Randomly spawned items and monsters?

lizardcommando · Post by **lizardcommando** » Tue Oct 03, 2006 12:08 am

Hey guys, I need help with some DECORATE stuff again.

Alright, if anyone's played the EDGE version of Immoral Conduct, sometimes items or monsters would randomly spawn. Now how would I be able to do this with DECORATE?

I have 4 different kinds of armor that I want in my mod. One gives 50% armor, another gives 100% armor, the third armor gives 150% armor and the last one gives 200% armor.

How would I have it so that the green armor can randomly spawn one of the four armors when the level starts? Could this method be applied for random monster spawning?

Kinsie · Post by **Kinsie** » Tue Oct 03, 2006 4:40 am

This is done by replacing the original armor pickup with an object that uses A_Jump to randomly jump to a frame where it drops an item, then vanishes.

See either WildWeasel's (i'm tired and think that's his name) The Stranger, or Deathz0r's OMG Weapons And Monsters for an example.

Amuscaria · Post by **Amuscaria** » Tue Oct 03, 2006 7:05 am

Make your spawnstate something like this:

Spawn:
ARM1 A 0 A_Jump(85,5)
ARM1 A 0 A_Jump(85,6)
ARM1 A 0 A_Jump(85,7)
ARM1 A 0 A_SpawnnItem("item1",0,0)
stop;
ARM1 A 0 A_SpawnnItem("item2",0,0)
stop;
ARM1 A 0 A_SpawnnItem("item3",0,0)
stop;
ARM1 A 0 A_SpawnnItem("item4",0,0)
stop;

Post by **TheDarkArchon** » Tue Oct 03, 2006 7:09 am

Fixed:

Code: Select all

Spawn: 
ARM1 A 0 A_Jump(64,4) 
ARM1 A 0 A_Jump(64,4) 
ARM1 A 0 A_Jump(64,4) 
ARM1 A 0 A_SpawnnItem("item1",0,0) 
stop 
ARM1 A 0 A_SpawnnItem("item2",0,0) 
stop
ARM1 A 0 A_SpawnnItem("item3",0,0) 
stop
ARM1 A 0 A_SpawnnItem("item4",0,0) 
stop //STOP's don't count in jumps nor need a semicolon. Also there are 4 outcomes so each needs a 1 in 4 ~= 64 in 255 chance in occuring for the outcome to be fair

Amuscaria · Post by **Amuscaria** » Tue Oct 03, 2006 7:10 am

damn it, I always forget about that.

HotWax · Post by **HotWax** » Tue Oct 03, 2006 7:25 am

Fixed again:

Code: Select all

Spawn: 
ARM1 A 0 A_Jump(128,4) 
ARM1 A 0 A_Jump(128,2) 
ARM1 A 0 A_SpawnnItem("item1",0,0) 
stop 
ARM1 A 0 A_SpawnnItem("item2",0,0) 
stop 
ARM1 A 0 A_Jump(128,2) 
ARM1 A 0 A_SpawnnItem("item3",0,0) 
stop 
ARM1 A 0 A_SpawnnItem("item4",0,0)
stop
// Now each item has an equal chance of spawning

lizardcommando · Post by **lizardcommando** » Tue Oct 03, 2006 11:56 am

Hmm, ok. I'll go test this out. BTW, what do the zeros mean in the SpawnItem part?

ARM1 A 0 A_SpawnnItem("item1",0,0)

Post by **Ryan Cordell** » Tue Oct 03, 2006 12:29 pm

First 0 digit means Distance, second 0 digit means Z-Position. Fourth digit would mean the new Translation bool. I think third digit is the spawnactor_xy thing..

Anakin S. · Post by **Anakin S.** » Tue Oct 03, 2006 12:43 pm

A distance of 0 actually means that it will be spawned just outside of the radius of the spawner. A distance of 1 means that it will be spawned 1 map unit away from the center of the spawner.

lizardcommando · Post by **lizardcommando** » Tue Oct 03, 2006 5:52 pm

Ok, I keep getting an error when trying to get this thing to work. I've applied the coding for a random pistolammo spawner and I keep getting an error saying that the A_Jump offset is out of bounds or something. What's that mean and how do I fix it?

HotWax · Post by **HotWax** » Tue Oct 03, 2006 6:02 pm

It means you're trying to jump too far. Make sure you are counting frames and not lines for your jump commands.

In other words, this works:

Code: Select all

see:
TNT1 A 0 A_Jump(128, 6)
TNT1 ABCDE 5 A_Chase
TNT1 F A_Chase
goto see

It works because ABCDEF and are frames, so it would jump to the F frame 50% of the time.

This doesn't work:

Code: Select all

spawn:
TNT1 A 5 A_Jump(128, 2)
TNT1 B 5 A_Look
goto spawn

The goto statement is not counted as a frame, therefore the jump tries to go out of the current state.

lizardcommando · Post by **lizardcommando** » Tue Oct 03, 2006 6:06 pm

Hmm, so do I have to have to change this zero than to some other number? The bold faced zero being the number I change.

ARM1 A 0 A_SpawnItem("item4",0,0)

Or is it that I have to change the number in the A_Jump code?

HotWax · Post by **HotWax** » Tue Oct 03, 2006 6:10 pm

Change the second number in the A_Jump code. The 0 you have bolded is the duration that frame is displayed. A 0 means "don't actually display this frame, just activate the code pointer"

lizardcommando · Post by **lizardcommando** » Tue Oct 03, 2006 6:12 pm

Ah, alright. I'll go try fiddling with that. Thanks.

Risen · Post by **Risen** » Thu Oct 19, 2006 10:47 am

HotWax wrote:// Now each item has an equal chance of spawning

Could also be done without rearranging frames:

Code: Select all

ARM1 A 0 A_Jump(64,4) // 1 in 4: 25% chance
ARM1 A 0 A_Jump(85,4) // 1 in 3: 1/3 of remaining 75% chance == 25%
ARM1 A 0 A_Jump(128,4) // 1 in 2: 1/2 of remaining 50% == 25%
// leaving last 25% here.

I find this easier when the number of outcomes is considerably longer, and/or not easily divisible.