Cleanup is going to take awhile, so the site is back up but editing has been disabled.
Exploding Barrels (UPDATED)
From HalfLife 2 Knowledge Base
This page used to display a rather elaborate method to overcome what was was/is ultimately a bug in Valve's exploding barrel model which prevented it from respawning. For the sake of everyone's collective sanity, the description of the work-around (one which would occasionally cause the game crash!) has been removed.
Why Aren't My Exploding Barrels Respawning?
At some point in 2006, Valve pushed an update in where the exploding barrel model was slightly changed. The new exploding barrel model was very slightly rotated on the Y axis, versus being perfectly upright and perpendicular to the ground. As a result, anywhere you placed the exploding barrel model in a map (even on a perfectly flat surface!) a portion of the entity was actually embedded in the brush beneath directly beneath it. As a result, anyone looking to place exploding barrels in their map could do so (and their map would even compile) but after these barrels were destroyed during gameplay, they would not respawn due to the fact that the Source engine was being told to respawn an entity (the barrel) partially inside a brush. Unable to fulfill that request, the exploding barrel wouldn't respawn.
So, How Do I Get Them To Work?
The solution to the problem is to go ahead and use the exploding barrel model in your maps, just like you always have, but make sure the barrels themselves are an inch or so above the ground--enough so that no part of the barrel is in direct contact with the surface underneath. This allows the barrel to respawn correctly. It's that simple.
Does Valve Know About The Bug?
Yes, although discovery of this bug was not done by Valve. It was done by the mapping/modding community--- It's a known flaw that Valve can't be bothered to spend 5 minutes fixing, because that would mean actually supporting the community that extends the lifespan of their games. For free. As of the time of this edit (Jan '07), Valve has yet to correct the problem.
