[Danukem]

lllllllllllllll, on 22 November 2022 - 10:01 PM, said:

Is there a way to trigger a lotag via CON?

The reactor sprite pretty much works perfectly as a hidden trigger but it has a minimum radius of electrocuting the player instead of being contained to its sector and it also has hardcoded explosion damage that too has a minimum radius.
Placing the reactor where it can't see the player leaves it asleep and misses the explosion cue. Placing it in places where it can "see" the player sometimes doesn't wake it up in time for the cue.
There didn't seem to be any effectors that could activate things via explosion. The cracks and barrels are limited to other explosions or chaining cracks.

The thing on Reactors stopping rotaters would be cool too if it's possible.



The specific problem I ran into is explodable sectors do not block player Use in the spot that the hole opens up and 'fixing' that requires an activator or masterswitch to fire after it explodes.

https://wiki.eduke32...erateactivators
https://wiki.eduke32...emasterswitches
https://wiki.eduke32...Operaterespawns
https://wiki.eduke32.../Operatesectors

[lllllllllllllll]

Can't get it to work. The sprite does despawn when it's hit by an explosion while it never seems to trip activator/masterswitch. I tried placing the sprite directly into the sector the A/MS was in as well.
Destroying a reactor with the same lotag is still functioning properly. The series of commands were what I cycled through trying to figure it out

actor EFFECTORBOOTLEG
  ifhitweapon
    ifwasweapon RADIUSEXPLOSION
    {
      <operate>
      killit
    }
enda


operatemasterswitches sprite[].lotag
operatemasterswitches sprite[].hitag
operatemasterswitches 130
operateactivators sprite[].lotag    //masterswitch swapped to activator on map
operateactivators sprite[].hitag
operateactivators 130 THISACTOR
operateactivators 130 0
operateactivators 130 1

[Danukem]

The <player id> parameter should always be 0, in singleplayer.

Other than that, it is impossible to tell what you are doing wrong from that code you pasted. My first theory is that the sprite in question does not actually have its hitag or lotag set. For safety, I would use something like this:

gamevar SPRITELOTAG 0 2

eventloadactor EFFECTORBOOTLEG
geta[].lotag SPRITELOTAG
seta[].lotag 0
enda

actor EFFECTORBOOTLEG
  ifhitweapon
    ifwasweapon RADIUSEXPLOSION
    {
      operateactivators SPRITELOTAG 0
      operatemasterswitches SPRITELOTAG
      killit
    }
enda

[lllllllllllllll]

It's weird

Setting the sprite's Hitag to 130 was causing it despawn via collapse [presumably] instead of running the actor code
Setting the sprite's Hitag & Lotag to 0 while using Activate 130 + Killit made it unresponsive
Setting the sprite's Hitag & Lotag to 0 while using just Killit made it despawn on explosion

It does work with 'operateactivators 130 0' as long as the sprite's hitag/lotag are 0. Because it had been despawning all the while with hitag 130 I didn't change it when testing the direct 130 commands before

[lllllllllllllll]

Was wall alignment the problem?

[Danukem]

lllllllllllllll, on 23 November 2022 - 12:47 PM, said:

Was wall alignment the problem?

https://wiki.eduke32.../Eventloadactor

Read that entry, especially the phrase "undesired hardcoded effects". Notice in my example a few posts above I don't keep any tags on the sprite, they are moved into vars and then reset to 0.

[lllllllllllllll]

Yeah that was the problem sorry
Changing it with EGS kept the collapse behavior. I tried using .extra instead then zeroing it out I guess it failed for the same reason.

On the topic of lotagging sprites I made a 'useractor enemy' and then a few more to switch into it like the hardcoded versions (duckshoot, stayput, jetpack, etc). They work as they should up until trying to Lotag them for difficulty settings- the sprite still spawns but as an unresponsive 1st frame.
Is this like RECOG that it must be faked? If so I can use loadactor to prevent their spawn by comparing skill level?

[Danukem]

lllllllllllllll, on 23 November 2022 - 02:08 PM, said:

On the topic of lotagging sprites I made a 'useractor enemy' and then a few more to switch into it like the hardcoded versions (duckshoot, stayput, jetpack, etc). They work as they should up until trying to Lotag them for difficulty settings- the sprite still spawns but as an unresponsive 1st frame.
Is this like RECOG that it must be faked? If so I can use loadactor to prevent their spawn by comparing skill level?

It's difficult to guess what you are doing wrong with only a vague description and not seeing your code.

My first guess would be the unresponsive sprites are ones that are supposed to be deleted due to the difficulty (i.e. a lotag 3 tagged sprite in a game set on Let's Rock). In that situation what you are describing would happen if you did something to prevent the sprite from being deleted (e.g. changed its size in EVENT_SPAWN). Then the sprite would fail to take statnum 1 and would remain inert.

[lllllllllllllll]

Danukem, on 23 November 2022 - 08:58 PM, said:

(e.g. changed its size in EVENT_SPAWN).

lol
Are all things of that nature supposed to be in loadactor?

[Danukem]

lllllllllllllll, on 23 November 2022 - 10:53 PM, said:

lol
Are all things of that nature supposed to be in loadactor?

So in other words I was right.

You can change size in EVENT_SPAWN, just be careful.

For example, here is a case from a switch statement I have in that event:

case SHARK
	ifrnd 32 
	cactor DOPEFISH
	else 
	ifg sprite[].xrepeat 4 sizeat 40 40
break

If the actor is slated for deletion, its size is already reduced. So if you check the size first before setting size, you can do so safely.

[VGames]

Is there a way to check when a player picks up an atomic health?

[Reaper_Man]

You mean, other than in the ATOMICHEALTH actor code?

You could capture EVENT_KILLIT and check for ATOMICHEALTH, but strictly speaking that doesn't actually guarantee the player picked it up, only that it was deleted. The game doesn't track what sprite or actor added health to the player. You could maybe use player[].ftq to get the current displayed quote, but that is a gross hack that seems pointless.

[VGames]

Ok I’ll check this out. Thanks.

One more quick question. Is there any way to change the position of the button layout in the options menu where u bind your keys to certain commands? I’ve changed the names of several buttons to accommodate some of the new features in my mod they were changed to work for like the look up and look down buttons are used for new fire modes. But I’d like them to be located next to the original fire and alt fire button locations on the key bind menu screen. Is there a way to reposition these button commands so the player doesn’t have to search for them?

[Mav3r1ck]

I'm using additive translucency most recently and I'm having a small issue.

I wanted to have the monsters use additive translucency when frozen, I've already done this, and it also returns to it's previous sprite pal when it thaws. However, it maintains translucency when it was frozen. How do I get it to become solid again after it thaws? Doesn't it have something to do with cstator?

[Reaper_Man]

VGames, on 29 November 2022 - 06:42 AM, said:

Is there any way to change the position of the button layout in the options menu where u bind your keys to certain commands?

Nope. They will always appear in the order gamefuncs are defined.

Mav3r1ck, on 29 November 2022 - 08:44 AM, said:

I'm using additive translucency most recently and I'm having a small issue.I wanted to have the monsters use additive translucency when frozen, I've already done this, and it also returns to it's previous sprite pal when it thaws. However, it maintains translucency when it was frozen. How do I get it to become solid again after it thaws? Doesn't it have something to do with cstator?

You'll need to modify each enemy's code to reset the transparency cstat (and presumably the blend mode back to 0). You can do this a few ways:

If you already know the desired cstat, just set it back. This is probably fine in 99% of cases. Most enemies use 257 (blocking + hitscan):
cstat 257

If you just want to remove a given cstat value, you can get and subtract the value. This may produce unintended results so for safety you should add some checks before doing this:
geta .cstat TEMP
sub TEMP 2
seta .cstat TEMP

A fun trick is to bitwise AND the negative of the cstat (or cstats, plural) you want to remove, plus 1. This would safely clear both transparency cstats (2 + 512):
geta .cstat TEMP
and TEMP -515
seta .cstat TEMP

[Danukem]

VGames, on 29 November 2022 - 06:42 AM, said:

One more quick question. Is there any way to change the position of the button layout in the options menu where u bind your keys to certain commands?

Actually you can. Doom64hunter added this feature as a DEF command a while ago. I did not realize that it was completely undocumented until I saw Reaper_Man's post.

If you want your custom keys to be higher up on the list of keys, you can do it via the DEF command:
keyconfig
{
gamefunc_Move_Forward
gamefunc_Move_Backward
gamefunc_Strafe_Left
gamefunc_Strafe_Right
...
}

The gamefunc names are exposed by the source as built-in labels.
the order in which you list the gamefuncs will be the order in which they appear. Those you do not list will not appear. Note that the capitalization follows how they are given here; https://wiki.eduke32...inegamefuncname

If you want to see a full example, you can check duke3d.def in Alien Armageddon.

[Reaper_Man]

Very nice, thanks for the correction

[lllllllllllllll]

VGames, on 29 November 2022 - 05:34 AM, said:

Is there a way to check when a player picks up an atomic health?

use a var as a flag whenever health is added to the player in atomichealth's actor, then reset it after whatever you're doing upon detecting it

[quakis]

I'm trying to lock the player's horizontal / vertical axis when I have an on screen gui with mouse cursor open. The best result I've managed is saving the last known player .ang and .horiz into variables, then setting those variables back using setp after this gui is open. Locking player movement actions and the mouse cursor works as intended here.

The problem however is moving the mouse(look) causes the screen to shake/jitter around while as if fighting against being forced back into it's stored setp variables while moving around a mouse cursor onscreen works as intended.

The "lockplayer" function would be perfect since the screen remains unmoving, but I can't use that here because it also stops updating mouse cursor movements entirely (I'm using getinput for both .q16avel and .q16horz here) and any EVENT_FIRE actions which I use as a click function.

I've referred to code from other projects and afaik they do similar methods of grabbing and storing previous .ang/.horiz and setting them, without the screen shake issues. The other exception is they're also use "lockplayer" as well while their cursors are still functioning as intended. Been examining their code and tinkering with my own to no better results or understanding. Now I'm stuck or just missing something, need to fix this issue before doing any further gui related stuff.

Can someone help break down exactly what I should be doing to lock the player's horizontal / vertical axis properly under these or similar circumstances?

[VGames]

Danukem, on 29 November 2022 - 12:48 PM, said:

Actually you can. Doom64hunter added this feature as a DEF command a while ago. I did not realize that it was completely undocumented until I saw Reaper_Man's post.

If you want your custom keys to be higher up on the list of keys, you can do it via the DEF command:
keyconfig
{
gamefunc_Move_Forward
gamefunc_Move_Backward
gamefunc_Strafe_Left
gamefunc_Strafe_Right
...
}

The gamefunc names are exposed by the source as built-in labels.
the order in which you list the gamefuncs will be the order in which they appear. Those you do not list will not appear. Note that the capitalization follows how they are given here; https://wiki.eduke32...inegamefuncname

If you want to see a full example, you can check duke3d.def in Alien Armageddon.

Thanks a lot. This makes things easier for mod users when setting up the mod for themselves.

[Danukem]

quakis, on 29 November 2022 - 05:50 PM, said:

Can someone help break down exactly what I should be doing to lock the player's horizontal / vertical axis properly under these or similar circumstances?

The method you are describing that you found in other mods, can still work. But nowadays it requires additional code in a display event. That's because, a few years ago the game was changed so that the player's angle and horiz are updated with drawn frames, instead of only 30 times per second. That change broke a lot of things.

Anyway, here's a solution for you. It assumes that you did a full lock on the player.

onevent EVENT_DISPLAYROOMS

ife player[].movement_lock 31
ife player[].on_crane -1
{
	set cameraang player[].oang
	set camerahoriz 100
}
endevent

[quakis]

Danukem, on 29 November 2022 - 10:22 PM, said:

But nowadays it requires additional code in a display event. [...]

Anyway, here's a solution for you. It assumes that you did a full lock on the player.

That does explain a lot, wouldn't have considered EVENT_DISPLAYROOMS as an answer. Thank you so much for the help, this solution is working wonderfully! Cheers.

[VGames]

Ok so I'm trying to include the nice intro cutscenes for the original episodes as seen in Alien Armageddon. For some reason they never show up when you start the episodes. Here's the code I'm using. What am I missing? I of course am not using eveyr bit of code from AA since i don't need it. But are these the only events I should be messing with? Is there something in the player code or anywhere I'm missing?

state cutscene_cleanup
	stopallmusic
	ifvarn SCREENALPHA 255
			setvar SCREENALPHA 255
	ifvarn CUTSCENE_STEP 0
			setvar CUTSCENE_STEP 0
ends


onevent EVENT_PRELEVEL // ************************************************************************************

	ife VOLUME 3
	ife LEVEL 0
	{
			stopallsounds
			stopallmusic
			starttrackslot 0 1 // Play BRIEFING.MID
			redefinequote 230 VOL41A.ANM
			startcutscene 230
			redefinequote 230 VOL42A.ANM
			startcutscene 230
			redefinequote 230 VOL43A.ANM
			startcutscene 230
			stopallsounds
	}
	state cutscene_cleanup
	ifvare VOLUME 0
	{
		ifvare LEVEL 1 // HOLLYWOOD HOLOCAUST
		{
			stopallsounds
			// ADD SOME MUSIC TRACK IF NEEDED
			starttrackslot 7 4
			startscreen    // FIRST SCREEN
			screensound RPG_EXPLODE // SOUND EFFECT AT THE START OF THE SECOND SCREEN
			startscreen    // SECOND SCREEN
		}
		ifvare LEVEL 4 // TOXIC DUMP
		{
			stopallsounds
			// ADD SOME MUSIC TRACK IF NEEDED
			// starttrackslot 7 4
			startscreen    // FIRST SCREEN
		}
	}
	ifvare VOLUME 1
	{
		// note that LEVEL is bumped up by 1 due to start menu shenanigans
		ifvare LEVEL 1 // SPACEPORT
		{
			stopallsounds
			// ADD SOME MUSIC TRACK IF NEEDED
			// starttrackslot 7 4
			startscreen    // FIRST SCREEN
		}
		ifvare LEVEL 4 // FUSION STATION
		{
			stopallsounds
			// ADD SOME MUSIC TRACK IF NEEDED
			// starttrackslot 7 4
			startscreen    // FIRST SCREEN
		}
		ifvare LEVEL 9 // OVERLORD
		{
			stopallsounds
			// ADD SOME MUSIC TRACK IF NEEDED
			// starttrackslot 7 4
			startscreen    // FIRST SCREEN
		}
	}
	ifvare VOLUME 2
	{
		ifvare LEVEL 1 // RAW MEAT
		{
			stopallsounds
			// ADD SOME MUSIC TRACK IF NEEDED
			// starttrackslot 7 4
			startscreen    // FIRST SCREEN
		}
		ifvare LEVEL 5 // MOVIE SET
		{
			stopallsounds
			// ADD SOME MUSIC TRACK IF NEEDED
			// starttrackslot 7 4
			startscreen    // FIRST SCREEN
		}
		ifvare LEVEL 9 // STADIUM
		{
			stopallsounds
			// ADD SOME MUSIC TRACK IF NEEDED
			// starttrackslot 7 4
			startscreen    // FIRST SCREEN
		}
	}
endevent // ************************************************************************************

appendevent EVENT_ENDLEVELSCREEN // ************************************************************************************
	state cutscene_cleanup
	// ifvare VOLUME 0
	// ifvare LEVEL 2 // RED LIGHT DISTRICT
	// {
		// stopallsounds
		// startscreen
	// }
endevent // ************************************************************************************

onevent EVENT_SCREEN // ************************************************************************************

	set z 65536
	
	ifvare RETURN 0
	{
		ifvarg SCREENALPHA 0    // QUICK FADEOUT
		{
			screenpal 0 0 0 SCREENALPHA
			subvar SCREENALPHA 5
		}
	}
	else ifvare RETURN 1
			setvar SCREENALPHA 255

	ifvare VOLUME 0
	{
		ifvare LEVEL 1
		{
			ifvare CUTSCENE_STEP 0    // FIRST SCREEN
			{
				setvar CUTSCENE_SCREEN 6792

				ifvare RETURN 1     // IF THE PLAYER USES ANY KEY TO SKIP THE SCENE
						setvar CUTSCENE_STEP 1     // CHANGE TO THE NEXT SCREEN
			}
			else ifvare CUTSCENE_STEP 1   // SECOND SCREEN
			{
				setvar CUTSCENE_SCREEN 6793
				ifvare RETURN 1     // IF THE PLAYER USES ANY KEY TO SKIP THE SCENE
						setvar CUTSCENE_STEP 2     // CHANGE TO THE NEXT SCREEN
			}
		}
		ifvare LEVEL 4
		{
			setvar CUTSCENE_SCREEN 6794

		}
	}
	ifvare VOLUME 1
	{
		ifvare LEVEL 1
		{
			setvar CUTSCENE_SCREEN 6795
		}
		ifvare LEVEL 4
		{
			setvar CUTSCENE_SCREEN 6796

		}
		ifvare LEVEL 9
		{
			setvar CUTSCENE_SCREEN 6797
		}
	}
	ifvare VOLUME 2
	{
		ifvare LEVEL 1
		{
			setvar CUTSCENE_SCREEN 6798
		}
		ifvare LEVEL 5
		{
			setvar CUTSCENE_SCREEN 6799
		}
		ifvare LEVEL 9
		{
			setvar CUTSCENE_SCREEN 6800
		}
	}

	rotatesprite 160 100 z 0 CUTSCENE_SCREEN 0 0 0 0 0 xdim ydim

endevent // ************************************************************************************

[Danukem]

Here's the original post from Renegado with the first working version:

https://forums.duke4...post__p__294547

I think it would make more sense for you to start with that rather than copying the Alien Armageddon version which has added bells and whistles and oddities.

[VGames]

Danukem, on 10 December 2022 - 08:47 PM, said:

Here's the original post from Renegado with the first working version:

https://forums.duke4...post__p__294547

I think it would make more sense for you to start with that rather than copying the Alien Armageddon version which has added bells and whistles and oddities.

Much appreciated. I’ll check it out ASAP.

[MC84]

I've got a newbie question - it's for a simple invisible sprite that is used to play a sound for dummy/decorative doors. The following code works fine;

define LOCKEDDOOR 5817
useractor notenemy LOCKEDDOOR
cstat 32784 // invisible, wall-aligned

 ifpdistl 1024
  ifp pfacing
   ifp palive
    ifhitspace
     ifcount 30
	  	 
switch sprite[].pal
	case 0
		{ soundonce DOOR_LOCK_A }
		break
	case 1
		{ soundonce DOOR_LOCK_B }
		break
	case 2
		{ soundonce DOOR_LOCK_C }
		break
	endswitch
	
enda

But when I add an extra command 'quote 4' it creates a recurring loop where the door lock sound plays continuously?

define LOCKEDDOOR 5817
useractor notenemy LOCKEDDOOR
cstat 32784 // invisible, wall-aligned

 ifpdistl 1024
  ifp pfacing
   ifp palive
    ifhitspace
     ifcount 30
      quote 4
switch sprite[].pal
	case 0
		{ soundonce DOOR_LOCK_A }
		break
	case 1
		{ soundonce DOOR_LOCK_B }
		break
	case 2
		{ soundonce DOOR_LOCK_C }
		break
	endswitch
	
enda

[Danukem]

define LOCKEDDOOR 5817
useractor notenemy LOCKEDDOOR
cstat 32784 // invisible, wall-aligned

 ifpdistl 1024
  ifp pfacing
   ifp palive
    ifhitspace
     ifcount 30
{
      quote 4
switch sprite[].pal
        case 0
                soundonce DOOR_LOCK_A
                break
        case 1
                soundonce DOOR_LOCK_B
                break
        case 2
                soundonce DOOR_LOCK_C
                break
        endswitch
}
enda

[Danukem]

Also you want "resetcount" inside the braces as well, otherwise the "ifcount 30" isn't really doing anything.

[MC84]

Danukem, on 19 December 2022 - 12:35 AM, said:

Also you want "resetcount" inside the braces as well, otherwise the "ifcount 30" isn't really doing anything.

Thanks Dan - I had a feeling I was missing brackets.

[Reaper_Man]

Brackets should go around any conditional that contains more than 1 command. In your original code, the switch command was technically a single command although it occupied multiple lines, and so adding the quote command then made only that command run. In other words, the code was then being interpreted like this:

	ifpdistl 1024
		ifp pfacing
			ifp palive
				ifhitspace
					ifcount 30
	{
		quote 4
	}
	  	 
	switch sprite[].pal
		case 0
			{ soundonce DOOR_LOCK_A }
			break
		case 1
			{ soundonce DOOR_LOCK_B }
			break
		case 2
			{ soundonce DOOR_LOCK_C }
			break
	endswitch

Although this is just an example of the literal interpretation the compiler is seeing, there's actually no harm in adding brackets around single command conditionals, and in some cases may make for more readable code. You actually do this with the soundonce commands within your switch statement, and if you wanted you could remove those brackets without change in the code behavior.

You can also safely (and IMO should) put brackets surrounding the content of actor, (def)state, and event code as well:

useractor notenemy LOCKEDDOOR
{
	cstat 32784 // invisible, wall-aligned

	[. . .]

	}
	endswitch
}
enda