Three Func_rot_buttons close to each other - UX problem

[peegee]

There are three levers in a line driven by func_rot_buttons.

They work ok in terms of basic functionality, player can activate them by the Use-Key. Their ouputs firing are ok.

BUT:
Sometimes player is clicking on one button and another one is activated. That is confusing.

My theory is that buttons switch into an active mode when player's bounding box
has a minimum distance to that button.
That three buttons have about the same distance to the player,
so it's not quiet clear which button will be activated next,
regardless where the crosshair points to.

Giving buttons a greater distance won't solve my problem.
They are related to each other in functionality (forward-backward, sideways, up and down)
and player should not run to far from one to another.

If one could activate or unlock a button only by raycasting (rosshair's position),
it would be a great help. I will try a trigger_look tonight.
But is there another way?

Maybe it would help to draw an outline around the activated lever aditionally,
but how I can achive that?

Thank you for any help

[LordDz]

What game is it for? I know L4d2 and CSGO have prop_dynamic_glow or something. If it's single player, you could have a trigger_look one for each button that enables the glow and unlocks the button when you're watching it, the rest of the buttons are then locked.

[peegee]

Thank you LordDz,
It's HL2 Episode Two, Source SDK Base 2013 SP.

prop dynamic glow sounds good.
I tried the trigger_look unlocking already, but I got more latency and no proper result
so far. But I will carry on refining it with the glow.

[peegee]

No prop_dynamic_glow entity in EP2 or SDk 2013 SP so far.
Visual feedback was given by changing the skin of the models
(The red knob of the lever turns green if is active).

The trigger_look method worked ok.
I had to reduce the focus so have the keyvalues here:
Look Target: the model of the lever
LookTime: 0.0001
FieldOfView 0.99
Timeout: 0

Flags Check 1 for Clients (NPC stands next to the console)

I had to lock the buttons with the map_spawn and later unlock them by the main button of the console.
Problem solved for today (I hope)
Thank you again

[LordDz]

There's a flag on the buttons with "Starts Locked", so no need to use map_spawn
But glad it worked out for ya.

[peegee]

There's a flag on the buttons with "Starts Locked", so no need to use map_spawn
But glad it worked out for ya.

You are right and I know, I tried it, but it worked better when I did that with map spawn addionally.
And I do not know why.