Multiple multiplayer objectives, tutorial

This tutorial will combine the ObjectiveExplosion and ObjectiveTheft objective tutorials into a map with multiple objectives of multiple types.

Oh yeah, you'll probably want to put the objective somewhere, so I recommend building a map, made up only of one small room ( To minimize compile times while you are learning ). All red words below are keywords that should not be changed, the rest you can change as much as you like.

This tutorial includes a complete set of .map .bsp and .scr files, that can be downloaded here: Attach:multiple_obj_test.zip ( 25 kb ).

1. Do the ObjectiveExplosion tutorial.
2. Do the ObjectiveTheft tutorial.
3. Get confused and wonder how to solve the win-conditions.
4. Smile and read on:

Use the exploder system's varaiable level.targets_destroyed and set the variable level.targets_to_destroy to 2 ( one bomb and one document ). This way there is no need to change the allies win method from the ObjectiveExplosion tutorial:

 // Allied victory test
 allies_win_bomb:
   // While undestroyed objectives left
   while(level.targets_destroyed < level.targets_to_destroy) {
     // chill out
     waitframe
   }
   // No objectives left allies win
   teamwin allies
 end // end allied victory test

But what about the document? Well... that needs a change from the ObjectiveTheft tutorial. The desk_document_check method from the ObjectiveTheft tutorial will work if you just replace the teamwin allies line with a line that just adds 1 to the level.targets_destroyed when a document is stolen:

 // Document checks
 desk_document_check:
   while(1) { // forever
     // Dont execute past this line
     // until someone triggers the object
     $documents_trigger waittill trigger
     // parm.other is the triggerer
     if(parm.other.dmteam == allies) {
       // Make the document graphix disappear
       $documents hide
       // Tell the win method that an
       // objective has been completed
       level.targets_destroyed ++ // ++ adds 1
       // break out of the while loop
       break
     }
     // protection against making this
     // thread use too much CPU
     waitframe
   }
 end // end document checks

OK, this will now work for any number of bomb objectives ( just add 1 to the level.targets_to_destroy for every bomb ) as the exploder system ( exploder.scr ) can handle this. But say you want to add another document theft objective, will that also work? Well, yes and no: Using the level.targets_destroyed will work for any number of objectives, but in the desk_document_check method we use use the command $documents hide to remove the documents from the game, and this makes the method specific to exactly one document. So lets make the method a bit more geneal to make it work with any number of documents ( or any trigger that makes someting disappear, it does not have to be documents ):

 document_check:
   while(1) { // forever
     // Dont execute past this line
     // until someone triggers the object
     self waittill trigger
     // parm.other is the triggerer
     if(parm.other.dmteam == allies) {
       // Make the document graphix disappear
       self.target hide
       // Tell the win method that an
       // objective has been completed
       level.targets_destroyed ++ // ++ adds 1
       break // out of while loop
     }
     waitframe // protection
   }
 end

So?... Whats the difference? Well; not a lot... the line $documents_trigger waittill trigger has been replaced with the line self waittill trigger, and the line $documents hide has been replaced with the line self.target hide.

So what is this self stuff? The self object can be set at the time the executing thread is created. Like this:

 $documents_trigger thread document_check

Creating a thread like this sets the self object to $documents_trigger. This makes the trigger accessible in the thread without the thread knowing what name the object has ( $documents_trigger ). So? Well: if you now add two more documents to the map, you just start a new thread for each of them, instead of writing a new method ( that will be almost identical ) for every document. Like this:

 $button_trigger thread document_check
 $horse_trigger thread document_check
 $n00b_trigger thread document_check
 $bad_name_trigger thread document_check

Just one more thing to make it work: the line self.target hide works because the trigger has been assigned a target that is the documents to hide when the trigger is activated ( if the object to hide has a targetname of hi_im_bob, then the trigger should have a target of hi_im_bob ).

Now you should have an idea of how to overrun your map with hords of the most cunning objectives. But dont do that. In a normal map, there should not be too many objectives ( unless you make up a new kind of objective where it does not hurt gameplay to acieve a lot of objectives ).

This tutorial includes a complete set of.map .bsp and .scr files, that can be downloaded here: Attach:multiple_obj_test.zip ( 25 kb ).

TEMPORARILY UNAVAILABLE

Multiple multiplayer objectives, tutorial

This tutorial will combine the ObjectiveExplosion and ObjectiveTheft objective tutorials into a map with multiple objectives of multiple types.

Oh yeah, you'll probably want to put the objective somewhere, so I recommend building a map, made up only of one small room ( To minimize compile times while you are learning ). All red words below are keywords that should not be changed, the rest you can change as much as you like.

This tutorial includes a complete set of .map .bsp and .scr files, that can be downloaded here: Attach:multiple_obj_test.zip ( 25 kb ).

1. Do the ObjectiveExplosion tutorial.
2. Do the ObjectiveTheft tutorial.
3. Get confused and wonder how to solve the win-conditions.
4. Smile and read on:

Use the exploder system's varaiable level.targets_destroyed and set the variable level.targets_to_destroy to 2 ( one bomb and one document ). This way there is no need to change the allies win method from the ObjectiveExplosion tutorial:

 // Allied victory test
 allies_win_bomb:
   // While undestroyed objectives left
   while(level.targets_destroyed < level.targets_to_destroy) {
     // chill out
     waitframe
   }
   // No objectives left allies win
   teamwin allies
 end // end allied victory test

But what about the document? Well... that needs a change from the ObjectiveTheft tutorial. The desk_document_check method from the ObjectiveTheft tutorial will work if you just replace the teamwin allies line with a line that just adds 1 to the level.targets_destroyed when a document is stolen:

 // Document checks
 desk_document_check:
   while(1) { // forever
     // Dont execute past this line
     // until someone triggers the object
     $documents_trigger waittill trigger
     // parm.other is the triggerer
     if(parm.other.dmteam == allies) {
       // Make the document graphix disappear
       $documents hide
       // Tell the win method that an
       // objective has been completed
       level.targets_destroyed ++ // ++ adds 1
       // break out of the while loop
       break
     }
     // protection against making this
     // thread use too much CPU
     waitframe
   }
 end // end document checks

OK, this will now work for any number of bomb objectives ( just add 1 to the level.targets_to_destroy for every bomb ) as the exploder system ( exploder.scr ) can handle this. But say you want to add another document theft objective, will that also work? Well, yes and no: Using the level.targets_destroyed will work for any number of objectives, but in the desk_document_check method we use use the command $documents hide to remove the documents from the game, and this makes the method specific to exactly one document. So lets make the method a bit more geneal to make it work with any number of documents ( or any trigger that makes someting disappear, it does not have to be documents ):

 document_check:
   while(1) { // forever
     // Dont execute past this line
     // until someone triggers the object
     self waittill trigger
     // parm.other is the triggerer
     if(parm.other.dmteam == allies) {
       // Make the document graphix disappear
       self.target hide
       // Tell the win method that an
       // objective has been completed
       level.targets_destroyed ++ // ++ adds 1
       break // out of while loop
     }
     waitframe // protection
   }
 end

So?... Whats the difference? Well; not a lot... the line $documents_trigger waittill trigger has been replaced with the line self waittill trigger, and the line $documents hide has been replaced with the line self.target hide.

So what is this self stuff? The self object can be set at the time the executing thread is created. Like this:

 $documents_trigger thread document_check

Creating a thread like this sets the self object to $documents_trigger. This makes the trigger accessible in the thread without the thread knowing what name the object has ( $documents_trigger ). So? Well: if you now add two more documents to the map, you just start a new thread for each of them, instead of writing a new method ( that will be almost identical ) for every document. Like this:

 $button_trigger thread document_check
 $horse_trigger thread document_check
 $n00b_trigger thread document_check
 $bad_name_trigger thread document_check

Just one more thing to make it work: the line self.target hide works because the trigger has been assigned a target that is the documents to hide when the trigger is activated ( if the object to hide has a targetname of hi_im_bob, then the trigger should have a target of hi_im_bob ).

Now you should have an idea of how to overrun your map with hords of the most cunning objectives. But dont do that. In a normal map, there should not be too many objectives ( unless you make up a new kind of objective where it does not hurt gameplay to acieve a lot of objectives ).

This tutorial includes a complete set of.map .bsp and .scr files, that can be downloaded here: Attach:multiple_obj_test.zip ( 25 kb ).