Foreword: This tutorial assumes that you have both Half-Life and Worldcraft 2.0, and are fairly proficient in the use of Worldcraft, in that you have completed the previous tutorials in this series.

This article covers how to use: - The func_ladder entity

Welcome to the ladder tutorial - this one's gonna be pretty brief and assume a lot about what you already know; but its scope is pretty limited. As always, feel free to email me with any questions or comments. Don't be shy if something confuses you or raises any questions you want answered right away. Blue statements are the functions I want you to perform.

  NOTE: I AM going to assume that by now you've mastered how to perform the functions we've done in previous tutorials at Wavelength.

  You came here for this tutorial -so without further ado, why don't you load up Worldcraft now.  All tutorials are going to assume you have the latest version, and use the default setup with a 2-button mouse - you should also have all of the proper directories and tools configured before using this tutorial.  Refer to the documentation, my WC Setup FAQ, and my Compile FAQ for details.

    Once Worldcraft has been loaded, go up to the "File" menu item and click on "new". 

    Okay, first on the list is to create a room for our ladder to exist in. So, pick a texture in the texture browser for our room and create a brush that is 256 units on all sides (make it a perfect cube). Now, select it and hollow it with a wall width of 16. Switch your grid spacing to 8, and zoom in a bit on your room. Switch to the brush creation tool and create a new brush with the "{ladder1" texture. Make it up against a wall - and have it be 8 units thick, 32 units wide, and extend it from the floor to the ceiling. Once the brush is created, select it and press the "To Entity" button. When the dialog box comes up; switch the entity type to "func_wall". Then, change the "rendermode" key to "solid" - this will make the blue areas of the texture transparent. You also need to set the "FX amount" ("renderamt" if you are NOT in SmartEdit mode) to "255". Now, switch BACK to the brush creation tool and select one of the "trigger" textures. Create a new brush that is 8 units thick, 32 units wide, and stretches from the floor to the ceiling. INSTEAD of placing it against the wall, however, place it so that it just abuts the "ladder" brush. MAKE SURE that this brush does NOT overlap ANY of the wall, ceiling, floor, or ladder brushes. Now, select this trigger brush and hit the "To Entity" button. Choose "func_ladder" and then close the dialog box. Voila! Your map is complete... well, except for a "player_info_start" entity that you should add with the entity tool. After you've done that, go ahead and compile and test your map... good luck!!

Here are some screenshots to help you understand things:

This is the room with the ladder.

This is the ladder with it as a func_wall.

Here is the "trigger" brush.

Here is the "trigger" brush that has become the "func_ladder" entity.

  As always, feel free to email me any comments, questions, or problems!

HellBringer's email address is: noelwade@hotmail.com

Half-Life, and the Half-Life logo are trademarks of Valve Software and Sierra Online, used with permission. All screenshots and drawings of Half-Life are (c) copyright Valve Software, 1998. All rights reserved. All original content (text and art) are (c) copyright Wavelength, 1998, and may not be reproduced without permission.