[backflip9]

Description: If a (non-bot) player deals damage to the witch with any weapon_melee, and shot up adrenaline within the last 10 seconds, the witch will be instakilled.

This is my first plugin after lurking these forums for a couple years, so this was mostly just a POC for myself to dip my feet in the water. I appreciate any feedback/suggestions! For one, if anyone could point me towards a better way to kill an an entity than
AcceptEntityInput(victim,"Kill")
then let me know and I can change it.

Github

Cvars:
l4d_wab_cooldown: Number of seconds the boost lasts.

Spoiler

Changelog:
- v0.1 05-22-19
Basic functionality, ugly way of killing the witch with AcceptEntityInput()
- v0.2 08-28-19
Use client indices for the adrenaline array, kill the witch with SDKHooks_TakeDamage(). Adrenaline timeout still hardcoded at 10s
- v0.3 08-28-19
Create ConVar for the cooldown time: anywhere from 1 -- 3600 seconds.

[Marttt]

You can try to use some concept from Mr.Zero's [L4D2] Witch Melee Fix plugin.
Instead of "kill" the entity you can get the Current HP from the witch and set it with in the OnTakeDamage event.
Don't know if mine suggestion is the best solution but may work too.

[xerox8521]

Some improvements you should do:

You created an array that is MAXPLAYERS+1 but pass in the userid instead of the client index. This works currently until the userid go beyond MAXPLAYERS+1.

You never validate if the attacker is actually a player before calling GetClientName. (Common Infected can attack the witch if biled, which then causes errors because of an invalid client index being passed to GetClientName).

Unless you really need the userid there is no need to save it in a variable.

You do not reset hasAdrenaline properly on join (OnClientPutInServer) or disconnect (OnClientDisconnect).

You reset hasAdrenaline when you hit any common infected regardless of weapon or if its a witch or not.

You should be using %N instead of GetClientName for printing message purposes (requires a client index).

I'm not 100% on this one but I believe that GetClientSerial requires an client index not a userid. (This could be wrong)

Again you do not validate the return of GetClientFromSerial before calling GetClientName. When the player disconnects before the timer runs out you will access a player that is no longer there causing errors.

Optional stuff I would do is:
- Check if we hit a witch first before caring about the weapon type.
- Disable any debug messages for public release.
- Add a chat message letting the player know that it is active after using adrenaline.
- Add a chat message when the 10 second timer passes to let the player know its no longer active.

You also could not add any message for the little surprise if it works / no longer works but thats up to you.

PS: Instead of AcceptEntityInput(victim,"Kill"); you can use SDKHooks_TakeDamage (requires #include <sdkhooks>)

[Silvers]

PHP Code:

void HurtEntity(int target, int client)
{
    char sTemp[16];

    int entity = CreateEntityByName("point_hurt");
    Format(sTemp, sizeof(sTemp), "dmg%d%d", EntIndexToEntRef(entity), client);
    DispatchKeyValue(target, "targetname", sTemp);
    DispatchKeyValue(entity, "DamageTarget", sTemp);
    DispatchKeyValue(entity, "Damage", "99999");
    DispatchKeyValue(entity, "DamageType", "128");
    DispatchSpawn(entity);
    AcceptEntityInput(entity, "Hurt", client > 0 ? client : -1);
    RemoveEdict(entity);
} 


[backflip9]

Thanks for the feedback! I've implemented most of Xerox's suggestions but I'm a little hung up on the jargon. I tried to index my array by the client index, but that wasn't working until I started indexing it with the userid instead. However I still don't know the difference between those two things. Is the client index specific to the current connection to the server, whereas the userid is unique to the steam account that connects to the server? Could you point me to some documentation on those terms? I think I'd understand the suggestions that concern client index vs userid better that way:

Originally Posted by xerox8521 You created an array that is MAXPLAYERS+1 but pass in the userid instead of the client index. This works currently until the userid go beyond MAXPLAYERS+1.

@Silvers Thanks for that code snippet, I think that'll make my code much cleaner. I'll try it out once I can sort of understand what it's doing. The terminology is also limiting me a bit there. I can't find anywhere that explains the difference between an entity and an edict? Links to documentation would be appreciated.

[xerox8521]

Client Indices range from 1 to MaxClients (inclusive). Which are assigned and unassigned when a player connects / disconnects.
Client Indices are also Entity Indices because players are also entities but not all entity indices are valid client indices. Hence you need to verfiy that the client index you get is in the valid range. Usually its enough to check if IsClientInGame returns true / false and do actions based on that result.

UserID is not tied to the steam account.
UserID go from 1 to 65536 (could be 65535 not sure) where they increase each time a player connects until they reset hitting the max value.

Example: I have client index 3 assigned now i disconnect and you join means you get the client index 3. Where as the userid simply increases eg from 3 to 4.

When you want to pass a player around a delayed or asychronus function you should either use the userid or GetClientSerial the player can disconnect and a new one joines before the function is called potentionally affecting a player that which is not intended.

PS: You should really use SDKHooks_TakeDamage there is absolutely no reason to create an entity to damage the witch.

[KoMiKoZa]

Good idea! This definitely needs a switch between witch instakill/stumble.

[backflip9]

Found some free time to update the code to use client indices and suppress debug output. Debug output on the server console can be reenabled by downloading the source code and adding:

PHP Code:

#define DEBUG 


near the top of the file.

I'll try to setup convars for the amount of cooldown time and instakill/stumble tomorrow.

[Silvers]

Originally Posted by backflip9 I can't find anywhere that explains the difference between an entity and an edict? Links to documentation would be appreciated.

for all intents and purposes they're the same.

[backflip9]

Originally Posted by Silvers for all intents and purposes they're the same.

Right, that clears up some confusion.

--

I added a convar so that server admins can adjust the delay of the boost. I looked into adding a convar to control whether melee weapons kill or stagger the witch when the boost is active, but couldn't find an intuitive way to manually induce an attack that yields a stagger. Any advice on how to do that would be appreciated.