Most asked questions

Q: I try to paste your code from Aum but I get errors about missing vars, etc; what should I do?

A: All my wdl files, including all the vars, are zipped inside the Aumx.zip file available on the main page in every Aum. Don't copy / paste text from my articles - use the real thing!

Q: I'd like to know how much video memory eats a texture of a certain size:

A: Here's a good estimate:

   64 x  64  uses   23kb
  128 x  64  uses   46kb
  128 x 128  uses   92kb
  256 x 128  uses  184kb
  256 x 256  uses  368kb
  512 x 256  uses  736kb
  512 x 512  uses 1472kb

Q: I need some code that will show a panel above my npc when I click on it. Can you help?

A: Here's a snippet:

bmap my_panel_pcx = <mypanel.pcx>;

function create_panel();
function show_info();

action npc1
{
    my.enable_click = on;
    my.event = create_panel;
}

function create_panel()
{
     wait (1);
     ent_create (my_panel_pcx, my.pos, show_info);
}

function show_info()
{
   wait (1);
   my.passable = on;
   waitt (32); // show the info for 2 seconds;
   ent_remove (me);
}

Q: I like your Resident - Evil camera code in Aum4, but I was wondering if you could tell me how I should do if I want the cam to be frozen, and not follow the player.

A: Replace these lines:

vec_set(temp, player.x); // re_camera's pan
vec_sub(temp, my.x);
vec_to_angle(re_camera.pan, temp);

with

re_camera.pan = my.pan

This way you'll be able to set the camera positions by setting pan, tilt, roll for the cameras.

Q: I have played around with the menu system in Aum8 and it works fine. However, when I include my level named "Level1.wmb" I get player_move -  action not found, etc. I'm not sure how you should tie all the elements together for my level to run when you click on "New Game".

A: This is normal because your level is run by another wdl script (not included in my example). If you want to use the template actions you have to include them in my menu.wdl file.

Q: How can I make an enemy take more shots to kill than another?

A: If you are using the templates you can set skill9 (health) and skill10 (armor) to different values for your enemies.

Q: I have created a function which counts the seconds the game is running at the end of the main function. The time already starts running when the splashscreen is displayed. How can I avoid this?

A: Use something like this:

function main()
{
   ......................
   while (splash_screen_panel.visible == on) {wait (1);}
   call_your_function_here();
}

Q: What exactly does animdist do?

A: Animdist is another name for a skill that holds the current animation frame. It's the same thing with my.animation_frame in Stratego2.

Q: What is wdfc.exe and what can u do with it?

A: Wdfx.exe is the application that creates wdf files, the small windows that load as splash screens before the actual level is loaded. They can include a progress bar, have different shapes, etc.

Q: I bought the "100 3D Actionmodel-pack" from Sybex, but some models are too big for my project. I have tried to resize them in Med, but when they started their action they suddenly changed back into their "normal" height. How can I make the models smaller?

A: Open Med, make sure that you click Options, check "Use Frame Range" and use all the frames of the model, otherwise you'll resize only the current frame.