[vJASS] Improving Spell

[jim7777]

Oh yeah i've been making some spells around but sometimes, war3 suddenly disappears or stop responding (randomly)

here:

Fixed

really.. help.. on this one...

 

[Bribe]

private integer array ids[8194] //Should be 8192, or just leave the [] altogether because the default is already 8192.

How to check if a number is a power of 2: use a calculator and check if the logarithm (base 2) is an integer. 8192 is 2**13.

 

[jim7777]

Ok changed it to 8192

if anyone can please improve the start method of the code??
it really lags for a few seconds...

 

[Bribe]

2 ways to improve:

1) the most important - you are creating a lot of destructables here. That will cause lag.

2) Instead of the following, do a first of group loop with a null filter. It will be more than 4x as fast because you are currently starting 2 threads per unit.

call GroupEnumUnitsInRange(tmpGroup,x,y,250,Filter(function thistype.Filt))
call ForGroup(tmpGroup,function thistype.AddStack)

 

[jim7777]

err i tried that but sometimes, i don't know why but the function just stops working at some point (or stop looping)

 

[Bribe]

You tried that? The proper method is to do it like this: http://www.hiveworkshop.com/forums/2046670-post669.html

You would have to have like 700 units that you loop over for it to not work in your case.

 

[jim7777]

yeah i'm doing it like that, but do you think it is really ok to create loops under a loop?

 

[Bribe]

Of course it is. It's a very common programming practice.

 

[jim7777]

Ohh okay

but the destructible part
are there any ways to stop the lag?
well DotA managed to do it with only an fps drop of 1-5

 

[Bribe]

What are the destructables doing there? If you use dummy units instead, you can do unit recycling which would work out to be lighter per cast but slightly heavier on RAM during the game.

 

[jim7777]

use for blocking units or disabling them for passing through the line

i tried it again and it only lags for first cast only, the destructable part
any freaking thing to preload destructables? seriously

 

[Bribe]

Same as with units:

call RemoveDestructable(CreateDestructable(DEST_ID, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1))

 

[jim7777]

ohhh lemme see

edit:
still, causes some 10-20 fps drop
but will go back to 60 fps after the sfx ends???
so bad

 

[PurgeandFire]

It is probably normal. The sfx models are most likely just causing a bit of an fps drop, it will be less noticeable on higher-end computers/gpu's.

You can alleviate it by either reducing the amount of effects created, changing the effect-model used, or finding a workaround to using the destructibles.

 

[mckill2009]

you really dont need the ForGroup to add a unit to the group, you can do it via thistype.Filt

 

[Bribe]

Or just do a FirstOfGroup loop

 

[jim7777]

here's the new code

..

nevermind the recycling, i'm just experimenting on something
and the grouputils, i need to recycle the group since i can't make it as a global due to some "spell circumstances "
well managed to reduce the fps drop to only 2-12

last thing is, is there any method to stun units which can't be seen due to fog of war?
or is it possible to stun units who are affected by fog of war

or should I use war stomp for that thing?

 

[Bribe]

You don't need the groups, you can just use a hashtable and set a boolean to the struct index as the first key and the unit's handle ID as the second key. You can also initialize tmpGroup from the globals block, and the hashtable as well.

                if @i - (i / 6) * 6 <= 0@ then //You can simplify this to i == i / 6 * 6
                    call DestroyEffect(AddSpecialEffect(DUST,x,y))
                    call DestroyEffect(AddSpecialEffect(VOLC,x,y))
                endif

 

[jim7777]

hmm okay but my problem is
How to remove the saved data?


well anyways
Are there any possible methods to cast Storm Bolt when a unit is affected by fog? As of now, those units affected by the fog of war can't be casted upon by the dummy unit

 

[Bribe]

call GroupClear(this.g)         -> call FlushChildHashtable(ht, this)
call GroupRemoveUnit(this.g, u) -> call RemoveSavedBoolean(ht, this, GetHandleId(u))
call GroupAddUnit(this.g, u)    -> call SaveBoolean(ht, this, GetHandleId(u), true)
set this.g = CreateGroup()      -> //you don't need this since you just use the one hashtable

If the dummy is owned by a neutral computer player I don't think it needs vision.

 

[jim7777]

well the spell doesn't have GroupClear as of now =))

gonna try the neutral ownership

EDIT
Oh yeah Thank you
neutral killed it all lol