HLE Client FAQ

Q: I play AG and Valve and new to this mod, what do i need to know?
Q: I can not join a team, I clicked on a team but I am still in spectator mode.
Q: Spectators can not see my hud!
Q: How do I open up the vgui menu?
Q: Why won’t winamp work?
Q: Im confused about the new tdm settings?
Q: How do I play normal team mode with models?
Q: I can’t change my hud color?
Q: I can’t change my gauss color?
Q: Why are there op4 weapons?
Q: Tourney mode is cool, but I don’t like spawning full each time.
Q: How I turn my weapon weight off?
Q: How do I use vrcon as a client?
Q: How do I change my crosshairs, or add my old ones into hle?
Q: How do I make new crosshairs?
Q: How do I vote?
Q:I voted for new settings and they reset after every level change, how do I change that?
Q: How do I do ag_start?
Q What are the most important new cvars and command I need to know for hle?
Q: Does HLE have cheat protection?
Q: I can’t see my radar
Q: How do I drop the flag, or a weapon or even my longjump?
Q: What is CTP mode?
Q: What’s the deal with the map browser?
Q: Do scripts work in hle just like ag and valve?
Q: Are there any new client side commands or cvars?

New client commands
New client cvars
New client buttons

Q: I play AG and Valve and new to this mod, what do i need to know?
A: Skip the red questions, if any pop out at you, read the answer, otherwise go play hle for a bit, then come back.

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Q: I can not join a team, I clicked on a team but I am still in spectator mode.
A: The problem is more likely with your config file. Check your config file for "setinfo" commands and delete them. setinfo sends info back to the server however at an expense it takes up space shared with all info being sent back to the server, namely "name" or "team" or "model". These bits of information can be cut off if you fill up the buffer with useless setinfo commands. HLE requires more of the buffer then valve or ag because of the hud colors, gauss and crosshairs. The reason for sending that info back is so other spectators can see your hud! In the case the case of not being able to join a team, you can bet the team name info is being cut off the buffer.

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Q: Spectators can not see my hud!
A: Same answer as above. In this case, your hud color is being cropped or you have your value set to 0. Set the value to 0.5 in the console or in the command menu by pressing ENTER, or typing menu in the console and then clicking on client settings. Then slide the value scroll bar to the middle until the number says 50%.

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Q: How do I open up the vgui menu?
A: By default the bind is bound to your return key, however if you would like you rebind is the command is "menu" in the console.

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Q: Why won’t winamp work?
A: Winamp 2.x or 5.x is required. winamp 3 will not work with HLE.

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Q: Im confused about the new tdm settings?
A: TDM is ag, and tdm is based off valve team deathmatch code, in fact its nearly identical with only subtle additions such as ag_start. HLE has a new mode call team. It works a bit different the valve or ag. It is not based off models, but rather colors. So for example you could be gman model and someone else could be robo model, but you can both be on the same team. However you will be the same color. We have redone all the default valve models to make the colors brighter for this purpose. No other models are allowed to (yet), we will implement new skins in the future. To change your team simply open up the vgui (“menu”) and click the change team button. If you want to do it directly in the console type "changeteam color" where "color" would either be red, blue, yellow, green, purple, or orange. No other colors are allowed at this point. So there are a maximum of 6 teams in HLE. Should a match be occurring while you joined a server, you will not be allowed to join a team, a vote will be atomically issued if you either click a team in the vgui or type “changeteam color” in the console. This applies for people playing as well, you cant switch teams during a match!

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Q: How do I play normal team mode with models?
A: You cant, HLE is a new mod with new ideas and concepts, try to get used to what we have done with it, we feel its an overall improvement and you just might like it once you get used to it, don’t be afraid =P

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Q: I can’t change my hud color?
A: Most likely you will be playing a team mode when you notice you can not change your hud color. The hud and the gauss are LOCKED in team modes. This is to help players and spectators know who they are playing for and who they are spectating. HLE has 5 team modes, Team Deathmatch, CTP, CTF, Team LMS, Team Action. You will not be able to change any colors while you are playing in these modes unless you change teams.

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Q: I can’t change my gauss color?
A: Same as above

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Q: Why are there op4 weapons?
A: The op4 weapons appear in the practice modes such as Action, LMS, Duel, Team LMS and Team Action. Or in other words modes were players spawn with all the weapons. In the other modes, the op4 weapons will only appear if the map contains them. Even after a fully loaded matchstart, players will not receive any weapon not found in the map. This goes for valve weapons too. You won’t get tripmines in crossfire for a loaded match.

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Q: Tourney mode is cool, but I don’t like spawning full each time.
A: Tourney mode has lots of tweaks players can do here the stuff you need to know:
mp_spawnform: 0 = unloaded; 1 = loaded

mp_spawnlimit: 10 = default, this is the number frags a player needs to win a round in tourney (note: players must win by two)
mp_roundclock: pretty much is the time limit for each tourney round, 500 = default, its based in seconds
mp_winlimit: number of won matches to win the map, this will evoke a level change, its much like a frag limit. Note that getting a win in tourney requires beating someone, and could take many frags and/or lots of time.
Valves old limits still apply too, however its best to leave fraglimit to 0, its completely meaningless in tourney mode.

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Q: How I turn my weapon weight off?
A: Well if you open up weight.txt found inside your HLE dir you will see all the weapons in HLE with numbers next to them. Those numbers are their weight. So if you have a weapon that’s say 10 and you pick up a new weapon that’s 20, you will automatically change weapons. If the weight of the new weapon is equal or less, then there will be no change. If you want no weight, set them all to the same number, or if you want, edit which wants you want. HLE is the only mod with client side fully customizable weapon weight, to use it to your advantage. Remember not to exceed 2 digits and the negative sign is considered a digit.

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Q: How do I use vrcon as a client
A: All you need to know for vrcon is that it works like rcon expect you may not have full permissions to use every command. This is set up by the server admin. To check out which commands you have, simply type “vgroup” in the console. To see who else is in your group type “vadministration” That’s about all you need to know. If an admin does not assign you directly to a group but gives you a password, you need to set it as such: “vrcon_password name” where name the password you were given. If you are in a vgroup, you will automatically be a vadmin again when you rejoin the server, even if it crashes. The vadmins are saved to a file. Note that vrcon_password will not add you to a vgroup but only give you temporary password to use it for that level, remember that password is subject to change. The most permanent way to be vadmin is to be added to a group by the server admin.
(refer to vadmin.html)

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Q: How do I change my crosshairs, or add my old ones into hle
A: HLE has some sophisticated tools for crosshairs. You can dynamically change them in the game, you can even change the color of them. HLE has eight default sets to start you off with including the original valve set. You need

to open up your vgui by pressing ENTER or typing “menu” in the console and then left click on client settings. Toward the bottom you will see a crosshairs button. Simply click that button until you find the one you want. The text will change to the name of the crosshair set you have selected. Each set has a unique name. To turn the color feature off or on, simply click the toggle button next to the crosshair button. If your crosshairs are not white, then its best to turn the color off. (original). To add your own set, simply open up the sprites/crosshairs/ dir and make a new folder. The folder name will be the name of your crosshair set. For example “john”. Within that new folder simply drop in all the files associated with your crosshairs, weapon text files and sprite files alike. Then in the game, go back to the menu and click the crosshairs button until it changes to “john” The cvar controller will actually look like this: xhairs “john“ inside your config file. “cl_dynamic_xhrs” will be either 1 or 0, this is the coloring variable.

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Q: How do I make new crosshairs?

A: Add any crosshair you wish into the sprites/crosshairs/ dir. Create a folder with any name you like and place the crosshairs files into that folder. You may choose new file names and use weapon_.txt files to use custom sprites and coordinates for each weapon. Simply place all the weapon_.txt files you wish to use into your new crosshair older with all the sprites they call for. By default hle will use valve's weapon_.txt files from the hle pak file. hle will first search for sprites within the crosshair/yourfolder/ dir and if not found, it will look in the sprites folder in the valve pak file. So in essence, you only need to add the files which are custom to your crosshairs into your crosshair folder. Use the examples that come with hle to help you. You may have a maximum of 16 crosshair sets.

To select your crosshairs, open up the vgui "ENTER" and click "Client Settings" then press the "Crosshairs" button unless your appear. Or type cl_crosshairs "yourcrosshairs" in reference to yourcrosshairs folder. You may add up to 128 crosshairs custom crosshair folders, but anymore then that will not load. The crosshairs need to be in grey scale to adjust to the hud color. White to grayish crosshairs work the best. If you do not gray scale the crosshairs then use the static cvar and hle will not overlay your crosshairs with the hud color. Therefore set cl_dynamic_xhrs to 0. There is a button in the vgui next to the crosshairs button for that option.

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Q: How do I vote?
A: This is not a stupid question. Most voting in HLE can be done through the vgui. Type menu in the console to open It up. On the left you have your voting options and on the right you have your client options. In the middle you have your yes and no vote calls. Which you will use if someone else called a vote. Remember that majority wins! Below that, is your big play button to get you out of spectator mode. To vote simply click on a vote menu, lets use maps and an example. Then within that menu double click on any map you wish to vote for. It’s not really a double click but rather 2 single clicks. The reason for this is so you can vote for 2 different things at once. So if I want, I can single click on a map, and that button will turn blue, then I can go back and vote for a mode and it will call a vote for a map and a mode at once. Essentially this is dual voting. If you clicked a vote accidentally and you don’t wish to vote for that, simply click “clear vote” or “cancel”. If you only want to vote for one thing, just double click. You can also vote in the console for votes which don’t appear in the vgui menu for example
“vote eject 3, emit 2 blue”
If that passes, that will force the 3rd player into spectator mode and emit 2nd onto the blue team. This is handy during matches when players can not actually join teams without either voting themselves in with a majority or having an admin force them in. Remember eject and emit are server commands, only admins can use them directly, but you can still vote for them. To find the player numbers type “status” in the console. They are always in order so the first player to join a serer will be 1.
Notice the votes are separated by a comma. Leading spaces will not matter, just don’t use to “vote” command after the comma again, it know it’s a vote! If you get an error when you vote, its because either you typed something wrong or that command or variable is not allowed to be voted or changed by clients. In fact, all commands are banned expect the ones found in vote.txt which is set by your admin. rcon_passwrod will probably not be in that list, nor will kick or ban.
One finally note, you can vote for a maximum of two items at once, perhaps in the future I will change this, but its really only used for voting for mode and a level at the same time.

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Q:I voted for new settings and they reset after every level change, how do I change that?
A: Part of the control an admin retains while allowing clients to change settings is that settings will always be reset after a level change. Each game mode runs off a mode dir inside the servers hle/modes folder. Each time a level ends or restarts, the config file for that mode will be executed. The only way to change these settings is the change the config file and that’s up to the admin. So while you can change settings for a map, they will be reset for the next players.

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Q: How do I do ag_start?
A: Ag_start is one of the better features in ag, and this feature is all fully included into HLE as well, but may be slightly different. The command for a ag_start is actually “matchstart”. Now this is a server command only admins can actually type this in. However client by default can still vote for it via “vote matchstart 1”. There is also a short client command which automatly calls a vote “ms 1” There are 4 different matchstarts:
matchstart 1 = unloaded matchstart, all valid players spawn will a pistol and crowbar, all entities reset, all scores reset, all variables reset. teams & spectators lock, matchqueue is reset
matchstart 2 = full matchstart, all valid players spawn will all weapons found in the level, all entities reset, all scores reset, all variables reset, teams & spectators lock, matchqeueu is reset
matchstart 3= nostart matchstart, all valid players will REMAIN where they all, entities will NOT reset all scores reset, all variables reset, teams & spectators lock, matchqeueu is reset
matchstart 0 = cancle matchstart
matchstart 2 will spawn players will every weapon found in the map ONLY. Weapons not found will be be issued.
the matchqueue is a list of players who left the server during the match. They have only a few minutes to rejoin if they want to be automatically respawned into the match on the same team with the same mode and retain their old score.
Spectators can not join a match and players in the match can not change teams. If a spectator tries to join a match either by clicking “play” in the vgui or clicking on a team in the vgui, a vote will automatically be called. Same applies for player in the match regarding to changing teams. Matchstarts only work in non practice modes which include, Team mode, CTP, CTF, and FFA. In FFA the teams and team regulations do not apply quite the same.

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Q What are the most important new cvars and command I need to know for hle
A: Kind of a tricky question because not all new cvars work the same way in every game mode, but they have similarities. If you forget what a variable does, you can always click help in the vgui menu in during the game, you just need to remember “menu” is the vgui command.
Server stuff:
mp_roundclock is the timer, its not like the timelimit, but rather the time per round, this applies in tourney, duel, lms and team lms.
mp_spawnlimit is really the frag limit per round in tourney mode, 10 is default.
mp_spawnform works in all modes, but basically it follows these rules. 0 = unloaded spawn, 1 = loaded always, or loaded for the first spawn of a round. Note that full spawns give you all weapons in every map, which include op4 weapons unlike matchstarts.
mp_winlimt applies to round modes where frags really have little to do with a map limit. Much like the fraglimt, when the winlimit is reached, the map changes. In lms the winlimit is the number a time a player is the lms, or in tourney, it’s the number of victories that player has won. It does not apply to team mode or ffa but in CTF it’s the capture limit, and in ctp is the time limit for which you must control a flag(s) for. When reached, mp_winlimit this will evoke a level change.
"mp_tossitem" This is a separate variable which control the drop command. In the past it was setup so that you could not drop a weapon if weaponstay was set to 1. HLE has separated the new because of the new improved drop menu.
Client stuff:
“Drop” This is client command and it will open up a drop menu, it’s very intuitive and if you learn it, it can be an advantage in teamplay.
“%l, %a, %h, %p” Pretty much works like ag, but know that loc files are clientside so if some player on your team does not have the loc files they will see %l rather then your location. Also know that locfiles can be different so you many not see the same string as the next player. These commands are generally used with team_say oppose to say
“ms” 0-3 automatically calls a vote for matchstart
“changeteam" more or less replaces the “model” cvar, however model is still used, but it will not change your team. Do not use “team” to change your team, this command is handled internally.
“taunt” try it, its funny, you can not be spectating and you can only use it once every 10 seconds.
For the rest of the dozens of new variables and commands, refer to the help.txt file inside of the help dir or click on help in the vgui menu.

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Q: Does HLE have cheat protection?
A: Yes and No. Most cheats will not work on hle, but there are always a few that will. Currently we are working on a new method that may prove to be full proof but until then we will rely on valves anti cheat. Or better yet, admins can use cheating death or any other third party anit-cheat system.

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Q: I can’t see my radar
A: Radar only works in team modes. cl_radar turns the radar on and off for a client. Server admins can turn the radar off for all clients mp_radar. If your radar is on and you don’t see any players but there are players in the server they will either be out of rage or not on your team. You can only see players on your own team in the radar.
The radar can be a very useful tool, learn the use it when you hear sounds and need assessment of who might be around the corner, if you don’t see a dot, you know it’s a not friend you will meet.

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Q: How do I drop the flag, or a weapon or even my longjump?
A: The same way you drop a weapon type “drop” in the console or bind that to a key.
A menu will appear and you can select flag by pressing the “F” Key. You can also directly bind drop keys and bypass the menu by bind a key to “drop flag”
The other commands are “drop weapon”, “drop ammo1”, “drop ammo2”, “drop longjump”, “drop health” and “drop battery”. Drop will only work if the server is set to mp_tossitem 1. Also the new drop feature is more of a toss, so you can aim up and toss items above your head unlike to the old method. You are not allowed to drop items near walls to prevent them from falling outside of a level. Server will also prevent more then 30 items at once to prevent crashes from too many entities. This is 30 items per server, so you share that queue with all the players. Dropped items will disappear after 30 seconds.

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Q: What is CTP mode?
A: It stands for capture the point, Each map will have a given amount of flags. The flags turn color when you touch them and give you time while they are the color of your team. Should have 1 flag, that flag will give your team 1 second for every second you have it. If you have 5 flags then your team will get 5 seconds per second. The goal of CTP is get to a time limit set by “mp_winlimit” default is 45 minutes. Depending on the competition this should take about 10-15 minutes to reach. Admins can recreate ctp flag files or make new ones for maps which do not exist. Refer to the ctp help file found inside the help dir.

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Q: What’s the deal with the map browser?
A: Just click on a map you with to vote for, maps you don’t have will appear in gray and maps you have will be blue. If you want to vote for the next level, click the toggle button at the top of the vgui menu to change it to “nextlevel” then vote for a map.

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Q: Do scripts work in hle just like ag and valve?
A: Yes, scripts work just fine, however there is no need for a longjump script because we have taken the liberty of actually converting the longjump into a single button. Of course you can use the old fashioned way, but we figured since 50% of the players use a script, we would just make it fair for the other 50%. simply bind the longjump to any key via: "+longjump"

We have also implemented a +decent script which is build intot he +jump button. If you press and hold jump within 250 miliseocnds of landing, you will automatically jump again. This eliminates the need for a +decent script and evens the field for players who don’t have such advantages. Also, like +longjump, +jump works better then its scripted counterpart because its built into the code.

Q: Are there any new client side commands or cvars?

A: Yes, here is a complete list of the new client side commands and cvars. Note that there are also new server commands and cvars but for info on them, refer to the server FAQ.

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New client commands:

"help" | (opens help menu and list all commands and cvars)
"menu" | (opens the vgui menu (bind this in the launch menu)
"drop" | (reviels a drop menu with drop commands, mp_tossitem must be set to 1)
"drop weapon" | (shotcut to drop a weapon)
"drop health" | (shotcut to drop a health kit)
"drop battery" | (shotcut to drop a hev battery)
"drop flag" | (shotcut to drop the flag)
"drop ammo1" | (shotcut to drop primary ammo)
"drop ammo2" | (shotcut to drop secondary ammo)
"drop longjump" | (shotcut to drop the longjump)
"vote" | (this is folowed by any command within the mp_validvotes string, example "vote mp_fraglimit 100, changelevel boot_camp". Two votes per line max seperated by a comma)
"yes" | (vote yes)
"no" | (vote no)
"info" | (shows server cvar settings & player wonid's)
"ms" 0-3 | (calls a vote for mastartstart #)
"spectate" | (start observer )
"-spectate" | (stop ovserver )
"spec_mode" | 0-6 (changes spectator views)
"follownext" | 0 -* (based on players)
"taunt" | (taunt sound)
"spawnme" | (add self to list, also this will automaticly vote yoursels into a match if it has started)
"add_flag" | (places a flag in the level after a ctp file was opened, this will be saved to the file)
"add_loc" | (places a location in the level after a loc file was opened, this will be saved to the file)
"changeteam" | (changes team during a teamplay game, if a matchstart initiated, then a vote will automatically be called)
"emitme" | (calls a vote to be emited into a match)
"ejectme" | (removes yourself from play queue during a round based mode, or removes yourself from a match after a matchstart)
"vrcon" | <commands> (refer to vadmin.html in the help documentation)
"vgroup" | <group name> (refer to vadmin in the help documentation)
"vadministration" | <group name> (refer to vadmin in the help documentation)
"vrcon_password" | <password> (refer to vadmin in the help documentation)

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New client cvars:

"hue" | 0-255 (hud color)
"value" | 0-1 (hud brightness)
"gauss" | 0-8 (gauss color)
"xhairs" | "name" (strings are determined by the folders names in the sprites/crosshair dir)
"cl_showclock" | 0-1 (turns on and off hud clock at bottom)
"cl_showtimer" | 0-1 (turns on and off hud timer at top)
"cl_showlock" | 0-1 (turns on and off hud lock )
"cl_scrollspeed" | * (changes the map scroll speed, default 800)
"cl_dynamic_xhrs" | 0-1 (turns on and off crosshair colors)
"cl_radar" | (turns on and off client side radar)

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New client buttons:

bind "ANYKEY" "+longjump" | (much more accurate then a script)
bind "ANYKEY" "playtrack" | (winamp play)
bind "ANYKEY" "pausetrack" | (winamp pause)
bind "ANYKEY" "previoustrack" | (winamp previous world)
bind "ANYKEY" "nexttrack" | (winamp next track)
bind "ANYKEY" "stoptrack" | (winamp stop)
bind "ANYKEY" "+volumedown" | (winamp volume up)
bind "ANYKEY" "+volumeup" | (winamp volume up)

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