You can make your Flashlight easy with a Zylinder direct in Hammer.

Here a simple Example what i have made quick. Sufficient enough for a flashlight in my Opinion
https://ibb.co/y68rc0X

For sure you have to make a Prop out of it, set the Collsion in the Modelbrowser and so on, but never tried to make an own working Flashlight. Just ask this Guy how you can do it . He has made a Torch

https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2110621864&searchtext=

been working on a map that has a lot of dark areas and also trying to find a good solution for a flashlight with certain gloves.. haven't found the answer just yet, but it's been fun grouping together a light_spot and a prop_physics (like the gin bottle model). makes for some fragile sources of light!

Originally posted by GammaGoose:

I'm working on a horror mod that has a good portion of it in the dark. I've been messing around in hammer trying to find a way to make a more traditional flashlight that would be held in the hand rather then attached to the gloves since I won't be using them. I recall years back of someone making a mod that did something similar and you even needed batteries to keep it lit but I can't seem to find it. Does anyone have recommendations as to making a custom hand torch? I've even attempted to weld the glove light to a prop with messy results.

hello gamma goose,

you can put on hats in HL alyx. in this case its a construction worker hat (yellow). i parented a dynamic light (light_spot, perpixel) in the front of the hat and rotate it downward 5 degree. i changed the outer cone 35 and inner cone to 25. i also added a light switch to it that activate by grabbing the helmet. so you can swith the light on and off. also you can put the hat in the item holder.

here is a gif (video) preview example.

https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3006545967

This is all really good info thank you. I did originally try and make my own flashlight with light_spot but could not get it to stick to a prop like I wanted it to. I am starting to wonder too if a construction helmet hat flashlight would be better as I'll be doing a glove less play through and it would be awkward to move around with the flash light, use a pistol and drop the flash light to reload ect. more useful with dealing with a ladder you'll have to descend later in the level. Trying to recreate the Midwich School from Silent Hill.

Originally posted by GammaGoose:

This is all really good info thank you. I did originally try and make my own flashlight with light_spot but could not get it to stick to a prop like I wanted it to. I am starting to wonder too if a construction helmet hat flashlight would be better as I'll be doing a glove less play through and it would be awkward to move around with the flash light, use a pistol and drop the flash light to reload ect. more useful with dealing with a ladder you'll have to descend later in the level. Trying to recreate the Midwich School from Silent Hill.

if you want a more detailed description about how i did things in my example you can ask me. it would be a pleassure to support your project.

Originally posted by deadman:

Originally posted by GammaGoose:

This is all really good info thank you. I did originally try and make my own flashlight with light_spot but could not get it to stick to a prop like I wanted it to. I am starting to wonder too if a construction helmet hat flashlight would be better as I'll be doing a glove less play through and it would be awkward to move around with the flash light, use a pistol and drop the flash light to reload ect. more useful with dealing with a ladder you'll have to descend later in the level. Trying to recreate the Midwich School from Silent Hill.

if you want a more detailed description about how i did things in my example you can ask me. it would be a pleassure to support your project.

I'd greatly appreciate some pointers, I've been trying to get any source of light to parent to a physics prop and everything has failed. Source 2 prop welding is definitely not as simple as Garrys mod lol.

Originally posted by GammaGoose:

Originally posted by deadman:

if you want a more detailed description about how i did things in my example you can ask me. it would be a pleassure to support your project.

I'd greatly appreciate some pointers, I've been trying to get any source of light to parent to a physics prop and everything has failed. Source 2 prop welding is definitely not as simple as Garrys mod lol.

ok. i prepare something you can follow. give me some time. i will post it here then.

Originally posted by GammaGoose:

Originally posted by deadman:

if you want a more detailed description about how i did things in my example you can ask me. it would be a pleassure to support your project.

I'd greatly appreciate some pointers, I've been trying to get any source of light to parent to a physics prop and everything has failed. Source 2 prop welding is definitely not as simple as Garrys mod lol.

hey,

i created a tutorial video on youtube and show how i create the headlamp i mentioned.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38-9yfspLfw

i hope it explain how to do it enough. iam not a content creator but i was using this chance to create my first video and learn a little bit about creating a video.

deadman, you rock! That video tutorial you created is awesome, great stuff. Great solution and execution allowing for the player's hands to remain free

GammaGoose, did you manage to get a flashlight going? Silent Hill is one of my favorite series of all time and certainly a source of inspiration. SH1's elementary school is one of the greatest levels in any game ever, imho


I've been experimenting with creating custom physics prop(s) in Blender for different hand held types of lights, while re-using materials already found in the game (light_floodlight_glow, for example) and existing physics properties in ModelDoc. A simple PhysicsShapeBox with its "Surface Property" set to an existing type (such as prop.metal_food_can) came up with nice values for its mass and effects for the model, for instance.

Then I proceeded to creating a prefab out of the physics_prop and a per-pixel light_spot (parented to the prop) which then could be imported into the level map:

https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/profiles/76561197988881083/screenshot/2062137573252996595/

While the result is OK and the flashlight mostly works for intended purposes, it does reveal several trouble spots. To list a few:

- When the player is hit the prop is dropped, making retrieval a pain
- The prop can get stuck in unreachable corners
- The prop might fall out of the world
- Requires the use of one hand at all times and active aiming
- Visual cues such as a visible light cone and particles might be needed

I'm sure lots of these issues can be solved and/or mitigated, but it appears clear that attaching the light source on the player does solve a lot of them (as found in the base game glove flashlight). Interestingly, the non-gravity version of Alyx's player gloves do have an attachment point but it's oriented precisely backwards from the desired position for the in-game glove flashlight to work.


At any rate, I think a close facsimile of a real world physical handheld flashlight/torch/lantern/lighter/area light/etc. as an element of player constraint might be an interesting scenario, if applied correctly, despite issues.


Looking forward to seeing further discussion on the topic and getting different perspectives on this!

That tutorial is incredibly helpful Deadman and I finally got the light to parent to the phys prop, Danke! My guess is because I wasn't using the eye dropper and doing something wrong. And Flemos I was thinking that too, I plan on putting the original puzzles to get down into the bottom of the clock tower and holding a light while trying to descend the ladder is a pain and also super dark so I'm thinking of giving people the option of either using the helmet or the flashlight and putting them both once you reach the school. the Otherside version of the school will actually have some lighting so once you get there the lights won't be necessary for the rest of the levels. Unless people want to drop them in their inventory.

very nice, definitely would like to try out the map you're creating! speaking of clock towers, ever play the Clock Tower series? couple of real good games in there.

btw, at one point i tried to place a couple options with those per pixel lights and ran into the limitation where only one is enabled in a certain radius at a time. Considering their expense I suppose a maximum of 1 is a good target, but it did effectively eliminate the option of having multiple dynamic lights at hand simultaneously.

good luck and godspeed! curious to see what you unearth during development

Originally posted by flemos:

very nice, definitely would like to try out the map you're creating! speaking of clock towers, ever play the Clock Tower series? couple of real good games in there.

btw, at one point i tried to place a couple options with those per pixel lights and ran into the limitation where only one is enabled in a certain radius at a time. Considering their expense I suppose a maximum of 1 is a good target, but it did effectively eliminate the option of having multiple dynamic lights at hand simultaneously.

good luck and godspeed! curious to see what you unearth during development

I also grew up with the Clock Tower series as a kid, mostly the first one on ps1. I like the style and feel to it where you're mostly hiding and running. The original snes game is loosely based off the movie Phenomena 1985. A really bizarre movie where the main character can talk to insects for some reason and a murderer is going around killing boarding school girls.

did not know about Phenomena 1985, will have to check it out. apparently some of SH1's content was inspired by a movie also, Jacob's Ladder (1990)