I have a moving panel (with func_door) which I would like to use info_placement_helper with. The panel is moving out 64 units out from the wall and that's where I placed the info_placement_helper, but it won't work. I can shoot portals anywhere on that panel. Any ideas? Is it possible at all? Thanks in advance!

First off, I guess that you placed the info_placement_helper with its red orientation line pointing outwards from the panel, right?

Then, you should make sure that your info_placement_helper has its both properties 'Use helper's angles' and 'Force Placement' set to YES.

And remember to use a wide enough radius that surrounds the entire panel, and I mean each single bit (watch out on the squares).

And finally, I'd suggest you to parent it to the panel so it is always where the panel is; so you should need to place it right on the surface of the panel's brush where it is spawned at first. Once the panel moves those 64 units from the wall, the helper will follow it up.

josepezdj wrote:
First off, I guess that you placed the info_placement_helper with its red orientation line pointing outwards from the panel, right?

Then, you should make sure that your info_placement_helper has its both properties 'Use helper's angles' and 'Force Placement' set to YES.

And remember to use a wide enough radius that surrounds the entire panel, and I mean each single bit (watch out on the squares).

And finally, I'd suggest you to parent it to the panel so it is always where the panel is; so you should need to place it right on the surface of the panel's brush where it is spawned at first. Once the panel moves those 64 units from the wall, the helper will follow it up.

Yes, yes and yes. Thanks for the reply but sadly none of the advice did work. What I didn't do before was to parent it, I just placed it in the correct spot where the panel would end. This time I parented the info_placement_helper to the func_door. No luck so far...

Is the info_placement_helper just in front of the panel, or in it? When I use them, I usually make is so they're perfectly halfway sunken into the surface I put them on. I've never tried them otherwise, but this has always worked for me.

Crawfish wrote:
Is the info_placement_helper just in front of the panel, or in it? When I use them, I usually make is so they're perfectly halfway sunken into the surface I put them on. I've never tried them otherwise, but this has always worked for me.

Huh, i always place them one unit away from the surface.

Konke wrote:
I just placed it in the correct spot where the panel would end

I think that you are doing it wrongly. Not in the spot where the panel would end (this way if it is parented it will go 64 units further!), but right on the panel's surface. Please check:

Then parented to the func_brush or func_door, so when it moves the helper will be always on the same spot.

Thanks for the answers. I didn't quite understand what to change. Perhaps I'll try to post a picture of my current problem.

This is my first image post on a forum, I hope it'll work:

A thing to add though is that the info_placement_helper did work when the panel was static (everything in the same place). Later on I decided to add the effect of a arm moving out of the wall. I added the func_door and had everything lined up just like before and chose Spawn Position: Open on the func_door.

Let me know if you need another screenshot!

Please post your .VMF

Can you post a higher resolution screenshot? Or, as josepezdj said, the .VMF would be helpful too.

I've made a quick test map where the placement_helper works before and after the func_door opens/closes.

Please check it and use the same idea

josepezdj wrote:
I've made a quick test map where the placement_helper works before and after the func_door opens/closes.

Please check it and use the same idea

That's very kind of you, thanks! However, I can't seem to open the file. It ends with .7z. What format is that?

.7z is a "self extracting zip file"... you should be able to open it by just double clicking... if not WinZip or WinRar should also also have the ability to open .7z files.

Or 7zip, the program officially used to make those....

It's by far the best compressor, just get it and start using it, it's free! :p

Many thanks for the assistance! It works now. Do you want to know what I did? I find this kind of funny, but after some testing and trying to make my moving panel similar to josepezdj's example, all I had to do was to move the func_door from the middle of the panel, to a corner. Isn't that kind of weird? Well, the info_placement_helper would then directly be at the panel AND the func_door, perhaps that was the problem. Thank again!

Konke wrote:
all I had to do was to move the func_door from the middle of the panel, to a corner. Isn't that kind of weird?

Yes it is. Could it be that your door was solid and therefore interrupting the movement? Check the door's flags and make sure you did tick these two: "Non-solid to player" and "Passable"

You might want to put the name of the func_brush forming the white panel in the "attach entity" parameter of the helper, when the door was in the center it probably decided that the non-portalable nodraw surface was the surface it was supposed to attach to, and therefore didn't apply to portals placed on the white surface.

TeamSpen210 wrote:
You might want to put the name of the func_brush forming the white panel in the "attach entity" parameter of the helper, when the door was in the center it probably decided that the non-portalable nodraw surface was the surface it was supposed to attach to, and therefore didn't apply to portals placed on the white surface.

I did try to put the name in the attach entity, but it didn't work. It works now though, thanks!

josepezdj wrote:
Konke wrote:

all I had to do was to move the func_door from the middle of the panel, to a corner. Isn't that kind of weird?

Yes it is. Could it be that your door was solid and therefore interrupting the movement? Check the door's flags and make sure you did tick these two: "Non-solid to player" and "Passable"

That might actually be it! I did tick those two but didn't think they were causing the problem.