Engineer's Counter

[RELEASE] Engineer's counter 1.0

Washipato

L3: Member
Jun 22, 2009
149
331
This is a tool I will be using in the next version of walkway to count bots killed. I thougt that other mappers could find more useful uses for it, so I deceided to release it as a prefab
promoengi2.png

The engineer counters are a group of prefabs that lets a mapper put a brush based counter in any map. This counter can count up or down, and it can trigger events based on the actual state. It can also be reseted to the initial value.

You can count up to show team's points or do a countdown and use it as a timer. You can have multiple instances of every counter in a map, being completly independent between each other.

DEMO MAP

The pack includes a demostration map with 4 counters on it. Join the red team to test all avaiable features
engicounterdemo0000.jpg

You have one counter controlled by buttons. Shoot the red button to count up, the blue button to count down and the yellow button to reset the counter to 00000. If the counter reaches the 00020 value, it will trigger a particles effect. In a real map, you can replace the event's effect with anything. The box holding the counter was created for this map, the counter spawns without it.
engicounterdemo0002.jpg

This counter counts blu players killed in the map
engicounterdemo0001.jpg

The last two counters are countdowns. They count down based on the ammount of controlled CP's. They decrease by 1 for every controlled CP every 5 seconds. When any of them reaches 0, it resets to 30.

The .vmf from the demo is included in the pack

INSTALLATION

The engineer's counter is a prefab.
To install the prefab, copy the "Engineer counters" folder in:

\steamapps\<accountname>\sourcesdk\bin\orangebox\bin\prefabs

and the textures "engicounter" folder in:

\steamapps\<accountname>\team fortress 2\tf\materials
There are some steps to follow for making a counter functional. Those steps are fully explained in the readme in the .rar file. Don't forget to turn :texlock: on before spawning one!

CUSTOMIZATION

The engi counter can be customized to fit the requirements in your map. You can change the wheels texture or size to anything you want. You can also change the count speed. Everything that the player can see from the counter can be, to certain degree, modified.

FEEDBACK NEEDED

The engi-counter is not complete. Have you found a bug in the entities system? Or something that can be improved? Can you do a model to replace the brush wheels or a nice box for them? What do you think about this prefab? Don't hesitate to post!

Requests:
- A nice model for the wheels
- A model for the box of the counter (5 wheels)
- The sound when the counter changes from the "Meet the Engineer" video

For reference, here is a pic of the real counter and what I was aiming for
1113249-meetheengineer3_super.png


I hope you find this prefab useful! Cheers!

DOWNLOAD


I know the promo sign is very similar to the images from [ame="http://forums.tf2maps.net/showthread.php?t=4674"]ABS[/ame], stop looking at me like that :O!
 

gamemaster1996

L13: Stunning Member
Sep 30, 2009
1,064
134
Im sure i'll find it useful one day ty
 

A Boojum Snark

Toraipoddodezain Mazahabado
aa
Nov 2, 2007
4,775
7,669
The Washipato Snark? Or should I say... the Washoojato? :O
You don't realize how right you might be! <.<

I made this same kind of thing a couple months after TF2 came out.
http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/98931/pics/test0000.jpg
It's what I used to figure out the [ame=http://forums.tf2maps.net/showthread.php?t=260]cap timings[/ame]

Then awhile later I hooked one up to display the speed of movement so I could find out how fast each class moves (twas before this was common info), but no picture of that map.

Going to have to take a look at how this is done. :)
 
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Washipato

L3: Member
Jun 22, 2009
149
331
I made this same kind of thing a couple months after TF2 came out.
http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/98931/pics/test0000.jpg
It's what I used to figure out the cap timings

Then awhile later I hooked one up to display the speed of movement so I could find out how fast each class moves (twas before this was common info), but no picture of that map.

Going to have to take a look at how this is done. :)

That timer looks very interesting, how does it works? The engi counter is quite simple, but it took me a while to figure out some things and optimize the engine.

Thanks everybody, I hope that this prefab will be useful for you in the future. I will try to make a video and upload it when I have time so everybody can have a preview of how the counter moves
 

Dr. ROCKZO

L8: Fancy Shmancy Member
Jul 25, 2009
580
159
Amazing. Is it possible to break it by having 2 triggers set off by each other? Say, every time the counter goes up it's programmed to go up again..
 

Tapp

L10: Glamorous Member
Jan 26, 2009
776
215
Hooray, I now have an easter egg, and a little something to litter the walls with should I ever make a dm map (though I use the ctf hud)
 

Washipato

L3: Member
Jun 22, 2009
149
331
Amazing. Is it possible to break it by having 2 triggers set off by each other? Say, every time the counter goes up it's programmed to go up again..
No, it will not break :)
Hmm, wow, what's the the constant spam of outputs? :/ Surely there would be a way to do it without that...
The func_door has many outputs every time it closes/opens. I can tell it to don't move when the counter's buffer is empty. It's bad to have an output spammer in a map? I have many spammers in tr_walkway :mellow:
 

grazr

Old Man Mutant Ninja Turtle
aa
Mar 4, 2008
5,441
3,814
Well each command is something for the computer to process. A lot at once is.. not the best idea. But, i'm sure it's also a case of just being clean and efficient.
 

Cylence

L1: Registered
Sep 5, 2009
38
11
Why this could prove to be quite amusing in my own map. I wonder if I could get it to count sacrifices to the train gods.
 

xzzy

aa
Jan 30, 2010
815
531
I tried installing a "fucks given" counter in my map but it never increments. What's wrong. :(


edit - Interesting, it appears this was an ancient thread. I have no idea why it showed up as having a new post this morning when I made this post. I wasn't necro posting, I swear.
 
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