So, no quaternions this time. Can't really say where this idea came from but someone may find it useful.

I'll explain how it's used first then we can discuss the uses which it can be put.

First define a zone using waypoints, the zone can be any shape with as many sides as needed the only rule is that the 'end' point should be close to the 'start' point.

Second place an always active entity inside the zone close to one of the waypoints and attach the script zone.lua. Give the entity the name of the zone.

Simple isn't it.

So what does it do?

The script provides a bunch of Lua functions:

PointIsInZone(x, z, zone) -- returns true if the specified point is inside the specified zone (note that zone is the name of the zone)

PlayerIsInZone(zone) -- returns true is the player is currently in the specified zone

ZonesPlayerIn() -- returns a list of all the zones the player is currently in (note zones can be nested so player can be in more than one)

MonitorZoneOn(zone) -- turns on monitoring of specified zone, once monitored the following two commands can be used:

PlayerEnteredZone(zone) -- returns true if the player has entered the specified zone since the last call to this function

PlayerExitedZone(zone) -- returns true if the player has exited the specified zone since the last call to this function

MonitorZoneOff(zone) -- turns off monitoring for specified zone

WptInZoneDefinition(x, y) -- a bit specialised, this one returns true if the specified waypoint position is used within a zone specification.
(the reason for this function is to allow waypoint following code to be able to ignore zones)

So how can this be used, take a look at the zone_test.lua script for some clues *Added correct script now *

Picture shows zones in editor, fpm file to play with (may not work if you don't have the entities), video shows what it does.

very nice, the player stuff can be done with normal zones but adjusting this to fit AI or other objects would be super handy for more precise requirements (rather than relying on distances for everything) - thanks

The main difference is that the zones can be any shape or size, normal zones are limited to what you can cover with a 5 vertex polygon.

It should also make scripts much easier to read as the zones names can be used directly within the calls so something like:

if PlayerEnteredZone('crypt') then ...

can be used which is very clear as to what is going on.

Sweet. Thank you.

Just noticed the test script I put up in the first post is not the one for the fpm (or that shown in the video) oops, will fix it tonight after work.

this is very good and useful thank you for sharing Amen

Hi AmenMoses



Just wanted to let you know, (and others) that you can add and delete nodes to "normal zones" trigger zones, etc.

To add a node: Hold shift and LMB click on an existing node, it will add one beside it.
To delete a node: Hold shift and RMB click on an existing node.
To delete the zone: Hold shift and RMB click on the main node (the largest star).

I didn't know that, pity we can't get at the node positions from Lua though like you can with waypoints ... or can you?

I've added the correct script to the original post now btw, the one that goes with the fpm file.

Not sure, i know you couldn't get their position before lua was opened up, i haven't looked sense its been opened.

I did say the zones can be any size and shape!

Picture shows a zone depicting the race track, the scipt I am developing for the buggy navigates using the PointIsInZone instruction,

Still need to iron out some steering niggles but here is a video of the result:

Brilliant.

Thank you for your continued work.

excellent stuff mmm I wonder, is it possible to use this on water?? ie for boats, jet ski's etc ?

Don't see why not.

I was just showing off the capabilities rather than a serious solution btw, if I was making a real race track I'd probably do it with zones within zones, i.e. create one zone encompassing the entire outside edge of the track, another slightly inside that, another inside that etc, then track the position of the vehicle as it changes zone.

So for example if the outside edge is zone 1 and the one inside that is zone 2 then as the vehicle crosses from zone 2 into zone one I would turn it back towards zone 2.

This enables you to have multiple vehicles, to overtake a vehicle in zone 2 you steer towards zone 3 for example.

I am planning on extending the MonitorZone bit to enable monitoring of any specified entity and to enable you to find out which zone(s) any monitored entity is currently in. If in addition to the track zones you add 'sector' zones then you could detect where around the track any particular car is, for example if we divide up the track into 16 sequential sectors and a car is in sector 8 say, then it only needs to do collision detection (or overtaking calculations) on cars in the same sector or the next (sector 9) any others it can safely ignore.

Should make it possible to write simplified AI scripts for the cars.

I'm sure others can think of many other uses for this, enemy soldiers for example could find out where others of their 'squad' are located and even send each other instructions like 'meet in zone D' and they could navigate from zone to zone (simply make lists of zones that the AI could look up to find the path from one to the other, maybe have a waypoint in each zone linked to another in the destination zone then the character simply locates the waypoint that is in his zone that connects to the one in the other zone and follows the path until it reaches the destination).

Grrrr, made the changes I described and a nice video to go with them and my vimeo account is buggered so I can't post it.

Oh well, here is the new script with new commands, they should be pretty obvious to figure out. I haven't fully tested them so let me know if you find any bugs.

Vimeo account working again so here it is:

Something like this:

So here we have 6 zones nested, i.e. each zone is an oval the same shape as the track with zone 1 on the inside and zone 6 the outside.

Each buggy stays in the zone it starts off in and they are currently all going at the same maximum speed.

Next step is to add collision detection and 'lane changing', i.e. each will attempt to get the inside line around the track but will avoid collisions with any of the other buggies whilst doing so.

I will add a slight speed disadvantage on the bends for being on the inside of the curve compared to outside (simply by adding a curve zone to each end and detecting when the buggy enters or leaves it) and add logic to attempt to overtake by switching 'lanes' and have a small 'boost' in acceleration when doing so.

Finally I'll allow the player to control one of the buggies, the only difference being a collision will result in rapid deceleration and maybe damage.

Anyone thought up any other uses for it yet or care to share any ideas?

Just in case my description was too vague here is a pic:

Speed control done, discovered a bug in the zones script so here is the fixed version.

brilliant work Mr now go and have your holidays

lol love what your doing here m8 as Graphix says go chill dude

This is an old level I made the first week I got GG which I've remade using the zones script (which simplified the 'goal' code somewhat).

What impresses me most is that even after all the churn of the last 18 months this level works the same now with the latest Beta as it did back at version 1.12 (I think that was the current version at the time).




All files attached bar the music as that file was too large.