Screen objects and null locations

ID:147708
 
Jan 13 2004, 2:00 pm
Do screen objects display if the location is null?
Jan 13 2004, 2:19 pm
No, they don't. Think about it, where would they display? Theres no default position for them.
Jan 13 2004, 2:38 pm
Polatrite wrote:
Do screen objects display if the location is null?

If their loc var is null, you mean, then yes, they can still appear as long as screen_loc isn't null too.

Lummox JR
Jan 13 2004, 2:40 pm
In response to Lummox JR
I suppose I didn't think about which loc he was talking about, did I?
Jan 13 2004, 3:16 pm
If you mean screen_loc, then no, they don't... I actually use client.screen more with undisplayed objects than with displayed ones... it's great for setting up special cases of verb accessibility.
Jan 13 2004, 3:41 pm
And the other case that nobody's covered yet: If the player's loc is null, then no they don't.
Jan 13 2004, 7:57 pm
In response to Crispy
Crispy wrote:
And the other case that nobody's covered yet: If the player's loc is null, then no they don't.

Sorry for not specifying better. I meant the player's location. If the player owning screen objects (which are placed correctly, and otherwise visible), if this player's location is null, then the screen objects will NOT display? Does anyone know why this is?
Jan 13 2004, 8:08 pm
In response to Polatrite
Polatrite wrote:
Sorry for not specifying better. I meant the player's location. If the player owning screen objects (which are placed correctly, and otherwise visible), if this player's location is null, then the screen objects will NOT display?

Correct.

Does anyone know why this is?

Erm... I dunno. It just is. =P
Jan 13 2004, 8:34 pm
In response to Polatrite
Polatrite wrote:
Sorry for not specifying better. I meant the player's location. If the player owning screen objects (which are placed correctly, and otherwise visible), if this player's location is null, then the screen objects will NOT display? Does anyone know why this is?

This sounds to me more like a bug. I can't think of a valid reason for the display to work that way.

Lummox JR
Jan 14 2004, 2:02 am
In response to Polatrite
Polatrite wrote:
Sorry for not specifying better. I meant the player's location. If the player owning screen objects (which are placed correctly, and otherwise visible), if this player's location is null, then the screen objects will NOT display? Does anyone know why this is?

Not exactly true.

Darke Dungeon moves players to null loc during level loading operations and sets the client eye to display a "system message" screen. I can still see my HUD. (Semi-related: I can see the HUD when the mob sight flag is set to BLIND also.)

I suspect there is just a shortcut in Dream Seeker that blanks and ignores the map area if client.eye is viewing a null loc. (Verified: Setting client.eye to null blacks everything even when the mob has a loc.)

As a workaround, when you move a mob to null, set client.eye to locate(1,1,1) (or wherever you like) and set the BLIND bit in the mob's sight var. Then restore the old values when you move them back to the map. If you want to avoid the sight manipulations, you could do like Darke Dungeon and have a system screen, which is just a reserved area of the map.