Lua Programming Help Thread

[ClearTranquil]

Could someone point me to a tutorial that will let me compile my Lua Games?

I don't know if this will work or not but currently my game uses all the free memory without everything being loaded....I was hoping maybe pre-compiling my game as standalone would give me more available space...

[Urameshi]

there was one in the lua help thread section on evilmana

[LMelior]

I don't know if this will work or not but currently my game uses all the free memory without everything being loaded....I was hoping maybe pre-compiling my game as standalone would give me more available space...

It won't.

Try only loading the things you need immediately, and then setting them to nil when you are done with them for a while.

[ahrimanes]

count = table.getn(a) will give you the number of entries in the table

wrap it in the [code] tag...

wow there is help on this forum im hapy here :Cry: graciasss

[myschoo]

my code:

-- farby
white = Color.new(255,255,255)
blue = Color.new(0,128,255)
seda = Color.new(175,175,175)

bg = Image.load("pic.png")

-- premenne
menu = 1
polozka = 0

while polozka == 0 do

pad = Controls.read()

screen:clear()

screen:blit(0,0,bg)

screen:print(10,10, "Polozka 1", white)
screen:print(10,20, "Polozka 2", white)
screen:print(10,30, "Polozka 3", white)

if menu == 1 then
screen:print(10,10, "Polozka 1", blue)
elseif menu == 2 then
screen:print(10,20, "Polozka 2", blue)
elseif menu == 3 then
screen:print(10,30, "Polozka 3", blue)
end

if menu == 4 then menu = 1 end
if menu == 0 then menu = 3 end

if pad:down() and oldpad:down() ~= pad:down() then
menu = menu + 1
elseif pad:up() and oldpad:up() ~= pad:up() then
menu = menu - 1
end

if menu == 1 and pad:cross() then
polozka = 1 
end

while polozka == 1 do
screen:clear() 
screen:print(10,10, "veci k polozke 1", white)

if pad:circle() then
polozka = 0
end

screen.waitVblankStart()
screen.flip()
end

screen.waitVblankStart()
screen.flip()
oldpad = pad
end

problem is bolded inside the code... it doesnt work, it doesnt do nothing, any help?

[KleptoOne]

when you enter the second loop, you are no longer reading the pad variable, so make sure to put

pad = Controls.read()

in the second loop

[myschoo]

oh yeah, thx ;)

[nUke_moose]

hey, its me again and im still as noobish as before ^^
ive read many great tuts on the net , but i dont understand how u can use the analog nub (nob?? ^^), does any1 have a good tutorial on that one?

[youresam]

hey, its me again and im still as noobish as before ^^
ive read many great tuts on the net , but i dont understand how u can use the analog nub (nob?? ^^), does any1 have a good tutorial on that one?

Controls:analogX() and Controls:analogY() jeez.

[nUke_moose]

sry for asking.....but this still doesnt help me that much, maybe ill explain what i want to do: basically, the first thing every beginner makes, after completing the tutorials, is a 2d sidescrolling game with simple animation. i know how to use all the other buttons, but the analog somehow wont work

so please be a little more detailed or just give me link, cuz im new to the szene and dont really know alot of good websites....

[youresam]

sry for asking.....but this still doesnt help me that much, maybe ill explain what i want to do: basically, the first thing every beginner makes, after completing the tutorials, is a 2d sidescrolling game with simple animation. i know how to use all the other buttons, but the analog somehow wont work

so please be a little more detailed or just give me link, cuz im new to the szene and dont really know alot of good websites....

I made a DDR clone. Without tuturials (as there were none at the time)

Anyway, stop asking for tutorials. Tutorials = making you a lua n00b. Learn yourself. You understand it better.
Controls:analogX() and Controls:analogY() returns a number between -127 and 128, note that they are OO, so you should pass a Controls object to it. (Im sure youve learned pad or whatever)

[Urameshi]

did ya try evilmana to see if they had stuff over analog? cause i checked and found it

[myschoo]

sry for asking.....but this still doesnt help me that much, maybe ill explain what i want to do: basically, the first thing every beginner makes, after completing the tutorials, is a 2d sidescrolling game with simple animation. i know how to use all the other buttons, but the analog somehow wont work

so please be a little more detailed or just give me link, cuz im new to the szene and dont really know alot of good websites....

sample script:

red = Color.new(255,0,0)
black = Color.new(0,0,0)
white = Color.new(255,255,255)

player = Image.createEmpty(32,32)
player:clear(red)

Player = { x = 100, y = 100, img = player }

function analogMove()

pad = Controls.read()

anaX = pad:analogX()
anaY = pad:analogY()

if anaX > 50 then
Player.x = Player.x + 5
end

if anaX < -50 then
Player.x = Player.x - 5
end

if anaY > 50 then
Player.y = Player.y + 5
end

if anaY < -50 then
Player.y = Player.y - 5
end
end

function walls()

if Player.x > 448 or Player.x < 0 then
Player.x = oldx
end

if Player.y < 0 or Player.y > 240 then
Player.y = oldy
end
end

while true do

oldx = Player.x
oldy = Player.y

screen:clear()

screen:blit(Player.x,Player.y,Player.img)

analogMove()
walls()

screen:print(5,5,"analogX: " .. anaX, white)
screen:print(5,15,"analogY: " .. anaY, white)

if pad:cross() then
break
end

screen.flip()
screen.waitVblankStart()
end

[nUke_moose]

thx for the replies, i know i should have found out about it by myself, so ill remember it better, but im beeing cut off the internet for a week, starting tomorrow, and i thought id ask before i get stuck... well, thx again

[LMelior]

I always thought it was silly when the analog controls were used like digital ones in situations like that. By the way, I just searched this thread for "analog" and this was from one of the first results:

pad =  Controls.read(); 
if math.abs(pad:analogX()) > 20 then 
      x = x + pad:analogX() / 64; 
end 
if math.abs(pad:analogY()) > 20 then 
      y = y + pad:analogY() / 64; 
end 
screen:print(x,y-5,"<|",w); 
screen.waitVblankStart(); 
screen.flip()

Notice that the more the analog stick is deflected, the larger the change in position.

[Grimfate126]

I always thought it was silly when the analog controls were used like digital ones in situations like that. By the way, I just searched this thread for "analog" and this was from one of the first results:

pad =  Controls.read(); 
if math.abs(pad:analogX()) > 20 then 
      x = x + pad:analogX() / 64; 
end 
if math.abs(pad:analogY()) > 20 then 
      y = y + pad:analogY() / 64; 
end 
screen:print(x,y-5,"<|",w); 
screen.waitVblankStart(); 
screen.flip()

Notice that the more the analog stick is deflected, the larger the change in position.

^^
thats the correct usage of the analog stick. if you just want to move something by a constant, why not use the d-pad?

[ahrimanes]

hiii thereee its mee again,,, does any body know where to find Lua Player v0.20 Mod 3 binary files ??? i i can found is the source... and ive no idea of how to compile...

[k0ud]

sample script:

red = Color.new(255,0,0)
black = Color.new(0,0,0)
white = Color.new(255,255,255)

player = Image.createEmpty(32,32)
player:clear(red)

Player = { x = 100, y = 100, img = player }

function analogMove()

pad = Controls.read()

anaX = pad:analogX()
anaY = pad:analogY()

if anaX > 50 then
Player.x = Player.x + 5
end

if anaX < -50 then
Player.x = Player.x - 5
end

if anaY > 50 then
Player.y = Player.y + 5
end

if anaY < -50 then
Player.y = Player.y - 5
end
end

function walls()

if Player.x > 448 or Player.x < 0 then
Player.x = oldx
end

if Player.y < 0 or Player.y > 240 then
Player.y = oldy
end
end

while true do

oldx = Player.x
oldy = Player.y

screen:clear()

screen:blit(Player.x,Player.y,Player.img)

analogMove()
walls()

screen:print(5,5,"analogX: " .. anaX, white)
screen:print(5,15,"analogY: " .. anaY, white)

if pad:cross() then
break
end

screen.flip()
screen.waitVblankStart()
end

whats that for? game?

[myschoo]

it can be for anything

[Fallout_Boy]

Is there a way to insert a tab into a string (except using a few spaces) because "\tHello" prints OHello.

TIA

[TacticalPenguin]

Yea but first you have to stop listening to fallout boy. Lua detects if you are and makes everything not work.

[youresam]

Is there a way to insert a tab into a string (except using a few spaces) because "\tHello" prints OHello.

TIA

There is no such set "tab". Lots of text editors insert 4 spaces for a tab, while notepad inserts 8. So just do a.. string.gsub(str,"\t", string.rep(" ",4))

[ahrimanes]

hii there this is my foruth post i think, and see what i have four you guys, :P if you know 3dmax, or ascii 3d files (ASE) you you must try this tool i just made, its a tool to port 3dmax models to lua trought ASE format. all you have to do is to expot your max to ase then use my tool and you will have the triangle array to use in gu.
Download Ahrimanes ASE2LUA v0.1
it includes:
some ase models
1 max model to test 3dmx to ase then lua
ase2lua v0.1 by ahrimanes (me)
tutorial folder
and eboot folder(this is a test of the ship.max) basically luaplayer testhing ase2lua output.

well still left to port the u,v for maping, by now no textures suported, but you can start testing complexmodels on you programs. hope you like... stay tuned to futher releases.....
pleaaaseee leave your comentesss.
edit: haaaa almost forgot, this runs under windows and you must have installed ms excel.

[romulator]

How do I inject letters into a string? For example, if my string was "abdef", how would i make it say "abcdef"? Also, how do you read just part of a string, say, the first ten characters? And lastly, how do you find the number of characters in a string? Thanks for any help.

[HaxxBlaster]

Just a screen from the mandelbrot-like program i'm making.

[youresam]

How do I inject letters into a string? For example, if my string was "abdef", how would i make it say "abcdef"? Also, how do you read just part of a string, say, the first ten characters? And lastly, how do you find the number of characters in a string? Thanks for any help.

str1 = str1 .. "t"
= string.sub(str1,1,10)
= string.len(str1)

[romulator]

Hey, thanks for that youresam. That clears up a lot of confusion. Could you please just elaborate on the second argument of the second function? I like to understand things fully before I use them. Thanks again!

EDIT: The first function adds text to the end of a string but how will I be able to inject it into the middle of the string as in my example?
EDIT2: Adding "\n" to the end of a string doesn't print a new line, it only prints the letter O in a black box. Whats up with that?

[ahrimanes]

EDIT: The first function adds text to the end of a string but how will I be able to inject it into the middle of the string as in my example?
EDIT2: Adding "\n" to the end of a string doesn't print a new line, it only prints the letter O in a black box. Whats up with that?

im not shure if there is not a function to insert text but if its the case you could do your own function whit those like:

function inserts(str1,str2,pos)
    str3 = string.sub(str1,1,pos)
    str4 = str3 .. str2 .. string.sub(str1,pos,string.len(str1))
    return str4
end
-- to use it like
str1 = "abdefg"
str1 = inserts(str1,"c",2)

dident test but i supose it should work. good luck

[romulator]

Thanks for the function ahrimanes, a lot of help it was. I had to mod it a tiny bit though as it would insert the text but with the preceeding letter in front of it as well. For example, to insert "???" into "abc" at number 2, it would return "ab???bc". Here is the simple fix:

function InsertString(str1,str2,po s)
str3 = string.sub(str1,1,pos)
str4 = str3 .. str2 .. string.sub(str1,pos + 1,string.len(str1))
return str4
end

Thanks again. Do you know why the \n escape sequence does not enter a new line?

[Fuzzie360]

Do you know why the \n escape sequence does not enter a new line?

I think i do. The line break technically is in the string as i've seen it working when you save a string with a line break into a text file. I think that when you print the string it replaces the character with the one that you see.