Moving Stairs Issue
I am attempting to create stairs that are similar to those in chamber 14 using a series of func_brush's attached to func_door's.
Using that method, I can trigger the transition from stairs to collapsed and back again.
The problem is that when I place a portal on the stairs in their collapsed position and then a 2nd portal anywhere else, I can see the seams of the stairs in the 2nd portal.
Any ideas on what I'm doing wrong?
my thought...
make a box 1 unit tall, 1 unit floating above the floor (make sure it doesn't touch anything)
apply a nodraw texture...
only problem with that, is the portal on the floor will be 2 units above the floor...
OR
make a brush the size and shape of the floor, make it a func_brush
if the stairs are up at the start of the map, disable this new func_brush, if they are down, disable the stairs func_brushes
on door full close (or open, however it is when the stairs are all the way down) disable the stair brushes, enable the new brush
Trigger that moves stairs up, disable new brush, enable stairs.
hopefully that would work, pretty sure you wouldn't see the transition as long as you textured them right
[img]ftp://joelbell:3atplast1c@66.7.209.205/public_html/Portal/seams.JPG[/img][/i]
Those two lines are the seams I am talking about - they are the dividing edges of the steps that the other portal is on.
did you try any of the suggestions I mentioned?
Ok, so I was able to determine that those "seams" are in fact the top bit of the side of the step.
A method I came up to combat this is to have two steps for each step (one with nodraw sides) and enable/disable as necessary - not sure how efficent that is though.
As for your methods Artesia:
First method: Looks very odd, not the right solution.
Second method: This one looked very promising, but has a problem. When the stairs are half up and half flat, the flat section is either unportable or will produce the seams I mentioned earlier.
A fix for this could be to have numerous brushes that are constantly enabled/disabled as the stairs go up and down - but seems a little excessive.
I'm not which one I'll go with, though right now I'm leaning towards the double step method since it seems the simplest to set up.
Have any opinion or other ideas? - is there a way to open up the official maps and look at what they did?
indeed I do...
an addition to method 2:
1 unit below the surface of the top stair, make a func_noportal_volume the size of the stairs/floor and parent it to the door running the top stair...
I haven't tested this but I think as the top stair started moving up, it would fizzle any portals in the area...
If im not mistaken that happens to any portals on that surface in the ingame level
EDIT: are there more states to your stairs other than all the way up or all the way down (not counting movement)
if not you wouldn't want the surfaces portal in the meantime, you can't portal to moving surfaces if im not mistaken
- The portals on the flat stairs already get auto-fizzled when the stairs go up.
- There are only the up/down and moving states on the stairs.
- If i have 20 stairs and they are half way though transition (ie. 10 are flat and the other 10 are still up) the player should be able to fire onto the flat section.
Artesia, looks like your first idea was right after all, and all I can say is ROFL.
[img]ftp://joelbell:3atplast1c@66.7.209.205/public_html/Portal/underTheStairs.JPG[/img][/img]
By shooting a portal down between the steps, you can get under the stairs and portal on an invisible plane. They didn't even try to it.
The plane (from what I can tell) floats 1 unit above the stairs when they are in their down position. It is really only noticeable if you are completely focused on it; however, I checked it out with no clip on to make sure and it is indeed floating above the stairs when they are down.
I understand why they did this though - the invisible plane is NOT an entity since entities (even func_brush) don't handle portals well; however, I don't understand why they didn't put a portal-blocking volume above this surface that toggled with the stairs.
Oh well, I think I have what I need ; maybe I'll make a tutorial.
Using a nodraw texture turns the texture on my steps to solid black and I can't seem to find another transparent texture that takes portals - any ideas?
- the nodraw brush is 1 unit above the steps when they are in their closed (flat) position, and the steps are always black in every position.