Showimg is a pain in the...
 

I am trying to use an NPC with a list of showimg to display all the images for each level, rather that just setting the NPC image and making alot of useless empty NPCs, and I can't get it to work if I set the x,y. I did, however, manage to get it to work if I set the NPC at the first image location and do showimg at x,y and then base all the other images off of the coordinates of the first image, like so.

NPC Code:

---

showimg 1,smokeani.mng,x,y;

showimg 2,smokeani.mng,x + 2,y;

showimg 3,smokeani.mng,x + 1,y - 1;

showimg 4,treetop.png,x -1,y + 23;

---

But now my problem is, if I walk out of range of the original NPC, all the rest disappear, even some that I would still need to be able to see, is there anyway to make them stay visible regardless of where I am in relation to the NPC containing the scripts?

Any suggestions are welcome, thanks. :D

Perhaps your drawing layer was off, so the coordinates were not showing properly? Also, you can't see NPCs in levels you aren't in, unless you are using a gmap.

Could you post your original attempt to display it with set coordinates?

Well, I am using a gmap, and I never left the level, just walked off the screen from where the NPC was located.

My original attempt was something like this;

NPC Code:

---

showimg 1,smokeani.mng,48,6;

---

Are you in the upper-left-most level of the gmap? That is where that image would be shown.

You mean, upper right? 48 x, 6 y? :o I tried it at 32 32 as well, and I was in the middle of the level, I tried lots of coordinates, it just didn't seem to help. :|

Oh, you mean in the top of the map. :O

Why would it be shown there, and not my current level? :confused:

I'm talking about the position of the level in the gmap. When you have a gmap, the coordinates measure from the top-left corner of the top-left level of the gmap. If you were in the top-left level of the gmap, you would have x and y-coordinates between 0 and 60. If you were in the second level along the top of the gmap, you would have x-coordinates between 60 and 120 and y-coordinates between 0 and 60. If you were in the second level down along the left side of the gmap, you would have x-coordinates between 0 and 60, but y-coordinates between 60 and 120.

If you were drawing something at any coordinates between 0 and 60, it would be shown at the top-left level of the gmap.

Oh my, so my x needs to be something like 1190, and y needs to be like, 800ish? Yikes. :D

Thank you sir. :D

After some adjustments I found it sitting in a nearby tree, but it's still giving me the problem of if I walk away from the NPC, all the images it's meant to disappear. Do you know of a remedy for this?

Something like that, yeah. The easiest way to find those coordinates out would be to add an NPC in there and have it report its x and y, then figure out the positions for the images based on that.

Good idea, is there some sort of print function?

But what of the problem of not being able to see them if you leave the range of the NPC, perhaps some way to attach the NPC to the player so it never goes out of range? Or to only display images with a certain x,y radius of a player?

I can't think of a way to do that. :|

NPC Code:

---

message x: #v(x), y: #v(y);

---

I'm not sure I've encountered the behavior you're describing.

Try placing a working showimg NPC at the bottom left of a gmap'd level, and tell it to show it's image at the top right of that same level, then walk up to the top right and when the hidden location of the NPC is about 1-2 tiles out of view, the image on the other side of the map, that you can plainly see, vanishes. :|

It's a downright annoying. :\

This is probably a "problem" with the way the NPC server handles showimgs on the GMAP.

Once the information about the actual NPC which is drawing the showimg is no longer being sent to the client, the client stops displaying that NPC's showimgs as well.

This is my guess.

It's all offline though, there is no NPC server to do that, although the client itself could be doing that, but is there a way around it?

I've seen this happen before. Have something showimg something, and walk where the actual npc would be off the screen, the showimg will hide if it isn't on layer 4.

Not sure if this is related, but online, in a GMapped level, NPC scripts are "hidden" for me. I know they are there, because if they were imagged before, they will still block (creating invisible force fields!). If the levels are not GMapped, the NPC scripts are there and normal and good, but once the levels are GMapped, the images "hide". Nobody seems to understand GMaps. I don't seem to understand anything beyond the third grade level.

Help :(

Yep, that's what it does. :)

I just wanted to make an update, I found a solution, put all your image showing NPCs on one level of the gmap that isn't visited very often, say out in the water, or on top of a bunch of trees, and do it this way.

NPC Code:

---

setimg ae_treetop.png;

dontblock;

x = 1107.5; y = 751;

---

The result is that the NPCs are all plugged away on one universal NPC level instead of spread all over the map in a chaotic messy order, but when you are in the game, they are placed where they need to be, and since you're actually setting the x,y of the NPC where you want the image to be, it fixes the problem with not seeing the images. :D

Problem solving, orderly, effecient, I hooked a winner. :D

why not just put them where they actually go? o.o

Because I hate having NPCs dragged all over the level, it's messy, causes lag, and a pain in the bum when you have to go back to edit a level. :D

So, I store them in a univeral location, neatly stacked and oriented on a level specifically for the map NPCs. :) If I need to edit tiles, I can do so without clutter, if I need to edit NPCs, I can access them all very easily, besides, you can only put NPCs on absolute x,y and most of the time I need them at like x.5,y.3 or something, so putting them where they actually go doesn't help anyways.

Because his way floats his boat.

I was just wondering, since it seems like it would get messy if you have a large gmap. You have to open the huge level file with all the NPCs in it, and figure out which one belongs to the level you are changing. I guess comments could fix that....

I'm sure you do this but I had to say it just in case, you should put that stuff in a if (created) block. You would be surprised how many people just make a big list of things and stick them in the NPC with no event. I've seen entire levels of it.

I don't use if (created) because to me it seems redundant, by default, if the NPC exists, it was created. Unless I am complete wrong about that, if I am, I would love to hear about it, but as of now, the only time I stated created, is when it is nessesary to be in combination and not just simply automatically done.

Consider yourself corrected. It's not redundant. Also, read KSI-GS. You'll learn a lot.

I read the KSI GS like you said, makes sense, but 95% of it was already stuff I knew and followed, and the other 5% I will probably pick up on now,, however...

There was no reason given why this was wrong, and if I want to it execute immediately and regardless of everything else, then why bother? :)

There is no "immediately". Scripts are processed in response to events. If the code is outside of an event block, it will be executed every time an event is triggered. So:

1. Putting it in an event block makes the code clearer. It unequivocally states what the script is meant to do, instead of letting its execution depend on external factors. This means that:
   1. The code is futureproof - modifications to Graal's behaviour will not likely break it, and it conforms roughly to GS2's event model.
   2. Other scripters will know what you're doing, and be able to tell that you're not simply misunderstanding the nature of GScript.
2. Assuming your NPC doesn't just do one thing and then destroy itself, you don't want its code to be executed randomly in response to external events. At best, it's just wasteful. At worst it's destructive.

Ahh, ok. :) Thank you Kai. :)

How would one show images above the gamescreen, like, an image that stays on the screen in the same spot, like the GUI? :x

changeimgvis

Ok thanks again Kai. :D