Is there a way to make a conveyor belt?

[OCD2]

I've been trying to think of a way to make a moving walkway/escalator, and I cannot determine how to make one work.

Is there a way to set up a constantly moving walkway?   

And if so, can you make it change directions to the x or y axis?  (So you can continuously ride it as it turns corners.)

[NAB622]

I don't believe there is a way, at least not without it being really janky.

Trigger_push and/or target_push are supposed to do it, but conveyor behavior wasn't properly added to the MP code.

[OCD2]

8 minutes ago, NAB622 said:

I don't believe there is a way, at least not without it being really janky.

Trigger_push and/or target_push are supposed to do it, but conveyor behavior wasn't properly added to the MP code.

Thank you for the reply.

I was playing a map named Citadel, and saw they added a line of moving "parts" that went down a path and disappeared into a hole, and repeated over and over.

I thought that might apply to making a conveyor belt.

 

[NAB622]

Yeah, that's probably the only way to do it, and that will involve either a func_train or scripts, and scripts are likely to be a pain here due to bugs with "Affect" blocks.

I suppose func_train might be usable too... Maybe that's what they did.

Don't let me discourage you - just expect it to be really weird, if it works!

[dark soul]

1 hour ago, NAB622 said:

Yeah, that's probably the only way to do it, and that will involve either a func_train or scripts, and scripts are likely to be a pain here due to bugs with "Affect" blocks.

I suppose func_train might be usable too... Maybe that's what they did.

Don't let me discourage you - just expect it to be really weird, if it works!

Bugs with affect blocks? 

[NAB622]

3 hours ago, dark soul said:

Bugs with affect blocks? 

Yeah, affect blocks and loops do not play nice together. The loop will get rearranged, often into a non-working state.

[dark soul]

51 minutes ago, NAB622 said:

Yeah, affect blocks and loops do not play nice together. The loop will get rearranged, often into a non-working state.

It depends on how you manage them 、I guess

We have multiple loops running in different affects and it goes ok

[OCD2]

27 minutes ago, dark soul said:

It depends on how you manage them 、I guess

We have multiple loops running in different affects and it goes ok

So can I make a loop somehow to create a conveyor?

[NAB622]

19 hours ago, dark soul said:

We have multiple loops running in different affects and it goes ok

Do you have the affect blocks together inside a big loop, or loop blocks inside each of the affect blocks?

[AshuraDX]

I'd probably use *.rof paths for this.

Here's an example:

Link to files used: https://www.dropbox.com/s/plrq0bgjaen2ry3/Minecart.zip?dl=0

This works by creating an animation in a 3d program like 3ds max or blender and exporting it using the respective *.rof exporters for them.

Currently only the blender exporter is publicly available.

[OCD2]

4 hours ago, AshuraDX said:

I'd probably use *.rof paths for this.

Here's an example:

Link to files used: https://www.dropbox.com/s/plrq0bgjaen2ry3/Minecart.zip?dl=0

This works by creating an animation in a 3d program like 3ds max or blender and exporting it using the respective *.rof exporters for them.

Currently only the blender exporter is publicly available.

Thank you for the idea, I'll look into it and see what I can make.

[Asgarath83]

@AshuraDX

Impressive! and the minecart model get also properly collison? player can be pushed by it?

[AshuraDX]

I messed with this for a bit, rof is sadly not an option if you want to have more than one escalator and that escalator is supposed to travel a sensible distance.

Based on that I'd guess that func_train is the best method to achieve a working escalator, here's an example map with an escalator using func_train: https://www.dropbox.com/s/9114k9nvi2hwisq/EscalatorJKA.zip?dl=0

The map consists of two rooms, one room where the escalator will be, and another room used to properly light the escalator steps, if you don't do this half of your escalator will turn out pitch black.

[mjt]

That is unless you only use a physics_clip brush and an origin brush for your escalator steps and bind a model2 key with an escalatorstep and a shader with rgbgen lightningdiffuse? that way you could even have moving soft shadows / fake ambient occlusion with each step...

On another note... it would be wise to even have one entire conveyor belt with physics_clip or nodraw_solid and another one with nodraw and the model2 key, that way when you accidentally block one step from moving, the animation will seem non broken, because you cannot block the moving models... the physics clip will get stuck but you can have a timer trigger each step when it does not reach it's path_corner in time - basically teleporting to the next path_corner and restoring the clipping parts. That's how I did it for my ringtransporter. It's a crusher now, but will never glitch its animation

[OCD2]

1 hour ago, AshuraDX said:

I messed with this for a bit, rof is sadly not an option if you want to have more than one escalator and that escalator is supposed to travel a sensible distance.

Based on that I'd guess that func_train is the best method to achieve a working escalator, here's an example map with an escalator using func_train: https://www.dropbox.com/s/9114k9nvi2hwisq/EscalatorJKA.zip?dl=0

The map consists of two rooms, one room where the escalator will be, and another room used to properly light the escalator steps, if you don't do this half of your escalator will turn out pitch black.

Very cool, thank you for all of the input, it is appreciated.

My main intent is to make a flat, moving conveyor belt, like you see in factories, mines, airports - I think I may be able to make one based off all the ideas you shared.   

Will try when I get a chance and share my results.

[mjt]

Are you planning to do this for SP or for MP? There are a few key differences regarding the functionality of func_train in MP and SP...

 

SP does support changing angles between path_nodes like yaw, etc. in MP this cannot be achieved the same way.

 

If you're doing this for SP you're lucky, because you can also make the moving platforms rotate around a N° Corner if set up properly. Also considering splitting up the physics and visual part... You can have path_corners trigger something, when they are reached. That way you can let each visual platform trigger the teleportation of the physical platform, when that was blocked realligning both.

[OCD2]

5 hours ago, mjt said:

Are you planning to do this for SP or for MP? There are a few key differences regarding the functionality of func_train in MP and SP...

 

SP does support changing angles between path_nodes like yaw, etc. in MP this cannot be achieved the same way.

 

If you're doing this for SP you're lucky, because you can also make the moving platforms rotate around a N° Corner if set up properly. Also considering splitting up the physics and visual part... You can have path_corners trigger something, when they are reached. That way you can let each visual platform trigger the teleportation of the physical platform, when that was blocked realligning both.

Thank you for the information.

I understand most of what you wrote, through some was still outside my current skillset, though I'm willing and actively trying to learn!

So I could use a func train, and have it run its course, and trigger a teleport that resets it to the starting point - to make a sort of endless loop?

I was hoping to make at least a flat platform, that moves the player in a single direction.    With box's interspaced on it, so a player could "ride" it with some small cover to help them advance.