DECORATE String to force automatic use of items?

[ichxg0]

So I have a tiny Heretic weapons and items mod for Doom, but wanted to change its behavior slightly.

Is there a string you can include that will force say, a heretic quartz flash, to be used immediately on pickup? Browsing though the wiki I saw "+INVENTORY.KEEPDEPLETED" in a default entry, so I tried to copy paste it into into a this mod's existing decorate but for some reason that had no effect.

This is what the current code looks like:

Code: Select all

ACTOR ArtiHealth8 : ArtiHealth replaces Medikit
{
	+INVENTORY.KEEPDEPLETED
}

and that's it. It's a simple, but I must be using the string/defenition wrong? The mod only replaces weapons and items, and I think doesn't modify them any from the original Zdoom actors.

This must be a simple fix, I think. Can somebody tell me what I am doing wrong?

[Player701]

Browsing though the wiki I saw "+INVENTORY.KEEPDEPLETED" in a default entry, so I tried to copy paste it into into a this mod's existing decorate but for some reason that had no effect.

It is typically not a good idea to copy-paste code if you don't fully understand what it does. The wiki page on Inventory explains the purpose of the KEEPDEPLETED flag:

This item will remain in the player's inventory bar even after the last one is used. If the item also has an inventory icon, it will be drawn darkened when the quantity is 0.

Clearly, that's not what you want. But, there is another flag that suits your needs perfectly - aptly named AUTOACTIVATE:

This item activates automatically when being picked up.

There is a catch, though. With health pickups like the Quartz Flask, if you just add the flag, they will be used on pickup only if the player's health is less than maximum. Otherwise, the item will still end up in the inventory. To avoid this, you should set MaxAmount to 0. Then, the item will not be picked up if it cannot be used.

Here is the final code:

Code: Select all

actor ArtiHealth8 : ArtiHealth replaces Medikit
{
    Inventory.MaxAmount 0
    +INVENTORY.AUTOACTIVATE
}

[ichxg0]

Well, sometimes the wiki is a little overwhelming with the sheer amount of information and I get lost.. So I tend to experiment a bit on my own, I just always keep a backup of original files so in case I fubar something, I can easily reset. I am working on digesting the wiki a little better though, just can't always find what I'm looking for..

But in any case, this is perfect - quartz flasks now work just like medkits, thanks!