-- see more --

BR3NT explains a little bit about scripting - and the basics of creating a syntax

SCRIPTING 101

First Of I Have To say If You Have Issues With This Stuff I Can Give Limited Support.[I Have Used This Many Times And It Works]
The Forums Will Help You Anyways...Always Ask There.
This Tutorial Assumes You Have Some Scripting Knowledge...If Not Go Read The Tutorials.

Today... Lets Use A Function. For Those Of You Who Are New To Scripting.
A Function Is Like a Tool That A Script Uses For Different Purposes.
A Function Can Be Designed For A Specific Entity, Or Designed To Serve Many Entities.
They Can Even Be Designed To Perform Only One Action, Or Many Actions.
They Can Be called From Within A Script Or From Another External Script.

Ex: maps\_load::main();

Where main() Is A Function Located In A Script Named _load That Is Located in a Folder Named maps

A Function Is Its Own Entity In The Script With Its Own Name.
Today We Will Be Looking At The Function "attack_move_node" A Function From Within The Game Scripts That Tells An AI-Actor To Fight Its Way To A Goal Node.
Its A Sweet Deal For Juicing Up Your Single-Player Levels.
Here Is The Function Breakdown.
attack_move_node Is The Main function Name.

nSoldier, fWaitMin, fWaitMax, fClosureRate, nGoalNode, fStartRadius, And fEndRadius
Are Variables That The Function Uses.


fWaitMin, fWaitMax, fClosureRate, fStartRadius, fEndRadius Have Default Settings.
nSoldier, nGoalNode Must Be Defined In Your Script.

attack_move_node(nSoldier, fWaitMin, fWaitMax, fClosureRate, nGoalNode, fStartRadius, fEndRadius)

nSoldier = the soldier - This Can Also Be Applied To An Array Or Group Of Ai-Actors
fWaitMin = wait at least this many seconds before advancing (default 0.5)
fWaitMax = wait no more than this many seconds before advancing (default 2.5)
fClosureRate = pare down the goalradius by this amount (use values < 1) (default 0.85)
nGoalNode = variable assigned goalnode (required, get this just before calling attack_move_node)
fStartRadius = initial goalradius of the soldier (default 1200, or set on node or in call)
fEndRadius = final goalradius of the soldier (default 512, or set directly in call)

Using The Function:

Say I Had An array Or Group Of Soilders I Wanted To Execute The Function.
I Would Do This:
Add Some Ai-Actors To My Map.
Give Them All The Same target Name. I'm Using my_ai As A Targetname For The Example.

Put A Node Where They Will Fight There Way Toward.For The Example I Named Mine my_ai_node

Make Sure Path Nodes Create A Path So They Can Get To It.

I Would Call The Attack Function By Creating My Own Function.
Ex:


Code:my_soldiers()
{
mySoldiers = getentarray("my_ai","targetname");
nGoalNode = getnode ("my_ai_node","targetname");
for(i=0; i<mySoldiers.size; i++)
{
level thread attack_move_node(mySoldiers[i], 0.5, 2.5, 0.85, nGoalNode, 1200, 512);
}
}

And Calling It Like This: thread my_soldiers();
When I Want It To Execute.

Below Is The Function 'attack_move_node' . If You Really Examine The function You Can See That Its Not Too Difficult To Grasp.

Code:
attack_move_node(nSoldier, fWaitMin, fWaitMax, fClosureRate, nGoalNode, fStartRadius, fEndRadius)
{
    nSoldier endon("death");
    if(!isdefined(nGoalNode))
    {
    maps\_utility::error("Missing a goal node.");
    }
    if(isdefined(nGoalNode.radius) && !isdefined(fStartRadius))
    {
    fStartRadius = nGoalNode.radius;
    }
    if(!isdefined(fStartRadius))
    {
    fStartRadius = 1200;
    }
     if(!isdefined(fWaitMin))
    {
     fWaitMin = 0.5;
    }
    if(!isdefined(fWaitMax))
    {
    fWaitMax = 2.5;
    }
    if(!isdefined(fClosureRate))
    {
    fClosureRate = 0.85;
    }
    if(isdefined(fEndRadius))       
    {
    fDestRadius = fEndRadius;
    }
    else
    {
    fDestRadius = 512;       
    }
    wait (randomfloatrange(0.5,2.25));
    nSoldier setgoalnode(nGoalNode);
    nSoldier.goalradius = fStartRadius;
    while(nSoldier.goalradius > fDestRadius)
    {
      wait (randomfloatrange(fWaitMin,fWaitMax));
      nSoldier.goalradius = nSoldier.goalradius * fClosureRate;
      nSoldier waittill("goal");  
    }
}

Scripting Is Fun
This Stuff Is Hard In The Beginning But If You Can Grasp Scripting You Can Open Up A Whole New Level Of Adding To Your Games. I Dig It.
Anyways Guys Thats It For Scripting 101.."attack_move_node"
Stay Tuned... Maybe I Will Get Motivated And Do More.

Well Sorry For Any Mistakes ...

Hope This Helps Someone...




Sometimes When I view The Forums ..In The Code Boxes I sometimes see the symbol < br />.I Know What They Are But Dont Know Why I see Them.Anyhow

If You Copy And Paste Code and see These In Your Script Delete Them, Thanx.