Call of Duty 5: Dynamic Entities : Ropes

This tutorial will show how to create ropes in COD:WAW.

Introduction

The ropes created using the method that follow can be used in a variety of mapping situation:

• Between 2 posts
• Telephone/electrical cabling
• Dangling objects

Theory: The rope is created within radiant, a rope entity is placed then a info_null sets the end of the rope and potential model target.

 IMPORTANT NOTE: After tests i discovered that for a basic rope you do not need to actually input any parameters! 
Simply create the ROPE entity and the Info Null then connect them! 
Also, in normal situations with parameters, dont set the lenght and this will avoid the 'kinks' in the ropes.

Valid Keys

• length - This will set the length of the rope, it will be auto calculated if not set.
• length_scale - This will sale the length of the rope giving it some more slack.
• target - Specify info_null node to set the end point of the rope. info_null can then target a dyn_model/brushmodel or script_model/brushmodel to hook the rope to it.
• target2 - Can be set to target a dyn_model/brushmodel or script_model/brushmodel to hook the rope to it.
• health - Specify health on the rope and it will break if the dyn_model/brushmodel it is attached to takes damage. dyn ent must have health set also.
• width - Cet the width of the rope.
• force_scale - Defaults to 1, decrease to have wind, bullets and grenades affect the rope less.
• material - Assign a material to use for rendering the rope, if not specified it will use a default rope texture.

Materials to use

Within the Parameters above the valid Material names are:

techrope_global_black
techrope_powerlines
techrope_lightbrown_rope
techrope_vine
techrope_whiterope

Rope between 2 posts

This example will explain how to add dynamic ropes between 2 posts.

Example

• In Radiant, create the 2 posts:

• In the 2D view, right-click > rope then place the new Entity where you need the rope to start:

• Deselect all and now still in the 2D view, right-click > info > null and place where you need the end of the rope to be;

• Take a note of the distance between the center of both new Entities, in this example it is 64 Units:

• Now Select the Rope Entity then the info_null and press W to connect them together.

• Now select only the Rope Entity and press N to bring the parameters, for this example i use those:

Note that the length input is 100, this is to allow for a curve in the rope as the distance between the 2 posts is 64 Units.

• Save the lot as a prefab and add to your maps!

Download prefab

Download the prefab for this example HERE

Electrical cables

The example below will show how to add dynamic electric cables between to Light Models.

Example

This is pretty much the same as above except for the values of the rope Entity, for this example i use those:

• In Radiant:

• In Game:

The parameter for material doesnt seem to work and so the only rope texture i could get is the default one.

Download Prefab

Download the prefab for this example HERE

Rope for Dangling Objects

The example below will show how to get a dangling fish on a rope.

Example

• In radiant, in the 2d View right-click where you want the rope to start and select rope as shown below:

• Deselect all and now create the info_null:

• Noe deselect all again then select the rope entity first then the info_null and press W to connect them together:

• Now selecting only the rope entity, press N to bring up the parameters for the rope;

• For this example here are the values used:

• The rope is now ready, lets attach a model on the end
• In the 2d View, right-click > Misc > Model, for this example i selected static_peleliu_dead_fish02
• Place the fish/model on the middle of the info_null which represents the end of the rope:

• Make the fish/model a dyn_model by Right-click in 2D view > Dyn > Model

• With the model still selected, press N and tick the box for AUTO_GEN_PHYS_PRESET:

• Deselect all, now we need to create a Dynamic Constraints Entity for the Fish/Model (also see HERE)
• In the 2D view, right-click and select dyn > pointconstraint:

• Place the new Entity just underneath where the rope Entity is
• With the newly created Entity selected, also select the Fish/Model and connect them by pressing W:

• Final step is to connect the end of the rope (info_null) with the Fish/Model, select the info_null first then the Fish/Model and press W to connect

• Now you can save this as a prefab and use in your Maps/Levels!

Download Prefab

Download the prefab for this example HERE

--Zeroy. 01:28, 21 December 2008 (UTC)