Random Duration Invisibility:

[Pend]

Haven't looked in any detail at what you've done, but a quick answer to your query about where to declare your variables is this: If you want them to be persistent, the most likely place you'll want to declare them is as member variables of the parent object--in this case in "class Client {" in client.h. But don't forget to initialize them to some known valid value in the constructor!

But without looking into it in more detail, I'm not convinced that Client is where you want this to be (there might be a Spell or SpellEffect class that persists as long as the spell is in effect, or a Player class that contains a list of currently active effects--if either exists, those would be more appropriate place to have this data retained).

[So_1337]

Actually, I had the same thoughts when I first went sifting through the VZTZ source for the code. Spells.cpp and spell_effects.cpp seemed the most likely candidates, but I didn't find any of the code there. Since I'm still new to this, all I know is what I can learn to do by example, really, and I'm only building off of what was already in place. It's daunting enough stepping into this sandbox where I know there are coders who are very concerned about structuring everything properly, I guess I picked a bad example to start from, then =X

I'll see if I can figure out what you mean about putting them in the parent object. I noticed a lot of the other code was structured that same way, but I was a little too afraid to jump in and try it that way. Thanks for the tips!

[nilbog]

All the credit for this comes from Ladoth, from project 1999, not myself :o
Here is how we have it set up. Still more work to be done when we hit kunark.. because there are full duration invisibilities, but I hope this helps you out!


around line 100 in spdat.cpp

///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
// spell property testing functions

// @LADOTH 07182009 Is invis type spell
bool IsInvisibilitySpell(int16 spell_id)
{
	bool bResult = false;

	if( IsValidSpell(spell_id) && 
		(IsEffectInSpell(spell_id, SE_Invisibility) ||
		 IsEffectInSpell(spell_id, SE_Invisibility2) ||
		 IsEffectInSpell(spell_id, SE_InvisVsAnimals) ||
		 IsEffectInSpell(spell_id, SE_InvisVsUndead) ||
		 IsEffectInSpell(spell_id, SE_InvisVsUndead2))
		 )
	{
		bResult = true;
	}

	return bResult;
}

around line 610 of spdat.h

#endif
// @LADOTH 07182009 Is invis type spell
bool IsInvisibilitySpell(int16 spell_id);
bool IsTargetableAESpell(int16 spell_id);

around line 500 in spell_effects.cpp

#ifdef SPELL_EFFECT_SPAM
				snprintf(effect_desc, _EDLEN, "Invisibility");
#endif
				// solar: TODO already invis message and spell kill from SpellOnTarget
				SetInvisible(true);
				// @LADOTH 07252009 randomize time remaining for invis type spell
				float randscale = MakeRandomInt(1, 100) / 100.0f;
				buffs[buffslot].ticsremaining *= randscale;

around line 520 in spell_effects.cpp

#ifdef SPELL_EFFECT_SPAM
				snprintf(effect_desc, _EDLEN, "Invisibility to Animals");
#endif

				// @LADOTH 07252009 randomize time remaining for invis type spell
				float randscale = MakeRandomInt(1, 100) / 100.0f;
				buffs[buffslot].ticsremaining *= randscale;

around line 540 in spell_effects.cpp

#ifdef SPELL_EFFECT_SPAM
				snprintf(effect_desc, _EDLEN, "Invisibility to Undead");
#endif
				// @LADOTH 07252009 randomize time remaining for invis type spell
				float randscale = MakeRandomInt(1, 100) / 100.0f;
				buffs[buffslot].ticsremaining *= randscale;

[KLS]

Honestly you were overthinking it just a bit.

Easiest and most accurate implementation:

on tic if tics > 2 then a % chance to reduce tics to 2 and update buffduration client side.

[So_1337]

Is that reply to Ladoth's code, or to Null's variation that I've been working on, KLS? If in regards to Null's, I actually liked that casting skill level (comparative to the skill cap) played a role in his version, and he also included the various "You feel yourself starting to appear" messages for the different invisibility types and gave two tics from that point before it faded. The only part I disagreed with was that he'd had them yellow originally (message type 15), and I seem to remember them being red.

However, this was all commented out of the TZVZ code as "needs work", and Ladoth seems to have a working version active on Project 1999. Working beats non-working any day =)

Either way, thanks for looking over this, KLS, and thanks for the alternate idea, backwards goblin. I do intend to keep hammering away at this, and all of these ideas really help.

[KLS]

The first mostly, the 2nd implementation has it's own problems as well.

[KLS]

Hopefully you don't mind that I sorta hijacked this too much. Should be implemented tonight though.