EDuke32 Scripting (CON coding) Part 2

[Ghostwar]

Here's a question slightly off topic...

As far as I can tell, the auto door close funtion (SE 10) still does not work with the sliding door. Is this something that can be fixed or no? As a map builder, this glich has been a pain in the ass for way too long!

Awhile back I resorted to linking the sliding door to a subway effect which would return the door after a time interval relative to the length of the subway tunnel, however this required using at least two sectors for every elevator door which for someone like me who builds maps that are hard up against the maximum wall count, is a real problem.

Maybe TerminX can answer this one?

[DeeperThought]

Originally Posted by EmericaSkater

Hmmm. Well, here's my code for starting the track

 
 
ifvare SWITCHHIT 1
getuserdef[THISACTOR].volume_number TEMP
setuserdef[THISACTOR].volume_number episode
starttrackvar level
setuserdef[THISACTOR].volume_number TEMP

and in the defs, the gamevar "episode" is at 1 0, and "level" is at 0 0, so it should play the the first level track from the second episode if I'm right. I have an actor that sets the gamevar SWITCHHIT from 0 to 1 if the player presses space on it. I've noticed that if you have the block of code I qouted put in the player code, the game will crash, but if you have it anywhere else it doesn't do anything at all.

No offense, but it's impressive that you could cram so many bad moves into such a small number of lines.

First of all, it should be

ifvare SWITCHHIT 1
{
YOUR CODE
}

Right now, only the getuserdef[THISACTOR].volume_number TEMP line is contingent upon the value of SWITCHHIT. All the other lines execute all the time.

Now let's look at those other lines.

getuserdef[THISACTOR].volume_number TEMP

Why are you doing this? The current volume number is already in the read-only variable VOLUME.

setuserdef[THISACTOR].volume_number episode

You are changing the player's volume number? And without changing the map? That's crazy! I thought you just wanted to change the music.

starttrackvar level

What is the value of your level variable? There's no way to tell from the code you posted. Also, keep in mind there is a read-only variable, LEVEL (case matters btw) that is equal to the current level.

[TerminX]

Originally Posted by Ghostwar

Here's a question slightly off topic...

As far as I can tell, the auto door close funtion (SE 10) still does not work with the sliding door. Is this something that can be fixed or no? As a map builder, this glich has been a pain in the ass for way too long!

Awhile back I resorted to linking the sliding door to a subway effect which would return the door after a time interval relative to the length of the subway tunnel, however this required using at least two sectors for every elevator door which for someone like me who builds maps that are hard up against the maximum wall count, is a real problem.

Maybe TerminX can answer this one?

I'm not really very comfortable with altering a lot of the built in sector movement stuff. A lot of it is really messy and I have no idea what "fixing" some of it would break, what with how a lot of it has been used and abused by mappers to pull off stuff that wasn't supposed to be possible. I guess I'll have to look at the code for SE10 to determine if it can safely be applied to other door types, or if it was left out for a reason.

There's also the possibility that there will be cases where someone had tried to use SE10 with a sliding door, had no luck and forgot to delete the sprite afterward, which could leave them with a door that doesn't open and close right.

We'll see.

[Ghostwar]

Essentially the SE 10 works fine for every type of door except the sliding door. When applied to a sliding door, the door will open and then close just like its supposed too, however it continues to loop for some reason... opening and closing endlessly. I read once that it was a small glitch that turned up just prior to game release and 3D Realms didn't have a chance to resolve it.

Thanks for taking a look though... I've seen some of the incredible stuff you've done with eduke and mapster over the last while and it's been very impressive and very helpful for me and presumably many other map builders.

[DeeperThought]

Originally Posted by Ghostwar

When applied to a sliding door, the door will open and then close just like its supposed too, however it continues to loop for some reason... opening and closing endlessly. I read once that it was a small glitch that turned up just prior to game release and 3D Realms didn't have a chance to resolve it.

There's probably some maps out there where the glitch was used deliberately to create a malfunctioning door effect. It's very dangerous to try fixing stuff like that in a 13 year old game that has thousands of user maps.

[Jblade]

I doubt there's a probably about it - I imagine people like Billy Boy and Zaxtor used something like that to create the effects in their maps

[The Commander]

Doesn't one of the doors in the first level of the SST TC also use this glitch?

[Ghostwar]

Normally I would not have bothered to inquire about it and continued on using the subway system to time the doors but I’ve been building a map that is pretty close to the maximum wall count of 16384 and has quite a few sliding doors in it. I figured that if the SE10 bug could be resolved then I could delete the sectors I’ve been using to time the doors and put them to better use finishing the map.

Naturally, it would be far more preferable if there was a way to increase the maximum wall count beyond the 16384 threshold but I’ve heard varying opinions on the possibility of that. Some people say it can’t be done and others say that it can but would require some work.

Quite frankly, with more walls none of this would be an issue to begin with.

Any thoughts?

[EmericaSkater]

Originally Posted by DeeperThought

First of all, it should be

ifvare SWITCHHIT 1
{
YOUR CODE
}

when I try doing that it gives me a syntax error. I have no idea why. I didn't put the value of the variables in the code, but I said what they were in the message.

and in the defs, the gamevar "episode" is at 1 0, and "level" is at 0 0

...How could you have quoted the entire message and not seen that? Most of the other things you pointed out I can't really answer because like I said earlier, I based this on the wiki entry's example http://wiki.eduke32.com/wiki/Starttrackvar There you have it. A link to the exact page I got the code from.

[Nimoy]

The best solution is to create a new SE# effect, specifically for sliding doors, me thinks.

[DeeperThought]

Originally Posted by EmericaSkater

http://wiki.eduke32.com/wiki/Starttrackvar There you have it. A link to the exact page I got the code from.

I edited the entry and replaced the example with something more sensible. Hopefully that will help.

[EmericaSkater]

Yes, it makes much more sense now and it's a lot simpler than I imagined. Thank you, DT.

[lycanox]

Originally Posted by DeeperThought

http://wiki.eduke32.com/wiki/Htflags

getactor[THISACTOR].htflags TEMP
ifvarand TEMP 2 xorvar TEMP 2
setactor[THISACTOR].htflags TEMP

Thanks!

Anyway, it is just me or does the earthquake not start when the player is the air on a jet pack?

And if so, is there any way to make the quake work regardless of the players status.

[Ghostwar]

Originally Posted by Nimoy

The best solution is to create a new SE# effect, specifically for sliding doors, me thinks.

An interesting idea... I'll explore that.

Meanwhile, is it at all possible to increase the wall count in Mapter32 beyond the 16384 threshold?

[Jblade]

Originally Posted by Ghostwar

An interesting idea... I'll explore that.

Meanwhile, is it at all possible to increase the wall count in Mapter32 beyond the 16384 threshold?

The general consensus is 'not without a ton of work' IIRC

[supergoofy]

I would like a clarification about two commands:

setuserdef[THISACTOR].screen_size SCREENSIZE

and

getuserdef[THISACTOR].screen_size SCREENSIZE


Let me write what I understand from their meaning:

1. About setuserdef[THISACTOR].screen_size SCREENSIZE

This sets the player's screen size equal to the current value of SCREENSIZE variable


2. About getuserdef[THISACTOR].screen_size SCREENSIZE

This sets the value of SCREENSIZE variable equal to the value of userdef[THISACTOR].screen_size


Am I correct? Can you clarify this?


Note: In my case both of them work the same.

[EmericaSkater]

Originally Posted by supergoofy

I would like a clarification about two commands:

setuserdef[THISACTOR].screen_size SCREENSIZE

and

getuserdef[THISACTOR].screen_size SCREENSIZE


Let me write what I understand from their meaning:

1. About setuserdef[THISACTOR].screen_size SCREENSIZE

This sets the player's screen size equal to the current value of SCREENSIZE variable


2. About getuserdef[THISACTOR].screen_size SCREENSIZE

This sets the value of SCREENSIZE variable equal to the value of userdef[THISACTOR].screen_size


Am I correct? Can you clarify this?


Note: In my case both of them work the same.

Well, it says here in the wiki that the screensize value starts at 0 (no hud at all) and increases in increments of four till it hits 64, which is the smallest size. Assuming that the userdef structure works like all the others, getuserdef[THISACTOR].screen_size TEMP would work in the sense that you're putting the screensize member of the userdef struct into a variable to check it's value, and setuserdef[THISACTOR].screen_size 0 ( or any of the other legal values for screen size ) sets it to the size you specify. If that's right then the only real use you'd have for 'getting' the screen size is to check its value so you could set it to something else. Like

 
getuserdef[THISACTOR].screen_size TEMP
ifvare TEMP 64
{ setuserdef[THISACTOR].screen_size 0 }

but that's just guesswork on my part. Sorry if it isn't right or doesn't sufficiently answer your question.

On another note, I created a useractor enemy the other day, a straight slugger type of enemy that I imaginatively titled WARRIOR. I've been trying to create a state for him where he'll parry an attack on a random occurrence and no damage will be dealt. I've been trying to use htextra to get this done and I'm halfway there but I'm having a wee bit of a problem...

I created my own state for the parry which is

 
state warriorparrystate 
ifhitweapon { setactor[THISACTOR].htextra -1 ai AIWARRIORPARRY state randomparrysound } 
ends

then in his useractor declaration I called the state

useractor enemy WARRIOR WARRIORSTRENGTH
fall
ifrnd 128 { state warriorparrystate }
state warriorcode
enda

In some sense when I test fight him, it works the way I want. I'll hit him, he does the right action and I hear the parry sound (which was the only function of the parrysound state), but after that he can't be hurt anymore. I'm guessing this is because I don't have any way to reverse his htextra after he's been hit. Problem is I'm not sure how to go about fixing that. Can anybody tell me what I need to do to get this functional?

[DeeperThought]

You have to detect whether htextra is greater than 0 and set it to -1 if is it is before you use ifhitweapon.

[EmericaSkater]

Originally Posted by DeeperThought

before you use ifhitweapon.

Alright, but what exactly does that mean? I just call the state in the middle of the warrior's main code before his ifhitweapon condition calls the checkhit state? I've noticed that if I try to put the state anywhere outside of the actor declaration it has no effect at all (even if I change it to where it happens 100 percent of the time).