New Mission Makers.

[Op4 BuhBye 0]

I see alot of scripting questions in these forums. That is fine, Its why the forum is here.

But 80% of the things I see posted for scripting are only complicating a easy prosess.

There is almost no end to the power of what you can do with a "PublicVariable" and Triggers. Most of people asking for a script can use these very easy tools provided and do the same thing with far less headache.

Most every scripting command will work in a trigger and I cant overstate the power in Variables. You can make 50 different things happen at once with 1 Variable.

So before you look here for a script read the Wiki on these 2 things. You will be amazed at what you can do without a script!

[Albert Schweitzer 10]

I agree, however I see a different thing being even more important. The topic of the thread should be precise and not something like "I need help with my mission". I recently try to learn scripting and therefore often use the search function. But searching only makes sense if I search for TOPIC TITLES instead of Titles and posts.

Besides, the issue you are talking about is already somewhat covered in the first pinned thread above.

[Op4 BuhBye 0]

Yes it is covered but I wanted to revisit it not only for new mission makers but also, For advanced makers as well. I know that once you learn to script you can get caught up in "ok how should I write this script" and you tend to over look the easy and basic powers, 2 hours later you say "YES!" when you could have done it in 2 minutes.

Alot of the advice I see in here is scripting when a trigger could have done the same thing easier!

Sometimes we all need a wakeup call to get back to basics. I am always glad when someone says to me " Why are you doing it that way? This is easier!"

[Tom_Anger 0]

I took this advice a while back and it makes the mission design process much easier and by taking baby steps one can develop simple, yet functional missions.  Beginners need to take this approach.  I think some can get confused on what scripts are vs triggers.  Some think asking for a script is asking for the line of code needed to accomplish something (whether it be used in a trigger or for a script file).  Others think asking for a script is to ask for someone to point them to a file or files to accomplish something (makes sense if it has already been done - can save time).  So when asking for the logic be specific.  I have been at fault in this area before and it can get frustrating for the asker and those who have the know-how.

A question I did have is based on what I have heard with triggers.  If a trigger is initiated by a player (like a base capture) and it is to display for all players (like a hint or something like that), if you have 64 players won't this take a while to hit all clients?  

Just trying to put this all together based on what I have heard.  There are reasons why you would choose a script over trigger logic so to be efficient would make sense, but how does one determine when it is appropriate to choose one over the other?  I guess through testing may be the answer.  Since this is a thread for friendly advice I felt the need to piggy back with my questions as a beginner mission maker.

[Moktar 0]

Totally agree with Op4 BuhBye. I read a lot of scripts and in 80% of cases, I wonder why the guy wrote a awful, unstructured and uncommented script whereas the use of two mouse clic would have done the same thing

The efficiency of scripts vs triggers (for example) is a BAD reason, I think. Even if a script detects an "event" (seized by, or whatever), all the players MUST be informed of that, like triggers does it in automatic.

In OFP, I keep in memory some actions that were totally desynchronized between players due to scripts usage...

I think script should be avoided and reserved for local usage. In some case, scripts are useful but the first thing we should NOT do is starting with scripts. The design of a mission should be done with the mission editor, in my opinion.

[hund 0]

I know next to nothing about scripts and scripting, so I've always been forced to use triggers in one form or another. If you put your head to it, you can accomplish a whole host of things with a couple of triggers and a little civvie dude running around.

Even better, incorporate your mission sytem mechanics (or whatever) into you mission and they'll play a dual role without the players ever realizing that the pile of trash over there is actually whats making it rain right now (for example).

It's all about creating solutions with what you have, which is one of the reasons I love mission editing.

[Jack-UK 0]

I dont know why, but i find the Wiki much much more harder to read/use while making missions.

I am a completely noobyish mission designer (only created 2 missions for ArmA..) and i just cant seem to find much useful info in the Wiki, i KNOW its all there but its hard to identify it. For example, if im looking for a command to do something, i have to try and think of what the command *could* be named and then i look at the list of commands and see if i can find it. Quite often its quite difficult. And i just cant seem to be able to implement it flawlessly, i end up looking around to see what certain parts of the code mean etc.

The forums are really useful because you can describe your exact problem and get help with it, in plain english most of the time :P

I know that i would be getting NOWHERE without this forum, its great. Though i do agree that thread titles should be more specific and that if there is a question it should be structured as well as possible

[BLSmith2112 0]

There's also a FAQ... But I don't even know what a variable even is :/

[Op4 BuhBye 0]

I think that we can get so hung up in the technical that we can actually decrease the performance of a mission with too many scripts!

If you learn how to control if a trigger is local or global the sky is the limit. Idealy I think you need to find the balance of triggers and scripts for the best performance but I see all the time scripts used where a simple trigger could have done it way easier!

Honestly I think there are some amazing scripters out there that dont have the first clue of the power in a trigger.

[baddo 0]

Yup.

I have even seen a mission editing competition where scripts were a requirement, can you imagine that? I have also seen scripts as one important factor in guidelines how to give a user-submitted mission a score, on some website... I don't know what that has got to do with a good mission... when I am playing an OFP/ArmA mission I don't care if it has zero or 1000 scripts, it is the experience that I get from playing the mission that matters and not what is under the hood.

But. If you think about it. Is it easier to use the mission editor to insert all the details of your mission instead of writing a script? I find it is both easier and faster to write a script than to insert a couple of triggers, waypoints and put some code into them. But this varies from person to person I am sure of that. I just find the mission editor slow to use compared to writing a script file. (Point-and-click, then type code) * 10 is slow compared to just typing code into a file.