Detect if player is outside of world?

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Whysopro?
154 Posts
Posted Dec 18, 2010
Title says it all. I want to make a few of my levels in my campaign noclip proof.

So is there any way to detect if a player is outside of the vis tree?

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hanging_rope
435 Posts
Posted Dec 18, 2010
Replied 1 hour later
You could use triggers, but I don't think you should make something noclip proof. If a player cheats, they are only cheating themselves. There was a topic about this from last year, which can be found here: maps-and-modding/cheating-t1669.html?hilit=anti%20noclip
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p0rtalplayer
1,366 Posts
Posted Dec 19, 2010
Replied 1 hour later
The Problem with any kind of anti-noclip device is that you either:

a) end up surrounding your map in a big nodraw box
b) dont detect correctly
or
c) detect erroneously, e.g. when player is going through portals.

besides, you can still noclip within the level itself. IT just requires a bit more care.

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WinstonSmith
940 Posts
Posted Dec 19, 2010
Replied 5 minutes later

hanging_rope wrote:
You could use triggers, but I don't think you should make something noclip proof. If a player cheats, they are only cheating themselves. There was a topic about this from last year, which can be found here: maps-and-modding/cheating-t1669.html?hilit=anti%20noclip

I second this, it seems like there isn't much you can or should do; as stated in the thread, someone who cheats is only cheating themselves.

If that idiom isn't vindictive enough for you though, create trigger brushes that fill all the rooms in your map, and tie them all to a trigger_multiple. Create a point_clientcommand, and give this output to the trigger_multiple: OnEndTouch-->[clientcommand name here]-->Command-->quit-->0.00 . It's got bugs, but it will tick off cheaters. And isn't that the epitome of the holiday season?

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Whysopro?
154 Posts
Posted Dec 19, 2010
Replied 1 hour later
I already setup my levels with everything disabled so even if you did a noclip....you still can't do the next room or go up the elevator.

However I definitely want to go further by making triggers with !activator -> kill. Not only does it make you lose, but your game crashes too! =D

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Motanum
248 Posts
Posted Dec 19, 2010
Replied 11 hours later
It is possible, simply make an outline of your level with the nodraw textures and inside it fill it with trigger_teleports to teleport the player back inside when he tries to no clip.

I strongly advice against it, as it is frustrating, not even to mention you wont be able to noclip yourself

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Whysopro?
154 Posts
Posted Dec 19, 2010
Replied 42 minutes later
Why would I need to noclip myself? I can do all my puzzles in under a minute.

EDIT: Well...a minute is a hyperbole. Less then 5 is more suitable.

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Motanum
248 Posts
Posted Dec 19, 2010
Replied 2 hours later
Say, you have a long map, and you just cant be bothered to do the first bit, or just want to no clip to see the immense big map you just made, or you need to go back and check something again. As a developer it is nice to noclip
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hanging_rope
435 Posts
Posted Dec 19, 2010
Replied 34 minutes later

Whysopro? wrote:

However I definitely want to go further by making triggers with !activator -> kill. Not only does it make you lose, but your game crashes too! =D

Never, never, never, never, never do that. You should NEVER punish the player for cheating by crashing the game, under any circumstance, in any game. Not only is that incredibly bad in terms of "customer service" (Or the closest you can get to that in portal mapping), The player may not understand what caused it, which means they could try to cheat again several times, ending only in frustration and that player absolutely hating you and your map for "crashing their game for no apparent reason".

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Whysopro?
154 Posts
Posted Dec 19, 2010
Replied 4 hours later
Pfft! Fine. I am disgusted knowing that there are cheaters out there.

Motanum wrote:
Say, you have a long map, and you just cant be bothered to do the first bit, or just want to no clip to see the immense big map you just made, or you need to go back and check something again. As a developer it is nice to noclip

Isn't that what the cordon tool is for?

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WinstonSmith
940 Posts
Posted Dec 19, 2010
Replied 22 minutes later

Whysopro? wrote:
Pfft! Fine. I am disgusted knowing that there are cheaters out there.

Motanum wrote:

Say, you have a long map, and you just cant be bothered to do the first bit, or just want to no clip to see the immense big map you just made, or you need to go back and check something again. As a developer it is nice to noclip

Isn't that what the cordon tool is for?

Possibly, but personally, I find it a pain to work with placing multiple player starts. In addition, a lot of the times something in a map won't work if a portion is cordoned off. For instance, a box dropper which points to a template on top of another dropper (which may be cordoned off), won't function correctly. I just find it quicker to noclip, especially since I've bound a key to it.

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Mevious
205 Posts
Posted Dec 19, 2010
Replied 1 hour later

Whysopro? wrote:
Pfft! Fine. I am disgusted knowing that there are cheaters out there.

Not all noclipping is "morally bad" noclipping. If someone uses noclip to go straight from the beginning to the end, without any chance to experience your map, that is morally bad noclipping. There are a bunch of morally good reasons to use noclip, and it would be silly to punish someone for doing these:
1. There's a bug in the map, and you use noclip to pass it.
2. You forget to save, die, and want to skip to where you were.
3. You want to study the map as a whole without decompiling.
4. One part of the map has a ridiculously difficult fling, or a stupidly narrow timing window, and you simply want to skip that part and move on to the more fun stuff. I actually would consider this cheating, but depending on how shitty the map is, it can still be morally good.

Personally I think it's a waste of time to even consider the play experience of someone who uses morally bad cheats. What's the point? They aren't "playing" Portal, so why care how they "don't play" your map? If someone is set on cheating, and it ends up killing them, they are likely just to quit the map and never think about it again. What they definitely aren't going to do, is think "kudos to this mapper for punishing me for cheating" and then play the map without cheats. Also, anyone can noclip and stay inside the map the entire time. Killing someone for leaving a map isn't the same as killing someone for using noclip.

I get the feeling that you are confusing noclipping with the out of bounds glitch. Many people do not consider this glitch to be cheating, or even morally bad, and it's understandable that you would want to actively prevent it in your maps. There are other ways to deal with this issue. This thread covers the topic:

general-discussion/using-out-of-bounds-is-a-bannable-offense-t1682.html

HMW wrote:
So if I understand correctly, making the outside of the map non-portal compatible doesn't necessarily prevent players from reaching the void, it just prevents them from getting back inside, disabling the use of OOB as a practical exploit.

I have never tried this, so I can't vouch for it.

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Whysopro?
154 Posts
Posted Dec 20, 2010
Replied 16 hours later
Okay I understand the situation now. Seeing as I only just started mapping anyways I was too focused on the players POV when playing the game and not from a developer perspective.

Alright so if people want to cheat then fine, but I would never make an uber hard fling or some extremely narrow crouch jump through 7 portals. =D