investigate prop_monster_box BecomeShortcircuit behavior

[p2r3]

the vdc mentions that BecomeShortcircuit causes the player to drop any prop: https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Prop_monster_box
this could prove useful as a method for ppmod.player, as there is currently no clean way to force the player to drop a held prop

specifically, it would be nice to know if a point entity with this classname is enough for the input to force drop any prop

[ConnorTippets]

Investigation of BecomeShortcircuit

Basic Behavior

Holding frankenturret

Firing BecomeShortcircuit input (the prop_monster_box is named cube)

The frankenturret dropped and short circuited

Upon input, causes frankenturret to short circuit and drop to the floor (wtf why does this guy keep opening portal 2)

The Bug

Let's try it with just a regular cube.

Holding reflector cube

Firing BecomeShortcircuit input on the frankenturret again

The reflector cube dropped

Firing the input on the frankenturret while holding another prop does indeed make the player drop it.

I'll try it a few more times and see if it's consistent

Okay, I just did it 5 more times and it worked every time. Seems to be as the VDC page says.

If we assign something the prop_monster_box classname, does the input work?

Assigning reflector cube the prop_monster_box classname

[SAVE-LOADED SO MODIFICATION TAKES EFFECT]

Holding a different reflector cube

Firing BecomeShortcircuit input on the modified reflector cube

The reflector cube dropped

Assuming the addoutput + saveload is conducive of just spawning an entity with the prop_monster_box classname, this works perfectly!

Conclusion

This short test doesn't include the edge cases that probably exist, but on a small scale, firing the BecomeShortcircuit input on anything with a prop_monster_box classname will cause the player to drop what they are holding.
I have no reason to doubt that this only works on singleplayer, but some sort of co-op test might be in order to confirm.

[ConnorTippets]

just to be clear, i didn't use AI for this writing. ik it looks weird but thats just how i decided to write it

[p2r3]

Is a save-load necessary? That would make it a lot less viable... Perhaps it's possible to replicate this if creating the prop_monster_box as a point entity with Entities.CreateByClassname?

Edit: missed the footnote. The thing is, sometimes a save load enables certain behavior that otherwise wouldn't work, and sometimes simply having a model and collision can make an entity behave differently. So a test with a point entity would really have to be just that.