Entity spawn points on server start? (Not a hire thread)

[Christmasham]

Hi there,

firstly, I feel it important to mention this is not a hire thread, if I could afford to hire a lua coder I would most certainly, and I'm not asking anyone to code anything for me,
but I'm interested in the idea of entity spawnpoints - so upon server start, it would spawn all the given entities at the given co-ordinates.

Is there an existing script that can do this for me?

if not, how difficult do you think it would be to script?

thanks for taking the time to read this.

[ShadowRanger]

Lots of people are in need of a script that does this. I think I might consider releasing mine which does exactly what you want and is quite simple as well. Ill see what I can do later, I'm a bit busy today but this afternoon I should be able to help.

[Christmasham]

Thanks, that sounds fantastic if you are willing, if you decide not to, fair enough, perhaps you could point me in the direction to start instead? thanks :v:

[Whiterabbit]

[QUOTE=Christmasham;40807941]perhaps you could point me in the direction to start instead?[/QUOTE]

You hook into InitPostEntity and when that runs, spawn your props. You would probably want to store a list of different props for different maps. This is a very simple start, hopefully it is easy to understand.

[lua]local MapData = {

gm_construct = {
{model="models/hunter/plates/plate.mdl", pos=Vector(0,0,0), ang=Angle(0,90,0)},
{model="models/hunter/plates/plate.mdl", pos=Vector(100,0,-100), ang=Angle(22,35,15)},
},

gm_flatgrass = {
{model="models/hunter/plates/plate.mdl", pos=Vector(0,0,0), ang=Angle(0,90,0)},
{type="weapon_smg1", pos=Vector(100,0,-100), ang=Angle(22,35,15),}, --We can set a 'type' to spawn an entity instead of a physics prop
},

}

local function AutospawnProps()

local mapName = game.GetMap() --Get the name of the map
local mapData = MapData[mapName] --Check we have data for this map

if mapData then --If we have data for this map

--Loop through the stuff
for _,v in pairs(mapData) do

--get the type of entity, or default to a physics prop
local entType = v.type or "prop_physics"
--spawn it
local newEnt = ents.Create(entType)
if v.model then newEnt:SetModel(v.model) end --set model
if v.ang then newEnt:SetAngle(v.ang) end --set angle
if v.pos then newEnt:SetPos(v.pos) end --set position
newEnt:Spawn()
newEnt:Activate()

end --End of for-loop

end --End of check for map data

end

hook.Add("InitPostEntity", "Autospawn Props On Load", AutospawnProps)[/lua]

[Christmasham]

Ah brilliant, thank-you very much for taking the time to help me out,
I think I understand it but I can't be sure,
in terms of spawning entities would I be able to use type="entity_example"?

and lastly, in order to run this on server start up, I'm guessing I should put this into lua/autorun/server?

apologies if I sound dumb, I'm still very new to lua, and I'm doing my best to learn.

[Whiterabbit]

[QUOTE=Christmasham;40808074]in terms of spawning entities would I be able to use type="entity_example"?[/quote]
Yep.

[QUOTE=Christmasham;40808074]and lastly, in order to run this on server start up, I'm guessing I should put this into lua/autorun/server?[/quote]
Yep. Call it anything.lua

[Christmasham]

Thanks very much, I'll try this out in the morning. :smile:

[Christmasham]

Unfortunately this didn't seem to work for me,

this is my code:

 

local MapData = {

	gm_aftermath_rc1a = {
		{model="models/hunter/plates/plate.mdl", pos=Vector(367.977661,-231.534073,-959.968750 ), ang=Angle(0,90,0)},

		
	},

}

local function AutospawnProps()
	
	local mapName = game.GetMap()	--Get the name of the map
	local mapData = MapData[mapName] --Check we have data for this map
	
	if mapData then --If we have data for this map
	
		--Loop through the stuff
		for _,v in pairs(mapData) do
		
			--get the type of entity, or default to a physics prop
			local entType = v.type or "prop_physics"
			--spawn it
			local newEnt = ents.Create(entType)
			if v.model then newEnt:SetModel(v.model) end --set model
			if v.ang then newEnt:SetAngle(v.ang) end --set angle
			if v.pos then newEnt:SetPos(v.pos) end --set position
			newEnt:Spawn()
			newEnt:Activate()
		
		end --End of for-loop
	
	end --End of check for map data
	
end

hook.Add("InitPostEntity", "Autospawn Props On Load", AutospawnProps)

am I doing it right?

[Rubat]

Is your gamemode derived from sandbox? Or is the gamemode - sandbox?

[Christmasham]

[QUOTE=Robotboy655;40864876]Is your gamemode derived from sandbox? Or is the gamemode - sandbox?[/QUOTE]

The gamemode is currently DarkRP, which I believe is derived from sandbox, I may be mistaken, I'm using it as it's a pretty simple and easy to use gamemode to start out with.

[Rubat]

Then your problem is persistence. The script from sandbox does game.CleanUpMap() from InitPostEntity. You will have to either use a timer or force sbox_persist 0 upon server start.

[Christmasham]

I understand, but I don't understand how to avoid that,

are you saying that adding sbox_persist 0 to the Server.cfg would help?

secondly, I'm not familiar with timers yet, that would be something useful to learn, would you happen
to have a link to a tutorial on what you mean?

Thanks.

[Rubat]

Have a look at timer.Create and timer.Simple on the wiki. Should get you basic knowledge. I believe sbox_persist 0 in server.cfg will work, but I am not sure.

[Christmasham]

Thanks, I'll give it a shot.