SwitchableDecoration... not switching

[Grey-Wolf]

Hello guys,
I'm trying to make a smoke flare that can be picked up again after lighting it up and throwing it to the ground, so the players can move around with the lit flare in their hands.
To do this I made the following actor:

Code: Select all

Actor ActiveFlare : switchabledecoration
{
	Radius 6
	Height 6
	Projectile
	Speed 13
    Damage (random (10, 10))
	Damagetype Fire
    Gravity 0.7
	Projectile
	+MISSILE
    -NOGRAVITY
    -BLOODSPLATTER
	-EXTREMEDEATH
	+BOUNCEONFLOORS
	+BOUNCEONWALLS
	+BOUNCEONCEILINGS
	-NOTELEPORT
	+THRUSPECIES
	+USESPECIAL
	Activation THINGSPEC_Activate
	Species "Marines"
	BounceFactor 0.5
	WallBounceFactor 0.25
    Health 5
    SeeSound "GRNBNCE"
	DeathSound "none"
  scale 0.5
  Radius 15
  Height 11
  +touchy
  States
  {
  Spawn:
    FLAR F 0 Bright
    FLAR F 0 Bright 
	
	Midair:
    FFLA ABCDEFGHABCDEFGHGFGHG 2 Bright
	
	Death:
	FFLA P 0 Bright A_PlaySoundEx("Flare/Loop", "SoundSlot7", 1, -1)
    FFLA PQ 2 Bright
	loop
	
	Active:
	FFLA P 0
	FFLA P 1 ACS_NamedExecute("PICKFLARE")
	TNT1 A -1
	Stop
	
  }
}

Thing is, nothing is happening when I press "use" near it. Since it won't even disappear (that TNT1 A -1 then STOP command) I'm guessing that the problem is not in the script, but rather in the jump to the "Active" state not being made.

Why is it? Is it because I press use after the projectile dies? Shouldn't it activate anyway since I didn't use the THINGSPEC_NoDeathSpecial?

Is it because missiles can't be activated? In that case what could be a possible solution? I was thinking of creating another actor to be spawned from the death state of this one, and make that switchable, but wouldn't it lose all its current speed, velocity etc.?

[Graf Zahl]

How are you controlling the activation? It is not automatic - SwitchableDecoration requires calling Thing_Activate to jump to the "active" state.

[Grey-Wolf]

It's there, just below the +USESPECIAL flag. Unless you're talking about something else

[Graf Zahl]

Did you set the special in the editor? You still need to put the Thing_Activate on the thing in the map.

[Grey-Wolf]

It's not a thing in the map, it's an actor in DECORATE, a projectile thrown by the player.

This is part of another actor I made, for a crafting station:

Code: Select all

ACTOR RecombinerStart : SwitchableDecoration
{
	Game Doom
	Radius 20
	Height 30
	ProjectilePassHeight -16
	+SOLID
	+USESPECIAL
	+SHOOTABLE
	+NOBLOOD
	+NOTARGET
	+INVULNERABLE
	Activation THINGSPEC_Activate | THINGSPEC_NoDeathSpecial
	States
	{
	Spawn:
		RECS A 10
		RECS ABCDEFGHILMNOPQ 2


	////////////	
	//EMPTY ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
	///////////
	
	Empty:
		RECO ABCDEFGHILMNOPQRSTUV 1
		TNT1 A 0 A_checkproximity("basic1", "basicvial", 50, 1)
		TNT1 A 0 A_checkproximity("acid1", "acidvial", 50, 1)
		TNT1 A 0 A_checkproximity("neutral1", "neutralvial", 50, 1)
		TNT1 A 0 A_checkproximity("glassx2", "emptyvial", 50, 2)
		TNT1 A 0 A_checkproximity("cloth1", "fabric", 50, 1)
		loop

	Active:
	RECS QPONMLIHGFEDCBA 2
	TNT1 A 0 A_Spawnitem("Recombinerpickup")
	Stop
	
	//
	//
	//

In this case, when I press use next to the actor, it properly goes to its "Active state", so it does work. The flare in the first post instead doesn't, even though it's coded in a pretty similar way. So I think some of the flags are to blame. But I'm not having any luck in finding out what's the cause.

[Grey-Wolf]

I've tried other things to avoid bumping this post annoying the moderators, but I still didn't find a soulution... sigh

[ketmar]

this is "projectile" in effect. it is a "combo flag", and it sets "+noblockmap" flag. obviously, you cannot activate something that doesn't really exist in collision grid. do you even need a full projectile combo here?

also note that you repeated "projectile" two times there, so make sure to remove both.

[Grey-Wolf]

I solved making the projectile disappear after a couple of seconds after death, then replacing it with an identical looking actor that's not a projectile, and can be activated. Maybe not the most elegant way to do it, but seems to be working fine.

[ketmar]

still, why do you need a "projectile" at all? do you need all those flags set (including "noblockmap")?