Triggers

Trigger Window

Introduction

Triggers are an essential function for mission designers. A trigger (sometimes called a sensor) allows a mission designer to control events within a mission. Some common uses for triggers are controlling the timing of squad moves, camera control in cutscene, or even play the appropriate music when the time is right.

Activation

There are several combinations that can be created to activate the trigger. The trigger can be used to check if east or west is present, not present, or even detected by other sides within the trigger. A trigger can also be used to set up radio commands. (Be aware though, that a unit that has been setCaptive will not trigger any detected events.)

A trigger can be linked to one particular unit or group by going into Group Mode (F2), and dragging a line from the trigger to the desired unit. After this the Activation field will be set to "Vehicle". It can then be changed to either "Whole group", "Group leader" or "Any group member".

If an activation is set to "repeatedly" the trigger first has to be 'deactivated' before it can fire again (e.g. if a unit activated the trigger by entering it, it will first have to leave it, before the trigger can become active again.)

Countdown

Defines (in seconds) how long to wait until On Activation is fired. Min, Max and Mid allow you to add some randomization to the time.

Timeout

Defines (in seconds) how long the trigger will be active for. Once the timeout limit is reached, the trigger will no longer be able to activate, regardless whether its condition field has been met. Min, Max and Mid allow you to add some randomization to the time.

Condition

In addition to the 'Activation' options above, this field allows you to specify other conditions that have to be fulfilled before the Trigger activates. By default only the boolean variable this is present in this field. It is set to the result of the main 'Activation' condition (e.g. 'east'/'present'). The expression in this field must return a boolean value (e.g. "this && alive player"). Trigger conditions are tested every 0.5 seconds.

On Activation/Deactivation

Defines action that is performed when trigger condition changes to true or false. Expression must either be an assignment or return nothing. Variable denoting trigger can be created by filling in name field. Array variable thisList will contain a list of all vehicles that met the trigger condition (e.g. hint format ["%1 units in area",count thisList]).

Effects

Trigger Effects Window

Allows the mission designer to add music, environmental sounds, or to display title messages. Many use the effects to create quick and easy cutscenes.