:45, 9 Apr 2008 (PDT)

A lot of categories with a capital letter

I don't care to rename them. It will be slow and inconvenient if done manually. Lxm6 (talk) 01:26, 8 July 2023 (PDT)