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From HalfLife 2 Knowledge Base

by [DbT]Timmy (Phoenix)

This tutorial will (hopefully):

1. Teach you how to make a simple, working teleport.
2. Teach you how to make smooth teleport transitions using the info_landmark entity.
3. Teach you how to make a teleport to a random location.
4. Give you new ways to mess around with players in your maps.

Note: Any key combinations listed in parenthesis ( ) are hotkey/shortcut commands for some of Hammer's tools.

What You'll Need:

Before you start, you should already:

• Know how to make a basic, leak-free room.
• Know how to create and use entities.
• Have a good understanding of Hammer's Input/Output system.
• Be creative with your ideas :D

Making a Simple Teleport

There are three main types of teleports used in mapping, but for right now, we're going to focus on the simple teleport. A simple teleport is...well...simple really. A simple teleport consists of a teleport entity, such as a trigger_teleport, and a destination entity, such as an info_target. With that in mind, let's get started.

• Step 1: After you've set up your map the way you want it, open up your Texture Browser (Shift + A) and filter out the texture tools/toolstrigger. Now, open your Block Tool (Shift + B) and make a brush for your teleport. You may size it however you like.

• Step 2: Select your brush by clicking on it in your 3d Camera, then tie it to an entity by pressing (Ctrl + T). This will open a properties box. There will be a drop down menu in the upper left hand corner of the properties box. This menu controls what type of entity you create. Scroll down and select the trigger_teleport entity.

• Step 3: Give your teleport a name that is easy to remember, like tele_01. Complicated names will not help you :D. In the box that says Remote Destination, put in the name you want for your destination entity. Don't worry, this will become valid after we make our info_target entity.

• Step 4: At this point, we don't need to do anything with our other properties, so ignore them. Now, click the apply button at the bottom right corner of the window. Close the window after you've done this. We're almost done now!

• Step 5: Select your Entity Tool (Shift + E). When you do this, two text bars should appear in Hammer's upper right corner. They are marked Categories and Objects, respectively. The Categories box should say Entities, and the Objects box should have the name of an entity. Delete whatever is inside the Objects box, and change it to info_target.

• Step 6: Move your mouse pointer to your grid and position your info_target entity by clicking on the grid, then holding Left Click and dragging the green box to where you want it. Make sure your target isn't too close to the floor, walls, or ceiling, or the player will get stuck in the wall. When you're done, press the Enter key to create the entity.

• Step 7: Select your info_target entity (Shift + S) and then open its properties window by pressing (Alt + Enter). In the Name box, put in the same name that you used for your teleport's Remote Destination. Click the Apply button, compile your map, and voila, you've got a very simple teleport.

Smooth/Landmarked Teleports

Ok, so now you've got a working teleport, but now what? If you've tested the teleport, you have doubtlessly noticed that every time you go through, you get dropped out of the sky and realigned so you're facing the same way the teleport is facing in Hammer, and your speed isn't quite the same as before you got teleported. "So how can we fix it?", you ask. Well, we could align our info_target in Hammer so that it faces in the direction the player is running, and we could try to fine tune the height of our info_target so that the drop is as small as possible. Unfortunately, both these methods produce noticable changes in direction and speed, can often be disorienting and, frankly, are rather annoying. This is where smooth teleports come in handy.

A Smooth Teleport is a special type of teleport that transports the player with absolutely no change in the player's speed or direction. Since there isn't really any official mapping term that distinguishes this type of teleport from a simple teleport, I had to make one up. Anyways, a smooth teleport is constructed in basically the same way as a simple teleport, but with one major difference: we now enter the name of an info_landmark entity in our teleport's Local Destination Landmark box. These steps will show you how to make a smooth teleport from an existing teleport.

• Step 1: Select your trigger_teleport by clicking on it in the 3d Camera. Open up its Properties window by pressing (Alt + Enter). In the option that says Local Destination Landmark, enter the name you want to use for your info_landmark. Again, it should be something simple like landmark_01. Click Apply and close the window.

• Step 2: Select your Entity Tool (Shift + E). Again, in Hammer's upper right corner, delete whatever is in the Objects box, and then type in info_landmark. Left click on the map grid and position the entity where you want it by clicking and dragging. My reccomendation is that you place your landmark so that when you look in the top view, its origin (the little "X" that appears in the center of the entity) is right on top of the origin of your trigger_teleport. If you know your teleport is only going to be accessed from one direction, you can put your landmark so its origin is on the edge of the teleport that the player will touch first. You should also make sure that your landmark is the same distance off of the ground as your info_target. Press the Enter button to create the entity.

• Step 3: If you choose to place your info_landmark somewhere besides the origin of your teleport, make sure that you place your teleport destination the exact same distance away from where you want the player to teleport to as your landmark is from the origin of your trigger_teleport. Beh, I tried to think of a simpler way to explain what I mean, but that was the best I could do. Sorry if you don't understand.

• Step 4: Select your info_landmark entity (Shift + S), and then open its Properties window by pressing (Alt + Enter). In the Name box, enter the same name that you used for your teleport's Local Destination Landmark. Click the Apply button, and you're finished! Woo...grab the champagne!

Making a Random Teleport

Well, I've seen some pretty scary tutorials for this kind of teleport, and most of them are pretty vague. Maybe this will help clear things up for those of you who are having trouble. A Random Teleport is pretty self explanatory, it is a teleport that will send you to a randomly selected destination. Random teleports are made in almost the same way as a simple teleport or a smooth teleport, but with another major difference: For however many teleports you want to choose from, we need to have an equal number of trigger_teleport entities and an equal number of info_target entities. A Random Teleport also requires the addition of a logic_case, which will help to randomly select our teleport, as well as a trigger_multiple. Ok, so now to the lovely business of making the teleport.

• Step 1: For this walkthrough, I am going to have my Random Teleport choose one of three different destinations, though it is possible to randomly select one of sixteen. First, let's make three identitcal trigger_teleport entities, as well as three info_targets. You may name them whatever you like, however for this example I will use tele_01, tele_02, and tele_03 for the teleports, and target_01, target_02 and target_03 for the info_targets. Also, create an info_landmark and give it a name (such as landmark_01). You'll only need one.

• Step 2: For each of your trigger_teleports, set the Start Disabled option to Yes, and put the name of its corresponding info_target entity in the Remote Destination box (eg. For tele_01, we would put down target_01 etc...). Also, in each of the Local Destination Landmark boxes, put the name of your info_landmark.

• Step 3: When this is complete, put all of your trigger_teleports inside each other, so that in Hammer's grid, there appears to be only one teleport. Don't forget to put your info_landmark so that its origin is on top of the origin of your teleports, and the same height off the ground as all of your info_targets.

• Step 4: Now, select your Block Tool (Shift + B) and create a brush that is identical to your trigger_teleports. Tie it to an entity by pressing (Ctrl + T), and change the entity type to trigger_multiple. Give it a good name (I went with trigger_teleport), and change the Delay Before Reset to whatever you see fit. Also, make sure that the Start Disabled option is set to NO. Click the Apply button and close the properties window, then move this new trigger so that it is inside the other three trigger_teleports (you know, so it looks like there's only one box). This is where things get fun!

• Step 5: Select your Entity Tool (Shift + E) and create a logic_case. Of course, our case will feel neglected without a name, so be polite and give it one. For this example, mine will be called case. Click on the Outputs tab at the top of the Properties window. This is the part where we get to see a nice picture. Since this wiki won't let me upload files, follow the link below and add the following outputs to your logic_case, then click the Apply button.

• logic_case outputs <-- BLARRG FOLLOW ME FOR NICE PICTURES OF THE OUTPUTS YOU NEED!!!

• Step 6: Go back to your trigger_multiple and open up its Properties window again (Alt + Enter). Open up the Outputs tab and get ready for another picture. Since this wiki wont let me upload files, follow the link below and add the following outputs to your trigger_multiple, then click Apply.

• trigger_multiple outputs <-- MEH...FOLLOW ME FOR MORE NICE PICTURES OF THE OUTPUTS YOU NEED!

• Step 7: After you've done all of this, you have successfully completed my improvised way of making a Random Teleport, with the added benefit of a smooth transition (due to the inclusion of the (info_landmark). Other methods of creating Random Teleports do not allow for the use of landmarks to smooth out the transition, because the trigger_teleport entity cannot be used. Congratulations!

A Note From the Author

There is probably someone out there screaming at me that there IS an ACTUAL official mapping term out there for my "smooth" teleport. If there is, well, sorry, I couldn't find it. As to my fix for the Random Teleport, there are other ways to make one, mine is constructed the way it is so that I could include landmarks in the teleport, and so that it will work for multiplayer. If you want to make a quick Random Teleport, and don't care about the details or quality that much, there is a SLIGHTLY less complicated way out there to do it, although it is NOT very well explained. I also appologize for the fact that you need to follow links to see my pictures. This wiki wouldn't let me upload my picture files so I couldn't show them right on the page. Anyways, I hope that you found my Tutorial helpful and easy to understand, I did the best I could to explain everything in the simplest way possible. If not, let me know!