Attack Script (multiple q's)

[defaultplayer]

OK, this is baby's first VBScript, so be kind and use lots of small words.    First I'll throw out the script and then detail the scenario.  Also, yes I have looked at the sword script example.  That one tends to use something very similar to the shooting script, which is a bit complicated for this.

Code: [Select]

' VBScript source code
'////////////////////////////////
'Test Attack Script
'///////////////////////////////
MsgBox "TEST"
Sub Player_OnControllerMove(OldActions, NewActions)
Select Case ProjectObj.Gameplayer.rMap.Name
Case "AttackTestMap.map"

If ((OldActions And eActionBits.ACTION_BUTTON1) = 0) AND _
((NewActions And eActionBits.ACTION_BUTTON1) <> 0) Then
Set NewSpr = ProjectObj.GamePlayer.rMap.SpriteDefs("Weapon").MakeInstance
With ProjectObj.GamePlayer.PlayerSprite
.rDef.rLayer.AddSprite HostObj.AsObject(NewSpr)
NewSpr.Y = .Y -16
NewSpr.CurState = .CurState
Select Case .CurState
Case 0,2
NewSpr.X = .X - 128
Case 1,3
NewSpr.X = .X + 128
End Select
End With
End If
End Select
End Sub
HostObj.SinkObjectEvents ProjectObj.GamePlayer, "Player"
HostObj.ConnectEventsNow()
ProjectObj.GamePlayer.Play 16
I modified this script slightly from several other attack scripts (mainly from Samurai Blade, Artifact, and Dark Elf).  But I can't get it to work in a test project.  The player sprite is 128x128 and named "Player1" with a sprite definition of "Player" the "Weapon" definition has an instance of "SwordSwing" with a total of 15 frames of 32x64 tiles at a really slow animation speed.  Both are Left/Right sprites.  The Player doesn't change to a new sprite in this (although he will in the final project); all the graphics are crude placeholders atm.

1) For a melee weapon attack that goes off the playersprite tile: Does the "swordswing" tile need to be the same size as the player sprite? 

2) Is there a minimum number of frames the "swordswing" animation needs to be?

3) Using the line .Curstate line, does the NewSrp offset refer to the player sprite's tile size or the "Weapon" tile size. IE should the .X offset be 32/-32 or 128/-128.

According to the MsgBox, the script is running, but nothing happens when I hit any of the action buttons.  I know this is probably just something really simple that I've missed, but for the life of me, I can't find it.  The problem with reverse engineering other peoples' scripts is that most of them aren't documented well, and I'm never sure if there's a line buried in another section of the code that's a missing link.  The price for not really understanding what I'm doing

Thanks in advance

[bluemonkmn]

I don't know if I'll get to all your questions right now, but I will give you a couple tips.  You should first of all find out just how far it is getting.  If MsgBox worked well for you, try moving it around to see exactly which code doesn't execute.  If MsgBox doesn't work so well for you, you can do something drastic like CurrentDisplay.Close, which will cause a bunch of errors, but at least you will know it reached that line of code.  Oh, and probably the best option is to copy the code that's in the sticky topic at the top of this forum for helping you debug scripts.  One thing I suspect might be the problem is the map name.  While the map file name had a ".map" on the end, people don't usually put the ".map" on the end of the actual name in the project, but maybe you did, in which case that's not the problem.

To answer what I can of your questions:
1) I don't think you need to make the weapon the same size as long as you can account for its position properly in script.  Just keep in mind that all sprite positions represent where the top-left corner of the sprite is.
2) I think the minimum would be 1
3) One of each I think.  When you want to position the weapon to the left of the player, you have to subtract the width of the weapon from the position of the player to position the weapon directly next to the player.  When you want to position it to the right, you have to add the width of the player to the position of the player to position the wrapon directly to the right.

[defaultplayer]

Thanks.  I found the problem.  One of the projects I was referencing had the Select Case line running as a global.  I moved it inside the sub as {If ProjectObj.GamePlayer.rMap.Name="AttackTestMap"} and it worked.  Still trying to figure out what that person's reasoning was behind doing it that way.  Just in case I need something like that in the future.

Thanks for the reply.

[bluemonkmn]

Why they used a select case for just one test you mean?  Probably because most projects have a lot of maps, and a lot of them will want to allow you to perform the attack (or various attacks) and then it would work out better as a select case.

[defaultplayer]

Thanks for the help.  I have several of the attacks up and working (in theory).  Now I have another question.  When GameDev determines collision between sprites, does it determine collision for the entire sprite tile or just what's inside it?  For instance, I have a meele attack.  The player sprite animation for it is 5 frames of 128x128 tiles, but the sword only "breaks" the player sprite tile for 1 frame and then only in 32pixels of the "SwordSwing"s 128x128 sprite tile.  Currently, I have the other 4 frames of the "SwordSwing" break sprite set as "blank" tiles.  Do those blank tiles collide with enemy sprites?  Or is it only the 1 frame with the actual sword blade in it?  I've played with the size of the "SwordSwing" sprite (changed from 32->64->128 pixels), but it's hard to discern any difference.  Most of the time if I attack while the enemy sprite is inside that 128 pixel range, the enemy still collides with the player sprite.

Thanks again for all the help

[bluemonkmn]

Sprites only collide when non-transparent pixels of two sprites overlap.

[defaultplayer]

Ouch.  Thanks for the quick reply.  Looks like I have some reworking to do.