Sentry Gun Sightlines

Piesofthesky

L1: Registered
Dec 7, 2016
21
1
I've been having trouble with a feature of my map.

I want to create an area which can be moved through (by players, bullets, projectiles ect) but not seen through. I've added it to my map but it doesn't obstruct sentry gun vision. Players would be dying to a sentry they cannot see and when I start play testing the map this will be very exploitable if not fixed. Is there a way to create a brush that sentry guns will consider solid, but not anything else?

Thank you in advance for your help.
 

obodobear

L4: Comfortable Member
Mar 15, 2016
172
32
I'm not sure how that could be done (I probably wouldn't be the best to ask though) there probably is some way to do it, but the only way I personally know would be making it an area where u can't place buildings at all
 

Crowbar

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Dec 19, 2015
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Sentry guns use the collisions to determine whether they can shoot the players, and do so whenever they can. Not sure how to fix that either but IMO you don't really need to. What I mean is, actually, players can abuse that too, and bots will shoot through that thing as if it doesn't exist, so this is not a very good gameplay idea, espically for TF2.
 

Piesofthesky

L1: Registered
Dec 7, 2016
21
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I planned to add a func_nobuild to the area itself, meaning that sentries wouldn't have been able to be built there. If it is impossible to do then that is a shame, because even if it would make for a bad gameplay idea, as a new mapper, I would've like to have tested it anyway to learn exactly why that is. I've saved my map in it's current state if I find a way of doing this, but for now I will start thinking about changing that area of the map to something else. Thank you both for your feedback.
 

Crowbar

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Dec 19, 2015
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I literally told you why that is.
Also, don't nobuild in places where it should be buildable by logic! Player shouldn't question "Why can't I build here? It's just a metal plate!". What you do is discourage/encourage building in certain places with layout design. Manipulating with areas' advantages and disadvantages is the core of layout design.
Also, I assume you use the walk-through thing as a sightline breaker in a doorway? Might well be wrong, but if it's the case, a shutter door is what you need!
 

Ninja-of-Sauce

L1: Registered
Dec 9, 2016
12
1
Maybe a series of func_areaportals you can create an invisible (to player) door that the sentry can't see through? Or at least reduce it's effective use.

Also Occlusion prevents models from being visible, maybe that would "blind" the sentries?
 

Crowbar

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Dec 19, 2015
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Nothing blinds them except what they can't shoot through. Understand, all these rendering thingies don't affect any AI because they don't render anything.
 

Ninja-of-Sauce

L1: Registered
Dec 9, 2016
12
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If that's true, why do sentries underwater only fire at targets underwater? I need to confirm that, reddit mentioned it a year ago. To me that seems like a rendering issue, like the AI can only see what is in it's vis-sightlines.
 

Ninja-of-Sauce

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Dec 9, 2016
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Then perhaps making a wall of water would allow the sentry to be blinded. A thin wall, especially if you can hide it in this passable barrier.
 

Crowbar

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Water only properly works if it's horizontal + it will cause stuff like making players wet after passing them and other stuff water does
 

Ninja-of-Sauce

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Dec 9, 2016
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I forgot about the 'wet' effect. Those darn game developers and their adding details. Fine, you win Crowbar. I give up.
 

Crowbar

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Actually, there is a texture/entity (i dont really remember which) "Block NPC LOS" which essentially blocks NPC's line of sight. Except tf2 doesn't have NPC, bots are considered players, not sure about sentries. Needs testing.
 

Ninja-of-Sauce

L1: Registered
Dec 9, 2016
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I tried the following: Func_brush with npc exclude obj_sentrygun, obj_sentrygun1, obj_sentrygun2, obj_sentrygun3 with invert npc exclude on. Block LOS and NPC Clip...didn't work.

Didn't try water though.
 

Pocket

Half a Lambert is better than one.
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Nov 14, 2009
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If that's true, why do sentries underwater only fire at targets underwater? I need to confirm that, reddit mentioned it a year ago. To me that seems like a rendering issue, like the AI can only see what is in it's vis-sightlines.
Might be a deliberate design choice since players don't like getting shot at by things they can't see, and seeing into or out of water is anywhere from difficult to impossible sometimes. It's bad enough that sentries can be built underwater in the first place.