Various technical questions

[Silbad]

Here is a few points/questions that I'd like to clear up:

1. Some character functions are not available from the script editor. For example, the "Ignore room area scaling" or the "Adjust speed with scaling" parameters cannot be changed elsewhere than in the characters editor, whereas the " Ignore area lighting " can...
Does Chris hide some parameters values because he thought it was not useful for the programmer, is it an oversight from him or are these values available somewhere ?

2. Has someone managed to run the AGSFILE plugin that allow to delete/rename/clear text files ?
I tried to, but when adding a line like this :
FileDelete("text.txt") ;

I have the following error at compilation :

There was an error compiling your script. The problem was :
In : 'Main Script'
Error(line 6) : Type mismatch, string with non-string

Yet the readme file describe the function as FileDelete (string filename) !

3. Do you know what are the values for the parameter " character.walking " ?
I used to think it was 0 when character doesn't walk (which is true) and 1 when he walks. But I noticed that actually, the values change from 11 to 1011 (when the character changes direction I guess), and sometimes to 2011. Can anybody tell me more about this ?

4. When a character follows another one, he can't walk on the non-walkable areas, whereas the followed character can (if you use a MoveCharacterDirect function).
How do you make a character follows another one *everywhere* ?

[Hollister Man]

I think this is the case for a few other variables as well.  They are zero when false, and !=0 when true.

[Pumaman]

1. Some character functions are not available from the script editor. For example, the "Ignore room area scaling" or the "Adjust speed with scaling" parameters cannot be changed elsewhere than in the characters editor, whereas the " Ignore area lighting " can...

These can be adjusted with the SetCharacterProperty command.

2. Has someone managed to run the AGSFILE plugin that allow to delete/rename/clear text files ?

Erica McLane is the author of that plugin, you'd need to ask her. However, I haven't seen her around lately so you may not have much luck there.

3. Do you know what are the values for the parameter " character.walking " ?
I used to think it was 0 when character doesn't walk (which is true) and 1 when he walks. But I noticed that actually, the values change from 11 to 1011 (when the character changes direction I guess), and sometimes to 2011. Can anybody tell me more about this ?

It is 0 when not walking, and non-zero when walking. You can check by doing:

if (character[EGO].walking != 0) {

or easier:

if (character[EGO].walking) {

which automatically checks for non-zero.

4. When a character follows another one, he can't walk on the non-walkable areas, whereas the followed character can (if you use a MoveCharacterDirect function).
How do you make a character follows another one *everywhere* ?

The FollowCharacter feature does not currently support using MoveCharacterDirect. You can simulate it instead by moving the following character manually at an interval in repeatedly_execute.

[Silbad]

These can be adjusted with the SetCharacterProperty command.

Ah OK, I thought this command was purposed to change the custom properties of a character. But actually, you can’t change the custom properties values elsewhere than in the Properties editor, can you ?

The FollowCharacter feature does not currently support using MoveCharacterDirect. You can simulate it instead by moving the following character manually at an interval in repeatedly_execute.

I think it’s the best way indeed.

Erica McLane is the author of that plugin, you'd need to ask her. However, I haven't seen her around lately so you may not have much luck there.

Do you know where I could contact her then?

[Pumaman]

Ah OK, I thought this command was purposed to change the custom properties of a character. But actually, you can’t change the custom properties values elsewhere than in the Properties editor, can you ?

Yeah, I appreciate that it's an unfortunate name for the command - the SetCharacterProperty command was added before custom properties were, so now it is a bit confusing.

Do you know where I could contact her then?

I'm not sure, you could try some of the contact info in her profile:
http://www.agsforums.com/yabb/index.php?board=2;action=viewprofile;user=Erica+McLane

[Silbad]

It's too bad, she's hidden her e-mail. :'( Well, if someone here has managed to run her plugins successfully, could they tell me how ? Thanx. 8)