RMMV Making a healing spell do damage to Undead enemies

[Sirius270]

Hello, fellow game makers! I hope that you all had/are having a restful weekend.
I'm trying to make a set of active spells/skills that heal when used on an ally (state 30), but do damage to any enemies which are undead (state 301). The method I'm using works, but it displays a 0 value for the healing, even when it heals. How do I get around this?
Script in battle formula:
if(b.isStateAffected(301)){20+a.mat*5-b.mdf;} else{b.gainHp((b.mhp)/2); 0}
Script in Note area:

Spoiler

<Max Mastery Level: 20>
<Target: Everybody>
<Custom Select Condition>
if (target.isStateAffected(301) || target.isStateAffected(30))
{condition = true;}
else {condition = false;}
</Custom Select Condition>

Spoiler

 

[kirbwarrior]

You can have 300+ states? Wow. I guess that makes sense, still, you learn something every day.

Just at a glance, I'm confused as to the 0 there at the end of the script, it looks like it'll just be 0 always. And the semicolons seems oddly placed with the brackets;

if (b.isStateAffected(301)) 20+a.mat*5-b.mdf; else b.gainHp(b.mhp/2);

is what I would use, but I'm also not sure that the damage formula can heal when it's set to damage. Based on the commands used in notes, I'm assuming you're using Yanfly stuff and that will let you put healing into the notes instead of the damage formula if the above changes don't work.

If you want to make absolute certain the damage formula can heal, replace the half max HP with a flat number just for testing's sake.

 

[ATT_Turan]

You're seeing a 0 because the last number you have is 0.

0}

If you want to try to do it this way, instead of using a gainHp call, just return a negative damage amount.

However, with a few plugins you have access to a much more elegant solution:

Undead (MV Plugin Tips & Tricks) - Yanfly.moe Wiki

www.yanfly.moe

Just a few tips for the rest of your code, as you progress in writing things:
- if, else and loops automatically apply to the next single code statement. So it doesn't hurt anything, but you don't need to make a code block with braces, you can just do:

if (target.isStateAffected(301) || target.isStateAffected(30))
    condition=true;

- Any time you find yourself using a conditional only to set the value of a boolean, you can always skip that since the conditional evaluates to a boolean value itself. Thus, your entire notetag could read:

<Custom Select Condition>
condition=target.isStateAffected(301) || target.isStateAffected(30);
</Custom Select Condition>

if (b.isStateAffected(301)) 20+a.mat*5-b.mdf; else b.gainHp(b.mhp/2);

that will, I'm pretty sure, also display a 0, as the damage formula always uses the value of the most recent code statement (which would be the gainHp method, which returns no value).

 

[kirbwarrior]

that will, I'm pretty sure, also display a 0, as the damage formula always uses the value of the most recent code statement (which would be the gainHp method, which returns no value).

Damage Formulas 101 (MV Edition)

Damage Formulas 101 MV Edition You probably wondered how to make a skill do more damage against enemies with a state, or heal more if player has a state, or deal exactly half of enemys HP. And so on. All of that and more can be done through custom damage formula. Basics: Type - sets what does the...

www.rpgmakercentral.com

I refer to this site whenever I need a refresher, but I'm pretty sure that's also how I've used If/then statements in damage formulae and it worked fine.

However, with a few plugins you have access to a much more elegant solution:

Undead (MV Plugin Tips & Tricks) - Yanfly.moe Wiki

www.yanfly.moe

Wow, that's really elegant.

Another option is to have "healing" spells do actual damage, then use passive states to make it so nonundead absorb the healing. I've done that before, especially because I wanted undead to only take damage from "holy" healing but still be healed by any other element. Mind, that requires more plugins and is more complicated, so if you want something simple, the above does that.

 

[ATT_Turan]

Damage Formulas 101 (MV Edition)

Damage Formulas 101 MV Edition You probably wondered how to make a skill do more damage against enemies with a state, or heal more if player has a state, or deal exactly half of enemys HP. And so on. All of that and more can be done through custom damage formula. Basics: Type - sets what does the...

www.rpgmakercentral.com

I refer to this site whenever I need a refresher, but I'm pretty sure that's also how I've used If/then statements in damage formulae and it worked fine.

That site is saying the same thing I said?

But only last number in the formula deals damage.

Using if/else or ternary statements will work fine, but it will always pass the evaluation of the last code statement to the damage formula. There's no way, just within the damage formula, to make it not do anything. Thus, if the last thing you do is a function call that doesn't return a value, it will still display a 0.

 

[Sirius270]

@ATT_Turan
You're always saving me! Thank you! If I don't put that 0 in there, then the game crashes and says that there's a non-finite value, so that's why I had it there. The damage part was/is working perfectly, even displaying the value. For whatever reason, when I set the damage to negative (to heal), it comes out as 0 - not healing anything for my allies, but still doing damage to my enemies with the Undead state. Therefore, I will move on to using the Undead Plug-In. I'm already using all the prerequisites and should have purchased it already, so that should be easy enough. Thank you!

 

[ATT_Turan]

For whatever reason, when I set the damage to negative (to heal), it comes out as 0

The reason is probably basic error-checking in the engine. After all, if you had a really basic damage calculation like a.atk-b.def and you hit an enemy with a greater defense than your attack, you wouldn't want it to heal them, right?

Therefore, I will move on to using the Undead Plug-In.

Yeah, that should handle it neatly and you won't need any shenanigans in your formula.

 

[kirbwarrior]

Using if/else or ternary statements will work fine, but it will always pass the evaluation of the last code statement to the damage formula. There's no way, just within the damage formula, to make it not do anything. Thus, if the last thing you do is a function call that doesn't return a value, it will still display a 0.

I probably misinterpreted your first statement then. The skill, as is, can only target either a battler with the "undead" state or the "ally" state, then the damage formula checks if they have the "undead" state. I'm not sure how it would show a 0 because of if/then. I did assume it would show a 0 for;

For whatever reason, when I set the damage to negative (to heal), it comes out as 0 - not healing anything for my allies, but still doing damage to my enemies with the Undead state.

HP damage has a minimum of 0. This is to prevent cases such as "a.atk - b.def" healing the target when defense is higher than attack. To fix that, I think you'd want something like the Damage Core by Yanfly.

I'm already using all the prerequisites and should have purchased it already, so that should be easy enough.

For others reading this thread, both plugins required for Undead are part of the free bundle.

 

[ATT_Turan]

I probably misinterpreted your first statement then.

No problem. I was referring to your suggestion of:

if (b.isStateAffected(301)) 20+a.mat*5-b.mdf; else b.gainHp(b.mhp/2);

That "else" condition would still make a 0 appear as a damage popup because the last code statement (b.gainHp) has no value.

You can test this really easily, go to your attack skill and change the damage formula to a.gainHp(100)
When you hit an enemy, you'll see a healing popup for 100 over your character, and a damage popup of 0 over the enemy.

 

[Sirius270]

@ATT_Turan; Worked like a charm! Thank you!
Yes... the Undead piece by Yanfly is free, and is not a plug-in, but just something you put in the Notes section of the state in your game. I also was able to customize the damage to fit my previous model. Thank you, again!

 

[kirbwarrior]

That "else" condition would still make a 0 appear as a damage popup because the last code statement (b.gainHp) has no value.

Gotcha, yes, I forgot to say something about that. That would be a side effect of doing it that way. Now things make sense.

 

[caethyril]

If I don't put that 0 in there, then the game crashes and says that there's a non-finite value, so that's why I had it there.

I think it's YEP Damage Core that does this: last time I checked, its default parameter setup removes the "replace not-a-number with 0" safety check from the core scripts. Can help to catch errors, but is otherwise a bit of a nuisance.

This thread is being closed, due to being solved. If for some reason you would like this thread re-opened, please report this post and leave a message why. Thank you.

Happy RPG Making!