[SOLVED] Look for nearby monsters?

[Vincent(PDP)]

Hi!
This is a rather odd question, but I want a script that is able to look for any kind monsters that are in a certain range from the player.
I need to be able to get the monsters' x, y and z coordinates, and perhaps also it's angle.

My solution so far is trying to create a script that launches some invisible projectiles which will make the monsters go in a certain pain state when hit that activates a script. (The projectile only hurts 1HP).

Pretty much any solution is acceptable, except for creating a custom game engine.
Also note that I want this to be working in Zandronum (ZDoom 2.5.0), and in multiplayer for different players.

Thank you in advance.

[kodi]

you can put A_JumpIfInTargetLos in the first frame of every monster state and have it jump to an intermediate state ("CloseToPlayer" or something) where a script is called that adds the monster to an ACS list for example, and from that state you go to a duplicate of See(not necessarily but most likely at least) called CloseSee. CloseSee is identical to See, but loops through A_JumpIfInTargetLos pointing to itself - and if it returns false, it goes to a second intermediate state("nolongerclose") where it removes itself from the list. From NoLongerClose it returns to the normal See state.

[Vincent(PDP)]

you can put A_JumpIfInTargetLos in the first frame of every monster state and have it jump to an intermediate state ("CloseToPlayer" or something) where a script is called that adds the monster to an ACS list for example, and from that state you go to a duplicate of See(not necessarily but most likely at least) called CloseSee. CloseSee is identical to See, but loops through A_JumpIfInTargetLos pointing to itself - and if it returns false, it goes to a second intermediate state("nolongerclose") where it removes itself from the list. From NoLongerClose it returns to the normal See state.

Thanks, but does A_JumpIfInTargetLos exist in ZDoom 2.5.0?
Also sorry for being unclear about it, but I want this to be compatible with the most wads. Your solution sounds good but to make it compatible with for example DOOM2 and also other WADS/PWADS it needs to be as little editing as possible to the monsters.

I just posted my temporary and WIP solution's code here: http://zandronum.com/forum/showthread.p ... 9#pid81449
if you want to take a look of what I've done so far.

[RaveYard]

Well, you could...

---

Give each monster a unique TID and then check the distance from player for each TID.

The good: it will work for every monster always
The bad: each TID must be unique and It might get laggy or something if you have like 8000 monsters.

---

Give each monster some kind of TID and then check the distance from player for each actor within all TID's.

The good: You can have same TID on all (or few) monsters
The bad: Something about keeping the TID of the actor... my brain is not working properly... sorry...

---

Make a friendly actor which spawns at the player's position and looks 360° around and jumps into some state calling a script which could then set it's activator to the target and you could do that to work with the monster.

The good: no work on the monsters or their TID's is necessary.
The bad: the detector actor isn't 100% reliable to see every single monster... it could keep looking at the same one.

---

Run a script on every single monster which would check the distance against the player...
This would allow you to ignore the monster's TID but you would have to keep the monster as the script's activator...

The good: no TID change necessary
The bad: you have to somehow run the script on each monster, which could take too much memory with thousands of monsters... and if you want to keep the TID of the monster, you have to keep it as activator of the script. Ofcourse, you can change the activator of script temporarily and then return it back to the monster if necessary.

If you are going to have more than one player, don't forget to check for each one.

I'd go with option 2, because it doesn't require any changes to the monsters or their TID's. But It doesn't work with friendly monsters.
Also, I didn't bother to go into details on how some parts work, so if you need, I will try to explain them.

[Vincent(PDP)]

Well, you could...

---

Give each monster a unique TID and then check the distance from player for each TID.

The good: it will work for every monster always
The bad: each TID must be unique and It might get laggy or something if you have like 8000 monsters.

---

Give each monster some kind of TID and then check the distance from player for each actor within all TID's.

The good: You can have same TID on all (or few) monsters
The bad: Something about keeping the TID of the actor... my brain is not working properly... sorry...

---

Make a friendly actor which spawns at the player's position and looks 360° around and jumps into some state calling a script which could then set it's activator to the target and you could do that to work with the monster.

The good: no work on the monsters or their TID's is necessary.
The bad: the detector actor isn't 100% reliable to see every single monster... it could keep looking at the same one.

---

Run a script on every single monster which would check the distance against the player...
This would allow you to ignore the monster's TID but you would have to keep the monster as the script's activator...

The good: no TID change necessary
The bad: you have to somehow run the script on each monster, which could take too much memory with thousands of monsters... and if you want to keep the TID of the monster, you have to keep it as activator of the script. Ofcourse, you can change the activator of script temporarily and then return it back to the monster if necessary.

If you are going to have more than one player, don't forget to check for each one.

I'd go with option 2, because it doesn't require any changes to the monsters or their TID's. But It doesn't work with friendly monsters.
Also, I didn't bother to go into details on how some parts work, so if you need, I will try to explain them.

No details required, I understand how I should go about.
Option 2 seems like the best one, yes. And don't worry about the friendly monsters. I only need to find the hostile ones.

I will try option 2 when I get time.


Thanks alot!

[Vincent(PDP)]

Thanks alot RaveYard!
I used option 2 to check for monsters, and it works perfectly!