Zugg Software :: View topic - Random Direction Trigger not triggering everytime.

Novice Joined: 04 Feb 2014 Posts: 42

So I tried writing a script that will move me in a random direction within the possibilities of the room I'm in. I don't want to go back the direction I came, so I remove that direction from the possibilities. And there are certain bounds that I need to stay within so I don't die a quick death...

The script works just fine sometimes.. However, it's not uncommon for it execute, and not actually imput any directional command. Then when it fires again, it might or might not work, however, /always/ on the 3rd time it'll work. A lot of the time it does work on the first try though. I'm not sure what's causing the delay. I have put in there twice because i thought maybe the "random" code was taking too long or something. It's code I wrote years ago though.. So i'm not sure why I have some of it in there.

The "find" command in there is to find the room i'm currently in and to make sure the map is up to date so I know which directions are possible exits.

Would anyone mind cleaning it up a bit? Possibly with some cleanup, I can get it to consistently fire.
Let me know if you need anything more to look into it!

Thanks!

Room output:

A Treacherous Slope
Two large hills towers up to the east and west, and another one not far to
the south. They are one of the hillier areas of the Blasted Lands. The heat
is not as unbearable here, in this small valley between the hills as it is
on most of the tops, yet it is dangerous to stay in the sun too long. The
shade of a dead tree may well prove lifesaving in this heat and drought.
[ obvious exits: N E W ]

Direction List: n|s|e|w|u|d

#ALIAS gonextroom

#VAR goingroomexit %roomexit( )
#VAR roomoptions %numitems( @goingroomexit)
#IF (@roomoptions>1) {
#MATH roomoptions @roomoptions-1
#VAR goingroomexit %delItem( @removethisdir, @goingroomexit)
}
#VAR randomdir {%item( @goingroomexit, %random( @roomoptions))}
#IF (%ismember( @randomdir, @directionlist)) {
#IF (%mapvnum=1668) {
#VAR randomdir s
#ECHO Staying In Bounds
}
#IF (%mapvnum=1658) {
#VAR randomdir s
#ECHO Staying In Bounds
}
#IF (%mapvnum=1710) {
#VAR randomdir w
#ECHO Staying In Bounds
}
#IF (%roomname=(Coach Stop at the Peak of the Erinin Bridge)) {
#VAR randomdir w
#ECHO Staying In Bounds
}
#IF (%roomname=(Knee Deep in the Muck)) {
#VAR randomdir e
#ECHO Staying In Bounds
}
#IF (%roomname=(A Crude Stone Well)) {
#VAR randomdir n
#ECHO Staying In Bounds
}
#IF (%roomname=(Coastal Road Through the Swamplands)) {
#VAR randomdir e
#ECHO Staying In Bounds
}
#WAIT 1000
@randomdir
#VAR olddirectiongone @randomdir
#WAIT 1000
find
} {
#VAR randomdir {%item( @goingroomexit, %random( @roomoptions))}
#IF (%ismember( @randomdir, @directionlist)) {
#STATE killagaincondition 0
#IF (%mapvnum=1668) {
#VAR randomdir s
#ECHO Staying In Bounds
}
#IF (%mapvnum=1658) {
#VAR randomdir s
#ECHO Staying In Bounds
}
#IF (%mapvnum=1710) {
#VAR randomdir w
#ECHO Staying In Bounds
}
#IF (%roomname=(Coach Stop at the Peak of the Erinin Bridge)) {
#VAR randomdir w
#ECHO Staying In Bounds
}
#IF (%roomname=(Knee Deep in the Muck)) {
#VAR randomdir e
#ECHO Staying In Bounds
}
#IF (%roomname=(A Crude Stone Well)) {
#VAR randomdir n
#ECHO Staying In Bounds
}
#IF (%roomname=(Coastal Road Through the Swamplands)) {
#VAR randomdir e
#ECHO Staying In Bounds
}
#WAIT 1000
#IF (@engaged == 0) {@randomdir}
#WAIT 1000
#ECHO It happened twice
}
}
#IF (@randomdir=w) {#VAR removethisdir e}
#IF (@randomdir=e) {#VAR removethisdir w}
#IF (@randomdir=s) {#VAR removethisdir n}
#IF (@randomdir=n) {#VAR removethisdir s}
#IF (@randomdir=u) {#VAR removethisdir d}
#IF (@randomdir=d) {#VAR removethisdir u}
#WAIT 100 killagain "Scripts|Statting"

SubAdmin Joined: 18 Nov 2001 Posts: 5182

The biggest potential problem I see is your use of #WAIT. As a general rule #WAIT is bad. You should design your script to complete with variables recorded and a direction sent. Use a trigger on the line '[obvious exits:' to activate your script again.

It would appear that you duplicate an entire section of the script. Your script has "#IF (%ismember( @randomdir, @directionlist)) {" then in the else section of the #IF you repeat everything in true section and even have a second "#IF (%ismember( @randomdir, @directionlist)) { " this does not make sense to me. About all I can guess is that you want it to pick a direction again to ensure that the selected direction is in @directionlist. If that was your intent then you should cull the @goingroomexit list for anything not in the @directionlist before picking a random direction; make sure you have a fall back for an empty list.

All your 'staying in bounds' tests specifically set the @randomdir and are mutually exclusive. They should be done before using the random function to set that variable and should prevent subsequent resetting using an if..else chain, for example:

Novice Joined: 04 Feb 2014 Posts: 42

Thank you very much for your response.

I use the #wait because I wanted to give time for everything to function. When I think about it now, I guess it all happens pretty quick, so I could do away with it. I'll give that a shot. I think that's the same reason I made basically duplicate of the entire section because if the first one didn't work, the second one would sometimes. Actually most the time, if the first one triggered, but no direction was entered, it would do it again, and I'd get the "It happened twice" thing. I put that in there because sometimes the trigger would trigger but no direction would be entered, and it'd have to loop again before it did it. And I don't know why. Which is why i'm asking for help.

My exit directions are always within the @directionlist. The mud only has those 6 directions. So I don't actually need that if statement. Because they can't be anything else. So I think I'll take that out and re-write it without that.

Can you explain what you mean by the "staying in bounds" are mutually exclusive? Can you explain what you mean and where you would have those put in? Would it be something like.

Look for exits:
If room is *. Remove *
then ramdomize?

On this part:

#IF (@goingroomexit="") {
#VAR randomdir {@removethisdir}
}

Is this to take care of the >1 part? It seems really clever. :) Thanks for that bit. It avoids the #Math part. So basically, if I've already removed the only exit, it goes the way I wanted to remove in the first place.

I am definitely going to rewrite it with some of the newer understanding i have on coding. I am a serious armature when it comes to coding, infact, zmud is the only thing I code. and poorly at that.

So, any idea why it will sometimes not put a direction in? I know that's a long shot without testing, and I'll test more tonight and come back with a rewritten script for you to pick apart, but, if you have any idea, let me know.

Thanks again for your response! I bought zmud, and writing little scripts has been at least as fun if not more than actual mudding!

Thanks!

Novice Joined: 04 Feb 2014 Posts: 42

I'm sorry that this is so convoluted! I don't know how else to be sometimes. (Thank you Vijilante for your help, i did use some of your examples in my revamp!)

So... I am still having some difficulties. I have split the setup into 2 different scripts. A trigger, and an Alias.

Here is the Trigger:

#TRIGGER ~[ obvious

SubAdmin Joined: 18 Nov 2001 Posts: 5182

Let me start by again saying that; while zMud is forgiving, using the proper syntax will yield consistent results. The correct format is to enclose string portions in double quotes.

Novice Joined: 04 Feb 2014 Posts: 42

Man, it seems like you're a little bit upset with me. I am sorry. I'm just trying to learn here.

I think this might be interesting for you to see, and i'm not asking for you to fix it, cause it works for me.. whether it's right or not.

I have a trigger that fires on the "Obvious Exits" part of the room. It runs an alias: failsafemovels. This is the code in it:

SubAdmin Joined: 18 Nov 2001 Posts: 5182

I apologize for tone in my last post; I probably was dealing with a couple of fools in another venue and let my frustration with them bleed through everything.

Let us look at the help for %random. We can see that when you do not specify both the minimum and maximum values the range is [0..specified value]. Probability says that while thousands of flips of a coin. when aggregated. will tend towards being equal for heads and tails; smaller subsets may have a strong bias towards either head or tails. Next we can look at %item; and we will see that function expects its numbering to start at 1, giving 0 as an item number to %item will always result in a null string. It would appear that you hit a pocket of 0's then a 1.

Perhaps I should have noticed and corrected it in your original script, but I didn't. You need to change all your uses of %random to include a minimum of 1 in regard to this script.

Using #ALARMs will make a solid difference. You can turn them on and off with #T+ and #T- if you have named them. Also you can use them as a sub-state to a trigger which works like automatically turning the alarm on and off.

Novice Joined: 04 Feb 2014 Posts: 42

Thank you for the response. Maybe it is calculating from thousands of options. So, how do we change that? Using my script, how would you do that? I don't know how to put a minimum of "1" since i'm using using numeric options.. rather, single letter options.

Thanks.

Posted: Mon May 25, 2015 7:39 am

%random(1, @roomoptions)

Novice Joined: 04 Feb 2014 Posts: 42

Well, that did it. :)

So I have re-written like 90% of my script with what we've talked about. but, the initial question was "Random Direction Not Triggering Everytime"... And that did it.

Giving the %random a min limit has made it so it doesn't ever call 0, which was what was happening.

It's now firing 100% of the time with a direction.

Thank You sir. That indeed makes me happy! :) I can at least count on that happening all the time, and can work with at. I'm so happy! :) Thanks!

Newbie Joined: 29 Jan 2016 Posts: 8

Not sure if this helps at all but here's a random move script I wrote;