Can't find some entites!?

I was curious about the desk, too. I just ended up making my own top for it with a world brush (which I func_detailed), but it was a bit of a pain due to the curvy nature of the desk surface. On the other hand, I sort of have a custom desk now. Sort of.

If you're talking about the standard signs that you see on most maps, "Intelligence" "Resupply" "Exit" "Battlements", you're on the right track. Use that battlement sign, and look at the skins for it. There's a skin tab in the model browser that will let you look at them. Select it in there or change the skin value on an existing prop to the desired number. The same sign prop will have different skins for all the different words you need. Do the same thing to switch between Blu and Red versions of many props, like the computer equipment, boxcars, etc.

I'm a newbie, so someone else should verify this, but I don't think it makes much, if any, difference if two props intersect, because the engine doesn't use props to determine what's visible. I think as long as it looks right, it's okay. Am I correct?

Hope so, because I'm doing the same thing with the same props.

I searched forever for the spytech desk also, until I looked at the decomped 2fort map, and found out that it is just the bottom model, and 2 brushes on top to make the surface. I guess this way there is more flexibility so you can make the desk surface any shape you want.

Also, I'm pretty sure that it doesn't matter if props overlap or stick through walls. I do it all the time. But things you have to watch out for: 1) Props get their lighting data from the origin of the prop, so if the origin is inside a wall, the prop is not going to be lit well, if at all. However, if the prop is poorly lit, you can place an info_lighting entity in a better lit area, and specify this as the prop's lighting origin in the prop's parameter box. 2) If the prop is sticking through an external wall (or the skybox), and is touching the "void," it will cause a leak. You can always plug this leak though by putting a nodraw brush over the part that is sticking out.

drpepper said:

how do you define 'origin' of a prop? the center?

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There should be a small little point that you can see when you move the prop around, and where the prop snaps to the grid. It's also the point around which the prop rotates. Most of the time it's not in the center. For example, pipes usually have the origin at one of the ends so it's easy to line them up at their connections.

Are you using overlays?

1) Select the sign/decal you want to use from the texture browser. Make sure it is actually a decal, as a regular texture won't really work well. I usually filter by "sign" and use one of those that comes up.
2) Select the overlay tool on the left side, then click the wall you want it to appear on.

You can then resize it using the handles. If you want it to cover more than one wall, open the properties for it and use the "brush faces" line to select all the faces you want it to appear on.

If you select the overlay after you've placed it, you will see the bounding box in the 2D views. You can transform the overlay the same way you do any other brush. You can drag the corners to resize it, you can rotate it, you can skew it, etc...