n00b to mission designing: Trigger question

[shadow99]

Yes, I've seen read the answer to my question before (at least, I think) and I didn't understand it. not very good with big words and technical details, so please, try and make it easy to understand.

How do I make a Trigger activate another, that is not present?

I want this trigger to be detected by <insert side here> so instead of having it still on "Not Present" how do I change who it is detected by ONCE it is activated?

I'm very aware this will almost surely need to use scripting, but if there IS a way to do this without scripting, please inform me.

Thank you very much.

[macguba]

I'm not sure I understand your question.  However, here is an example of one trigger controlling another.

In your init.sqs
trigOn=false

Trigger1
Activation box:   resistance present
Condition:    this
On Activation:    trigOn=true

Trigger2
Activation box:   west detected by east
Condition:    this and trigOn

The first trigger will fire when the resistance enters the trigger area.   The second trigger will fire when west is detected by east, providing that the first trigger has already fired.    The variable trigOn acts as a switch:   the second trigger cannot fire unless the first trigger has already fired.

Does this help?   If not, please explain again what you are trying to do.

Oh, and

Welcome to the forum!

[shadow99]

Thank you for the welcome, and yes, my question was slightly ambigious.

The bit about trigOn you mentioned at the end, I think that's what I'm looking for.

My mission is simple: You go to place, you blow up something, you go somewhere, that's it. However, if you go to the area at the end without blowing up the UAZ, the mision still ends, and I don't want that to happen. Thus, I want the trigger to start inactive.

I figuered I could use this method to do other things as well.

So, I'm looking for a way to start with a trigger OFF (as if it is not there) and another trigger (the trigger when you blow up the UAZ) to turn the mission ending trigger on.

Thanks very much for the help.

[Chris Death]

just for info:

If you only need that to ensure your end-trigger doesn't
activate, unless the uaz is blown up, then you can make
the blow-uaz trigger also an end trigger of the same type
as your other end-trigger.

What i mean is:

If there are two triggers of type: #end1

then both triggers needs to become activated, before the
mission ends.

~S~ CD

[shadow99]

Okay, maybe I didn't clarify how much of a n00b I am.

If you're going to talk to me about triggers, below the activation type field, then I'm afraid I'll pretty much need step by step solutions.

Thanks so mcuh for all your help though, seems like a nice friendly place.

[myke13021]

let me make sure i understand you correctly.

The objective of your mission is to blow up a UAZ, then go to a certain point/area for extraction. When you're there AND the UAZ is blown up, you want the mission end.

this is pretty easy. First name your UAZ to...let's say "jeep".
Then, to end the mission it just needs one single trigger.

Set the trigger size and shape to whatever you need for the extraction point.
set it to west/present/once (assuming you play as west)
make it to be an end trigger.

the only thing you really have to type, goes into the condition field.
Right now there is only "this" inside it.
Make it look like this:

this AND not alive jeep

so what does this? we said it needs 2 conditions for the trigger to fire. First, west has to be present. And second, a vehic named "Jeep" has to be blown up.

Only thing i'm unsure if it needs brackets or not...if the line above wont give you the desired effect try this:

this AND (not alive jeep)

Hope this helps you.

[shadow99]

Excellent, myke, you have it sussed for me!
Thank you very much...

Oh, but there ARE a couple of other things I hoped this question would answer, but being specifically for the mission and not my original question, they have not.

I want to have small cutscenes, only involving camera views of different objects and plain text (just for starters).

Now, whilst it may involve scripting, I assume you could make a bunch of triggers in the same area, but work in a specific order so after "this trigger has shown this object and this text, the next trigger can show THIS object and THIS text".

I'm still new, and I don't want to get involved in scripting just yet.

Anyway, there's another question as well, how do I make the camera center around another object aside from the player? I have an idea of what I could do, using tags, such as myke explained with the jeep, but I'm not entirely sure how to go about it.

So, incase you got lost in all this writing , the questions are:

How do I make triggers activate in a specific order? (Multiple triggers in the same area)

How do I make the camera in a trigger center around different objects other than the player?

You've all been such a big help. It's nice to know there IS a friendly place dedicated to OFP still around on the internet somewhere...

 

[macguba]

I don't want to get involved in scripting just yet.

Yes, I remember making that mistake.     Scripting sounds scary and difficult:  it's not, it's a piece of piss.     For example, making cutscenes with camera scripts is actually much easier (and produces infinitely better results) than using triggers.   Head over to the Editors Depot and read the following tutorials:

Johan Gustafsson's scripting guide
snYpir's Friendly Intro to Code Snippets
snYpir's Camera script tutorial
messiah's camera.sqs tutorial

That's a lot of reading in one go, so break it up with the Tutorial Mission:  it's a working mission with examples of everything you need to know to make a good basic mission.  It has a couple of simple camera scripts.     Remember that you are already using scripting language.   All a script file does is make the stuff (that could go in a trigger) easier to read.

Returning to the triggers question, you now basically know all there is to know about controlling triggers.   It's all down to using variables as switches.    You can use any virtually any name you like for your variables, just avoid things that could be words or commands.    Don't use a variable "trigger", use "trigger1".

If you wanted a sequence of triggers to fire in order (I beg you, don't use this to make a trigger based cutscene, use a camera script) all you need is a sequence of variables:-

trigger1
Activation:  as you like
Condition:  as you like
On activation:   trig1=true; whatever else you want

trigger2
Condition:  this and trig1
On activation:  trig2=true; etc

and so on ad infinitum.

[myke13021]

macguba is definately right.

For the things you want to do, it is very helpful if you start with scripting. And as macguba said....it isn't as hard as it may sound to you.

Read the tutorials macguba named and you'll be able to script in no time  ;D

And a second thing: look for the CHOFPSE Script editor. This is a very helpful tool for scripting. Basically you can script with any word processor of your choice, but CHOFPSE "knows" the scripting syntax and marks it in different colors so you'll have a quick view about typo's  
It also has a build-in command reference. And last but not least, you don't have to care that the editor saves your file in the correct format (.sqs).

I'm sure you'll find it in the ED depot and it is also available from our Clan site www.stormtroopers.ch in the downloads section.

[shadow99]

Hmm... maybe you guys are right if it truly is as easy as it sounds. I will read through the writings you suggested.

Thanks very much.

[shadow99]

Hey, I only just got back to OFP Editing, and I'm getting this message when I follow macguba's trigger method:

'trig1|#|=true': Error Reserved variable in expression

I'm having a similar problem with the other trigger activation, to. I take it, that it is something to do with numbering...

[macguba]

Looks like you've got two things called trig1.   All names (for everything) must be unique within the game:  you can use trig1 for a variable or for a trigger name but not both.

[shadow99]

Ah... now there's something that makes a lot of sense.

[shadow99]

Thank you!