Flag confusion...

[BigfootMSR]

I have tried to find a guide to mission editor, but so far, haven't found one.

 

I see a lot of pre-made missions and other users missions make heavy use of flags, but I cant find or see anywhere where the flags are assigned to a specific unit.

 

I am for instance trying to get a group of paratroopers to appear after a helicopter gets into a specific trigger zone. I saw in the Hideout mission that there is a trigger for when the helicopters get into the trigger zone, it activates a flag and sets it to true. When I look at the paratroopers there is no indication of that flag number anywhere.

 

Somebody mentioned in another thread about looking in the advanced options to set the flag, however, I have not been able to locate anything advanced other than advanced waypoint options. The particular paratroopers in the hideout mission have no advanced waypoint options.

 

In short, I am totally at a loss and any help would be much appreciated.

[Mud]

You can just make the paratroopers appear with a:

 

ONCE > Helicopter in Zone > Group Activate Paratroopers

or with a flag for instance

ONCE > Helicopter in Zone > Set Flag 10

ONCE > Flag is True 10 > Group Activate Paratroopers

[EtherealN]

I believe the GUI manual should contain the information you are looking for.

[BigfootMSR]

Thanks guys, I must be doing something wrong then because the paratroopers are activated on the map at mission start before the helicopters arrive.. I guess I will have to delve further.

[EtherealN]

Ensure that you set their start time delayed. This will ensure that they're properly inactive and thus able to wait for the trigger.

[Speed]

Yup, when I wanted to learn the basics of the ME, I found the GUI manual immensely helpful!

 

Bigfoot, a flag is just a place in your computer's memory that is assigned a 1 or 0, i.e., true or false, state. ("1", "true", "on", "set", they all mean the same thing just as "0", "false", "off", "clear" all mean the same thing.) At the beginning of a mission, all flags default to off, zero, false, clear, whatever you want to call the state.

 

So flags are never assigned to a group per say. If you want a flag going true make a group appear, you have to make another trigger to do this. Under the new trigger's condition, you have to set a condition that "Flag is true", and for the action, you have to activate the group.

 

If you don't want the group appearing at the beginning, you need to set their start time to some time after the mission begins, otherwise, how is the game supposed to know not to spawn the group immediately?!

[snwboardn]

I do the same as speed, instead of just sitting down and reading the gui manual, I just kept it open in another window. If I came across something I didn't know what it meant, I did a search in the pdf and almost always was able to find it...

 

I HIGHLY recomend setting your game resolution to one size smaller than your desktop resolution and setting it for windowed mode, that way you can quickly go back and forth from your editor to things outside the editor, like the GUI manual.

[BigfootMSR]

Yup, I'm golden now. Read through it (gui manual)and my flag questions have been answered. It was just driving me nuts because I couldnt find any guides about it anyplace. Now, if only I could figure out unit invisibility...

 

Say I want to have a player destory a bridge... I place an infantry unit on or next to the bridge in question, set his advanced waypoint option to invisible and made sure its enabled.. but when you fly over the unit. You can still clearly see it. GUI manual wasnt clear on this.. It just said that checking the box should make it invisible to enemy AI.

 

Anywho. After destroying the unit on the bridge it triggers an action saying the bridge is destroyed.

 

Any suggestions?

[Speed]

Yup, I'm golden now. Read through it (gui manual)and my flag questions have been answered. It was just driving me nuts because I couldnt find any guides about it anyplace. Now, if only I could figure out unit invisibility...

 

Say I want to have a player destory a bridge... I place an infantry unit on or next to the bridge in question, set his advanced waypoint option to invisible and made sure its enabled.. but when you fly over the unit. You can still clearly see it. GUI manual wasnt clear on this.. It just said that checking the box should make it invisible to enemy AI.

 

Anywho. After destroying the unit on the bridge it triggers an action saying the bridge is destroyed.

 

Any suggestions?

 

That's it- the invisible just means AI won't see a certain unit. This can come in quite handy at times.

 

As far as using a unit to detect the destruction of a building like that, see if you can give that unit a waypoint to run up underneath the bridge and hide.

 

If you wait another 1-4 weeks, I should release a version of a server mod that will allow you to directly detect the destruction of any static object on the map, without the need of a unit like that. While mainly geared for multiplayer, the mod should work in single player, eventually. Possibly with the first release.

 

You'll have to manually edit the mission file though, but I will be making youtube video guides and textual guides for how to use the mod and do stuff like that.

[SmokeyTheLung]

^^^ That sounds F?!&$%# fantastic

[Dejjvid]

Any news on that static-object-destruction mod? I am currently working on a big CAS mission and i badly need it. Because i can't find a way to set a flag once a static building is destroyed.

Placing a soldier on the roof won't cut it. I'm looking for very high realism.

 

Ignore the first one one, i'll just take a ME static object instead, that will have to do.

 

And if you find a way for placing soldiers inside a building, shooting out. I'll be even more happy! :)

Edited August 11, 2011 by Dejjvid