[Hendricks266]

 Fox, on 05 February 2018 - 06:02 AM, said:

- The local actor, player or player distance can be set using vm_actor / vm_player / vm_distance. The value of THISCTOR usually equals vm_actor, but player[THISACTOR] equals vm_player. Commands like ifpdistl use vm_distance to determine the condition. Note that vm_distance is not always set by the game for performance reasons.

This is far too advanced to be useful to beginners.

[Mere_Duke]

I need a little advice again.
When I shoot a projectile with "shoot" command (eshoot FIRELASER, for example), or spawn a sprite with "spawn" command (spawn SHOTGUNSHELL, for example), I need to change the RETURN's spawn coordinates. I tried some ways: via RETURN reference (setactor[RETURN].x ...), in EVENT_SPAWN/EVENT_EGS, etc. It works, but I absolutely can't avoid that the sprite/projectile spawns for a frame (or two) in the default position, then "jumps" to the position I set it to. I assume that comes from the fact that the game manages to draw the sprite after it was created but before I changed its position. Are there any ways to preset spawn coordinates before the spawn, or where should I change them after they were set to defaults, but before sprite is ready to be drawn?
Thx in advance.

[Danukem]

Mere_Duke, on 09 February 2018 - 05:50 AM, said:

I need a little advice again.
When I shoot a projectile with "shoot" command (eshoot FIRELASER, for example), or spawn a sprite with "spawn" command (spawn SHOTGUNSHELL, for example), I need to change the RETURN's spawn coordinates. I tried some ways: via RETURN reference (setactor[RETURN].x ...), in EVENT_SPAWN/EVENT_EGS, etc. It works, but I absolutely can't avoid that the sprite/projectile spawns for a frame (or two) in the default position, then "jumps" to the position I set it to. I assume that comes from the fact that the game manages to draw the sprite after it was created but before I changed its position. Are there any ways to preset spawn coordinates before the spawn, or where should I change them after they were set to defaults, but before sprite is ready to be drawn?
Thx in advance.

Change the coordinates of the actor who is firing the projectile instead. Then, after firing, immediately (in the same block of code) change them back to the actor's original position. Since no time has actually passed, this will have no negative impacts.

[Fox]

Mere_Duke, on 09 February 2018 - 05:50 AM, said:

I assume that comes from the fact that the game manages to draw the sprite after it was created but before I changed its position.

No, EVENT_EGS happens before the sprite is drawn. The game stores the old coordinates the previous coordinates of the object in the htbposx / htbposy / htbposz structures so the movement is interpolated (the game runs at 30 frames per second, but is drawn at 120 frames per second).

This is actually a problem with the original game, the most obvious case being the Overlord firing rockets.

[Danukem]

Fox, on 09 February 2018 - 10:00 PM, said:

No, EVENT_EGS happens before the sprite is drawn. The game stores the old coordinates the previous coordinates of the object in the htbposx / htbposy / htbposz structures

So you could just write to those in addition to changing the sprite's coords and that would solve the problem without moving the shooter. Good to know.

[Mere_Duke]

htbpos+ works just fine (I thought it is undefined at that moment right after eshoot has been called and has no effect), as well as the moving an actor instead of its projectile.
The problem is solved. Thank you, kind people.

[RPD Guy]

Someone knows?
For APLAYER we have "spritebridge" and "sbs" properties. The other actors don't have these.
How can I know if a actor is standing upon an "spritebridge"?

[Mark]

Could using Findnearactor be of any help? http://wiki.eduke32....i/Findnearactor

Make the spritebridge an actor and when your actor is within a certain distance in x,y,z plane do something.

[Danukem]

You want to use this:

http://wiki.eduke32.com/wiki/Getzrange

It's the same function called internally to check for stuff below when a sprite uses the fall command. One potential downside: since we know that sometimes actors will fall right through a sprite bridge when they have a downward momentum (this can be seen on jumping enemies) it's reasonable to wonder if getzrange will fail to detect the sprite bridge under similar circumstances.

[Sanek]

Is there some easy way (or at least already-documented one) to attach a single-hit death sequence to a brand new actor?
Suppose I use the code for that Bee enemy from Candymania as a starting point.

[Hendricks266]

Use ifhitweapon without ifstrength.

[Fox]

RPD Guy, on 12 February 2018 - 10:59 AM, said:

Someone knows?
For APLAYER we have "spritebridge" and "sbs" properties. The other actors don't have these.
How can I know if a actor is standing upon an "spritebridge"?

Try the htmovflag.

[Danukem]

Fox, on 15 February 2018 - 09:37 AM, said:

Try the htmovflag.

I'm pretty sure I gave the correct answer on the last page. htmovflag detects collisions but not whether you are standing on something.

[Mere_Duke]

Does anyone know how to change damage of a hitscan-type default projectiles?
For FIRELASER, its

eshoot FIRELASER
seta[RETURN].extra %value%

But how to aplly this for the SHOTSPARK1 or SHOTGUN?

P.S. I know I can use

shoot SHOTGUN
shoot SHOTGUN
shoot SHOTGUN
...

but I want to avoid that, and, besides, I don't want to define new projectile.

[Danukem]

Mere_Duke, on 17 February 2018 - 09:11 AM, said:

Does anyone know how to change damage of a hitscan-type default projectiles?
For FIRELASER, its

eshoot FIRELASER
seta[RETURN].extra %value%

But how to aplly this for the SHOTSPARK1 or SHOTGUN?

You don't. You could change the damage by editing the damage amounts in USER.CON, but that will change it for every time they are used.

Mere_Duke, on 17 February 2018 - 09:11 AM, said:

P.S. I know I can use

shoot SHOTGUN
shoot SHOTGUN
shoot SHOTGUN
...

but I want to avoid that, and, besides, I don't want to define new projectile.

Defining a projectile is very easy and it is the correct solution. For hitscan, you don't even need a tile with art on it to define it on.

There is a hackish solution, though, if you are really determined to make this more difficult than necessary. If you know the sprite ID of what you are shooting at, you can check its htowner and htextra right after shooting at it in the same block of code; if the owner is the actor who just fired and htextra is > 0, assume that's because you just shot it and increase htextra to the value you want.

[Mere_Duke]

Oh yeah, htextra is a good solution. Thx. It allows not only to change, say, bullet damage, but to add a random component to it, and a distance-based component too (for a shotgun-like weapons). And I've realised just now that I want to know how the default shotgun damage code works as well
Also I can't find a word about how to translate *.con actor move velocity (move WALK 200 for example) into "build units per tic" value.

[Mere_Duke]

And thx for the "change actor's position" hack, it really helps, for example, to spawn debris or blood at the exact point of his body.

[Danukem]

Mere_Duke, on 18 February 2018 - 08:28 AM, said:

And thx for the "change actor's position" hack, it really helps, for example, to spawn debris or blood at the exact point of his body.

Another very useful thing to know is how to use the SHOTSPARK1 actor. By reading its htg_t members, you can find out exactly what sprite or texture any hitscan projectile is hitting, and use that information to spawn appropriate effect sprites or take other actions right at the location and time of the impact.

[Mere_Duke]

Yes, htg_t is very useful array for projectiles, but why in wiki it is mentioned "usage discouraged" for actors? How it is possible to get the current frame offset of actor another way?
PS I need to execute a specific code on a specific action frame, I coded it with flags, but wonder if there is a better way.
"geta[].htg_t 3 TEMP" seems breaking code if combined with "ifcount - resetcount", actor starts to walk with negative velocity

[Danukem]

Mere_Duke, on 18 February 2018 - 04:39 PM, said:

Yes, htg_t is very useful array for projectiles, but why in wiki it is mentioned "usage discouraged" for actors? How it is possible to get the current frame offset of actor another way?
PS I need to execute a specific code on a specific action frame, I coded it with flags, but wonder if there is a better way.
"geta[].htg_t 3 TEMP" seems breaking code if combined with "ifcount - resetcount", actor starts to walk with negative velocity

You should be able to track the frame of animation with the good old ifactioncount command.

[Mere_Duke]

Yep, I did it with flag to control that desired code will execute once because "ifcationcount %value%" duration depends on action speed value and almost always more than one tic; everything I put inside will be executed many times, so I need to have flag to restrict redundant state calls.
There is an easy solution if you need to do smth at every 3rd animation frame:

ifactioncount 3
{
	resetactioncount
	state dosomething
}

But in my case, there are 7 frames in the action, and I need to execute that state at the 3 and the 6 frames

This code

ifcount 12
{
  resetcount
  geta[].htg_t 3 TEMP6
  ife TEMP6 3
    state stepsnd
  ife TEMP6 6
    state stepsnd
}

failed to work, and probably because it's "unreliable".
So there is only weird flag solution left, and works perfect.
But I always try to improve the code and make it more "universal".

[Mere_Duke]

Hmm, it works now like this, like I wanted it to be implemented, w/o flags and redundant checks:

  ifactioncount 1
  {
    resetactioncount
    geta[].htg_t 3 TEMP4
    ife TEMP4 3
      sound GARGAN_STEP
    ife TEMP4 6
      sound GARGAN_STEP
  }

But I still want to know why no one uses actors' "htg_t" (I haven't found "htg_t" usage for actors in AMCTC, Attrition and other mods files), and why wiki recommends to avoid "htg_t" of actors.

[Mere_Duke]

Another problem: When enemy actor is falling from a high distance, it makes a "squish" sound. How could I remove that sound, and why it is happening? I coded falling behavior, and when actor is falling to the water, it resets its action to a default one (not dying from water), but when it dies after from, say, a bullet, it plays "squish" sound anyways. Probably, the old falling data left anywhere, but idk where to search for.
I need either to completely reset actor data to a default state, if possible, or remove that annoying sound.
Ofc I can do a { spawn MYENEMY killit } to simulate a resetting, but it's not optimal way. And I can try and catch SQUISHED sound in EVENT_SOUND, but I think it's a bad idea too.
Thanks in advance!

[Mark]

I don't know if you tried this already or not. Its possible that if the actor never reaches "terminal velocity" it won't trigger the squish sound. If its only usable for the Aplayer actor, then never mind.
http://wiki.eduke32....r_falling_death

[Danukem]

Sounds fishy. I don't recall the hardcoded squish sound working that way. Are you saying that if not for your code, it would make the squish sound when falling on a tagged water sector?

[Mere_Duke]

@Mark
Yes, it's only for aplayer, but are you sure that the squish sound related to velocity, not to the height travelled by object?
I think it's possible to control the velocity of a sprite falling by using htcgg structure member.
@Trooper Dan
Nope, it works differenty. I'll try to explain in details. When the actor faces the situation when distance from the floor is more than 320, it starts falling and goes to the 1st frame of DYING animation. It continues to fall (dying anim constantly resets to its start frame), and when floordistance is less than 8, it checks with getzrange if the picnum below is a water. If not, then it "releases" DYING animation, and the actor is dying normally. If it is water below, it changes DYING anim to a "zero ai" or default STANDING action, and actor becomes alive, and behaves normally. Everything is ok except that in the case 2, if I kill that actor after he has fallen and was saved by water, he plays "squish" sound on death in addition to normal dying yell.
And I can't understand how "fall" works. I know of "htcgg", but sometimes actors fall faster or slower, in different situations. For example, my test actor is falling to the ground much slower, than to the water. (Probably smth related to the sectors? Idk)

[Danukem]

Mere_Duke, on 21 February 2018 - 01:44 PM, said:

@Trooper Dan
Nope, it works differenty. I'll try to explain in details. When the actor faces the situation when distance from the floor is more than 320, it starts falling and goes to the 1st frame of DYING animation. It continues to fall (dying anim constantly resets to its start frame), and when floordistance is less than 8, it checks with getzrange if the picnum below is a water. If not, then it "releases" DYING animation, and the actor is dying normally. If it is water below, it changes DYING anim to a "zero ai" or default STANDING action, and actor becomes alive, and behaves normally. Everything is ok except that in the case 2, if I kill that actor after he has fallen and was saved by water, he plays "squish" sound on death in addition to normal dying yell.
And I can't understand how "fall" works. I know of "htcgg", but sometimes actors fall faster or slower, in different situations. For example, my test actor is falling to the ground much slower, than to the water. (Probably smth related to the sectors? Idk)

First, your sound bug: it is likely that the actor is falling on a water texture, but the sector was not actually lotag 1 (water sector). Thus, as far as the game is concerned, he fell on a regular floor and not water. I don't know where the falling death data is getting saved in the sprite structure, but clearly it is.

Second, your method is very complicated and will probably give you the wrong result in some situations. The easiest way to tell if an actor is falling is to simply check their zvel (positive means falling). I would try something like this:

gamevar falltime 0 2
define FALLDAMAGETIME 24 // number of tics of falling before landing will hurt
define FALLDAMAGEMULT 3

state fallaction

  // this is a placeholder state for changing the actor's action appropriately
  // you will want to change the action to the falling action when falltime >= FALLDAMAGETIME

ends

state checkfall

ifg sprite[].zvel 0
{
   add falltime 1
   state fallaction
}
else
{
  ifg falltime FALLDAMAGETIME
  {
    ifonwater
      nullop
    else
    ifinwater
      nullop
    else
    {
      sub falltime FALLDAMAGETIME
      mul falltime FALLDAMAGEMULT
      seta[].htextra falltime
      seta[].htpicnum KNEE
      seta[].htowner THISACTOR
      sound SQUISHED
      guts JIBS6 4 // or whatever you want
    }
  }
  set falltime 0
}

ends

The idea is that you want the actor to use the checkfall state whenever he's not already dead. It will determine whether he is falling, count how long he has been falling and apply damage depending on the length of the fall once he hits ground. It will not apply damage if he falls on a water sector.

[Mere_Duke]

Hmmm. This is, yes, the more convenient way to do this. I like it better than mine. But then I need to pass some actor-specific things into "state fallaction". While I can do this for sounds with "soundvar" (for example, to start playing actor-specific scream sound at some point), how do I change the action of a specific actor outside of that actor? (To change animation mid-air; I always hated walking-on-air enemies, and setting "move 0" negates any horizontal velocity it had before falling.) There is no "actionvar". But anyways, thanks for this, but! I've tried your code, and it has exactly the same behavior in cases mine had. Now I think it's just a map/sector issue. Sorry, I know zero about mapping and such. I recorded a video with that bug. You code is applied there.
The annoying SQUISH I couldn't catch is playing at 3rd enemy death. 2nd death is "wtf" as well

[Mark]

How about using ifinwater and stopsound squish

Maybe you get lucky and stopsound will stop it fast enough so you don't hear it

[Danukem]

By code "outside the actor" are you referring to a generic state that will be executed by the actor, such as the state checkfall above? In that case, all you need to do is something like this:

ifactor MYCULTISTGUY
{
  // blah blah blah change the action
}
   else
ifactor LIZTROOP
{
 // blah blah blah change the action
}

// ... and so on

EDIT: on the squish sound, I don't really want to speculate about it because it could either be a hardcoded thing interacting with your code or there could be something else in your code causing it. Without looking at all of the relevant code, it's hard to say