You play the song of storms and it start raining... anywhere... *headache*

[CSD]

OK, so I changed the whistle's sound to the song of storms. I know how to make it start raining. What I need to know is how I should go about making it possible to trigger the rain anywhere.

I checked for a whistle->secrets screen flag, but I didn't find one. Is there one? Cause if there isn't, there should be. It would probably be pretty easy to set up too... So, thought number two was to pepper the place with whistle flags. The problem with that is if you play the whistle again, you get the secret FX again, and I don't want that. So, round three, I made versions of everywhere-you-can-walk that are whistle-inherent, and used secret flags to replace them all with their non-whistle-inherent counterparts. That works, but it's very time consuming, and severly limits what I'll be able to do on a screen. I'm not even sure how I'm gonna cut grass, push blocks and activate armos statues.

The problem is, if I have some grass and they blow the whistle, do I replace it with grass or what the grass looks like after you cut it? -Note, from here out I haven't tried yet, cause I'm pretty sure it's not gonna work- If I make the stuff secret-flag inherent (you CAN make stuff secret-flag-inherent, right?) so that it knows what it's supposed to be replaced with, then I can't also make it whistle-inherent. If I put a whistle flag over top, then it should work out that the secret FX will play everytime you use the whistle while standing on that combo.

So, what I need is.... a whistle->secrets screen flag that I didn't notice, or a script version (and a semi-detailed explaination of how to get it working) that accomplishes the same idea, or, less preferably (unless it's really simple and uses up few secret combos), some solution to my grass-cutting problem.

Thoughts?

Also, is there a way to deactivate the secret-fx when triggering secrets on a specific screen? That would make screens that, when you start it raining, and nothing else special happens (like raising the water level or growing some vines), significantly easier to do. In those situations, I COULD just pepper the place with whistle flags.

[Master Maniac]

ooh! i might be able to do it with scripting. doesent seem too difficult.

however, i wont do that yet. seems like to me there may be a way to do it without scripting. i just may not know it

[The_Amaster]

Eh, actually most of the thing's I'd have suggest are what you already tried. :shrug:

[Joe123]

Script it.
Otherwise it's not really practical.

Just write a code in your global script to make a drawtile animation of it raining on every tile of the screen if you play the song.
And have it cut off if you exit the screen.

That way you can set the secrets up as normal for what you want to actually change with the song, and it'll work on every screen regardless of what secrets are on it.

Just make sure you don't use layer 6 for forest overhang canopy or something.

[CSD]

Goddammit! I made a typo in the subject AGAIN! *sigh*

Thanks for trying guys, lol. So the options are to either:

a) Not use grass/push blocks/armos statues, anywhere on the overworld.
b) Have it be impossible to trigger the rain while standing where grass/pushblocks/armos statues used to be.
c) Have the secret FX play multiple times if you stand where they used to be.

Which of those would you go with? a) is the most consistant, but it's a limited. b)/c) both could be considered to have bugs.

Of course, option d) is to script it. Only problem is, I don't have the slightest clue how. I'm gonna have to look up how to get a script running, even. Should I go put in a script request, or something? Also, I'm not entirely sure how well that "drawTile" solution would work. Besides starting it raining, it also needs to start the lightning (probably not a problem), but it also needs to put the splashing rain on most water combos. It really needs to be a whistle->secrets solution. You'd think there'd be a way to trigger secrets with a script.

Nobody answered my question about secret FX. Is there a way to turn it off on a particular screen in this situation? It'd make a lot of screens easier, assuming I don't find a script-version, and I'd probably like it to not play if all it does is make it start raining.

Before anybody puts too much time into this project, for me, note that I only have about 6 screens, lol, but whether or not I get this to work will determine whether or not I put a good effort into making this quest. The tentative title is "A Moment in Time", but it's kinda stupid, and that whole time motif is getting old. I kinda like the way it sounds, I guess, but I'd like the title to refer more to the whole Song of Storms thing. I'm thinking I'm gonna try to tell the story of how Hyrule got flooded before WW.

[The_Amaster]

*seeds of an idea* Can you control layers via scripting yet...?

[_L_]

Before anybody puts too much time into this project, for me, note that I only have about 6 screens, lol, but whether or not I get this to work will determine whether or not I put a good effort into making this quest. The tentative title is "A Moment in Time", but it's kinda stupid, and that whole time motif is getting old. I kinda like the way it sounds, I guess, but I'd like the title to refer more to the whole Song of Storms thing. I'm thinking I'm gonna try to tell the story of how Hyrule got flooded before WW.

I dunno. The flooding part of Hyrule's history is most characterised by having no heroes at all.

[CSD]

I don't know exactly how everything's gonna work yet. I'm still trying to piece it together in my head... This doesn't have to fit with the timeline (the people who make this stuff don't seem to bother too much with it), so as long as Hyrule gets flooded at the end, that's good enough for me. There probably won't be very much story going on anyway. Just a quest, where you use the Song of Storms a lot, and then you play it one too many times, or something. Like I said, I got 6 screens, lol, so there's a lot of gaps that aren't filled in.

And for some reason, Hyrule turns black and white and freezes in time (maybe "A Moment in Time" will work after all?). Lots of stuff to try and figure... Whatever-I-come-up-with's probably not going to make any sense, lol. Don't point out flaws in my plan; it's kinda discouraging. :(

Let me worry about this stuff, anyway. You can worry about my Whistle problem.

[CSD]

OK, so let's get exactly what I need the script to do:

1) It needs to activate when the whistle is played the first time, and only the first time.
2) It needs to trip the screen's secret combos.
3) It needs to reset when you leave the screen.

Can somebody who knows tell me if this is possible? If it's not, we might need to get a little more creative..., but hopefully it is.

[Gleeok]

OK, so let's get exactly what I need the script to do:

1) It needs to activate when the whistle is played the first time, and only the first time.
2) It needs to trip the screen's secret combos.
3) It needs to reset when you leave the screen.

Can somebody who knows tell me if this is possible? If it's not, we might need to get a little more creative..., but hopefully it is.

1)First time on a screen, or first time in the game? I'm assuming it's the former, else that makes no sense.
3)Same as the first, you want it an ffc script I'm guessing.
2)You can do that yourself via the screen whistle secrets.

Doesn't sound that hard to me. Use an item script on the whisle to activate a global something that will trigger the ffc to "make it rain". Simply check the "script restarts on carry-over" and it will stop raining when you leave the screen.

I could make it for you.

[CSD]

I don't think you caught the nature of my delema. The whistle flags would need to be peppered everywhere, which severely limits what I can do on a screen. What you're suggesting would be a partial fix, however (not that I have a clue what you actually said, lol). It's just, on screens where playing the whistle triggers other secrets, I'll have to avoid using flags and undercombos. The problem with that is, when the player sees that there's nothing much going on on a screen, the first thing they'll think is to play the whistle. I'd also have to do without the rain splashing in water, but that doesn't really matter too much.

So from all of this I've gathered that there's no way to turn off the secret FX, there's no way to trigger secret combos with a script, and there's no whistle->secrets screen flag. I think there should be a whistle->secrets screen flag. I mean, there's several _____->secrets screen flags, and a couple whistle->______ screen flags. How hard would it be to combine the two together?

Anyway, Gleeok, if you're willing to make a script for me, I'll take whatever you come up with. It will allow me a lot more freedom than what I've got currently. Make sure, when you explain to me what to do, you type very slowly. If you could also point me toward a good tutorial on how to use scripts, that'd be nice too.

I'm up to 11 screens now, lol.

[Gleeok]

I'm not following. Why do you need whistle secrets on EVERY screen? That's what the script is for. You only need whisle secrets when there's a....well, ..secret. ;)

..Or am I misunderstandind something?


Edit: tutorial? well try http://www.shardstorm.com/ZCwiki/Main_Page

Also there is all those screen flags you mentioned. Take a few minutes off, it's a good read.

[CSD]

OK, I meant that the whistle flags would need to cover the whole screen, when the whistle triggers a secret. The script would allow me to remove those flags from screens where the whistle does not trigger secrets, allowing me to trigger secrets on those screens through other means, and avoid the secret FX when all playing the whistle does is start the rain. The problem is that, on screens where the whistle does trigger secrets, I (for the most part) won't be able to use flags and undercombos (as explained in the first post).

Also, the whistle should only start the rain on the overworld, so I'll need to be able to control which screens the script will apply to. I don't want it to start raining in dungeons and caves and such.

[Gleeok]

No no no. Here's what I will script for you:

When you play the whisle(change sfx with the quest rule "more sfx") The layer of your choice(prferably 5 or 6) changes to rain that covers every combo on the screen. There is no need to make these layers yourself, no need to set up any kind of allaborate secret combo array, no need to do anything any differently from making a normal screen.

You can freely use (or not) whisle flags and/or whisle->secrets and any other normal quest effects however you wish. All I'm talking about is "making it rain" on certain Dmaps. Game design is up to you. The script won't 'activate' anything, screen data will do that.

[CSD]

"You can freely use (or not) whisle flags and/or whisle->secrets and any other normal quest effects however you wish. All I'm talking about is "making it rain" on certain Dmaps. Game design is up to you. The script won't 'activate' anything, screen data will do that."

But there isn't a whistle->secrets screen flag (Right? I think that was my original question, but I haven't heard a definative answer), so I HAVE to use whistle flags. In order to stop the secret FX from playing again if they play the whistle again (unless there's a way to stop it from playing the second time), I need to use inherent whistle flags and use secret combos to replace the inherent-flag version of the combo with it's inherentless version, and that completely uses up all of my flags. I can't even figure a way have docks, without either not being able to play the whistle on it, or having the secret FX play every time you play the whistle on it.

Now, as far as I can see, there are Whistle->Stairs, Whistle->Palette Change, and Whistle-Dry Lake screen flags, and I'd doubt if any of them trip the secrets.

So, a script that starts the rain will help, but only for screens that the rain won't trigger secrets. Also, layer 5 and 6 are both used; 5 has lightning; 6 has rain. I'd consider switching their layers, if somebody can convince it'd look better the other way.