Archive: 27 posts

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for some reason I cant get this to work :S i have a piston set to flipper, so it moves all the way out and then instantly moves back to the starting position and starts again as long as i keep the total distance it instantly moves lower than about 200 i have no problems, but as soon as i increase it over that whatever i have the piston moving breaks -_- i've tried lots of different materials, different piston speeds, using pauses, even changing it to 'out' flipper. it always seems to break. perhaps because it's trying to move the material too fast to get back to the start so it simply breaks? has anyone found a work around to this? i think i know how I can just ignore this and get the same effect i'm looking for a different way (using some logic), but if the flipper would just work this would be so much simpler i've tried searching around on google, gamespot, and here, and I can't seem to find anyone else having the same problem :/ any help is appreciated ^^

2009-09-02 19:52:00 Author: Maeode Posts: 11

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perhaps because it's trying to move the material too fast to get back to the start so it simply breaks? has anyone found a work around to this? Yup and Nope. Partial solution is to use a winch to pull the piston in fast. Depends how significant the instant pull in is.

2009-09-02 19:59:00 Author: rtm223 Posts: 6497

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What you can do is make a piston on a piece of dark matter. Put a magnetic key on the end of the piston then capture it. When it is fully extended, instead of pulling it back, just emit a new one.

2009-09-02 20:35:00 Author: BSprague Posts: 2325

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You could separate it into two pistons with a block in the middle, and have them both retract at once?

2009-09-02 20:36:00 Author: dawesbr Posts: 3280

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This is just a wild guess - and if it's the speed causing the material break, then it won't make any difference. But what about a chain of pistons? One connected to the next with a chunk of matter and have them extend/contract simultaneously. EDIT: d'Oh! dawesbr is too fast for me!

2009-09-02 20:36:00 Author: v0rtex Posts: 1878

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Yep BSprague's method is also a very good solution, you can even simulate the effects of 1-shot and on/off switches with it, so it should work whatever your scenario. I never tried dawes method, but it may still work - you know what LittleBigPhysics is like

2009-09-02 20:42:00 Author: rtm223 Posts: 6497

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Yup and Nope. Partial solution is to use a winch to pull the piston in fast. Depends how significant the instant pull in is. needs to be instant or the block im moving with the piston will set off all the logic I have in it's path :S would be a mess if it set it all off in reverse as well What you can do is make a piston on a piece of dark matter. Put a magnetic key on the end of the piston then capture it. When it is fully extended, instead of pulling it back, just emit a new one. i have magnetic key switches on the block being pushed which are all wired up, without emitting what it's wired to as well I dont think that would work :S You could separate it into two pistons with a block in the middle, and have them both retract at once? ooo, that could work how would i make it so the first piston waited for the second piston to finish? (and possibly a 3rd or 4th as well ^_^; This is just a wild guess - and if it's the speed causing the material break, then it won't make any difference. But what about a chain of pistons? One connected to the next with a chunk of matter and have them extend/contract simultaneously. EDIT: d'Oh! dawesbr is too fast for me! yea, I think this is the way to go ^^ i'll try and get this working, but if anyone has any tips to make them expand one after another, and then all retract at the same time that would be awesome thanks for all the quick replies!!

2009-09-02 20:47:00 Author: Maeode Posts: 11

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needs to be instant or the block im moving with the piston will set off all the logic I have in it's path :S would be a mess if it set it all off in reverse as well i have magnetic key switches on the block being pushed which are all wired up, without emitting what it's wired to as well I dont think that would work :S ooo, that could work how would i make it so the first piston waited for the second piston to finish? (and possibly a 3rd or 4th as well ^_^; yea, I think this is the way to go ^^ i'll try and get this working, but if anyone has any tips to make them expand one after another, and then all retract at the same time that would be awesome thanks for all the quick replies!!Do you really need them to go in succession? If they all have the same timing as the original, the end piece will progress at the same rate. Right?

2009-09-02 20:51:00 Author: v0rtex Posts: 1878

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Do you really need them to go in succession? If they all have the same timing as the original, the end piece will progress at the same rate. Right? hmm... actually i didnt think this through :S as each block is pushed it also pushes 'all' the other blocks waiting in line ^_^;; perhaps the emitter way would work, but i've never done much with emitters :S

2009-09-02 20:55:00 Author: Maeode Posts: 11

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If you can't use the winch method because it will trigger the switches, you can always move the object that lies along the length of it away while you pull in the winch. . ______ _____ | |ppppppp| | | dm | | s | |______|wwwwwww|_____| _________________________ | | | k k kkk kk k | |_________________________| p p _____________p___________ | | | dm | |_________________________| . just connect a directional signal to the winch and both pistons.

2009-09-02 21:03:00 Author: rtm223 Posts: 6497

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i have magnetic key switches on the block being pushed which are all wired up, without emitting what it's wired to as well I dont think that would work Even if it is already wired up, you can emit a "messenger block" at the end of the piston. Basically, when the piston reaches it's end, it emits something over a basket which triggers the wires that were previously rigged at the piston's end. This way you can emit things and still have the same effect of wires.

2009-09-02 21:05:00 Author: BSprague Posts: 2325

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Even if it is already wired up, you can emit a "messenger block" at the end of the piston. Basically, when the piston reaches it's end, it emits something over a basket which triggers the wires that were previously rigged at the piston's end. This way you can emit things and still have the same effect of wires. that went right over my head ^_^;; sounds like just what i need though i dont know what you mean by 'messenger block' or 'basket' :S

2009-09-02 21:10:00 Author: Maeode Posts: 11

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that went right over my head ^_^;; sounds like just what i need though i dont know what you mean by 'messenger block' or 'basket' :S If you have wires rigged on this piston, make them all magnetic key switches and put them at the end of where the piston will go. Put an emitter on this dark matter/piston contraption before you capture it, and rig the emitter to emit a piece of material with a magnetic key on it, but only when it reaches the end of it's path. Then this will trigger the magnetic key switches that were previously wired to the piston.

2009-09-02 21:19:00 Author: BSprague Posts: 2325

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I know exactly what you mean, I use the "in" flipper motion to loop music and I noticed this recently. Really frustrating

2009-09-02 21:19:00 Author: KoRnDawwg Posts: 1424

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Another way to do it, if it doesn't have to move too fast outwards, is make a small car to run the track, then emit a new one at the beginning when the previous one makes it to the end.

2009-09-02 21:22:00 Author: BSprague Posts: 2325

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If you have wires rigged on this piston, make them all magnetic key switches and put them at the end of where the piston will go. Put an emitter on this dark matter/piston contraption before you capture it, and rig the emitter to emit a piece of material with a magnetic key on it, but only when it reaches the end of it's path. Then this will trigger the magnetic key switches that were previously wired to the piston. oh i see. that's actually quite good. but it doesnt exactly work for my situation. I have magnetic keys all throughout the path of the piston being set off in a sequence. the problem is my sequence is too long and im restrained by the 200 size (because my piston contraption keeps breaking...) so i've decided I'm content with the 200 size, but i'm going to need several of these piston contraptions to work, completely independant of eachother, but one after the other. im thinking magnetic switches which trigger some sort of contraption which will activate the next piston in the sequence, at the same time deactivating the previous piston. i think i can figure this out, but any useful tips would be very appreciated ^^ edit:: I know exactly what you mean, I use the "in" flipper motion to loop music and I noticed this recently. Really frustrating that's half of what this is for ^^ it also cues events in time with the music. there's no way this is intended to work this way (or not work ), and if it is I don't agree with it Another way to do it, if it doesn't have to move too fast outwards, is make a small car to run the track, then emit a new one at the beginning when the previous one makes it to the end. actually i used to do that i thought i was advancing my technique by moving up to pistons, but perhaps it wasnt worth the headache xD

2009-09-02 21:28:00 Author: Maeode Posts: 11

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Another way to do it, if it doesn't have to move too fast outwards, is make a small car to run the track, then emit a new one at the beginning when the previous one makes it to the end. Yeah that's what I've had to do as an alternative, though timing is tricky.

2009-09-02 21:32:00 Author: KoRnDawwg Posts: 1424

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actually i used to do that i thought i was advancing my technique by moving up to pistons, but perhaps it wasnt worth the headache xD It's not necessarily an advancement. I'd say whatever works the most reliably and is most customizable is what would be the best choice. Also, another issue you might have run into with emitting pistons is they might have a delay of a few seconds depending on when you captured them. I don't think either way will have an impact on the thermometer, as long as you don't set the "Max Emitted At Once" to some exorbitant number, it should only have to be 1 (or a few depending on what you are doing).

2009-09-03 01:58:00 Author: BSprague Posts: 2325

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http://photos-g.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs235.snc1/8225_247848530639_616985639_8540598_4947495_n.jpg that's what i have. so far it seems to be working ^_^;; but it took me these past few hours to get it going from bottom to top I'll call the pistons A, B, and C each piston has a magnetic key switch set to one shot which activates the next piston (A starts B, B starts C, C starts A) once the sequence is going I havent seen any problems. one of the problems i had was they would get out of sync at the very start because all the keys were instantly set off. so i made that small box with the disolve material to start a fourth piston which was timed to be slightly longer than the other 3. the point was so A would not be allowed to set B off and start the sequence until the initial problems were gone is there a different way to do this so they would all work right away? or should I just leave this as good enough, lol

2009-09-03 04:45:00 Author: Maeode Posts: 11

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http://photos-g.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs235.snc1/8225_247848530639_616985639_8540598_4947495_n.jpg that's what i have. so far it seems to be working ^_^;; but it took me these past few hours to get it going from bottom to top I'll call the pistons A, B, and C each piston has a magnetic key switch set to one shot which activates the next piston (A starts B, B starts C, C starts A) once the sequence is going I havent seen any problems. one of the problems i had was they would get out of sync at the very start because all the keys were instantly set off. so i made that small box with the disolve material to start a fourth piston which was timed to be slightly longer than the other 3. the point was so A would not be allowed to set B off and start the sequence until the initial problems were gone is there a different way to do this so they would all work right away? or should I just leave this as good enough, lol I'm assuming they are all set to directional. What you can do, if you don't like magnetic key switches, is actually make a physical button on some dark matter at the end of each, and make the block in one thick layer. That way, it would only trigger on contact and you wouldn't have to deal with magnetic key switches.

2009-09-03 11:21:00 Author: BSprague Posts: 2325

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I'm assuming they are all set to directional. What you can do, if you don't like magnetic key switches, is actually make a physical button on some dark matter at the end of each, and make the block in one thick layer. That way, it would only trigger on contact and you wouldn't have to deal with magnetic key switches. they're all still set to 'in' flipper, which seems to mean their resting position is fully extended :S even with buttons to get the whole system into a sitting position i think they would all be pressing the button anyway

2009-09-03 13:55:00 Author: Maeode Posts: 11

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Ok then, just ignore what I said. If it works, leave it the way it is. I don't want it broken because I told you to do something that didn't come out right.

2009-09-03 20:10:00 Author: BSprague Posts: 2325

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i actually did manage to make the system a lot better. everything now sits at it's starting position until a starting input goes high. right now it's triggered to a button, but it could be any other input (proximity sensor, switch, magnetic key, etc.) which i think is great all i need to do now is get a player tracking device into the mix and i'm all set to showcase this :3 any idea on the range of a player tracker? or can they be made to follow you for essentially the entire world?

2009-09-04 01:38:00 Author: Maeode Posts: 11

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any idea on the range of a player tracker? or can they be made to follow you for essentially the entire world? It depends entirely on how long you make your piston, unless you decide to put it on wheels (not recommended)... Then it last forever. Also, creature brains have a built in PTD, but they aren't as smooth. Remember, though, as you increase the length of the piston, you also have to increase the time. Edit: Honestly, I haven't really been following this thread too closely, so if I'm not making any sense, just disregard my presence here.

2009-09-04 03:34:00 Author: comphermc Posts: 5338

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Edit: Honestly, I haven't really been following this thread too closely, so if I'm not making any sense, just disregard my presence here. it's probably time i stopped posting here as the converstation has moved away from the original topic ^^ if i have something else I need help with I can just make another thread

2009-09-04 03:45:00 Author: Maeode Posts: 11

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Well, if you're really interested about making a PTD, ladylyn (sp?) has a great little level showing off the way it can be done with a 3-way switch. Or if you want to get your socks knocked off, ask rtm about his 3-piston, one moving part version.

2009-09-04 03:50:00 Author: comphermc Posts: 5338

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have one set up right now with a 3-way switch im interested to see rtm's though, might send him a pm ^^

2009-09-04 05:08:00 Author: Maeode Posts: 11

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