Positioning based on another object

[rawrbear 10]

Hi there, first post woo

Ok so I've just started playing around with scripting(190hours clocked in game so far and it's time for a change). I've done a bit of coding before and I know to start small ha so I've played about with a few things and I'm tinkering with explosions atm and I've hit a problem(I spent 30 mins working through an issue I was having before realising I needed the functions module on the map so it's probably an easy solution).

Basically the explosion I'm spawning seems to do very little damage so I thought I'd try spawning it just above it's current location to see how it effected it, However I can't seem to find out how to do it.

Here's what I'm working with just now, the getPos at the end is where I'm having trouble:

//Creating an explosion based on a randomly selected explosion type

_bomb = _this select 0;
//Debug text
//hint "IED script triggered";

//Defines the type of explosions that can be selected in an array
_shellArray =
[
	"ARTY_Sh_81_HE",
	"ARTY_Sh_81_HE"
];

//Selects a random shell type from the array
//NOTE: You need to have the function module on the map
_shell = _shellArray call BIS_fnc_selectRandom;

//Spawn the explosion that's been selected on the object
_explosion = _shell createVehicle getpos [_bomb select 0, _bomb select 1, 0.2];

---------- Post added at 01:02 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:38 AM ----------

Ok I've altered it a bit after reading another thread on here doing something similar with objects and the last line reads as

_explosion = _shell createVehicle getpos [(getpos _bomb select 0),(getpos _bomb select 1),0.2];

Which still doesn't work but

_explosion = _shell createVehicle getpos _bomb;

does. I can't see where it's going wrong. :(

[CarlGustaffa 4]

You have two getPos'es in the first. Not tested, but try:

_explosion = _shell createVehicle [(getpos _bomb select 0),(getpos _bomb select 1),0.2];

Also, start Arma using the -showScriptErrors parameter, and the error would have showed up. It would have said something like "error getPos, object expected, array provided" or something like that.

[rawrbear 10]

That worked perfectly thanks. I can't believe I didn't think of that >.>

Also thanks for the tip I'll use that in future :D

[rawrbear 10]

Question in regards to this script(It seems pointless opening a new thread)

How would I remove the object "_bomb" from the world?

I've tried "deleteVehicle _bomb;" but that doesn't seem to work. Any help would be appreciated. Also if anyone can point me to a guide to creating conversation that would be lovely.

[Charles Darwin 10]

When you see a _ infront of a word it means that that variable is local to that script so you would have to make the _bomb a global variable

The real questions is what are you attempting to do by deleting _bomb

[rawrbear 10]

I want to remove it from the world.

Basically I have a trigger with the on activation doing "_nil = [iED0_1] execVM "IED.sqf";"

IED.sqf is more or less what I posted in the OP with changes made as suggested earlier.

IED0_1 in this case is the name of an object I have near the trigger so that when the trigger is "tripped" it spawns an explosion just above the object. I want the object to be removed after the explosion is triggered as right now it still remains after the blast and looks rather silly.

I was under the impression(based on how other stuff works) if I refer to _bomb it refers back to the object I passed to the script so in the case of the code mentioned earlier

deleteVehicle _bomb;

Would delete the object named IED0_1 from the world.

After redoing it, it seems to work now without a hitch I've no idea why it wasn't working last night. Happy times

Edited June 25, 2011 by rawrbear

[demonized 20]

you cannot delete world items, mostly.

as they are part of the map.

what is _bomb(IED0_1) and how is it placed wherever it is?

[rawrbear 10]

I didn't mean a world item such as a building or a tree I meant one I'd placed with the editor. Sorry about the confusion :S

Well in once instance it's an empty vehicle in others it's one of the IED items that were added with BAF and in others it's just a box but I seem to have it sorted now anyway :D

Don't suppose anyone has a link to a good guide on creating conversations for between the PC and NPC's?

[demonized 20]

alright, if you have placed a object in editor and that is correctly called to the script, (i asume the explosion goes as planned on the objects position) then deleteVehicle _bomb should delete the object, in some cases if its a vehicle with crew inside, you need to delete the crew first like this, even though you dont see the crew:

{deleteVehicle _x} foreach crew _bomb;
deleteVehicle _bomb;

[rawrbear 10]

I've got it all working now, though I think I'll put in a new variable with an if statement so I can leave vehicles wrecks but still remove other objects, that should be simple enough.

2 questions though:

In the code you just posted what does "_x" refer to, or mean?

Also is there a way to detect which unit cause a trigger to activate? So that I can have an NPC driven convoy come along and when the explosion is triggered it detects the vehicle that triggered it and removes the crew from that one only?

[demonized 20]

the _x is uniqe to foreach, more info here:

http://community.bistudio.com/wiki/forEach

thisList (only working directly in the trigger, but can be passed to a script ofc)

or list triggername contains the units that activated the trigger.

[rawrbear 10]

That really handy. One final question(that I can think of just now)

What happens if I don't bother passing data into a script that the script requires but have already gave it a default value? Does this cause issues(yes I know it's bad coding ha)

For instance if I have

_remove = 0

_bomb = _this select 0;
_remove = _this select 1;

At the start but I only do [iED0_1] execVM "IED.sqf"; in my trigger. Would _remove still remain as 0? Or would this cause issues?

[demonized 20]

there is issues with replacing types with other types:

_var = "string";

_var = "newString";

works fine,

_var = "string";

_var = 956;

will probably cause errror.

_var = "string";

_var = [something];

error as well.

but using the names placed in name window in editor will work just fine.

deleteVehicle IED0_1;

edit:

_remove = nameofObject1;
_remove = _this select 0;// now _remove is nameofNewObject.

[twirly 11]

You can do something like this. If you don't supply the second paramater to the script it will default to 0.

_bomb = _this select 0;
_remove = if (count _this >1) then {_this select 1} else {0};

Edited June 25, 2011 by twirly
Clarity