Randomize time point from which the music track is played

[erem2k 10]

Hello, fellow scripters, I ran into problem while trying to make my idea work in-game

Situation:

SP mission, player has a wheeled vehicle at their disposal, which has playMusic command in it's init, strapped to it via addAction. AddAction only shows up when player is in the driver's seat (if() check). What playMusic does, is starts playing recorded radio broadcast (~1 hour) for the ambience. As it is known, playMusic starts to play track from it's beginning. What do I want, is that every time addAction is activated, broadcast starts playing at it's random time point (1.30, 8.55, etc.) so it creates an impression of the real radio broadcast.

I had an idea of butchering whole broadcast into different tracks, which will be randomly selected every time addAction is activated, but I wonder if there is a smarter way of randomizing starting time point of broadcast playback.

Many thanks if you took your time reading trough all of this.

Edited July 13, 2014 by Erem2k

[IT07 10]

Splitting the track into small sections and then let the script select one is actually a very bright idea and that would also be the closest you will get to your idea.

So, do it :)

[Larrow 2819]

PlayMusic already has a option for start time, never used it so not sure if it actually works but check out the command on the wiki.

Then all you need is time (how long the mission has been going) mod (%) by the length of the track in seconds (~ 1 hour *60 *60 = 3600 ).

playMusic ["myTrack", (time % trackLength)];

if your mission has been going for 30 minutes (1800 seconds), 1800 % 3600 = 1800 <- start time.

if your mission has been going for 1 hour 20 minutes (4800 seconds), 4800 % 3600 = 1200 <- start time.

Edited July 13, 2014 by Larrow
added link to mod command

[erem2k 10]

PlayMusic already has a option for start time, never used it so not sure if it actually works but check out the command on the wiki.

Then all you need is time (how long the mission has been going) mod (%) by the length of the track in seconds (~ 1 hour *60 *60 = 3600 ).

playMusic ["myTrack", (time % trackLength)];

if your mission has been going for 30 minutes (1800 seconds), 1800 % 3600 = 1800 <- start time.

if your mission has been going for 1 hour 20 minutes (4800 seconds), 4800 % 3600 = 1200 <- start time.

Hmm, definitely interesting, gonna try it out as soon as I get to my PC. I'll post results in this thread

[IT07 10]

-- snipped -- I'm not having a bright day today lol.

[erem2k 10]

PlayMusic already has a option for start time, never used it so not sure if it actually works but check out the command on the wiki.

Then all you need is time (how long the mission has been going) mod (%) by the length of the track in seconds (~ 1 hour *60 *60 = 3600 ).

playMusic ["myTrack", (time % trackLength)];

if your mission has been going for 30 minutes (1800 seconds), 1800 % 3600 = 1800 <- start time.

if your mission has been going for 1 hour 20 minutes (4800 seconds), 4800 % 3600 = 1200 <- start time.

Yes, it worked perfectly fine, never even looked into command's syntax, maybe due to my dumbness :D. Huge thanks for clarifying this one!

-- snipped -- I'm not having a bright day today lol.

Me neither :c

[IT07 10]

Wait I was having a tiny bright moment for a sec: What if a player fails the mission a few times at the same timestamp, (which isn't a small chance)

he/she will get almost the same sound every time. So, if you really want to make sure that they won't hear the same stuff every time, you should use the method you described yourself: cut track in pieces and use a switch do with random command.

I have a code example, will post that later if you need it.

[Larrow 2819]

What if a player fails the mission a few times at the same timestamp, he/she will get almost the same sound every time.

Your determined to get Erem2k to split his track up :)

randomStartTime = floor (random trackLength)
playMusic ["myTrack", ((time + randomStartTime) % trackLength)];

Joking aside there maybe benefits to splitting the track by decreasing the size loaded into memory but would need experimenting with to see how much difference it would actually make.

[IT07 10]

True, true. That might be another thing to take into consideration.

[barbolani 198]

...he/she will get almost the same....

Unnecesary typing ;)