Scripting Introduction Urdu

Resources mta ka hissa hoti hain. Aik resource main collection of files hoti hain, plus aik meta file hoti hai jo describe karti hai ke kese resource ko load kiye jai aur ye resource kya contain karti hai. Resource ko start bhi kiya ja sakta hai aur stop bhi, aik waqt par aik se zyada bhi scripts chal sakti hain.

Scripting ka sab kuch resource mein hi hota ha. MTA resources ke saath aata hai jo ap apne game mode meu chahain to use kar sakte hain, jese ke map limits jo players ko aik makhsoos area meu play karne ko force karte hain, ya phir deathpickups resource jo player ki death par us ke weapons ko show karti hai.

[[{{{image}}}|link=|]]	Tip: Lua scripting ke liye ap ka first step lua editor hona chahiye. Ye scripting ko bohat easy bana deta hai. Ham recommend in ko karte hain, Sublime Text, Notepad++ or LuaEdit. Aik aur unofficial mta sa script editor bhi hai MTA Script Editor (In Progress) Ap is ko test kar sakte hain..

Creating a working script

Sab se pehle ham sekheu ge ke kese aik basic script ko banaya jaata hai jo players ko city ke around walk karne dete hain, Baari baari.

Saari Scripts Kahan Par Hoti Hain?

Chaleu, ham script ke file structure ko dekhte hain. Apne MTA Server folder meu jain aur neeche path ko follow kareu:

server/mods/deathmatch/resources/

Aap bohat sey zip files ko dekheu gay jo ke packaged simple scripts hain. Har file aik resource hai. Ye sab khud ba khud unzip ho kar load ho jain gi jese hi mta local servr start ho ga. Aik script banane ke liye simply aik folder create kareu aur is meu jain. Ham "myserver" is tutorial ke liye use kareu gay. Ab ap ko is directory mein hona chahiye:

server/mods/deathmatch/resources/myserver/

Identify Resource Ko Karna

Taake server ko pata chale ke ye resource mein kya hai, aik meta.xml file ko create karna bohat zaroori hai. Ye file ko root directory mein hona chahiye, jo ke "myserver" hai hamare case meu. To ab aik text file create kareu aur isay name deu "meta.xml", aur ise open kareu notepad se.

Phir ye walay codes meta.xml file meu enter kar deu:

<meta>
     <info author="YourName" type="gamemode" name="My Server" description="My first MTA server" />
     <script src="script.lua" />
</meta>

Is <info /> tag meu, aik field "type" bhi hai jo batata hai ke ye resource gamemode hai jab ke map' ya phir script nahi hai jo ke later explained kar diya jai ga. Gamemode aik cheez hai jis meu bohat saari scripts hoti hain. <script /> tag batata hai ke is script meu konsi files hain, jo ke ham agge banaain gay.

Aik Simple Script Ko Banana

Is baat ka khyaal rakheu ke <script /> tag aik aur .lua file ke andar nahi hota, ye ussi directory mein hota hai jahan par meta.xml hota hai. Ab ap ye code ko copy aur paste kar sakte hain script.lua mein.

local spawnX, spawnY, spawnZ = 1959.55, -1714.46, 10
function joinHandler()
	spawnPlayer(source, spawnX, spawnY, spawnZ)
	fadeCamera(source, true)
	setCameraTarget(source, source)
	outputChatBox("Welcome to My Server", source)
end
addEventHandler("onPlayerJoin", getRootElement(), joinHandler)

Ye script ap ko coordinate (x, y, z) pe saw kare gi, jab ap game ko join kareu gay. Is baat ka khyaal rahe ke fadecamera function zaroor hona chahiye warna ap ko sirf black screen hi dikhai de gi. Is ke saath saath ap camera target bhi set karna ho ga, warna saare players sirf sky ko hi dekh paain ge.

source variable batata hai ke kis ne event ko trigger kiya hai. Jab koi player join karta hai, ap is code ko ye pata lagane ke liye use kar sakte hain ke kis ne join kiya hai. So ye spawn hameu kisi random player pe nahi kare gi.

Agar ham gor se dekhey addEventHandler ko, to ap ko 3 cheezeu nazar aain gi, 'onPlayerJoin', jo batata hai jab event ko trigger kiya jaata hai. 'getRootElement()', jo batata hai ke kya/kis par ye trigger kiya jaa sakta hai. Aur 'joinHandler' jo batata hai ke konsa function trigger ho ga jab ham event ko trigger kareu gay. Aur details agge explain ki jain gi aik aur example main, ab ham server ko start karte hain aur script ko try karte hain!

Script Ko Chalana

Server ko start karne ke liye, ap ko simply chalana hai excutable jo ke server directory main hai. Stats ki list sab se pehle show ho gi, is baat ka khyaal rakheu ke port number, ap ko game join karne ke liye chahiye ho ga. Phir server saari resources ko load kar leta hai aur phir "Ready to accept connections!" Connect karne se pehle, ap ko gamemode run karna bohat zaroori hai. Type kareu "start myserver" aur enter press kareu. Server gamemode ko start kar de ga jo ap ne abhi banaya, aur ab se koi errors aur warnings bhi show kare ga. Ab ap MTA ko start kareu, aur "Quick Connect" main apnay IP adress se connect kareu. Agar sab kuch theek hota hai, kuch der baad ap ka character streets pe walk kar raha ho ga Los Santos ki.

Ab aage ham command daleu gay jo players vehicle ko spawn karne ke liye use kar sakte hain apne position pe. Ap shaid is ko skip kar deu aur check kareu Map Manager, jo is tutorial ko continue karta hai. Is tutorial ki aik aur branch bhi hai, Introduction to Scripting GUI, ap is ko follow kar sakte hain aur pata chala sakte hain ke kese MTA Graphical User Interface MTA meu draw ki jaati hai aur kese script ki jaati hai.

Aik Simple Command Ko Banana

Chaleu ham dobarah script.lua content meu jaate hain. Jese ke ooper mention kiya, ham chahtay hain ke command par hamaray saath aik vehicle spawn go, sab se pehle hameu aik function banana ho ga, jis ko ham call kareu ge aur aik command handler jo command ko create karta hai.

-- Function ko banain, jo command handler ko call karta hai in arguments sey: thePlayer, command, vehicleModel
function createVehicleForPlayer(thePlayer, command, vehicleModel)
   -- Vehicle ko banana aur doosri cheezeu.
end

-- Command handler ko banana.
addCommandHandler("createvehicle", createVehicleForPlayer)

Note: Function names click able hote hain wiki par, in ko click kareu in ke baare meu information haasil karne ke liye

Command Handlers Ke Baare Meu

The first argument of addCommandHandler is the name of the command the player will be able to enter, the second argument is the function this will call, in this case createVehicleForPlayer.

If you have already experience in scripting, you will know that you call a function like this:

functionName(argument1, argument2, argument3, ..)

functionName(thePlayer, commandName, argument3, ..)

If we have a closer look on the lower example above, we can see argument1 is thePlayer and argument2 the commandName. thePlayer is simply the one who typed the command, so whatever you call it, the variable will contain the player who activated the command. commandName is simply the command they typed. So if they typed "/greet", this argument will contain "greet". Argument 3 is something extra the player typed, you'll learn it a little bit further in the tutorial. Never forget that the first 2 arguments are standard arguments, but you can name them to anything you want.

We called the addCommandHandler function this way already and since createVehicleForPlayer is a function too, it can be called that way as well. But we are using a command handler for that, which calls it in a similiar manner, internally.

For example: Someone types "createvehicle 468" ingame in the console to spawn a Sanchez, the command handler calls the createVehicleForPlayer function, as if we would have this line of code in the script:

createVehicleForPlayer(thePlayer,"createvehicle","468") -- thePlayer is the player element of the player who entered the command

As we can see, it provides several parameters: the player who called the command, the command he entered and whatever text he had after that, in this case "468" as vehicle id for the Sanchez. The first two parameters are the same with all command handlers, which you can read on the addEventHandler page. For this fact, you always have to define at least those two parameters to use any after that (for example to process text that was entered after the command, like in our example the vehicle model id).

Note: You have to add the command handler AFTER you defined the handler function, else it can't find it. The order of execution matters.

Writing the function

In order to fill the function we created, we need to think about what we have to do:

• Get the players position, so we know where to spawn the vehicle (we want it to appear right beside the player)
• Calculate the position we want to spawn the vehicle at (we don't want it to appear in the player)
• Spawn the vehicle
• Check if it has been spawned successfully, or output a message

In order to achieve our goals, we have to use several functions. To find function we need to use, we should visit the Server Functions List. First we need a function to get the players position. Since players are Elements, we first jump to the Element functions where we find the getElementPosition function. By clicking on the function name in the list, you get to the function description. There we can see the syntax, what it returns and usually an example. The syntax shows us what arguments we can or have to submit.

For getElementPosition, the syntax is:

float, float, float getElementPosition ( element theElement )

The three float in front of the function name are the return type. In this case it means the function returns three floating point numbers. (x, y and z) Within the parentheses, you can see what arguments you have to submit. In this case only the element whose position you want to get, which is the player in our example.

function createVehicleForPlayer(thePlayer, command, vehicleModel)
	-- get the position and put it in the x,y,z variables
	-- (local means, the variables only exist in the current scope, in this case, the function)
	local x,y,z = getElementPosition(thePlayer)
end

Next we want to ensure that the vehicle won't spawn directly in the player, so we add a few units to the x variable, which will make it spawn east from the player.

function createVehicleForPlayer(thePlayer, command, vehicleModel)
	local x,y,z = getElementPosition(thePlayer) -- get the position of the player
	x = x + 5 -- add 5 units to the x position
end

Now we need another function, one to spawn a vehicle. We once again search for it on the Server Functions List, this time - since we are talking about vehicles - in the Vehicle functions section, where we will choose createVehicle. In this function's syntax, we only have one return type (which is more common), a vehicle element that points to the vehicle we just created. Also, we see that some arguments are enclosed within [ ] which means that those are optional.

We already have all arguments we need for createVehicle in our function: The position we just calculated in the x,y,z variables and the model id that we provided through the command ("createvehicle 468") and can access in the function as vehicleModel variable.

function createVehicleForPlayer(thePlayer, command, vehicleModel)
	local x,y,z = getElementPosition(thePlayer) -- get the position of the player
	x = x + 5 -- add 5 units to the x position
	-- create the vehicle and store the returned vehicle element in the ''createdVehicle'' variable
	local createdVehicle = createVehicle(tonumber(vehicleModel),x,y,z)
end

Of course this code can be improved in many ways, but at least we want to add a check whether the vehicle was created successfully or not. As we can read on the createVehicle page under Returns, the function returns false when it was unable to create the vehicle. Thus, we check the value of the createVehicle variable.

Now we have our complete script:

function createVehicleForPlayer(thePlayer, command, vehicleModel)
	local x,y,z = getElementPosition(thePlayer) -- get the position of the player
	x = x + 5 -- add 5 units to the x position
	local createdVehicle = createVehicle(tonumber(vehicleModel),x,y,z)
	-- check if the return value was ''false''
	if (createdVehicle == false) then
		-- if so, output a message to the chatbox, but only to this player.
		outputChatBox("Failed to create vehicle.",thePlayer)
	end
end
addCommandHandler("createvehicle", createVehicleForPlayer)

As you can see, we introduced another function with outputChatBox. By now, you should be able to explore the function's documentation page yourself. For more advanced scripting, please check out the Map Manager.

What you need to know

You already read some things about resources, command handlers and finding functions in the documentation in the first paragraph, but there is much more to learn. This section will give you a rather short overview over some of these things, while linking to related pages if possible.

Clientside and Serverside scripts

You may have already noticed these or similiar terms (Server/Client) somewhere on this wiki, mostly in conjunction with functions. MTA not only supports scripts that run on the server and provide commands (like the one we wrote above) or other features, but also scripts that run on the MTA client the players use to connect to the server. The reason for this is, that some features MTA provides have to be clientside (like a GUI - Graphical User Interface), others should be because they work better and still others are better off to be serverside or just don't work clientside.

Most scripts you will make (gamemodes, maps) will probably be serverside, like the one we wrote in the first section. If you run into something that can't be solved serverside, you will probably have to make it clientside. For a clientside script for example, you would create a ordinary script file (for example called client.lua) and specify it in the meta.xml, like this:

<script src="client.lua" type="client" />

The type attribute defaults to 'server', so you only need to specify it for clientside scripts. When you do this, the clientside script will be downloaded to the player's computer once he connects to the server. Read more about Client side scripts.

More complex resources

The previous section showed briefly how to add clientside scripts to the resource, but there is also much more possible. As mentioned at the very top of this page, resources can be pretty much everything. Their purpose is defined by what they do. Let's have some theoretical resources, by looking at the files it contains, the meta.xml and what they might do:

First example - A utility script

/admin_commands
	/meta.xml
	/commands.lua
	/client.lua

<meta>
	<info author="Someguy" description="admin commands" />
	<script src="commands.lua" />
	<script src="client.lua" type="client" />
</meta>

• The commands.lua provides some admin commands, like banning a player, muting or something else that can be used to admin the server
• The client.lua provides a GUI to be able to perform the mentioned actions easily

This example might be running all the time (maybe even auto-started when the server starts) as it's useful during the whole gaming experience and also wont interfere with the gameplay, unless an admin decides to take some action of course.

Second example - A gamemode

/counterstrike
	/meta.xml
	/counterstrike.lua
	/buymenu.lua

<meta>
	<info author="Someguy" description="Counterstrike remake" type="gamemode" />
	<script src="counterstrike.lua" />
	<script src="buymenu.lua" type="client" />
</meta>

• The counterstrike.lua contains similiar to the following features:
  • Let players choose their team and spawn them
  • Provide them with weapons, targets and instructions (maybe read from a Map, see below)
  • Define the game's rules, e.g. when does the round end, what happens when a player dies
  • .. and maybe some more
• The buymenu.lua is a clientside script and creates a menu to buy weapons

This example can be called a gamemode, since it not only intereferes with the gameplay, but actually defines the rules of it. The type attribute indicates that this example works with the Map manager, yet another resource that was written by the QA Team to manage gamemodes and map loading. It is highly recommended that you base your gamemodes on the techniques it provides.

This also means that the gamemode probably won't run without a map. Gamemodes should always be as generic as possible. An example for a map is stated in the next example.

Third example - A Map

/cs-airport
	/meta.xml
	/airport.map
	/airport.lua

<meta>
	<info author="Someguy" description="Counterstrike airport map" type="map" gamemodes="counterstrike" />
	<map src="airport.map" />
	<script src="airport.lua" />
</meta>

• The airport.map in a XML file that provides information about the map to the gamemode, these may include:
  • Where the players should spawn, with what weapons, what teams there are
  • What the targets are
  • Weather, World Time, Timelimit
  • Provide vehicles
• The airport.lua might contain map-specific features, that may include:
  • Opening some door/make something explode when something specific happens
  • Create or move some custom objects, or manipulate objects that are created through the .map file
  • .. anything else map-specific you can think of

As you can see, the type attribute changed to 'map', telling the Map manager that this resource is a map, while the gamemodes attribute tells it for which gamemodes this map is valid, in this case the gamemode from the above example. What may come as a surprise is that there is also a script in the Map resource. Of course this is not necessarily needed in a map, but opens a wide range of possibilities for map makers to create their own world within the rules of the gamemode they create it for.

The airport.map file might look similiar to this:

<map mode="deathmatch" version="1.0">
	<terrorists>
		<spawnpoint posX="2332.23" posY="-12232.33" posZ="4.42223" skins="23-40" />
	</terrorists>
	<counterterrorists>
		<spawnpoint posX="2334.23443" posY="-12300.233" posZ="10.2344" skins="40-50" />
	</counterterrorists>

	<bomb posX="23342.23" posY="" posZ="" />
	
	<vehicle posX="" posY="" posZ="" model="602" />	
	<vehicle posX="" posY="" posZ="" model="603" />	
</map>

When a gamemode is started with a map, the map resources is automatically started by the mapmanager and the information it contains can be read by the gamemode resource. When the map changes, the current map resource is stopped and the next map resource is started. For a more in-depth explanation and examples of how map resources are utilized in the main script, please visit the Writing Gamemodes page.

Events

Events are the way MTA tells scripts about things that happen. For example when a player dies, the onPlayerWasted event is triggered. In order to perform any actions when a player dies, you have to prepare yourself similiar to adding a command handler, as shown in the first chapter.

This example will output a message with the name of the player who died:

function playerDied(totalAmmo, killer, killerWeapon, bodypart)
	outputChatBox(getPlayerName(source).." died!")
end
addEventHandler("onPlayerWasted",getRootElement(),playerDied)

Instead of showing what arguments are needed, the documentation page for Events shows what parameters are passed to the handler function, similiar to the way a command handler does, just that it is different from event to event. Another important point is the source variable, that exists in handler functions. It doesn't have to be added to the parameter list of the function, but it still exists. It has a different value from event to event, for player events (as in the example above) it is the player element. As another example, you can take a look at the basic spawning player script in the first section to get an idea how source is used.

Where to go from here

You should now be familiar with the most basic aspects of MTA scripting and also a bit with the documentation. The Main Page provides you with links to more information, Tutorials and References that allow a deeper look into the topics you desire to learn about.

[[{{{image}}}|link=|]]	Note: From here we recommend reading the debugging tutorial. Good debugging skills are an absolute necessity when you are making scripts. We also recommend you to use the predefined variables list to help you with certain tasks and make scripting easier and faster.

See also:

• Advanced Topics
• OOP Scripting Introduction