GetCampaignLocation(string, string, object)

Retrieves a location value from the campaign database.

location GetCampaignLocation(
    string sCampaignName,
    string sVarName,
    object oPlayer = OBJECT_INVALID
);

Parameters

sCampaignName

Campaign name to store this variable under (case-sensitive)

sVarName

Unique variable name

oPlayer

Player this variable is attached to. (Default: OBJECT_INVALID)

Description

Returns a location value from the campaign database. The campaign name is case-sensitive. On error, it returns an invalid location, meaning that check GetAreaFromLocation will return OBJECT_INVALID.

Any location (SetLocal or SetCampaign) is stored in 3 parts:
- ID of the Area object (ObjectToString returns the string hex ID of the area if you want an idea of what this means)
- Facing of the object
- Vector position. One vector has an X, Y and Z value.

For this reason, any locations stored in a database, and if the areas change in any way (it may be even changing the module at all will do this) will cause the ID of the area to change - thus returning an invalid area for the location. SetLocalLocation is never affected as it isn't persistant through resets, and as a module cannot change while running, the IDs remain the same.

Use GetAreaFromLocation to make sure the area is valid if this is used in any module that changes, or:

- Set the tag of the area in a string (and hence get it again via. GetObjectByTag())
- Set the facing in a campaign float
- Set the 3 vector positions in a campaign float

This would be safer as it is unlikly the area tag changes.

Important Note: In sCampaignName any spaces in the string put in will be stripped. A string consisting of "Hello there" will become "Hellothere" (Note: Cases sensitive), and thus may cause problems when deleting databases (See Also DestroyCampaignDatabase).

There may also be a limit on the length of sCamapignName, although if anyone knows, please contact us.

Remarks

If an object is specified for oPlayer, it is possible to have more than one variable with the same name. However, it has not yet been rigourously tested, and it may be a good idea to use unique variable names anyway.

Moreover, database access in NWN is slow. It is a good idea to store variables locally, then transfer and read them to and from database only when you need to.

It is also important to remember that variables in the database are independent of the savegames. If a player goes back to a previous savegame, he'll still have all the latest variables in the database. While this is unlikely to actually help him, it can potentially corrupt the entire gaming experience for the player.

Thus, the real strength of the database is probably this: Ability to store variables in PWs on a regular basis, so a lot of information isn't lost (for instance, backup of variables can happen every hour or so). And it provides an easy way to transfer information between two or more modules, for instance in an official campaign type setting.

Known Bugs

There was a problem with storing player specific data in patch 1.30 (only Shadows of Undrentide, though). The fix in patch 1.31 would break compatibility between SoU 1.30 and SoU 1.31 player specific database access.

Not a bug, but a caveat: The database uses information about the player to store PC specific information. Thus, you can't use the PC as the oPlayer parameter in the database functions. This one is a little harder to work around. One thing you could perhaps do is ignore the oPlayer parameter, and then construct a variable name based on some of the info stored about the player OnClientEnter (see the workaround).

Version

1.62

Example

//Workaround for the caveat above

void main()
{
    object oPC=GetEnteringObject();
    string sPlayerName=GetPCPlayerName(oPC);
    string sIP=GetPCIPAddress(oPC);
    string sKey=GetPCPublicCDKey(oPC);
    SetLocalString(oPC, "player_name", sPlayerName);
    SetLocalString(oPC, "player_ip", sIP);
    SetLocalString(oPC, "player_cdkey", sKey);
}

functions:	SetCampaignLocation
categories:	Database Functions