I'm making a mod for CoD2 where all players are boxes, and maps are full of boxes so you can hide yourself.
The mod is originally made for Half-Life and is called Boxwar (I'm trying to find the creator's email to ask for permission, so if anyone knows it, please let me know).
The mod is played in thirdperson, so you can position yourself among the other boxes easier - but there are a few problems with this..

1. While being in thirdperson, the crosshair is gone - How do I prevent the crosshair from disappearing?

2. While being a box, the weapon is still shown, how can I remove it ?
I tried searching a bit and found something which might would help (http://modsonline.com/Forums-top-100698.html) - altering the weapon files - would it work or not ?

3. The players are boxes, but you can only kill them with a nade - you will shoot right through them if you try with a normal weapon.
Is this caused by the xmodel files not having collision files / hitbox ? If it is, wouldn't it be possible to make such files ?


Sorry for the dark picture, forgot to put more lights in the map :P

I don't want you to make the mod for me, since I'm still trying to learn - it would be better to give me tips on how to do it and then let me test myself :d.

Are you using the same images and content as the original author? If you are then you would have to ask permission before getting help however since this is a different game they can't stop you from creating it from scratch so if you have come up with the images and textures yourself then don't worry about asking for permission. Just don't name it the same.

Well.. the models are from standard CoD2, and I know I could just rename it to something like.. Cratemod ? .. But I don't want to do that since the person made the mod already for another game, so he should be credited anyways. I'm sending emails to a couple guys, and I might have found the correct one now. If I fail to find him, I will rename it, since the name is pretty much the only thing it has in common (and then of course the concept of players being boxes).

Update: I found the creator of the mod, and got full permission to create this - as long as it remains free and is not for profit of any kind.

Could still use some help ;p especially at number 3.

Also, another thing I would like to do. When dying, it should replace the dead box (which you can walk through), with a static box (solid).
Can this be done with something like..

self delete();
addmodel("xmodel\xxxxxx") self.origin

if not, is it even possible to do that? :D

n3BuL writes...

You cannot spawn collision in cod2.

Then how about making a map with a couple of scriptmodels dedicated for this problem, and make one of the scriptmodels, go to "self.origin", when a player dies?

possible, but you'll need as many collision script_brushmodels as players / dead bodies are on the map

You could just start reusing them after a certain number of "dead" boxes are on the map.

And if you're going to do that, you may as well attach trigger_damages onto that to compensate for the lack of hitboxes and script some kind of fancy health system, less so if you disallow health regen.

And for the crosshair, you can try a makeshift one with a new hud element I suppose.

clanhelio writes...
Great idea with attaching trigger_damage !
Can it be done by making 64 (max clients available) of them - each of them with targetname "player_hitbox".
Then in a script (fx in a place with "onplayerconnect"), write:

hitbox = getentarray("targetname", "player_hitbox");
hitbox enablelinkto();
hitbox linkto self(); // Is it possible to use "self" here? or would you have use "player" or anything else?

I'm not that good at using getentarray yet - so is it correct in this situation?
I did already make a health system with a health bar - so you aren't able to regenerate health just by hiding/waiting.

About the static dead "body":

init();
model = getentarray("targetname","static_model");
player = getentarray("player","classname");
while(1)
{
for (i = 0; i < player.size; i++)
{
player[i] getEntityNumber()
player[i] thread deadbox();
wait 0.1;
}
}

deadbox()
{
model[i] getEntityNumber()
model[i] moveto(player[i].origin, 0.1);
wait (60);
model[i] moveZ(-300,0,0,1);
model[i] waittill ("movedone");
}

Or would I need something which classifies the [ i ] in "model[ i ] ? This was written in 5 minutes, so there might be some errors in it :)

Holding off on the dead boxes for a moment (as you should ensure you get everything else done right first)

Right here everything will be set up, it assumes:
-You made a number of the boxes all somewhere out of sight while they wait
-You made each box set (the box xmodel, the player clip, and trigger_damage) each one at a time, i.e. the 1st player clip belongs to the same box set ad the 1st trigger_damage and the 1st box xmodel.

boxsetup()
{
	hitbox = getentarray("targetname", "player_hitbox"); //trigger_damage
	colbox = getentarray("targetname","player_colbox");  //player clip
	model = getentarray("targetname","player_model");    //actual box script_model
	
	for (i = 0; i < hitbox.size; i++)
	{
		hitbox[i] enablelinkto();
		hitbox[i] linkto(colbox[i]);
		model[i] linkto(colbox[i]);
		colbox[i].isinuse = 0;        //set all boxes as not belonging to any players
	}
}

That sets everything up

This will establish the boxes players will be assigned to them when they connect

waitforconnect()
{
	colbox = getentarray("targetname","player_colbox");
	while(1)
	{
	level waittill("connected",player);        //wait until someone connects

	for (i = 0; i < colbox.size; i++)
	{
		if(colbox[i].isinuse == 0)            //check each box until one is free
		{
			player.colboxnum = i;             //establishes box set # "belonging" to the player
			colbox[i].isinuse = 1;            //box belongs to someone now
			break;
		}
	}
	player thread checkstillexists(i);      //carry over the box set #
	
	}
}

Here you check if/when the player disconnects, when that happens, you dis-assign the box and set it up so it's free to be used by the next player who connects

checkstillexists(i)     
{
	colbox = getentarray("targetname","player_colbox");
	while(1)
	{
		if( !isdefined(self) )
		{
			colbox[i].isinuse = 0;
			colbox[i] moveto (Some_place_I_Have_No_Idea_where,.0001);
			return;
		}
		wait(0.5);
	}
}

Sound good? Maybe I'm a bit ahead of myself/wrong, etc, I did this ina bout 15 min.