Misc Objects

Overview

The Misc Objects can be found on the RollupBar. They include various tools and functions used in game development and particularly level design.

CharAttachHelper

The CharAttachHelperEntity can be used to attach any arbitrary object to any bone of a character. The sample image below shows an exhaust particle effect, attached to a characters face, introducing an air disturbance and glow into the direction the character is looking to.

To use this attachment, the CharAttachHelper entity must be linked to the target character, as well as the object to the CharAttachHelper (Use the Link Object button located in the Toolbar, to link objects).

Now the object will appear on the character bone, set as parameter of the helper and positioned relative to the distance and direction between helper and object.

As an example this helper can be used to attach a camera to a character.

Example of air disturbance and glow introduced by a thrust attached to a characters face.

The CharAttachHelper tool can be found in RollupBar -> Misc.

Property	Description
BoneName	Name of the bone the object should be attached to.

Comment

The comment tool allows the adding of comments anywhere inside a level.

Comments can be used as a communication device between designers if multiple people work on the same level, reminders to yourself, and to explain to people outside of the map creation process your intentions.

To show comments in game, go to the console and type cl_comment 1.

This is a comment in the editor:

And this is what a comment looks like in the game:

Parameter	Description
CharsPerLine	Maximum number of characters per line of text
Diffuse	Set the color of the text
Fixed	When using comments to indicate problems/bugs/issues in the level, this field can be used to mark them as "fixed". The text and icon color changes to green
Hidden	Hides the text.
MaxDist	Maximum distance where the comment is shown. If camera is further than this, the comment is hidden
Size	Size of the text
Text	Text to display

Decal

Please see the Decals tutorial.

DistanceCloud

Please see the Setting Up Weather Effects tutorial.

Environment Probe

Please see the Environment Probes page for more information

Gravity Volume

The Gravity Volume entity can be used to create tunnels through which the player is getting pushed by an invisible force. It does so by modifying the global gravity variable so that the player stays afloat while maintaining momentum.

Placing the Gravity Volume Entity

Place a Gravity Volume entity in the level and in a similar way to placing out a road or river, draw the gravity volume out. Once you have your shape finished double click the left mouse to finalize the shape.

Property	Description
Radius	Defines the radius how wide the tube is.
Gravity	Defines how fast objects are getting pushed through the tube.
Falloff	Sets up how the gravity should be decreased at the edge of the tube.
Damping	Specifies the damping amount.
StepSize	Defines how fine the subdivision of the tube geometry segments should be.
DontDisableInvisible	Active this property so that invisible ones don't get disabled.
Enabled	Turns the gravity effect on/off.
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