Areas Helper

The Areas helper file in SOMA is script/helpers/helper_areas.hps.

Area helpers move areas and operate on specialized area behavior such as doorway groups, liquids, sticky attachments and camera-animation nodes. Ordinary area movement excludes liquid areas, which have their own movement helper.

Before you start

1. Open the map script inside your own mod. Keep its generated includes, cScrMap : iScrMap class and callback structure. See Add your first script if you have not edited a map script yet.
2. Add the helper include shown below alongside the script’s other includes.
3. Read the stock example before copying its calls: named entities, voice subjects, materials and callbacks must belong to the map or resources you are using.

Follow the stock example

#include "helpers/helper_areas.hps"

Area_MoveLinearTo

Moves the specified area to the current position of the target entity. !Does not work on Liquid Areas, instead use LiquidArea_MoveLinearTo!

Parameter	Meaning
asName	name of the area to move, wildcard(s) * are supported.
asTargetEntity	name of the entity to move the area to.
afAcceleration	acceleration .in m/s^2
afMaxSpeed	the maximum speed of movement.
afSlowDownDist	the distance at which movement slows down.
abResetSpeed	if all static movement for the area should be stopped before starting this movement.
asCallback	callback when movement is done: void asCallback(const tString& in asAreaName)

In maps/_e3/_e3_01_01/_e3_01_01.hps, SOMA calls Area_MoveLinearTo as follows.

Area_MoveLinearTo("RunningSoundSource","RunningSoundSource_Target",2.2f,5.0f);

Parameter	Value in this stock call
asName	"RunningSoundSource"
asTargetEntity	"RunningSoundSource_Target"
afAcceleration	2.2f
afMaxSpeed	5.0f

This is an excerpt from that stock script; its referenced names and variables belong to that script.

LiquidArea_MoveLinearTo

Moves the specified liquid area to the current position of the target entity.

Parameter	Meaning
asName	name of the liquid area to move, wildcard(s) * are supported.
asTargetEntity	name of the entity to move the liquid area to.
afAcceleration	acceleration .in m/s^2
afMaxSpeed	the maximum speed of movement.
afSlowDownDist	the distance at which movement slows down.
abResetSpeed	if all static movement for the liquid area should be stopped before starting this movement.
asCallback	callback when movement is done: void asCallback(const tString& in asAreaName)

In maps/chapter02/02_04_theta_outside/02_04_theta_outside.hps, SOMA calls LiquidArea_MoveLinearTo as follows.

LiquidArea_MoveLinearTo("LiquidArea_1", "LiquidArea_1_Target", 1, 1, 0.25);

Parameter	Value in this stock call
asName	"LiquidArea_1"
asTargetEntity	"LiquidArea_1_Target"
afAcceleration	1
afMaxSpeed	1
afSlowDownDist	0.25

This is an excerpt from that stock script; its referenced names and variables belong to that script.

StickyArea_AttachEntity

Attaches an entity to a sticky area. The entity must have a physics body.

Parameter	Meaning
asArea	name of sticky area.
asEntity	name of entity.
asBody	name of specific body on entity, if left as an emtpy string, the main body will be used.

Check your change

Save the script and restart the map in development mode with F5. If the script fails, open F1 and use Show Error List or Show HPL Log. See the development loop for the launch and debugging steps.

See also

• SOMA scripting
• SOMA scripting API