Squad system questions

MileHighGuy · Post by **MileHighGuy** » Sun Mar 29, 2020 4:52 pm

Hello,

I am working on a system to let you spawn in on a "squad leader" unit. Here is the code:

Hidden/Spoiler:

[code]-- create initial tables

    unitsSet = {}

    leaderTable = {}

    spawnHandlersTable = {}

    function createUnitHandlers(teamIndex)

        print("setting up handlers for team " .. tostring(teamIndex))

        -- add entry for team index

        leaderTable[teamIndex] = {}

        spawnHandlersTable[teamIndex] = {}

        unitsSet[teamIndex] = {}

        local totalUnitsOnSide = 20

        local leadersAreSet = false

        spawnHandlersTable[teamIndex]["spawnHandler"] = OnCharacterSpawnTeam(function(player)

            -- add unit to set of units (avoid duplicates)

            unitsSet[teamIndex][player] = 1

            print("size of units set for team " .. tostring(teamIndex) .. " is " .. tostring(table.getn(unitsSet[teamIndex])))

            -- add marker back to respawned squad leader

            if leadersAreSet then

                for index, unit in leaderTable[teamIndex] do

                    if player == unit then

                        MapAddEntityMarker(GetCharacterUnit(unit), "hud_objective_icon", 3.0, teamIndex, "GREEN", true)

                    end

                end

            end

            -- add squad leader for every x units

            -- this should be set up at the start of the match

            if not leadersAreSet then

                if table.getn(unitsSet[teamIndex]) >= totalUnitsOnSide-5 then

                    local unitsIndex = 1

                    for unit, _ in unitsSet[teamIndex] do

                        unitsIndex = unitsIndex + 1

                        -- every 5th unit is squad leader

                        if math.mod(unitsIndex, 5) == 0 then

                            table.insert(leaderTable[teamIndex], unit)

                            MapAddEntityMarker(GetCharacterUnit(unit), "hud_objective_icon", 3.0, teamIndex, "GREEN", true)

                        end

                    end

                    print(" SET SQUAD LEADERS ======================")

                    leadersAreSet = true

                end

            end

            -- if human move them to random squad leader location

            -- TODO make this happen on button press rather than every time

            if IsCharacterHuman(player) then

                if table.getn(leaderTable[teamIndex]) > 0 then

                    local randCharacter = leaderTable[teamIndex][math.random(1, table.getn(leaderTable[teamIndex]))]

                    -- check if squad leader alive

                    if GetCharacterUnit(randCharacter) then

                        print("character is human, moving to " .. tostring(randCharacter))

                        local randMatrix = GetEntityMatrix(GetCharacterUnit(randCharacter))

                        -- move to 3 units behind the character

                        local newMatrix = CreateMatrix(0,0,0,0,0,0,-3, randMatrix)

                        SetEntityMatrix(GetCharacterUnit(player), newMatrix)

                    else

                        print(" SQUAD LEADER WAS DEAD, CANNOT SPAWN ON")

                    end

                else

                    print(" NO SQUAD LEADERS YET ")

                end

            end

        end,

        teamIndex)

        end,

        teamIndex)

    end[/code]

It chooses every 5th unit on the team to be a "squad leader". After the squad leaders are chosen, when the player spawns he is moved to the squad leader so it looks like he spawned on them.

My question is how can I tie this function to a button press on the spawn screen. I edited ifs_pc_spawnselect.lua to add a new button. So far it does nothing. How can I make it spawn the unit AND then call this function?
Can I add a dynamic number of buttons, one per squad leader?

EDIT: This code is what came of it

viewtopic.php?f=64&t=34466

EDIT

Here is the code from the working first release:

Hidden/Spoiler:

[code]---

--- Created by MileHighGuy.

--- DateTime: 4/4/2020 3:51 PM

---

-- setup object attributes and defaults

SquadSetup = {

    -- set of all units on a team

    -- contains their character index

    unitsSet = {},

    -- table containing squad leaders for a team

    -- contains their character index

    leaderTable = {},

    -- table containing handles to OnCharacterSpawnTeam

    spawnHandlersTable = {},

    -- table containing handles to OnCharacterDeathTeam

    deathHandlersTable = {},

    --table containing true/false whether to spawn on leader for each team

    spawnOnLeaderBoolTable={}

}

-- constructor for SquadSetup object

function SquadSetup:New(o)

    o = o or {}

    setmetatable(o,self)

    self.__index = self

    return o

end

-- Add squads for a team

-- teamIndex: For default map scripts, this is usually a number stored in ATT or DEF variables

-- unitsOnSide: number on units on the field at once. Defaults to 20

-- numSquadLeaders: how many squad leaders you want for you team. Must be lower than total number of units per side

function SquadSetup:addTeam(teamIndex, unitsOnSide, numSquadLeaders)

    -- Disable all this if in multiplayer for now

    if ScriptCB_InMultiplayer() then return end

    local totalUnitsOnSide = unitsOnSide or 20

    if numSquadLeaders > totalUnitsOnSide then

        numSquadLeaders = 1

    end

    local totalNumSquadLeaders = numSquadLeaders or 1

    -- add entry for team to table, if doesnt exist

    if not self.unitsSet[teamIndex] then

        self.unitsSet[teamIndex] = {}

    end

    if not self.leaderTable[teamIndex] then

        self.leaderTable[teamIndex] = {}

    end

    if not self.spawnOnLeaderBoolTable[teamIndex] then

        self.spawnOnLeaderBoolTable[teamIndex] = false

    end

    local humanPlayerIsAlive = false

    --used for assigning squad leaders

    local step = math.floor( totalUnitsOnSide/ totalNumSquadLeaders)

    local startIndex = math.floor( math.max( 1, ( totalUnitsOnSide - ((totalNumSquadLeaders - 1) *  step ) + 1 ) /2 ) )

    local leaderCountTable = { [teamIndex] = startIndex }

    -- store the handle to this event listener

    self.spawnHandlersTable[teamIndex] = OnCharacterSpawnTeam(function(player)

        -- add unit to set of units (avoid duplicates)

        self.unitsSet[teamIndex][player] = 1

        -- how many unique units have spawned thus far

        local unitSetSize = self:countSet(self.unitsSet[teamIndex])

        local leaderTableSize = table.getn(self.leaderTable[teamIndex])

        local playerIsHuman = IsCharacterHuman(player)

        -- add marker back to respawned squad leader

        if leaderTableSize > 0 then

            for index, unit in self.leaderTable[teamIndex] do

                if player == unit then

                    -- do alive check

                    if GetCharacterUnit(unit) then

                        MapAddEntityMarker(GetCharacterUnit(unit), "hud_objective_icon", 3.0, teamIndex, "GREEN", false)

                    end

                end

            end

        end

        -- add a squad leader evenly through he spawned units

        if leaderTableSize < totalNumSquadLeaders then

            if unitSetSize == leaderCountTable[teamIndex] then

                if not playerIsHuman then

                    table.insert(self.leaderTable[teamIndex], player  )

                    print("adding marker to unit " .. tostring(player) .. " which is character " .. tostring(GetCharacterUnit(player)) .. " team " .. tostring(teamIndex))

                    --check if alive first

                    if GetCharacterUnit(player) then

                        MapAddEntityMarker(GetCharacterUnit(player), "hud_objective_icon", 3.0, teamIndex, "GREEN", false)

                    end

                else

                    print("Cannot make player squad leader")

                end

                --increment counter

                leaderCountTable[teamIndex] = leaderCountTable[teamIndex] + step

            end

        end

        -- if human move them to random squad leader location

        if playerIsHuman and not humanPlayerIsAlive and self.spawnOnLeaderBoolTable[teamIndex] == true then

            local aliveLeaders = self:GetAliveSquadLeadersTable(teamIndex)

            local aliveLeaderCount = table.getn(aliveLeaders)

            -- check if there is at least 1 alive leader

            if aliveLeaderCount > 0 then

                local randCharacter = aliveLeaders[math.random(1, aliveLeaderCount)]

                -- redundant alive check to make me feel good

                if GetCharacterUnit(randCharacter) then

                    print("character is human, moving to " .. tostring(randCharacter))

                    local randMatrix = GetEntityMatrix(GetCharacterUnit(randCharacter))

                    -- move to 3 units behind the character

                    local newMatrix = CreateMatrix(0,0,0,0,0,0,-3, randMatrix)

                    SetEntityMatrix(GetCharacterUnit(player), newMatrix)

                else

                    print(" SQUAD LEADER WAS DEAD, CANNOT SPAWN ON")

                end

            else

                print(" NO SQUAD LEADERS YET ")

            end

        end

        if playerIsHuman then

            --set player alive

            --used to make sure the player cannot teleport via changing classes!

            humanPlayerIsAlive = true

        end

    end, teamIndex)

    self.deathHandlersTable[teamIndex] = OnCharacterDeathTeam(function(player)

        if IsCharacterHuman(player) then

            humanPlayerIsAlive = false

        end

    end, teamIndex)

end

-- helper function to count table size

function SquadSetup:countSet( table )

    local count = 0;

    for k,v in pairs( table ) do count = count + 1 end

    return count

end

-- returns a table of alive squad leaders for a team

-- it holds their character index

-- table is allowed to be empty (if no squad leaders)

-- WARNING: the squad leaders may not be chosen at the time you call this function

-- teamIndex: the team number you want to get leaders from

function SquadSetup:GetAliveSquadLeadersTable(teamIndex)

    local aliveLeaders = {}

    -- update whether squad leaders are alive or dead

    for index, unit in self.leaderTable[teamIndex] do

        -- GetCharacterUnit will return nil (eval to false) if unit is dead

        if GetCharacterUnit(unit) then

            table.insert(aliveLeaders, unit)

        end

    end

    return aliveLeaders

end

-- returns a table of squad leaders for a team, may be alive or dead

-- table is allowed to be empty (if no squad leaders)

-- WARNING: the squad leaders may not be chosen at the time you call this function

-- teamIndex: the team number you want to get leaders from

function SquadSetup:GetSquadLeadersTable(teamIndex)

    return self.leaderTable[teamIndex]

end

-- toggle whether we should spawn on units or not

function SquadSetup:ToggleSpawnOnLeader(teamIndex)

    if self.spawnOnLeaderBoolTable[teamIndex] then

        self.spawnOnLeaderBoolTable[teamIndex] = false

    else

        self.spawnOnLeaderBoolTable[teamIndex] = true

    end

end

-- return the boolean that determines spawning on leader

function SquadSetup:GetSpawnOnLeaderBool(teamIndex)

    return self.spawnOnLeaderBoolTable[teamIndex]

end

function overrideSpawnScreen()

    -- Disable all this if in multiplayer for now

    if ScriptCB_InMultiplayer() then return end

    ---- add our button

    if AddIFScreen then

        print("DEBUG: function AddIFScreen is defined")

        print("DEBUG: overriding AddIFScreen")

        originalAddIFScreen = AddIFScreen

        AddIFScreen = function (screen, screenName)

            if screenName == "ifs_pc_SpawnSelect" then

                print("DEBUG: adding our button to spawn select screen")

                -- info for squad leader toggle button

                local w,h = ScriptCB_GetSafeScreenInfo()

                local okcancelw = w * 0.2

                local okcancelh = h * 0.03

                local okYPos = h - 0.1*h

                screen.Info.SpawnOnRandom = NewPCIFButton

                {

                x = w/2 + okcancelw + okcancelw/4,

                y = okYPos,

                btnw = okcancelw,

                btnh = okcancelh,

                font = "gamefont_large",

                bg_width = okcancelw,

                string = "Spawn on Unit [ ]",

                tag = "randomSpawn"

                }

                -- end button info

                screen.Input_Accept = function(this)

                    if(gShellScreen_fnDefaultInputAccept(this)) then

                        return

                    end

                    -- if the new button is pressed

                    if this.CurButton == "randomSpawn" then

                        squadSetup:ToggleSpawnOnLeader(this.activeSide + 1)

                    end

                end

                screen.Update = function(this,fDt)

                    -- Call default base class's update function (make button bounce)

                    gIFShellScreenTemplate_fnUpdate(this,fDt)

                    -- if the models are done animating, slow down the rotations

                    if(this.IconModelFastMode and not this.Info.SideModel0.bAnimActive) then

                        IFModel_fnSetOmegaY(this.Info.SideModel0,-0.3)

                        IFModel_fnSetOmegaY(this.Info.SideModel1,-0.3)

                        this.IconModelFastMode = nil

                    end

                    -- add this in Update so it constantly gets called. Value will get refreshed when player switches teams

                    -- watcher for SpawnOnLeader boolean

                    local isSpawnActive = squadSetup:GetSpawnOnLeaderBool(this.activeSide + 1)

                    if isSpawnActive then

                        RoundIFButtonLabel_fnSetString(screen.Info.SpawnOnRandom , "Spawn on Unit [x]")

                    else

                        RoundIFButtonLabel_fnSetString(screen.Info.SpawnOnRandom , "Spawn on Unit [ ]")

                    end

                end

            end

            print("DEBUG: Performing original AddIFScreen with args " .. tostring(screen) .. " " .. tostring(screenName))

            originalAddIFScreen(screen, screenName)

        end

    else

        print("DEBUG: function AddIFScreen not defined yet yet")

    end

end[/code]

AnthonyBF2 · Post by **AnthonyBF2** » Wed Apr 01, 2020 1:31 am

I can't give a solution but I can tell you that ifs_pc_spawnselect coincides with stuff inside the Battlefront 2 exe, so that's probably why you can't add new buttons.

Anakin · Post by **Anakin** » Wed Apr 01, 2020 2:47 pm

Diet Dr. Pepper you can add new buttons. just the function that is triggered by the spawn button is somewhere hidden

MileHighGuy · Post by **MileHighGuy** » Wed Apr 01, 2020 7:50 pm

In my post I meant that I WAS able to add the button but whats not clear yet is how to make it do something. I would like it to spawn the unit and also call another function after that

Nedarb7 · Post by **Nedarb7** » Thu Apr 02, 2020 11:41 am

Could you simply add another OnCharacterSpawn which calls the function after they spawn if a certain variable is true, and have it so that if the player presses the button on the spawn screen you change the variable to true?

MileHighGuy · Post by **MileHighGuy** » Thu Apr 02, 2020 9:31 pm

Yes, but that brings us back to the question of how to add a function to a button on the spawn screen (to set the boolean variable). If you look in ifs_pc_spawnselect.lua you will see that it doesn't have an Input_Accept function like most IF screens. So if I wanted to add a duplicate spawn button (which also called my custom function), how would I do it? How is the spawn function being called? How does the .exe know which button is the spawn button?

this is a comment from ifs_pc_spawnselect.lua

Code: Select all

-- Actual contents are created in ifs_charselect_fnBuildScreen
	-- Note: for now, the exe is handling all the inputs/events, so this
	-- screen has no Enter/Exit/Update/Input handlers. It does have an
	-- Input_Back handler to override the base class's default functionality
	-- (go to previous screen)

So there wont be anything in an Input_Accept. I am not convinced though that this means what I'm trying to do is not possible.

I added this to ifs_pc_spawnselect.lua

Code: Select all

Input_Accept = function(this,bFromAI)
		print("pressed spawn button")
	end,

interestingly, only when my new fake button is pressed does this code actually print. When I press the real spawn button then it does not print the statement. So If I can somehow pass the button click of the real spawn button into this function then I will have done what I wanted to.

EDIT: More info

I tried renaming ifs_pc_SpawnSelect.Info.Ok (the spawn button) to ifs_pc_SpawnSelect.Info.NoWay. That made the game silently crash when you press spawn.

Nedarb7 · Post by **Nedarb7** » Thu Apr 02, 2020 10:37 pm

I’ve messed around with the screen before as well, and I was barely able to change much on the screen, and changing things usually doesn’t go over well. That is why I suggested what I did. The added input accept function is totally functional as you saw, hence why I suggested a switch function rather than a new spawn button. I don’t know if it is possible to add to the spawn button, perhaps there is a way, but it appears to be hard coded

MileHighGuy · Post by **MileHighGuy** » Thu Apr 02, 2020 10:41 pm

Yes its looking like much of it is hard coded which is unfortunate. It would be super inelegant but I suppose I could add a radio button "spawn on unit" next to the spawn button, with the Boolean as you suggested. I am going to keep looking for a bit but that is at least one way to do it. I wonder if I could add a dynamic number of mutually exclusive radio buttons to choose which unit to spawn on?

Nedarb7 · Post by **Nedarb7** » Thu Apr 02, 2020 10:47 pm

Okay, if you do find a way to call the spawn function that’d be great. It’s something I’ve always wanted to work around.

As for your question that definitely sounds like something you could do

MileHighGuy · Post by **MileHighGuy** » Thu Apr 02, 2020 11:08 pm

Well I found these function while looking through the callback functions

Code: Select all

ScriptCB_SetFunctionIdForButtonId
ScriptCB_GetFunctionIdForButtonId

I tried to use it like this in ifs_pc_SpawnSelect

Code: Select all

Input_Accept = function(this,bFromAI)
		print("pressed spawn button")
		spawnFunc = ScriptCB_GetFunctionIdForButtonId(this.Info.Ok)
		print(" spawn function is " .. tostring(spawnFunc))
		spawnFunc()
	end,

But spawnFunc was nil.

Do you have any ideas how to use them? They are used in ifs_opt_controller_vehunit.lua

EDIT: looks like that callback function is referring to the actual game buttons, not interface buttons

Nedarb7 · Post by **Nedarb7** » Thu Apr 02, 2020 11:21 pm

It looks like that has to do with controller settings, check out ifs_opt_controller_vehunit

Post by **Teancum** » Sat Apr 04, 2020 1:33 am

I'm not sure whether the buttons are raytraced, and if so whether the button click keeps going, but you could try adding a button in front of or behind the spawn button to see if you can capture the click of that button.

MileHighGuy · Post by **MileHighGuy** » Sat Apr 04, 2020 6:55 pm

Interesting idea.

So in single player the human player's character index is always 0 (from GetCharacterUnit) . Is there any way to get your index if you join a server in multiplayer?

If I make it so you set a true/false variable to spawn on your squad then I also have to find some way to make sure that its actually you who set it.

EDIT: looks like you can use the version 1.3 function uf_processPlayers() to get a table of current players and their indices. And then you can check the current profile name with ScriptCB_GetCurrentProfileName (which must be wrapped with ScriptCB_ununicode() to get a readable string)

Currently I cant call uf_processPlayers because I am using a custom ingame.lvl to add my button. Once I figure that out I think I will have all the pieces I need!
That being said if you know why I cant call that function please let me know!

EDIT: Alright.. I think I got past that part. Now its just up to me to code the implementation we discussed

EDIT: it looks like I dont need to use uf_processPLayers, I can just use the ifs_mp_lobby_listbox_contents table that gets instantiated in multiplayer

Anakin · Post by **Anakin** » Tue Apr 07, 2020 8:30 am

So you can call a function that does the same as the spawn button press?

What i know so far, you can call all C functions from lua and you can call all lua functions from C. But you need to know the position in the memory. For convenient use, you set function names from c for the functions you wanna use in lua.
But this is experimental when i set up a example project with a newer version from lua. Worked very well. I was able to load additional c++ functions from a dll within lua and call lua scripts from c++. Problem, SWBF2 lua is old and not even from the old lua it has all functions available otherwise i were able to write my own c functions. But it gave me an idea of how SWBF2 works.

So C++ requires a lua data structure that contains that special button. And if it does not exists, it crashs (when you renamed it)
Teancum's idea should work fine, since the button press is very basic. The mouse cursor is tracked and for each movement the position is checked if it is over any element and sets some variables to the screen's table such as CurButton. So if you have an input accepted you just check if the mouse was on the button's position.

What works fine, too is, you can move the stock spawn button. So if you know the function that is called (from C++) when you press spawn, we can simply add a new button and move the old one out of screen.

MileHighGuy · Post by **MileHighGuy** » Tue Apr 07, 2020 11:10 am

I meant I was able to create a button to toggle whether I spawn on a unit or on a command post. I haven't been able to make another spawn button. The original spawn button doesn't seem to accept a tag to set "this.CurButton", but I could make a button that fit exactly over it that does.

EDIT: This code is what came of it

viewtopic.php?f=64&t=34466

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