Tutorials
Rocket Launcher
Ok, I will show how I used the "func_tankrocket" entity to create my TOW emplacement.
Make sure you download my example maps from http://forum.interlopers.net/viewtopic.php?t=7782and see how I did it. Trying to puzzle together my poor explanations is 10 times easier if you look at the examples at the same time.
I suppose you already have a map where you would like to place your rocket launcher.
The first thing you have to do is to make a mount for your gun with brushes. Look in my example map how I did it; it doesn’t need to be anything special.
Then you need to make your gun with brushes. I can’t really help you with this, just give you some tips.
1. Unless you are doing some alien/futuristic gun; Google for some pictures and try to replicate the most important parts of it. The detail you can put into brushes is VERY limited.
2. To make a small detailed gun barrel, you can make a big cylinder with 8 faces then resize it, and you will still have all the detail.
3. You can also make an oversized gun, then use the “Transform” tool and scale it down.
Now it is time to tie the brushes to entities (ctrl+t). “func_tankrocket” is the “heart” of the gun. As you can see, I only made the centre part “func_tankrocket”. The other parts are tied to “func_brush”. You can tie the whole gun to “func_tankrocket” if you want, but then you will have to edit some extra properties. I tied the sight on top of the TOW to “func_brush” and parented it to the “func_tanktocket”.
The important properties of the “func_tankrocket” is:
Name - Anything you want. I would go with something short and good, like “tow01”
Origin - This is important: This is what the gun will seem to be mounted onto. The gun will spin around this point as you aim around. Turn “helpers” on and drag the blue ball to the gun mount.
Control Volume - This is the name of the trigger brush in which you must stand to control the gun. Just go with something simple, like “control_volume01”.
Yaw rate - This is how fast the gun will swing horizontally. A heavy gun (like this rocket launcher) should have a low number. Mess around with it.
Yaw range - This is how far the gun will be allowed to swing horizontally in each direction. Setting this to 45 will allow the gun to swing a total of 90 degrees horizontally
Yaw tolerance - I’m not sure what this is, I never touched these default values and I was fine.
Pitch rate - How fast the gun will swing vertically. A heavy gun (like this rocket launcher) should have a low number. Mess around with it.
Pitch range - This is how far the gun will be allowed to swing vertically in each direction. I recommend you setting this to a very low value (like 15) since a TOW is only supposed to be used against ground targets.
Pitch tolerance - I’m not sure what this is, I never touched these default values and I was fine.
Barrel Length - Set this to how long the gun barrel is (in units). Set this to avoid the shots being fired inside the gun barrel.
Barrel Horizontal - This is used to trim the horizontal position of the gunfire. If you used only the gun as the “func_tankrocket” you should not need to set this value.
Barrel Vertical - As above- but vertical.
NOTE: By default, all shots are fired from the origin of the “func_tankrocket”. You will need to alter these values to make the gunfire appear at the tip of the gun barrel.
Smoke Sprite / Flash Sprite - Self-explanatory, but for some reason these don’t seem to work properly. I will create the muzzle flash using an entity instead.
Rotate/Stop/Loop sound - If you want a sound to be played as you aim the gun around, set this. It is very cool to hear a scraping/electrical motor noise
Rate of Fire - Shots per second. Set this to a value lower than one (like 0.4) for a typical rocket launcher.
Damage Per Bullet - The damage of the rocket against the world/NPC’s/ect...
Firing persistence - This is something to se if NPC’s are going to control it - You don’t have to bother.
Firing persistence - Same as above
Bullet accuracy - I recommend you setting this to “Perfect Shot” for a rocket launcher; you are not spraying rockets, are you?
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| Here comes a lot of stuff which I didn’t need to use/know what it is.
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Ammunition count - I don’t recommend this being set to anything but “-1” (infinite ammo), unless you are going to do an SP map of some kind, or having some other sequence of reloading.
Lead Target - I’m not sure what this does, I didn’t use it.
NPC Man Point - This could be the name of an “info_target” entity, where an NPC has to stand to man this gun. I have not yet got it to work, and honestly I don’t give a shit.
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| 4 more settings I have no clue about how to use
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Projectile Speed - Speed of the rocket. I recommend setting this to about 1000.
Check the Flags “Active” and “Controllable”
Now to the control volume.
Make a brush covered in the tools/toolstrigger texture, and tie it to “trigger_multiple” You don’t need to mess with any of the settings, just name it to “control_volume01” (or whatever name you specified in the settings of the “func_tankrocket”.
Check the Flag “Clients”.
Here is a Hammer pic of the entites from my example map:
Make sure you check it out my example! A 3d view in Hammer tells 1000 words
Tell me if I forgot anything important, I was kinda rushed when I wrote this, I apologize.
Over and out.
The Ace