[Ravrob]

So I've been trying to choose a random player using

stock Action GetRandomPlayer()
{
	int clients[MaxClients + 1];
	int clientCount;
	for (int i = 1; i <= MaxClients; i++)
	{
		if (IsClientInGame(i) && IsPlayerAlive(i))
		{
			clients[clientCount++] = i;
			
			clients[GetRandomInt(0, clientCount + -1)];
		}
	}
	
	return (clientCount == 0) ? -1 : clients[GetRandomInt(0, clientCount-1)];
}

but every time I try to compile I get this error and I genuinely don't understand how to fix this

error 161: brackets after variable name indicate a fixed-size array, but a dynamic size was given - did you mean to use 'new int[size]' syntax?

If anyone could help clear my confusion I would be very thankful.

[Balimbanana]

It is due to this:

int clients[MaxClients + 1];

The issue is that MaxClients is a dynamic variable that can't be used to specify fixed array sizes.
You may be able to create the dynamic int array with just [] Also, you may want to adjust the for loop to do < MaxClients+1 as <= MaxClients will most likely skip the last client if the server is full (as less than or equal to):

stock Action GetRandomPlayer()
{
	int clients[];
	int clientCount;
	for (int i = 1; i < MaxClients+1; i++)
	{
		if (IsClientInGame(i) && IsPlayerAlive(i))
		{
			clients[clientCount++] = i;
			
			clients[GetRandomInt(0, clientCount + -1)];
		}
	}
	
	return (clientCount == 0) ? -1 : clients[GetRandomInt(0, clientCount-1)];
}

If the dynamic array doesn't work, you could workaround it with:

int MaxCL = MaxClients+1;
int clients[MaxCL];

[Ravrob]

So when I use

int clients[];

It outputs these two errors:

error 036: empty statement
error 009: invalid array size (negative, zero or out of bounds)

and creates a whole gaggle of errors in

clients[clientCount++] = i;

I also tried using MaxCL and it had the same issue as the original code.

[Balimbanana]

What version of SourceMod is it compiled on?

[Ravrob]

I believe it's compiled on 1.9.

[Balimbanana]

Most of the time people use the MAXPLAYERS+1 variable instead. It is just a static define for 64 unless you compile SourceMod with a different value. It won't be too much more to initialize the array with 65 indexes instead.

[Ravrob]

It compiled just fine using MAXPLAYERS but unfortunately now I'm getting an error on the server console which I'm pretty sure is related to MAXPLAYERS where the console is telling me over and over again that "Client Index 25 is invalid".

[Balimbanana]

For that part, you need to check IsValidEntity(i) before the other client checks:

stock Action GetRandomPlayer()
{
	int clients[MAXPLAYERS+1];
	int clientCount;
	for (int i = 1; i <= MaxClients; i++)
	{
		if (IsValidEntity(i))
		{
			if (IsClientInGame(i) && IsPlayerAlive(i))
			{
				clients[clientCount++] = i;
				
				clients[GetRandomInt(0, clientCount + -1)];
			}
		}
	}
	
	return (clientCount == 0) ? -1 : clients[GetRandomInt(0, clientCount-1)];
}

[Ravrob]

I figured out that error was because I was using MAXPLAYERS in the for statement rather than MaxClients, oops! The last thing I'm not so sure about is how to call the function, could I just do something like this?

int ranplayer = GetRandomPlayer();
if(blah blah)
{
do stuff with ranplayer
}

[PC Gamer]

I went flashy with my TF2 random player selection:


Here's the core random selection part:

PHP Code:

{
    new iClients[MaxClients+1], iNumClients;
    for(new i=1; i<=MaxClients; i++)
    {
        if(IsClientInGame(i) && IsPlayerAlive(i) && !IsFakeClient(i) && GetClientTeam(i) > 0)
        {
            iClients[iNumClients++] = i;
        }
    }
    new iRandomClient = iClients[GetRandomInt(0, iNumClients-1)];

    PrintToChatAll("Fate Chose:  %N",iRandomClient);
    PrintToServer("Fate Chose:  %N",iRandomClient);
} 


Something I did that you may want to build into your plugin.... If I use sm_randomplayer it will find a random human player among those that are ingame and alive. If I use sm_randomplayer <target> it appears as though the command is random but the target I selected is chosen. Useful for those times when you only want to give the appearance of random.