entity clientside model issue

[diebutter1]

I am making an entity that opens a derma, works fine,

But i made a speechbubble above the head of the NPC, that works fine as long as i am spawning him in. If i permaprop the entity and restart the server, the speech bubble isn't there and it spits out errors.

function ENT:Initialize()
self.csModel = ClientsideModel("models/extras/info_speech.mdl")
end

function ENT:Draw()

local bubbleAngle = (CurTime()*90) % 360
local bubbleHeight = math.sin(CurTime()*3) * 5

    self:DrawModel()
    self.csModel:SetPos(self:GetPos()+Vector(0,0,bubbleHeight + 90))
    self.csModel:SetAngles(Angle(0,bubbleAngle,0))

end

function ENT:OnRemove()
self.csModel:Remove()
end

That is the code that is causing the errors.

[ERROR] addons/npconjoin/lua/entities/mynpc/cl_init.lua:41: Tried to use a NULL entity!

Error

Any help on how to fix this would be appreciated.

[TheFreeman193]

I'd check the following things:

Ensure you're running everything clientside
Make sure you precache the model with util.PrecacheModel()
Try wrapping the csModel stuff with an IsValid statement, in case there are calls made before the CSModel is loaded correctly:
if self.csModel and IsValid(self.csModel) then
-- csModel stuff
end

[diebutter1]

Now it doesn't give me the errors but the speechbubble doesn't draw at all. This is my code.

function ENT:Initialize()
self.csModel = ClientsideModel("models/extras/info_speech.mdl")
end

function ENT:Draw()
  self:DrawModel()
if self.csModel and IsValid(self.csModel) then

local bubbleAngle = (CurTime()*90) % 360
local bubbleHeight = math.sin(CurTime()*3) * 5

    self.csModel:SetPos(self:GetPos()+Vector(0,0,bubbleHeight + 90))
    self.csModel:SetAngles(Angle(0,bubbleAngle,0))
end

function ENT:OnRemove()
self.csModel:Remove()
end
end

[Gmod4phun]

You need to call self.csModel:DrawModel() in the ent draw function, and (probably) you should also use self.csModel:SetNoDraw(true) after creating the clientside model.

[NeatNit]

Try creating the CSModel (only if it's invalid) in ENTITY/OnDuplicated and/or ENTITY/OnRestore. I think Initialize doesn't get called in some situations, like what you described.

[diebutter1]

Nope, doesn't work.

function ENT:Draw()
    self:DrawModel()

  if !IsValid(self.csModel) then
   local bubbleAngle = (CurTime()*90) % 360
   local bubbleHeight = math.sin(CurTime()*3) * 5

    self.csModel:SetPos(self:GetPos()+Vector(0,0,bubbleHeight + 90))
    self.csModel:SetAngles(Angle(0,bubbleAngle,0))
    self.csModel:DrawModel() 
    self.csModel:SetNoDraw(true)
  end 
end

[diebutter1]

Anyone else might have a solution?

[NeatNit]

The easiest workaround is to check in ENT:Think whether self.csModel is valid, and if not, recreate it. If you want to dig deeper into why this even happens in the first place, I think you might have to do that yourself...