[Tutorial] Usermessages : list, ussage, bitbuffer structure

SAMURAI16 · **Author**

To make things more simple to understand, I can say usermessages are something like events
There are different user message for every game (I mean CS:S for example don't have the same user message like TF2)

○ Here is list of usermessages in CS:S

Code:

Geiger                             
Train                             
HudText                         
SayText                           
SayText2                            
TextMsg                             
HudMsg                          
ResetHUD                        
GameTitle                          
ItemPickup                         
ShowMenu                         
Shake                            
Fade                               
VGUIMenu                          
CloseCaption                       
SendAudio                       
RawAudio                         
VoiceMask                       
RequestState                      
BarTime                          
Damage                               
RadioText                           
HintText                           
ReloadEffect                       
PlayerAnimEvent                     
AmmoDenied                        
UpdateRadar                         
KillCam

○ Natives that may you need are found in usermessage.inc

○ How to create create (reproduce) an usermessage and send it to client
Before all you need the usermessage structure. There are bunch of bits wich may not so easy to find (We'll talk about that later)
Now i'll show how to send a message to all clients. If you want to set only to a client use StartMessageOne() native (at least check usermessages.inc)

PHP Code:


			
// start message
new Handle:hBf = StartMessageAll("Message Name");

if(hBf != INVALID_HANDLE)
{
    structure...
    EndMessage();
    
}

Let's say if this message have 4 arg's (I know it's not real args but whatever) and first 3 are byte time last last is char.
Code would be:

PHP Code:


			
// start message
new Handle:hBf = StartMessageAll("Message Name");

if(hBf != INVALID_HANDLE)
{
    BfWriteByte(hBf,20);
    BfWriteByte(hBf,10);
    BfWriteByte(hBf,440);
    BfWriteChar(hBf,'c');
    EndMessage();
    
}

It's verry important to respect the order on sending bitbuffer bytes
You can find all bitbuffer natives in bitbuffer.inc file

○ How to hook user messages
Well that's not so hard, but again problem is with structure of usermessage
First I want to say you can't print anything in callback of hooked message (I mean you can't use PrintToChat, PrintToChatAll etc)

Now, example:

PHP Code:


			
public OnPluginStart()
{
    HookUserMessage(GetUserMessageId("ResetHUD"),fn_HookResetHUD,true);
}

public Action:fn_HookResetHUD(UserMsg:msg_id, Handle:bf, const players[], playersNum, bool:reliable, bool:init) 
{
    // stuff whatever
}

I choosed "ResetHUD", of course you'll use what you need
Now the most difficult part is structure of message. You can read all bits with BfRead*() natives (bitbuffer.inc)
Let's say if structure is byte,byte,float,byte and you need to check if last is 40:

PHP Code:


			
public Action:fn_HookMyMessage(UserMsg:msg_id, Handle:bf, const players[], playersNum, bool:reliable, bool:init) 
{
    BfReadByte(bf);
    BfReadByte(bf);
    BfReadFloat(bf);
    new my_search = BfReadByte(bf);
    if(my_search == 40)
    {
        // do stuff
    }
}

I can say this message have some kind of 4 arg's. To reach the 4nd you have to read the previous ones

I can say that's all. You can ask here all you want to know about each usermessages (when they are called, structure ) ; I'll do a handjob to find what you need ;)

blade81

Would you post an example for BarTime please? I can't get it to work. Thanks

p3tsin · *Last edited by p3tsin; 01-25-2009 at 16:26.*

Quote:

Originally Posted by SAMURAI16

First I want to say you can't print anything in callback of hooked message (I mean you can't use PrintToChat, PrintToChatAll etc)

To be more specific, you can't use other usermessages in hooks (PrintToChat is a wrapper for TextMsg usermsg), but PrintToServer and possibly PrintToConsole should work just fine. Use the MsgSentNotify callback (4th param in HookUserMessage) if you need to send usermessages.

Also, you could've mentioned the use of the bool:intercept param in HookUserMessage. Nice tut otherwise.

Quote:

Originally Posted by blade81

Would you post an example for BarTime please? I can't get it to work. Thanks

This should be it but donnu if it works.

Code:

new Handle:buf = StartMessageOne("BarTime",client,USERMSG_RELIABLE)
if(buf != INVALID_HANDLE) {
	BfWriteByte(buf,duration)
	BfWriteByte(buf,0)
	EndMessage()
}

blade81

It doesn't work. Thx anyway

SAMURAI16

BarTime Draws a HUD progress bar which is filled from 0% to 100% for the time.
try this

Code:

new Handle:buf = StartMessageOne("BarTime",client,USERMSG_RELIABLE)
if(buf != INVALID_HANDLE) 
{
    BfWriteShort(buf,duration) // duration is in seconds
    EndMessage()
}

CrimsonGT · *Last edited by CrimsonGT; 01-26-2009 at 09:30.*

Just to make note, BarTime doesn't work in TF2.

Should this work? I grabbed this usermessage from the tf2 list and tried to use it, but it never got called.

Code:

public OnPluginStart()
{
    HookUserMessage(GetUserMessageId("HudArenaNotify"),fn_HookArenaNotify,true);
}

public Action:fn_HookArenaNotify(UserMsg:msg_id, Handle:bf, const players[], playersNum, bool:reliable, bool:init) 
{
    CreateTimer(0.5, Timer_Test);
}

public Action:Timer_Test(Handle:hndl)
{
    PrintToChatAll("IT WAS CALLED");
}

blade81

Quote:

Originally Posted by SAMURAI16

BarTime Draws a HUD progress bar which is filled from 0% to 100% for the time.
try this

Code:

new Handle:buf = StartMessageOne("BarTime",client,USERMSG_RELIABLE)
if(buf != INVALID_HANDLE) 
{
    BfWriteShort(buf,duration) // duration is in seconds
    EndMessage()
}

Still doesn't work. Also tried with WriteFloat.

p3tsin

Quote:

Originally Posted by blade81

It doesn't work. Thx anyway

It seems even CSS never fires that usermessage. You can do the progress bar with these 2 netprops though

Code:

CCSPlayer::m_iProgressBarDuration (byte)
CCSPlayer::m_flProgressBarStartTime (float)

Set starttime to GetGameTime() and duration to number of seconds you want it to last. Apparently you gotta reset the value of m_iProgressBarDuration to 0 manually when the time has ran out.

blade81

Quote:

Originally Posted by p3tsin

It seems even CSS never fires that usermessage. You can do the progress bar with these 2 netprops though

Code:

CCSPlayer::m_iProgressBarDuration (byte)
CCSPlayer::m_flProgressBarStartTime (float)

Set starttime to GetGameTime() and duration to number of seconds you want it to last. Apparently you gotta reset the value of m_iProgressBarDuration to 0 manually when the time has ran out.

Thank you all! +karma

This works!

PHP Code:


			
  SetEntPropFloat(client, Prop_Send, "m_flProgressBarStartTime", GetGameTime());

  SetEntProp(client, Prop_Send, "m_iProgressBarDuration", 10);

pheadxdll

Anybody willing to take some screenshots of what these look like?

Thanks!

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