Spawnable entities

[Aayla Vigil]

I was wondering if it was possible to implent an admin command that allows you to spawn entities (= the map .MD3 models contained in assets1.pk3/models/map_objects, if not ALL models), similarly to how we can already do with effects.


I have come to think about this mainly because I think Lugormod allowed admins to do so, although I do not know how exactly.


Some images I found on google about it:






I think it would be very useful in addition to our effects, weather, texture replacement, in order to customize every scenario.

I am also attracted by the possibility of spawning simple entities like chairs, trees, plants, etc, even for daily life at the temple.

[Delmi N'jork]

Support this 100%. Great idea.

[Kih Bu]

That's a great idea! That'd add infinite possibilities for us. But, would they come into the game solid, though? When mapping, one usually applies a physics_clip brush over the model to make it appear solid in game. Without that, I'm just worried if we'll be able to interact with what is spawned.

Failing all of this, we could maybe convert the sensible ones and expand the throwable_objects pack I suppose!

[Zelai Kol'iva]

I remember back when I used to play lugormod + makermod. They were good times however after long amounts of hours spent on them, the mods became dull due to lack of activity. However the mods are very creative and the objects can be interacted with. If I recall, back in the days when these mods were quite large, many players used to create ships/houses with the objects and with certain commands could move the ships by moving all the objects.. linking them and so on. When they were finished they were able to save there objects in a notepad using a panel ingame, and once they return to the server, they simply uploaded the notepad, using that exact panel and the ship would respawn with all the objects in the correct place. (Usually they would re-spawn infront of you, unless you choose a specific location with the co-ordinates.)

Although the objects that are already on a .map file are not editable, you can add and remove objects at will, using the spawnable entities. I believe this would create a much more realistic atmosphere, especially with the capabilities of editing the surroundings to meet desires.

However my only concern is, can the server put up with such an addition and if so, for how long? With an certain amount of objects spawned and with RPmod already quite a large modification, (So I believe?), it could cause trouble for the server. Other than that, I approve of this, will give the admin/Knights+ alot more flexibility and creativity in there methods of roleplay.

+1 from me.

[Oberon]

Yeah, if I recall in lugor you could add the ,spawnflags,1 key and value to make the object have a bounding box so you couldn't just noclip through it.

But if this were to be implemented a good thing to also do would be to toss in a way to save it to the map at least for the temple server so an admin doesn't have to go in and replant a tree each time.

For deletion, you could do all at once, or essentially an undo one where it'd delete the last one you placed (just in case you place it wrong or something). Also a way to delete the models individually by aiming at them would be a necessity.

[Zuri Lyn]

Having entities would be awesome !

I know that lugor's building system is for most part base jka commands (which is also why it's so complicated), so I guess it wouldn't be too hard to add.
What mm(=makermod) does, is make stuff simpler, and also add loads and loads of awesome commands. In mm, you can create a platform, grab it and move it in the air, drop it wherever you want and have it solid, you can rotate it any direction you want, you can make it into an elevator (with just one command ), make it bob up and down, bob sideways, rotate continuesly... You can also move whole groups of ents, rotate groups of ents (very complicated to code though, I think), and stuff like that. I almost forgot to mention buttons, teleporters, ents that sensed when you touched them, ents that printed messages when activated, and others things like that.

Something in the middle would probably be the best for our needs. We would basically need these commands :
_A command to mark where you want to spawn the entity (where you look, or with coordinates)
_A simplified command to spawn the entity .
_A command to grab the entity (have it float infront of you and follow your crosshair)
_A command to drop the entity
_A command to move the entity would be cool. That makes it possible to create moveable doors. They would need to be activated by an admin every time, but it would be pretty simple.
_A few commands like, select an entity (to move), delete an entity and maybe rotate an entity (it is really useful).

With just these base commands, admins could do LOADS of stuff, really loads.

What d'ya guys think?


By the way, I agree with Oberon, it would be cool to be able to save it into the map. I know that this exists in both lugor in mm and it makes it possible to personalise your maps easily, without having to be a mapper or changing the base map.