Hi! I have troubles with one of my maps. I have a big vault door, and a console station in front of it. It has many prop_dynamics, parented to a func_tractrain (vault_btn_platform, which moves away with you standing on when the door opens. It has also a railing parented to another tracktrain. The railings path_track entities are parented to the first platform tracktrain (vault_btn_platform). There is a button on it, which opens the vault, and moves the whole platform back, and up in the air. The problem is, that I have a trigger_autosave before the whole thing. If I press the button, everything works. But if I die, I start the level from the autosave, and when I'm pressing the button, the game just crashes to desktop, wtihout any messages. Can you help me to get rid of this issue?

Hey dude!

I can't really say I understood the logic you explained completely But it seems to me that you might have parented too many things to others. I think the reason why your map crashes the game is that you might have created a loop of events or a loop of parented elements that make the engine crazy.

First of all, would you post a picture of your thinghy explaining a bit more about what do you want it to do or how you would like it to move so we can understannd better? This way we could think of what would be the best logic for your scenario and check if your logic was properly created.

I think it would be best [map design-wise] to place the button on a stationary platform overlooking the vault door, as I understand you placed the button on the moving platform? In that case, if I was playing it, I would have my attention drawn to the platform, rather than the vault door. If you look at the first underground map [with the vault door], you'll notice how Valve made the door the center of the player's attention, no matter where you stood, before or after the door was activated.

josepezdj wrote:
But it seems to me that you might have parented too many things to others. I think the reason why your map crashes the game is that you might have created a loop of events or a loop of parented elements that make the engine crazy.

As josepezdj said, it is possible to parent too much. I would suggest having something like in sp_a3_transition01 where pressing a button on the ground raises a platform elsewhere. However, if you want the platform to transport the player, have a trigger on the platform that starts disabled and is enabled by the button.

Hope this [somehow] helps!

EDIT: Hold on, I just looked at the post again. It looks like you parented a railing to a track-train, and that thing is on path_tracks parented to another track train. That probably isn't a wise idea. Use a nodraw or invisible func_door [w/ railings attached] parented to the platform with the button instead of having moving path_tracks.

Ye, overall, I don't think that you can parent the path_tracks to anything... The train surely gets confused...

josepezdj wrote:
Ye, overall, I don't think that you can parent the path_tracks to anything... The train surely gets confused...

I just looked at the path_track entity and it has the ability to be parented; they just don't work all that well.

Wheatley wrote:
They told me, if I ever parented a path_track to anything, I would DIE! They told me that about everything, I don't know why they even gave me these keyvalues if they don't want me using them!

Huh, it was a long time ago, but I ran into that map today.

As I figured it out, the porblem was with the parenting. However not with the path_track entities. It was a little button parented wrong. That little func_button was parented to an ambient_generic, which was killed after the event. But on reload, as the main button was pressed and output was fired to lock the little misparented button. Bang, intant crash.
So thanks for the help, the issue is now solved as the whole platform moves up and down as intended.