[VX] Pearl ABS Enemies wont damage each other

[geekcereal]

Having trouble with a skill inside pearl ABS, the skill happily damages the actor when set to 'Scope: One enemy' but even with Tool Self Damage: true, when set to One Ally or All Allies, the animation fires, but no damage is done. What am I missing here?

 

[Archeia]

I've moved this thread to RGSSx Script Support . Please be sure to post your threads in the correct forum next time. Thank you.

 

[Dymdez]

Having trouble with a skill inside pearl ABS, the skill happily damages the actor when set to 'Scope: One enemy' but even with Tool Self Damage: true, when set to One Ally or All Allies, the animation fires, but no damage is done. What am I missing here?

Tool Self Damage = True is the simple way to get tools to damage to enemy


You may have disrupted some other aspect of your tool. Please post your tool's notetags and a screenshot of the setup in the database.


Also, I would like to direct your attention to this post: http://www.rpgmakercentral.com/topic/8809-falcao-pearl-abs-liquid-v3-update/?p=268607

 

[geekcereal]

Thanks Dymdez, that script actually looks like a feature i'd want to add to my game. That said, I'd really like to get the basic form of friendly damage working with PearlABS before I add that (no point in stacking stuff on something that's broken). With that in mind, here's a screenshot and the notetags I'm using for the skill that I want to damage all monsters in the area. The idea is that a monster can 'turn' and then only attack other enemy units. When I set the 'Scope' to One Enemy or All Enemies, it immediately kills the player (its supposed to be instant death for anyone affected by the abillity), but as soon as I switch it to any 'Ally' or 'User' scope, the animation fires, but no damage is applied and no damage pop text appears. [ For your additional info, I've tried varying the Tool Special: value to nil, area, and some of the others, none help ]


User Graphic = nil
User Anime Speed = 30
Tool Cooldown = 30
Tool Graphic = nil
Tool Index = 0
Tool Size = 1
Tool Distance = 4
Tool Effect Delay = 10
Tool Destroy Delay = 20
Tool Speed = 5
Tool Cast Time = 40
Tool Cast Animation = 116
Tool Blow Power = 1
Tool Piercing = true
Tool Animation When = hit
Tool Animation Repeat = false
Tool Special = area
Tool Target = true
Tool Invoke Skill = 0
Tool Guard Rate = 0
Tool Knockdown Rate = 0
Tool Sound Se = nil
Tool Cooldown Display = true
Tool Item Cost = 0
Tool Short Jump = false
Tool Through = true
Tool Priority = 1
Tool Hit Shake = false
Tool Self Damage = true
Tool Combo Tool = nil

 

[Dymdez]

There's a lot to say, but I agree with your position. The first thing you should do if you're using this script is get Sixth's bug fixes script.


that aside, I will test your tool you posted later tonight and I will see if i can figure it out.


if you get this before I figure it out then the way I would troubleshoot it is:


take off tool targetting, then test it 


change tool priority, then test it


increase your destroy delay, then test it


Change the tool scope to every option, test those


lastly change the tool special to nil and test it


eventually if you do this, then you'll figure out the problem 

 

[geekcereal]

Thanks Dymdez, I tried all of the above steps; still no luck. I also tried the bugfix <reverse target> flag, again with all scopes, and still it doesnt appear to work. Did you manage to get it working your end?

 

[Dymdez]

I won't have my computer until tomorrow - I will test then.


download the demo and try it in the fresh project 

 

[geekcereal]

Tried a bunch and got no further, have spun up a new project and started rebuilding, though now I notice that Sixth's Patch fix, breaks the tools I was using (I was using 'User Iconset = animated' so I didnt need to make more custom sprites.) But now no abillities will activate with Sixth's patch installed. I've read a bunch of documentation but can find no 'expected' reason why that would happen. 


Do you think I should I keep the patch or remove it? I imagine they're useful fixes, but I'd still like basic weapon attacks to work


*edit* Actually its not just basic weapons, its any tool at all (weapon, armour , skill)

*edit2* So, I finally got an enemy to destroy itself, which is at least a start, a tool distance of 0 combined with self damage = true, and it will indeed kill itself, but WONT damage the player (the target still needs to be One or All Enemies) if you increase the tool distance to 1, it will kill the player, but not the monster. Something seems broken. [Basic weapon actions still not working]


*edit3* [Sorry for the many edits] whilst the enemy will kill itself, it wont hurt other monsters. 

 

[Dymdez]

Definitely keep the patch, let's just summon @Sixth haha

 

[geekcereal]

Thanks, he's likely to be able to help here too.


Some background in-case anyone's interested; I'm making a game about a bard, so most of his skills are songs, that manipulate the enemies, I have a test scenario setup with a Lich (who will eventually be able to summon new monsters), and the idea is that the bard can use a powerful song-skill to cause the Lich to kill all his minions.

 

[Sixth]

Ahoy!


I'm not home right now, but a major thing needs to be clarified here.


The ally and enemy scopes are treated in an entirely different way. If you want to damage someone, be it an ally or enemy, you must use the enemy scopes.


If you want to damage enemies and allies alike, you must use the All Enemies scope, you must activate the self-damage effect with the note-tag, and even this way, only targets within range will be damaged. So, if you want to damage everyone on screen, you will need to increase the tool size too.


Also, to enable the tools with my bugfixes script, just turn on the switch you set up in the script, and it should work.


Will re-read the topic tomorrow, when I get home, in case I missed something here.

 

[geekcereal]

Thanks @Sixth a few follow ups from that:

Also, to enable the tools with my bugfixes script, just turn on the switch you set up in the script, and it should work.

What do you mean here? I didn't set up any switch to do with tools? Reading this; I feel like i messed up a step in setting up your bug-fix?

If you want to damage enemies and allies alike, you must use the All Enemies scope, you must activate the self-damage effect with the note-tag, and even this way, only targets within range will be damaged. So, if you want to damage everyone on screen, you will need to increase the tool size too.

This and my own experimentation lines up. Except in order to cause self damage it has to have Tool Distance == 0, AND irregardless of the tool size I set, it will not harm other monsters, only itself, am I missing a trick here (Scope == All Enemies) BUT it doesnt harm the player either (which is my desirable outcome, harm ALL other monsters on screen, but not the player character)


Thanks for all the help everyone, it's really appreciated.


*Edit* I realised I had the <reverse target> note tag still in, which helped actually, as when I removed it, it now damages itself and the player BUT not the other monsters on screen. (These monsters really like each other ) I feel like at this stage the script Dymdez mentions above is really the solution, as I should swap the one monster I want to kill folks to the allegiance of the PC, and let it be, but I really want to make this work with just nuts and bolts first before I get there.

 

[Dymdez]

No.. Listen to Sixth. He knows the script better than even Falcao. 


Send me a PM with a link to your game, I'll check it out if you want. 


Sixth was referring to his bug fixes script, it sets up some switches in there that must be turned ON for the system to work properly, please read the script notes fully. 

 

[geekcereal]

Thanks Dymdez,

No.. Listen to Sixth. He knows the script better than even Falcao. 

Absolutely! I didn't mean to give any other impression, I'm working under the impression that everyone here knows more than me, so I apologise if anything else came across. I'm approaching this entirely as a learner.

Sixth was referring to his bug fixes script, it sets up some switches in there that must be turned ON for the system to work properly, please read the script notes fully. 

I got that, I had meant that I hadn't configured any *custom* switch, and was using the defaults that were already assigned, I realised that I had mis-set the tools one, which was my issue, so this element is resolved.


The only outstanding issue is the original one (yay!) so let me re-state that for simplicity:


I can make an enemy kill the player with a tool/skill.
I can make the player kill 1 an enemy a tool/skill.


I can't make an enemy, kill another enemy.
I can't make an enemy, kill itself AND another enemy.

 

[geekcereal]

Important Update (sorry for double post.)


IT LIVES (works!) and... I hate myself just slightly. The last problem (friendly fire damage not working) was because, when I copy/pasted the event for the enemy, the name didn't move over and so was blank, and made it just an animated sprite (and hence invincible). Once I had the tools working and realized that even with a ludicrously overpowered debug weapon didnt work, I could debug and fix!


Thank you SO much to @Dymdez for your guidance and patience, and @Sixth for sharing his wisdom.

 

[Dymdez]

great!!