Easiest way to make junked cars for decor?

[archvilell]

Just like the title say, I want to put some scrap cars in my map as cover from the sniping Ts. Any suggestions on how to make an easy car or where a tutorial is?

 

[Sami]

Why not use a prop car?

 

[Ennui]

use the ones from cs:s or model your own.

not sure how prefabs work but it has something to do with entities this time around

 

[archvilell]

How do I make a prop car? (I've only been mapping for a few days)

 

[tank]

make an entity prop_static (select world model under properties)

done!

object will not move or react to physics...great for cover

 

[gallon]

make an entity (the lightbulb icon).... make it prop_static... with the entity selected, go to properties.... choose world model... browse thru your props till u find the cars... choose one ... click done

 

[Ennui]

how exactly do you make it a physics object, if possible in CS:S?

 

[archvilell]

What do the two spheres that I can move mean? There are four dots in the enter, if I grab them i can pull it into a sphere. I can do this twice. What does it do?

 

[switch]

What do the two spheres that I can move mean? There are four dots in the enter, if I grab them i can pull it into a sphere. I can do this twice. What does it do?

The two spheres in the middle are for draw distances, it tells the engine when to start making something in the distance disapear for perfomance purposes.

You can drag them out to where you want it to start disapearing and end disapearing.

however if it is a small distance the model will just be invisible in your map, and moving them by mistake is bad too, as ctrl+z doesnt seem to set it back to the value it needs to be.

To reset them you need to click on the object, press alt+enter then change Start fade dist to -1 and end fade dist to 0.

EDIT: Oh I am also having problems with cars, First I had them as prop_physics but there was no bounding box or whatever, and there was only collisions in the centre of the car so it would dig into the ground, and prop_static was the same exept static, prop_dynamic seemed to work tho, but only for the cars and not the van? strange.

 

[HolySdrJR]

Tie a brush to func_clip_vphysics

 

[archvilell]

Kinda along the same lines, this time, I'm trying to make an oil drum. Kinda good cover except that it will fall over, so it can't be hid behind for long. I assumed it was the same as a prop_static model so I created a prop_static and gave it the oildrum material. Except that the compiler told me that oildrum could only be used with prop_dynamic. No problem. I created a prop_dynamic, gave it a name and oildrum material.... except now its invisible. I know the start/end fade distances are set right, because theyre set the same as my cars, which work fine. Anyone have ideas? Or am I not setting up the prop_dynamic setting right?

 

[Viperidae]

Hmm... to fix the prop_physics thing, if (I don't remember) there is an entity available in CS: S called a prop_physics_override, then use it. It will take models without physics files and assign them generic physics stats.

 

[archvilell]

Okay thanks. The physics override thing works, except that it seems to light to be a 55gallon drum. Is there any way to change the "weight" or the object. I've already tried "Physics Impact Damage Scale" and it didn't do anything. Did I change the wrong thing or is it possible.

 

[archvilell]

Well, got another question. Is there any way to have something that would work like a prop_static_override in which it strips away a models physics and makes it like another prop_static? Prop_static alone doesnt work, as the compiler just says it has physics and needs to be prop_dynamic.

For example, I'm making a CS:S map and want some furiture in a room, but I don't want it to move for two reasons. One, it bugs me that a giant sofa moves around like a folding chair, and Two, I want it to work better on slower machines.

 

[archvilell]

*bump* Anyone?

 

[Viperidae]

I'm pretty sure (don't map for CSS myself) that there's a 'disable motion' flag in the properties for prop_physics, preventing it from moving.

 

[archvilell]

There we go. It doesn't move now, but it changes colors when walking around it. For instance, my file cabinet is a light gray normally, but when I walk around it or bump into it, it turns a darker gray.

Also, is there any way to slow down my oil drums? They fly around like a cardboard box and will roll forever, as if there were no friction to stop it. I'm thinking about just making them immobile and saying that "they're full of oil," but I won't be around to defend my work to the players. I'm hoping there's a better way.

 

[Viperidae]

1. Try to compile your map with lighting. I think it'll go away once that happens

2. The only thing I can think of is to increase the object's 'mass scale,' however in my experience it's never done anything. :hmph:

 

[archvilell]

My map doesn't have any lighting, so it should be using the default lighting. I haven't figured out how to use lights yet, and I haven't gotten around to putting them in yet. Where do you think I should put lights at? It's an overcast day, so I know evertying should be dreary. I'm thinking some slight fog at the bottom of the ravine.

http://img159.exs.cx/img159/2554/cslabssky20fd.jpg

 

[Viperidae]

If you're new to lighting, you should just try a light_environment for now.

Place one (it's a point-based entity) anywhere in the map. Go into its properties, select the main light colour you want, and an ambient colour you want (leaving it default looks natural enough). Make its 'pitch' -90 (pointing straight down). This will give you a light source that comes from the skybox, which in your case is fairly big, so you'll have lots of light. You can get more advanced by changing it's pitch, (like for a setting sun), and having darker colours. You can create some pretty cool atmosphere with environment lighting - just experiment.

Hope that helps.

 

[archvilell]

It looks great. i changed the color of the light to a light grey because (like I said) the sky is overcast,and the light adds nicely. The only problem is the parts in the light are nice and bright. The parts in a shadow are almost pitch black. The walls are all black, the area under my bridge is all black (my water under the bridge still looks cool).

However, I changed the "Mass scale" option to 3 and now my barrels don't bounce around like a Pong ball. When they hit something, they stop. Unfortunatly they won't stop by themselves on a flat plane, which is reasonable. If I pushed a 55gallon drum in RL and got it moving, it probably wouldnt stop for a ways.

 

[Viperidae]

To fix the walls being black, you can a)change the pitch slightly or b)add regular 'light' entities, maybe add some fixtures.

The whole point of the light suggestion was to make the props have a consistent lighting, I wasn't expecting instant perfect lighting... did it work?

 

[archvilell]

Viper: "I wasn't expecting instant perfect lighting... did it work?"

Yeah, it worked. Now they keep their light gray color, but have a metallic sheen to them (pretty cool). I was just asking lighting questions while we were on the topic.

Thanks, Viper.