Qworkshop3 Tutorials

I assume you have a map with a set of functioning doors. If you don't, click here for a tutorial on how to make a door. The map should also have a spawn point for each of the team types - bluespawn, blueplayer, redspawn, redplayer - for testing. The 'player points are where members of that color initially spawn, and the 'spawn points are for respawning. You might want an info_deathmatch as well. Here's my sample map:

The initial map in q3Radient

The initial map in-game

 

Note that if your map looks like the one at right, you need to press "~", the tilde key, a.k.a. the top-left button on your keyboard that isn't the Escape key. This fixes a bug in Quake 3 where maps under 100k initally load in fullbright, until you reset the video display - dropping down the console does it. Pop the console back up and test at will.

The fullbright bug

Make a trigger (using the texture common/trigger) that surrounds the foot of your door, as shown. Set it to trigger_push, or trigger_multiple if you prefer (trigger_multiple is a broader version of trigger_push, allowing it to trigger multiple events rather than just one).

The trigger in diagram view

The trigger in 3D view

Now make a target_relay. You can place this anywhere, but I like to put mine right next to the door and trigger (but right outside of it). For one, it helps me know what goes with what, and two, when you connect the entities (next step) the arrows will be short, instead of going all over the map. After creating it, open the entities window (either through the menu or by pressing <n>) and check "RED_ONLY" or "BLUE_ONLY," depending on whether you want to let red or blue players through, respectively.

The target_relay and its entity settings

 

Now connect the entities; connect the trigger to the target, and the target to each of the doors; if the doors have already been "teamed" (as they should have been if they were functioning properly) then you will only have to connect the target to one and the other will automatically be connected. To connect 2 entities, Click on Select > Deselect (or just pess <Esc>)(this assures q3radient nothing is selected at the beginning of the selection process). Select the entity sending the event, then the entity receiving it. Press <Ctrl> + <K>. If you don't use Select > Deselect first a bug in q3radient will usually keep you from connecting the entities.

The entities properly connected

And voila, bsp-compile and you have a map with a door that will only open for players of a certain color. Perfect! Right? As long as you're using human players.

Unfortunately, the bots only half-understand what this door does. If a bot of the opposing color has no significant reason to run through the door, it won't bother trying. However, if it has something of "weight" behind it - for example if the door lies in the way of a weapon, armor, the flag, an info_camp, or info_botroam, the bot will attempt to get through the door. When it does, the game returns a very ugly error in the console.

The cumulative weight of what's behind the door determines how diligently the bot will attempt to get through the door. For example, if a bot has the flag and has determined the path through the door to be the best route out of the room it's in, it might try it, then turn back and head the other way. If the bot needs a weapon and there's a good one right on the other side, the bot will keep trying to get in, returning the error every darned time, until someone kills it or it succeeds and gets in (as someone of the correct color opens it for them). In the example below I put a rocket launcher behind the door and let my alien run loose.

The alien bot making a mess of the console

So this method gives us exactly what we want, except the bots don't get it sometimes, and it's ugly when they don't. So if you're going to run a human-only Net game for example, this method will work fine. But if you'll be using bots, you're bound to get the ugly error eventually. And, if you're going to submit your map to be rated, the person rating it probably doesn't know what the bug is or why it's happening, only that your map is triggering it and they're not happy. Sometimes you just wanna kill the buggers when they get stuck against the door. Thus inspiring Method Two.

This method starts off with the same map with the spawn points and the door. It's going to be a little more complicated, so pay attention.

Create a new set of doors inside of the walls that the existing doors open into. These doors should open in the opposite direction of the door they accompany. So, for example, if you have a top and bottom door (looking down on the map), and the top door opens at angle 90, then the new door above it, in the wall, should open at angle 270. The easiest way to accomplish this without a lot of work is to select one existing door, clone it (with the spacebar), and put it inside the wall of the other door. Here's a picture of the new door setup:

The 2 new doors in the walls, waiting to crush unwanted entrants

Create the trigger and target_relay just as you did last time, only this time set the target_relay properties so that it allows through events of the opposing color - so basically, if you want blue to die when they try to run through the door, check BLUE_ONLY, and vice versa. Connect the trigger to the target, and the target to each of the new doors (not the original ones), individually.

The proper entity connections

Now set the properties for the doors that make them kill. The properties are: angle [towards doorway], dmg 1000, lip 0, speed 1000, wait -1.

The door properties

And that's it. As a demonstration...

Here we have our little alien approaching the door...

*POW*

This approach is perfect except for 2 very small things:

1. If you don't set wait to -1, then the doors can stay shut if multiple members of the opposing team attempt to enter, and the bug will occur again.
2. A bug in Quake 3 (or perhaps in the TNT2 drivers) makes the video card attempt to render the hidden doors if you get far enough away while in 16-bit color mode. I have a feeling this nasty-looking effect is a result of the drivers, not the game however.

The alien bot showing its intellectual prowess again

A sample of the rendering bug. The bug jitters as you move. Notice that in this color-depth the bridge also renders incorrectly.

Another sample rendering of the bug. Both of these images are zoomed-in from far away (distance triggers the bug).

 

You can get a great example of a map that uses the kill doors here.

That's it. Go nuts.