Playzones

Many aspects of the game (such as deploying and traveling before being warned of leaving the battlefield) take place in the main gameplay area of the map, a 32768 unit square. However, a typical ETQW map is larger due to an out of bounds area (oob), so actual bounds of a map are a 40960 unit square. Playzone brushes are used to specify the main gameplay bounds of a map. It is on these brushes that a mask is specified. It is the masks themselves which control where aspects of the game may take place.

In the example map there are the following playzone entities;

playzone_commandmap

There are two playzone_commandmap entities used. One for the main gameplay area, and one for the oob. They are used to specify a command map based on the players position. This is so that when the player enters the oob, their command map can change to one with a red border. The oob playzone covers the whole 40960 bounds of the map, whereas the regular playzone is 32768 units. Since the player is often under both playzone_commandmap brushes, the oob playzone_commandmap has a lower priority.

Entity keys

• mtr_commandmap commandmaps/etqwmap

Material name of the command map to use when the player is under this playzone.

• priority 0

If the player is under multiple playzones, the playzone with highest priority is used.

playzone_deploy

Used to specify where the following three masks should be taken into account;

• Deploy mask (dm_default)
• MCP Deploy mask (dm_mcp)
• MCP Route mask (dm_mcp_route)

Entity keys

• dm_default masks/etqwmap/default

Mask to used to specify where deployables may be deployed.

• dm_mcp masks/etqwmap/mcp

Mask to used to specify where the MCP can be deployed.

• dm_mcp_route masks/etqwmap/mcp_route

Mask to used to specify where the MCP may be driven before it is deemed off course.

playzone_path_and_heightmap

Used to generate heightmap data used by the magog sky crane, precipitation system and some other things.

Entity keys

• hm_default masks/etqwmap/default

Where to write the heightmap image.

playzone_play

Used to specify the mask where players may travel around the map

Entity keys

• dm_playzone masks/etqwmap/playzone

Mask where the player may travel.

See Also

• Portal Basics
• playzone_commandmap
• playzone_deploy
• playzone_marker
• playzone_path_and_heightmap
• playzone_play