ME question

[lockie]

Hey Guys
  Success! After playing around with timing I got three message strings to play out. One string for the lead unit, one string for a second unit and a third for an overall back and forth between the two units.

It's too much complicate But if it works, then should we know it's a Christmas?

[Kyth]

Just a few comments:

- Message display times are very short, just 5 seconds each? It's easy to miss them if they just flash by,

- Some of the entries below depend on the same trigger more that once. They could be separated using just the 'wait_time' interval. (by the way, why is cs_radio2 indented after the 4th line?):

cs_radio()
{

   wait_time, 2;
   ext, add_text, txt_testmission_message1, 0xff000080, 5, 0;
   ext, wait_tr, trig01_woods;
   ext, add_text, txt_testmission_message1, 0xff000080, 5, 1;
   ext, wait_tr, waypoint02;
   ext, add_text, txt_testmission_message1, 0xff000080, 5, 2;
   ext, wait_tr, waypoint02;
   wait_time, 10;
   ext, add_text, txt_testmission_message1, 0xff000080, 5, 3;
}

cs_radio2()
{

   wait_time, 8;
   ext, add_text, txt_testmission_message2, 0xff000080, 5, 0;
   ext, wait_tr, adler_woods;
   ext, add_text, txt_testmission_message2, 0xff000080, 5, 1;   
        wait_time, 5;
        ext, add_text, txt_testmission_message2, 0xff000080, 5, 2;   
        ext, wait_tr, adler_outofwoods;
        wait_time, 10;
        ext, add_text, txt_testmission_message2, 0xff000080, 5, 3;             
        ext, wait_tr, adler_outofwoods;
        wait_time, 15;
        ext, add_text, txt_testmission_message2, 0xff000080, 5, 4;
   ext, wait_tr, adler_endzone;
   ext, add_text, txt_testmission_message2, 0xff000080, 5, 5;

- I suspect the game can only handle 10-second blocks, so it's possible that cs_radio() and cs_radio2() are interfering with each other if they're spaced too closely together,

- Or if they share the same triggers.

[Kyth]

Hi,

As a general point on mission-making and cs_radio blocks, I use each one for a sequence of events,

ie. Trigger 1, followed by Message 1, then an interval or wait for another trigger, then Message 2, then another interval or trigger, then Message 3, and so on.

The problem with the above is that Message 2 must follow Message 1.  Message 3 must follow Messages 1 and 2, like a railroad.

If you have a lot of different messages to trigger off, this could be a problem since they don't always follow one after the other.
You can get around this restriction by using multiple blocks, and have several tracks running in parallel:

cs_radio1 : Trigger 1, followed by Message 1, then an interval or wait for another trigger, then Message 2, then another interval or trigger, then Message 3, and so on.
cs_radio2 : Trigger a, followed by Message a, then an interval or wait for another trigger, then Message b, then another interval or trigger, then Message c, and so on.
cs_radio3 : Trigger x, followed by Message x, then an interval or wait for another trigger, then Message y, then another interval or trigger, then Message z, and so on.

Try not to have too many unnecessary parallel tracks running at the same time, I suspect it may slow down the game,

ps. The same principle applies to 'cs_main' and 'cs_map'.

[hemisent]

Hi Kyth
  Thanks for your input. This was something I was playing around with and found that it actually did work. The short message times (5) were simply because I thought one message might be interfering with another so I condensed them to see what might happen. The end result was, yes the 5 second time does show up and yes, it is so short it may be missed...the point is that in my test scenario it all worked.

  As for the indentation you mentioned. beats me, after I ran the game and closed it that was what showed up when I opened the scripts folder.

As for this:
ext, wait_tr, adler_outofwoods;
wait_time, 10;
ext, add_text, txt_testmission_message2, 0xff000080, 5, 3;             
ext, wait_tr, adler_outofwoods;
wait_time, 15;

  You're right, in this scenario with the same trigger a simple wait time would have worked out better-I did not know so I entered this way.

 The reason I got into all this was because I have a mission in which I eventually had 19 messages that I wanted to show up. After entering them all I found that my cs_radio section looked like this:

cs_radio()
cs_radio10()
cs_radio11()
cs_radio12()
cs_radio13()
cs_radio14()
cs_radio15()
cs_radio16()
cs_radio17()
cs_radio18)
cs_radio19()
cs_radio2()
cs_radio3()
cs_radio4()
cs_radio5()
cs_radio6()
cs_radio7()
cs_radio8()
cs_radio9()

 The blocks were out of sequence and messages were not showing up. I think the game was confused. I was going to post a question when I came up with the idea of multiple strings. Hence this test exercise.

 If there is a way to have more than cs_radio() thru cs_radio9() blocks work I'd rather do it that way...this gets very confusing after a bit.


ps. The same principle applies to 'cs_main' and 'cs_map'. Kyth, I'm stumped on this. What is the purpose of multiple 'cs_main' and 'cs_map' blocks? I've seen it but have no idea why.

As always thanks for your help.
H

[Kyth]

ps. The same principle applies to 'cs_main' and 'cs_map'. Kyth, I'm stumped on this. What is the purpose of multiple 'cs_main' and 'cs_map' blocks? I've seen it but have no idea why.

When the scenario has multiple objectives, the human player might not always oblige by following the same sequence. 
So it's a good idea enable multiple parallel tracks for assignment of objectives and map changes. A non-linear mission, so to speak. Makes the mission less easily broken.

[hemisent]

Thanks Kyth

 Do you have any thoughts on a way to get more than 9 cs_radio lines to work without using a message string as per my example of 19 above?

Cheers
H

[Kyth]

Do you have any thoughts on a way to get more than 9 cs_radio lines to work without using a message string as per my example of 19 above?

The question is why would you want to? 

You can also use the "add_text" command for single messages, also a 'Text' sub-trigger. The detailed explanation is in the editor manual,

[hemisent]

  An odd thing just happened. I'm test playing a mission which I'm wrapping up in the ME. The mission plays fine, a few tweaks and it's done. I want to make a small change to one of the contours so I close the game, open the ME, go to the mission and... ALL MY TRIGGERS ARE GONE!!!!. The entire trigger list is empty. I then go to the scripts file (not through the ME access icon) and they are totally gone. Luckily I've been backing up my mission files and copy/paste the saved triggers back where they're supposed to be and all is well.

  Does anyone have an idea what causes this or what I could have done to prevent it. Damn near had a heart attack.

Cheers
H

[Kyth]

Is it possible you're putting too much into one mission script?

[lockie]

..The mission plays fine, a few tweaks and it's done...

May I suppose, that this mission w'll be devoted to PzIII?

[frinik]

Or you accidentally clicked on the Reload or New MIssion buttons?

[Kyth]

Hemisent,

If I may make a suggestion, quickly compile your mission into a datapack and e-mail it to anyone who is interested. With suggestions and edits, things will go a lot faster,

I'd like to have a copy, by the way,

[frinik]

Me too!

[murkz]

Me three

[frinik]

 I guess that makes us the 3 Murkzketeers

[hemisent]

Is it possible you're putting too much into one mission script?

Hi Kyth
 I never thought of that to be honest. The mission plays perfectly with no glitches but to be honest there are quite a few triggers. I seem to recall seeing other missions with large scripts tho. Is there a general guideline to be kept in mind? The only thing I still have problems with are the victory and defeat conditions.

May I suppose, that this mission w'll be devoted to PzIII?

Lockie,
Sorry no, it involves a group of three Tigers sent to help defend a hilltop village from
assault.


H

 

[hemisent]

Hemisent,

If I may make a suggestion, quickly compile your mission into a datapack and e-mail it to anyone who is interested. With suggestions and edits, things will go a lot faster,

I'd like to have a copy, by the way,

Kyth
How do I do that? Great idea as I could use some input from more experienced minds.

H

[Kyth]

Hemisent,

If I may make a suggestion, quickly compile your mission into a datapack and e-mail it to anyone who is interested. With suggestions and edits, things will go a lot faster,

I'd like to have a copy, by the way,

Kyth
How do I do that? Great idea as I could use some input from more experienced minds.

H

Select your mission and use the 'Pack' button:

[Rends]

Kyth,
if i try to pack one of my mission it won´t be packed all files into one big. Just a few files will be packed. If i remember correctly the ones from the levels/envs folder. But the other mission stuff or the files from loc_rus_envs won´t be packed into the datafile.

[Kyth]

Yes, just the bare essentials, nothing else,