Posts by BigHatLogan

There are 2 errors in the example.
1) The way you link button and button control. You spread value 1 in value A for group "Areas" and the button(part of that group) was assigned value 4. But the "Button control" has it's "LinkedTo" value set to 0. The condition on line2 A(Group.Enemies)=B(Group.ValueHolder) is never true in this case. You need to link buttons to button control differently.
2) Condition ValueB(ValueHolder) = ValueA(Areas) you are using to filter the right object to move. This condition does not filter object passed as the second parameter. You can just swap it for ValueA(Areas) = ValueB(ValueHolder).

Sorry, but example is needed. It's hard to tell what is going on without it.

I tried to look at the file, but I honestly can't understand all of it. It seem overly complicated to me. Can you explain in a bit more detail what are you trying to achieve? I did some quick testing using different approach and it seems to run fine. Please login to see this link. It's simple example and some features of your files are not replicated, but as a start it seems faster.

Try to switch condition "Xpos Player <= X(box)" for X(Box) >= X(player) and in the second event for X(box) < X(Player). That should filter it properly.

As far as I know you should not mix two different types of control for any physics objects. Unless the physics object is defined as Kinematic it will use any change of its transformation for physic simulation. For example you should never set position to X,Y as that would mess up the simulation. That's just how it works.
You could however use torque to rotate the body, or you can disable rotation of the body and just rotate the actual sprite or you can try setting angular velocity to 0. I don't know how box2d work in F2.5, but I hope some of those options would be available there.

This is related to recent forum post about this without using any extensions and I wanted to test feasibility of that. To my surprise it seems to run fine.
Only extension used are Array to store positions of stars and Mouse object(by Cellosoft)+Window Control to make easy mouse look.

This example will create infinite repeating starfield that you can fly in any direction. Its not commented, but simple events should be easy to understand and the complicated ones...well magic happens there(basically just some math).

Are either ObjA or ObjB moving? Second object in Overlap condition is always using position from start of each game tick if I recall correctly.

It was as I thought it would be. Raycasting does not return hits sorted by distance. So "hit 0" can actually be hit on the object further away. Simple sort of all returned hits to determine closest one fixed it. And the small artifacts like the one at top-right or bottom-left are caused by different Y offset of the raycaster by -10 pixels.

But if you are set on these real time shadows, there was example on the forum of quite nice and decently fast technique by drawing shadow volumes. This method is much more precise as 360deg is actually not that much and will lead to some artifacts all the time. Especially around edges.

edit: link for the other method Please login to see this link.

Can you post example please? I think I know what is going on in the picture, but i would like to test if I'm right first. I may be completely wrong.

In that case you don't really need to keep distance between those object. You just have to move all of the selected object the same way and distance between them will remain the same by default. Are there any other rules to this movement? Like do obstacles/other object stop them from moving?

Something like this? I'm not sure if this is the type of effect you want, but either way you would most likely need to use loops.

Well it is the Qualifier:spread value 0 in alterable value H that is messing it up. In one frame the green one ends up with 0 and blue with 1 and in the other it's reversed. I think that when MMF spread values on qualifiers it will spread value in what order the objects were put on frame. Then, if there are more than one of any of the individual object, it will spread value based on their order on frame. So for example 2x ObjA and 3x ObjB both with qualifier Q1. If you place ObjB first on frame it will go like this.
ObjB1-0
ObjB2-1
ObjB3-2
ObjA1-3
ObjA2-4
If you place ObjA first then it will start with that and the values will be completely different.
And as far as I know there is no way to change that.

The first method appears to be about 1-2% faster.

Yeah you don't have any control with this method. Like with loops, there is good side to it and bad side. Loops give you great control but can become quite performance draining. Action loop is faster but can behave in a way you don't want. So use only when appropriate.

Well I would say any time you need to ensure that you are working on one specific object. For example when you are calculating line o sight. You need to calculate it for each object separately. But there are many other scenarios where looping is the right thing to do. The above example is one of few instances where "action loop" works in your favor. Often times it's actually messing things up.

It's not wonky at all. That is one of the features of mmf in how it handles actions on multiple objects(action loop).

You don't need to do it that way. There is commonly used technique for just this type of object pairing. Just use something like this
*Always
+HP bar: set position to "Enemy"
+HP bar: set HP to HitPoints("Enemy")

If there's same number of Enemy and HPbar objects, they will pair flawlessly.

Sure you can.

If i'm not mistaken there already is extension like this. OpenAl does this, but I'm no expert with it. I think it does most of what you describe.

I use 3 different techniques for debugging/troubleshooting.
1. strings, many strings. If i try to debug specific objects I create string at each of them that display their values. it helps me to examine how their values change over time or I can spot values that looks wrong.
2. tracing with List object. I place big list object somewhere on the screen and in the code I print messages that will help me trace how and in what order are my action execute. Result can then look something like this " setting value of object a, jumping to x, in loop x...."
3. Debug drawing on surface object. I use this if I want to visualize relations between objects. For example if i mouse over one object it will draw lines to all object that are in line of sight or something similar.