psychoorc99

I was trying to avoid that, I was hoping someone on here knew something because I'm sure JIP has better things to do than answer random tech support DMs from someone he's never heard of. Will probably do that eventually if I don't have any luck here/troubleshooting more on my own.

I'm working on a ballistics mod, right now I'm interested in adding some damage falloff based on how far a bullet has traveled. I'm using a ScriptEffectStart block in an Impact Script to do so. What I'd like to do is get the distance a given projectile has traveled with GetProjectileRefDistanceTraveled, do some calculations, and set the projectile's final damage with SetProjectileRefDamage. Unfortunately, I'm having some trouble figuring out how to use GetHitProjectile properly. This is the essence of my code: Begin ScriptEffectStart set rTarget to GetSelf set rProjectile to rTarget.GetHitProjectile set fDistance to rProjectile.GetProjectileRefDistanceTraveled ;do calculations and get final value, using constant for testing rProjectile.SetProjectileRefDamage 3 End rTarget correctly identifies the creature/NPC that has been shot. Seems like GetProjectileRefDistanceTraveled works sometimes, but it will also return zero if I get too close to what I'm shooting and then seem to inconsistently get stuck returning zero for a while even if I shoot something else. Can always just get the attacker and find the distance between attacker and target instead. Trying to print the name of rProjectile or run SetProjectileRefDamage on it invariably fails (same for GetBaseForm and most other functions from what I can tell), it gives me an error saying that I'm trying to reference a null or base form. Not really sure what I'm doing wrong, wondering if maybe there are some parameters the projectile has to fit to be recognized? Any input is welcome. Would also be open to some other way besides SetProjectileRefDamage to dynamically set a given bullet's damage without messing with the base ammo/weapon damages (i.e. something other than SetAttackDamage or changing the base ammo traits so it does more/less damage).

I was trying to have the effects be in a predictable order so that I could easily use integer keys that denote effects' positions in the list for logic in other functions rather than using the string names. I'm doing it that way because I figured there's less overhead just calling the array once at the beginning of a UDF, pulling the key, and storing it in a local variable rather then using string functions every time I want to check something. It's also way less work to check if an int is between 0 and 13 inclusive than to check if it matches any of 14 different numbers or to check if a string matches any of fourteen different words. I could use GetNthEffectBase like you said and just add another value in each element of the array that stores the real key in addition to a value for a predictable number order, but I did end up getting the loop to work using a stringmap population array that holds the decimal converted formids for the various effects so I think I'm going to just move on.

So basically I have a stringmap that uses skill and attribute names as keys to store data for a penalty system that I'm applying with a custom perk. The purpose of this particular loop is to both add data to some elements of that stringmap and to set the corresponding entries of the custom perk's ability to the correct base effect (I was originally setting the effects in the GECK but it kept changing around their order, I thought it was just alphabetizing but it seemed more unpredictable than that in reality). Right now I'm running this loop with a second population array that is just a list of various skills that are used as the keys for each element of the stringmap, then manipulated to the name of the base effects for, I thought, setting the perk's ability. Basically: let TestModVars.penaltyInfo[entry["value"]] := Ar_list iCount, 0, 0, 0 let svTemp := "increaseskill" + $TestModVars.penaltyInfo[entry["value"]] ;make rEffect point to the base effect specified by svTempSetNthEffectBase TMStatPenalty iCount rEffect I suppose what I could do is make the population array into a stringmap with each element having the skill as the key and the formid as the value so I could convert it into something BuildRef could use, it just seemed odd to me that there wasn't a simple way to use a string to set the reference.

So long story short, I'm trying to use the command SetNthEffectBase on a custom ability in the body of a loop with a different index and effect each time. However, the names of the effects I want to use are stored in string variables and the command only accepts ref variables to specify new effects. I figured fine, whatever, I'll make a ref variable and Let it to my string variable and use that instead. Unfortunately, Let does not accept string arguments either (gives an invalid operands error). So, the next question is how to create a ref variable using a string variable to set where it points. Unfortunately, I have not found an easy way to do this. I've tried several different methods for making a ref variable that matches the string variable but have had no success yet, what I've figured out through way too much time messing around: Using "let rTest := increaseskillbarter" with "SetNthEffectBase TestAbility iIndex rTest" works correctly, so logically if I can find a way to set a ref variable with a string variable instead of a specified string then the rest should work. Using "let rTest := svTest" with "SetNthEffectBase TestAbility iIndex rTest" won't compile, invalid operands for :=. Using "set rTest to svTest" with "SetNthEffectBase TestAbility iIndex rTest" will compile but won't set the effect ingame. Using commands like setName or setBaseForm that act on an existing reference doesn't seem to work Using StringToRef to set the ref variable doesn't work, even if I pick a specific base effect and run it through RefToString (or GetFormIDString, or GetRawFormIDString) then convert it right back. Note: I'm using the same string variables that specify the effect names for other things so I would rather not be creating a bunch of ref variables instead, although I guess I could use GetName on them to get the string back (this would be less than ideal because this effect-setting loop is only called once but the array of effect names is often referred back to and I'd rather not be frequently running Get functions unnecessarily). Haven't had any luck with Google fu. I realize that I could just set each effect individually, but I would be surprised if there's really no way to do it with variables. Tl;dr: how can I create a ref variable using a string variable to determine what it points to? (e.g. create a ref variable that points to the increaseskillbarter base effect based on a string that says "increaseskillbarter", the same way that you can use "let rTest := increaseskillbarter" if you type it in yourself.)

You were right, I had the wrong index for the NthEffect. I tried it with zero instead of three and I can now modify carry weight as intended. Thank you so much for all your help, Dubious. I'm really pleased that we found a way to modify the perk itself instead of using a workaround.

As it turns out, that function you linked prompted me to dig a little deeper through JIP LN NVSE's functions and I found a few that do pretty much exactly what I want (SetNthEffectTraitNumeric can set effect magnitudes for the PerkCompanionSuite Ability and SetNthPerkEntryValue1 can change parts of perk entries). I started testing things ingame and the modifications to damage given and taken by companions seem to work as intended (i.e. I can dynamically modify them at runtime). Thank you for the help finding these functions, they're going to be very useful for some of my other projects as well. However, I've run into some trouble modifying carry weight. Changing the effect magnitude with SetNthEffectTraitNumeric like I did for damage resistance doesn't seem to modify the ingame carry weight. Changing the value manually in the GECK only sort of works, an initial application of the perk will have the correct carry weight reduction but it won't change anything for actors who already have the perk. I really appreciate all the help so far, if anyone has some insights into why this might be happening with the carry weight I'd love to hear them. As I side note, I'm sorry to see that Mktavish has departed. He'll be missed.

Thanks for responding. I think I've been unclear, the part that I don't understand is how to manipulate perks at all with scripts. The only commands related to perks that I know of are AddPerk, HasPerk, RemovePerk, GetPerkRank, and GetAltPerkRank, none of which really let me do what I want without creating new perks. I was hoping to find out that there is some sort of command like "SetPerkMagnitude [perk] [entry point] [magnitude]" but I didn't have any luck. Barring an easy solution like that, I was hoping there was a way to overwrite just the perk part of the mod by saving information to an ini and relaunching the game or something. As I side note, I thought of another workaround that might work well enough for my purposes if I can't find a solution for modifying the perk itself. I could check for the perk itself and apply actor effects that use the MCM for magnitudes and are removed and reapplied when settings are changed. It wouldn't be quite as smooth as modifying the perk itself but I think it would do the job.

Thanks for pointing me to that. I checked UPP out in FNVEdit and the GECK and it looks like it makes changes to the Companion Suite perk by adding and modifying some perk entries. This is helpful because it suggests to me that the straightforward approach would produce the kinds of changes that I want (phew). However, I'm looking to modify the perk dynamically based on MCM variables instead of loading up the GECK every time I want to tweak companion abilities. Is there any method that would allow me to change the perk entries in such a way? I would be open to requiring a save load or a game relaunch for the settings to take effect if that's necessary, just not an external program.

My goal is to be able to change certain companion stats using an MCM (things like how much damage they deal, how much damage they take, and how much weight they can carry). I did some googling and examined the Companion Suite perk in the GECK. It looks fairly straightforward to make those sorts of changes by modifying the magnitudes of effects under the perk itself (Companion Suite) and/or its corresponding Ability (PerkCompanionSuite), but that doesn't allow me to adjust the values on the fly with the MCM. However, I'd still like to make use of the Companion Suite perk since it addresses (or could probably be modified to address) all of the values I care about as well as conveniently applying itself to all companions. My question: is there any way besides the GECK to modify the Companion Suite perk/ability effect magnitudes? My knee-jerk reaction would be to script it, but I couldn't find any functions (including those from NVSE and JIP LN NVSE) that modify the actual perks besides adding or removing them. I'm open to other solutions besides scripting (although I would love to just see that my dumb ass missed the right function), but my main goal is for users of the mod to at most have to load a save or relaunch their game for the MCM settings to take effect as opposed to having to load up the GECK or FNVEdit in order to make the changes they want manually. A few workarounds that I've considered but would rather not use: -Run a GameMode script that checks the MCM settings and dynamically applies modifiers when it detects the appropriate circumstances. Considering the number of relevant events and the fact that these values already exist as part of the Companion Suite perk, this just seems like a pain in the ass and an unnecessary drain on resources. -Create multiple perks based around different settings for the relevant values and swap them out based on the MCM. This seems messy and disgusting as hell, it would require way too many perks to support even a small amount of customization as well as modifying a ton of references which I expect would lead to incompatibilities with other mods that modify companions. -Scrap the MCM options and offer multiple files with different presets for the relevant values. Slightly more elegant than the previous solution since I could just overwrite the perk without changing references but again would require more install options than I would like to bother with in order to support customization (although a FOMOD could maybe simplify things from the user end). The necessity of reinstalling also limits users' abilities to change their minds mid-playthrough which at best is an inconvenience and at worst game-breaking depending on the other features I end up including in the mod. -Forget the whole thing and post a specific guide on how to change the values yourself along with the mod. This is the coward's way out and the last thing I would want to do. If you got this far, thanks for reading this novel.

Thanks, this pretty much answers my question. I was essentially looking for the most efficient way to run the script again whenever the END value changes and it sounds like a quest script is the way to go. Thanks also for the heads up not to oneline the getting and checking of END.

This is a topic I'm interested in for future use, but for now I'm specifically modifying HP regeneration with a scripted usage of Player.ModAV HealRate whenever certain MCM options are changed (I'm keeping track of the total change in a quest variable for compatibility/resetting purposes). The basic idea is to be able to set a base HP regeneration rate and an END-dependent HP regeneration rate through an MCM and regenerate HP at the combined rate in-game. That all works fine right now, but the regeneration doesn't change when the player's Endurance value does since the script isn't called again unless a relevant MCM option is changed. Is there any way to detect changes in SPECIAL and other actor values with an event handler, etc. without creating a quest script to do so? A quest script would work but I thought it seemed excessive to run a script every frame for something that doesn't happen very often, especially since I read somewhere that Get functions are relatively intensive. An event handler would be ideal but I haven't found one that does what I want with browsing the GECK wiki and googling things.

Will do. Thanks for all your help.

Thanks, that's really good to know. I'm up to about 15 variables right now and everything seems to be working fine but I may switch it over for that reason alone.

So I messed around with this a little bit and I think I'm going to stick to the if/else statements. Correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems like calling the UDF runs all of the Begin blocks and I'd be adding an if statement to each block anyway to determine whether its designated option has been called based on the default parameters uMCM gives it. I'll keep the method in mind for the future though when I have functionality for something that's more broken up. Thanks for the help.