Why Do Buttons Suck So Much?

02-23-2010, 01:22 PM

I have a control panel for an airlock, and the buttons are decently spaced apart. Each of those sprites is a button. The two on the left control the two airlock doors, the phone is there for fun. The group of three control a cameras, two in the lock, and one in that room. The one on the far right controls the blast windows.

I try to push one and it triggers a completely different one. I try to push another and I pick up the phone. What's going on here?

MrMegawac · 02-23-2010, 02:01 PM

Have you considered making the control panel slightly bugger, because as is they dont look that spaced

02-23-2010, 02:02 PM

The ones on the left are very well spaced. I just don't get that when I try to press them I pick up the phone.

02-23-2010, 02:09 PM

Are you sure you have set them correctly? Maybe check that...

Chaosed0 · 02-24-2010, 02:23 PM

No, it's a problem with Valve's button system. I had this map where there was a keypad and you could control a camera that was elsewhere, and whenever I'd be looking at one button I'd press E and it'd hit another button.
There's a coding solution, somehow, but I have no idea what it is. M. Bortolino did it with his Research and Development mod, I don't know how. Your only choice, if you don't want to go seek out how to code it, is to give the buttons a lot of space.
However, now that I think of it, in HL2, on the monitors with which you could see out of a camera and change the views the buttons were pretty close spaced. Maybe you could decompile those maps and see what Valve did?

02-24-2010, 05:35 PM

Were those the monitors in Nova Prospekt?

cfoust · 02-24-2010, 06:55 PM

That was just one button--it just cycled through the cameras in order.

EDIT: Instead of using buttons, you might be able to rig something up with a trigger_look instead.

02-24-2010, 07:01 PM

How would that work?

IcarusNine · 02-24-2010, 07:43 PM

The problem with the 'button' system is actually a design choice of the 'use' system; it generally picks the closest object, rather than the one you're most specifically aiming at. That makes it very easy to use an object without precisely aiming at it (and thus very unlikely that you'll miss and fail to use an object because you were a pixel off), but it can make tight groups of objects, especially keypads, difficult to use if you don't position yourself carefully.

02-23-2010, 01:22 PM	#1
Lancelot Guest Posts: n/a	Why Do Buttons Suck So Much? I have a control panel for an airlock, and the buttons are decently spaced apart. Each of those sprites is a button. The two on the left control the two airlock doors, the phone is there for fun. The group of three control a cameras, two in the lock, and one in that room. The one on the far right controls the blast windows. I try to push one and it triggers a completely different one. I try to push another and I pick up the phone. What's going on here? Last edited by Lancelot: 02-23-2010 at 02:00 PM.

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02-23-2010, 02:01 PM	#2
MrMegawac Join Date: Oct 2009 Reputation: 41 Posts: 452	Have you considered making the control panel slightly bugger, because as is they dont look that spaced

02-23-2010, 02:02 PM	#3
Lancelot Guest Posts: n/a	The ones on the left are very well spaced. I just don't get that when I try to press them I pick up the phone.

02-23-2010, 02:09 PM	#4
Adowson Guest Posts: n/a	Are you sure you have set them correctly? Maybe check that...

02-24-2010, 02:23 PM	#5
Chaosed0 Join Date: Nov 2007 Reputation: 17 Posts: 512	No, it's a problem with Valve's button system. I had this map where there was a keypad and you could control a camera that was elsewhere, and whenever I'd be looking at one button I'd press E and it'd hit another button. There's a coding solution, somehow, but I have no idea what it is. M. Bortolino did it with his Research and Development mod, I don't know how. Your only choice, if you don't want to go seek out how to code it, is to give the buttons a lot of space. However, now that I think of it, in HL2, on the monitors with which you could see out of a camera and change the views the buttons were pretty close spaced. Maybe you could decompile those maps and see what Valve did?

02-24-2010, 05:35 PM	#6
Lancelot Guest Posts: n/a	Were those the monitors in Nova Prospekt?

02-24-2010, 06:55 PM	#7
cfoust Join Date: May 2009 Reputation: 172 Posts: 1,143	That was just one button--it just cycled through the cameras in order. EDIT: Instead of using buttons, you might be able to rig something up with a trigger_look instead.

02-24-2010, 07:01 PM	#8
Lancelot Guest Posts: n/a	How would that work?

02-24-2010, 07:43 PM	#9
IcarusNine Join Date: Jun 2005 Reputation: 4458 Posts: 2,468	The problem with the 'button' system is actually a design choice of the 'use' system; it generally picks the closest object, rather than the one you're most specifically aiming at. That makes it very easy to use an object without precisely aiming at it (and thus very unlikely that you'll miss and fail to use an object because you were a pixel off), but it can make tight groups of objects, especially keypads, difficult to use if you don't position yourself carefully.