GtkRadiant Editor Manual


Appendix B: Entity Descriptions

This Section owes much of the background and testing research to three dedicated Quake Engine editing supporters, Suicide20, inolen, and EuteTic. It is based on version 1.1 (12/22/99) of a document that they created and gave us permission to include with the official id editor documents.

"Keys" are keywords that represent the in-game properties of an entity. Some are flags that determine whether an entity will appear in a particular game play mode. Others define extents or rates for entity movement. Others establish how much of some game effect will occur (example: damage) or how long to wait until an event occurs or can reoccur.

With the exception of properties that can be set by checkboxes, the map maker will need to type in keys (names for game function properties) and their values (numbers or strings) into fields within the entities window.

Keys that are set by checkboxes in the editor are called "Spawnflags" and will be shown in All Caps. The rest are shown in lowercase, as they should be typed into the editor field.

Basic Key information

Angle: This is the direction of facing or direction of movement for an entity. Set this value with the Angle buttons on the entity window. The angle value can be typed in as any positive value between 1 and 360.

Color: This key only affects md3 models that are built into func_entities. The color is the color of light used to illuminate the model. It is expressed as a normalized three digit RGB formula.

Entity Dimensions: The minimum and maximum coordinate dimensions of the entity box.

Light: This key only affects md3 models that are built into func_entities.

Map Entity Color: This is the color of the generic entity box used to represent the entity in the map editor.

Ammo_* Entities

The properties for ammo entities are all very similar.

Map Entity Color: Blue
Entity Dimensions: (-16 -16 -16) (16 16 16)

These are ammunition boxes for weapons in the game. They can be represented by either a blue entity box, or the ammo box model itself. With the exception of the type and amount of ammo given to the player upon pick up, all ammo entities have the same properties.

ammo_bfg
Game Function: BFG ammo. Gives the player 15 shots by default.

Custom Keys
count: sets the amount of ammo given to the player when picked up (default 15).

ammo_bullets
Game Function: Machine Gun ammo. Gives the player 50 shots by default.

Custom Keys
count: sets the amount of ammo given to the player when picked up (default 50).

ammo_cells
Game Functions: Plasma Gun ammo. Gives the player 30 shots by default.

Custom Keys
count: sets the amount of ammo given to the player when picked up (default 30).

ammo_grenades
Game Function: Grenade Launcher ammo. Gives the player 5 shots by default.

Custom Keys
count: sets the amount of ammo given to the player when picked up (default 5).

ammo_lightning
Game Function: Lightning Gun ammo. Gives the player 60 shots by default.

Custom Keys
count: sets the amount of ammo given to the player when picked up (default 60).

ammo_rockets
Game Function: Rocket Launcher ammo. Gives the player 5 shots by default.

Custom Keys
count: sets the amount of ammo given to the player when picked up (default 5).

ammo_shells
Game Function: Shotgun ammo. Gives the player 10 shots by default.

Custom Keys
count: sets the amount of ammo given to the player when picked up (default 10).

ammo_slugs
Game Function: Railgun ammo. Gives the player 10 shots by default.

Custom Keys
count: sets the amount of ammo given to the player when picked up (default 10).

Common Keys
wait: time in seconds before the item respawns after being picked up (default 40, -1 = never respawn).
random: random time variance in seconds added or subtracted from "wait" delay (default 0 - see Notes).
team: set this to team items. Teamed items will respawn randomly after team master is picked up (see Notes).
target: picking up the item will trigger the entity this points to.
targetname: a target_give entity can point to this for respawn freebies.
notbot: when set to 1, a bot will never seek out this item
notfree: when set to 1, entity will not spawn in "Free for all" and "Tournament" modes.
notteam: when set to 1, entity will not spawn in "Teamplay" and "CTF" modes.
notsingle: when set to 1, entity will not spawn in Single Player mode (bot play mode).

Check Boxes/Spawnflags
SUSPENDED: item will spawn where it was placed in map and won't drop to the floor. Set by Checkbox. Bots will only be attracted to suspended entities if they are reachable by way of a jump pad or launch pad (trigger_push).

Notes
The amount of time it takes for an item in the team to respawn is determined by the "wait" value of the item that was picked up previously. So if one of the items in the team has it's "wait" key set to -1 (never respawn), the random respawning cycle of the teamed items will stop after that item is picked up.

When the random key is set, its value is used to calculate a minimum and a maximum delay. The final time delay will be a random value anywhere between the minimum and maximum values: (min delay = wait - random) (max delay = wait + random).

Design Notes
An ammo item can be given a negative "count" value. Taking away ammo in combat would be a bad idea but in combination with a target_give entity, it can be used to set up games mods like Rocket Arena by removing the machinegun ammunition from a player when he spawns into the map.

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