Volumetric buttons / sensor field

[andy1976uk]

I was reading a suggestion that Zeos made the other day and as an aside he mentioned "big buttons", so I'm thinking, why not?

Why not have something that combines the functionality of Conna's pressure pads with the Wire button so that you could say "if trace appears between x1 and x2 & y1 and y2, then trigger". Perhaps you could even have it in 3 dimensions. It wouldn't need button or pressure pad models but could act more like somekind of force-field and have either a graphical effect or simply be invisible. The sensor field could detect things entering it (gunfire, props, NPCs, vehicles etc), could detect user presses inside of it, maybe other stuff too. Perhaps this could solve the multiple-traces-spam dilemna.

You could use this to setup things like "functionality zones", so that certain areas of the map allow certain things in certain circumstances (cell-phone coverage anyone? :P). The list of applications is most likely very extensive.

[Kybe]

I think something along the lines of a target find that only looks for targets in a volumetric area of space that is defined by x1,y1,z1,x2,y2,z2,x3,y3,z3,x4,y4,z4.

[miron]

Well, you could do andy's idea with Kybe's idea, but that's a boring way. I think we need both.

[cadde]

Couldn't you just say a normal game trigger mechanism?

And this is easily done using a target finder and some minX, minY, maxX and maxY variables. (Possibly also for UP and DOWN for a cube)

The target finder reports the co-ordinates and you simply check if they are within the limits with the appropriate e-gate call. (I forgot what it is but it's in the docs)

As for cell phone coverage... A semi realistic way to do it is to have the same target finder check distance to target and then target a ranger to see if the target can be "hit" by the radio waves and thus have coverage.
of course this isn't how it works in reality but still.

[F12Bwth]

Yes. V-Buttons.

Good luck with this. I hope it works!

[-=Fox=-]

The problem with detection fields and volumetric type activation systems is that to do them requires a lot of checks from traces. Doing so many traces per second tends to Hog the CPU.

The best way to do volumetric detection is to use a scanning ranger, or use an E-Gate hooked to a target finder working at an interval. They're not lightning fast but they're FAR less CPU intensive and have a lot more functionality.

Even the new radio mod isn't going to use "Fields" (correct me if I'm wrong Philxyz xD). But rather will check a list of radios and "mark" which radios are within range to figure out which ones to share data with. Theres isn't any type of "field" or radio "Wave" to try and simulate. To do that without lagging horribly would require Dual Quad-Core CPUs

[F12Bwth]

[No idea about coding] Couldn't the same principle of a beacon sensor be used? That just knows when something (told by a target finder) finds just about anything BUT the world.

One could emulate a PIR with a beacon sensor target finder setup. I just though incorporating a FIND EVERYTHING target finder with a bearing -45 to 45 degrees and an elevation -45 to 45 and a distance of 100. and then just use a target output.


[/No idea about coding]