not sure if this has been covered yet so i'll give a basic run down of how to use the new dynamic lua system in Max

firstly the scripts in Max require a comment at the top of the script to work
--DESCRIPTION: this script does...
great, now the script can be assigned in max and you can keep track of what the script does... but that's only the beginning

these description comments also gives you access to the dynamic lua - i.e. the ability to change the settings in the editor
basic usage is enclose a variable name with a default value inside some square brackets
e.g.
--DESCRIPTION: [VARIABLE=1]

you can add text outside the brackets to help explain what it does
e.g.
--DESCRIPTION: This [VARIABLE=1] can be accessed in the script

currently there are a few different things we can get access to using this method
--DESCRIPTION: [MY_NUMBER=1]
will let you access an integer value for the variable MY_NUMBER to use in the script
*how to use the variable i will explain after*

--DESCRIPTION: [MY_NUMBER=200(100,500)]
will let you access an integer value as above but this time between 100 and 500 (inclusive) and will be set to 200 by default

--DESCRIPTION: [MY_STRING$="hello"]
will let you change the string "hello"
*note the $ at the end of the variable name, this is required to tell the system it is a string*
(you will not need the $ when referencing the variable later)

--DESCRIPTION: [MY_NUMBER#=1.5]
will let you access a float number (set to 1.5)
*note the # at the end of the variable name, this is required to tell the system it is a float*
(you will not need the # when referencing the variable later)

--DESCRIPTION: [MY_NUMBER#=1.5(0.5,2.5)]
same as above but this time it will let you access a float number (set to 1.5) with a range from 0.5 to 2.5 (inclusive)

--DESCRIPTION: [THIS_IS_TRUE!=1]
this gives a tick box / toggle for if a variable is 1 or 0
*note the ! at the end, again this is required to tell the system it should be a true / false box
*note2 - not actually true or false in lua code but acts like it, the variable will be 1 if true (ticked) and 0 if false (unticked)

--DESCRIPTION: [@SELECTION=1(1=Item_1,2=Item_2)]
this one gives you a drop down selection box like when picked a weapon on the start marker etc
the part in brackets is broken up into 2 parts again - the left hand side being the index of the list and the right hand side being the name shown in the inspector
the actual value given in code is the index of the item selected
i.e. if you set SELECTION = "item_2" in the editor then in code the variable (selection) will be equal to 2

finally you can use any number of these together but you need to give them all unique names
i.e.
--DESCRIPTION: [MY_FIRST_NUMBER=1]
--DESCRIPTION: [MY_SECOND_NUMBER=10]
--DESCRIPTION: [MY_FIRST_FLOAT#=1.4]
--DESCRIPTION: [MY_FIRST_STRING$="Hello world"]

now as for actual usage, Max follows a specific naming convention where you will store the variables in an array / list based on the script name

first make a new lua file named
"my_first_script.lua"
*the name is important as we will use it for our list and our functions, if you rename the file you need to rename the core list variable and the function names otherwise Max will not call those functions!*

so we will start by defining a some dynamic lua to use


we now need to define an array to hold the values (this part can just go right below the --DESCRIPTION)


now we can make a properties(e) function
here we will pass in 'e' and the variable names we used in the DESCRIPTION (note that lower case is preferred here)


now we need an init(e) function where we will further set up the variable list
and we will also pass in some default values for the variables as we call the properties function manually
(Max will call it automatically but this makes the script work in GG Classic too)


now we need the main(e) function
this one is either adding or multiplying the first and second numbers together based on your selection


finally the whole code just for reference or those that want to skip ahead

Thank you smallg for that detailed explanation.

Excellent !!
What an awesome thread .

This is brilliant! Thank you for the explanation

Thank you for your tutorial here and the one on Steam guides. Been looking for a guide to get started in scripting

Smallg, thank you for sharing the information relative to the available formats in the 'DESCRIPTION' comment.

Did you verify if the float numbers are working correctly in GameGuru MAX ?

Personally I noticed that there are systematically rounding errors with those numbers.

floats are not working in Max
i reported it when i made the tutorial, feel free to add a post there if you need working floats so it gets fixed sooner
https://github.com/TheGameCreators/GameGuruRepo/issues/2617

Smallg, thank you for your fast reply.

As suggested, I also posted a comment in your report on Github.

Thanks so much for this resource. I hope the dynamic lua options continues to grow.