"How do I ZScript?"

[Matt]

Non-DECORATE-like features are not stable and not recommended to use, especially for a newbie.

Where is this idea coming from? What features in the current release build of GZDoom are considered "not stable and not recommended to use"?

I'm assuming "all ZScript not in the latest release"

[ZZYZX]

Non-DECORATE-like features are not stable and not recommended to use, especially for a newbie.

Where is this idea coming from? What features in the current release build of GZDoom are considered "not stable and not recommended to use"?

Event handlers, menus, statusbar (if any yet).
Especially event handlers. They are somewhat fixed compared to the very first merged version, but render part is still not decided.
Menus are somewhat complete but still subject to random modification according to what Graf said about devbuilds.

[Jaxxoon R]

So uh... is there a way to get a parent actor's pitch? It's probably one of the zscript actor functions that does it, but there's so many that I don't know where to look. I was thinking of giving a disc-shaped flatsprite projectile some depth using warped actors. For one of them I was simply using A_Warp and the COPYPITCH and it works really well for that one, but for the second I'll need to roll it to match the parent's pitch.

[ZZYZX]

You might want to use either my or Nash's code from this page that applies angle+pitch rotation to a flatsprite. It uses sector floor angle, but changing it to use angle/pitch variables from an actor is straightforward.
Also, parent's angles are received using master.angle/master.pitch/master.roll/whatever. Or target, or tracer, whatever you use for storing the parent pointer.

[Matt]

If I only need precision within 1 degree, but for possibly dozens of actors polling multiple times every tic, is it worth doing a lookup table for sine and cosine values? (I'm trying to keep a certain object directly in front of another at a fixed distance, or in other cases calculating a movement trajectory or a position relative to someone's FOV... well a lot of things really)

[Xaser]

Event handlers, menus, statusbar (if any yet).

I think the sentiment we ought to be expressing is "try to shy away from dev builds," then. "Non-DECORATE-like features" seemingly refers to a wide range of features (custom functions, structs, iterators, etc.) which are stable in the latest official build, and we certainly don't want to be discourage use and exploration of those.

[ZZYZX]

Yes. Sorry for the bad wording.

[Xaser]

It's cool -- we're on the same page, so all's well. I point these things out not to be a meanie-butt (though it probably comes across that way sometimes D:) but because we're kinda in that critical early phase where the adoption rate hasn't really taken off yet. I don't think ZScript's at any particular risk, but every bit helps.

*reminds self to continue working on his ZScript projects at some point.*

[Ed the Bat]

I know EventHandlers are new and still subject to change, and my grasp of them is very basic at this point anyway, but could I ask for help in making an event that plays with a keypress? For years now, I did this:
KEYCONF:

Code: Select all

addmenukey "Taunt" taunt
alias taunt "pukename MGTaunt"

ACS:

Code: Select all

script "MGTaunt"(void)
	{PlaySound(0,"*taunt",CHAN_VOICE);}

...and everything I can convert from ACS to ZScript is another victory in my book.

[Major Cooke]

ZZYZX seriously needs to write something about that in the wiki, for whatever is good to go. Everything else it's understandable that they remain undocumented, a la the rendering stuff, since they're bound to change.

[Nash]

Ed:

Download this file [ https://mantis.zdoom.org/file_download. ... 3&type=bug ] or if hot-linking doesn't work, go here and scroll down to the comments and download sprint key.pk3 [ https://mantis.zdoom.org/view.php?id=362 ]

(PS don't mind the bug thread, the bug is already fixed with the latest devbuilds, well at least from all my testing)

The jist of it is, you now bind your control to "event xxx" or "netevent xxx" (should be self-explanatory which is which I hope). You then create an EventHandler that checks for those things. Just look inside sprint key.pk3.

I forgot to setup a MENUDEF for it in my example WAD, so you have to bind the key yourself. Open the console and type bind Shift "netevent SprintKeyHandler". In a real project, you'd it up in the Controls menu in MENUDEF, or KEYCONF or whatever.

You must setup any event handlers you want to be enabled inside the MAPINFO. You can add as many EventHandlers as you want inside MAPINFO, it's not limited to just one.

[Ed the Bat]

Excellent, thank you! I've got a working EventHandler right now that replaces my old ACS ENTER script, but I was less certain about where to go from there on more complex things. Thanks again!

[Nash]

Do I understand this correctly that you cannot access the fields of a function return value directly?

Code: Select all

class A : ZombieMan
{

    Vector2 v2;

    Vector2 GetVec2(void)
    {
        return v2;
    }

    void DoSomething(void)
    {
        Vector2 cool;
        Vector3 blah;

        cool = GetVec2();

        // not possible
        blah = (GetVec2().X, GetVec2().Y, 0);

    }

}

Correct. This doesn't work. Bug or not possible?

[Xaser]

@Nash: While this indeed seems like a bug (and therefore worth fixing for sure), it's worth emphasizing that for your particular case, it's better to keep the local variable so you don't have the overhead of calling the get function (BumiHandler._W_GetWind(), in your proper case) twice.

[Nash]

Alright, noted... just how expensive is calling the global thinker, by the way? Since the code only does the Init once and never again after that...