Reference elements not working in CE explosion content

[Flumminator]

Hi Holger,

yesterday I tried to use reference elements in the explosion content of an explodable CE and it does not appear to work. After the explosion, the space is empty.

See attached example level, tested in 4.3.5.4

• A: Explodable CE using reference elements for content - not working
• B: Explodable CE using absolute elements for content - working fine
• C: Changing CE using reference elements for content - working fine

I'm not sure whether this is intentional or not, but it's certainly not what I expected

[Eizzoux]

It is intentional, since these elements aren't specifically made for usage in levels themselves, it's even told in their descriptions.
As their names say, they're referring to specific groups of elements or CE change page.
Here's an example: Create a custom element with these CE change settings.

kasdhkasjd.png (30.68 KiB) Viewed 6956 times

After that, put it in the level, give it some open space, and in that space, place some random moving elements around it to let them move around and occasionally touch it. On playtesting you will see that it will start turning into the elements that it gets touched by.

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'Touching -> REF Any element' means it can be triggered by any element (except player), and all it does is change it's look into whatever just touched it [Change CE Artwork -> Trigger], considering it was given a very wide range of elements to react to. Although this kind of use is pretty pointless, put one of the simplest to explain.
If you don't wanna make one, here's a simple example for you to check:

009.level

(1.19 KiB) Downloaded 237 times

[Flumminator]

Yes, I do know how the reference elements work. I use the +/-<number> reference elements a lot when I build groups of CEs that interact with each other (so that I can easily copy&paste them to other levels when I want to re-use them). As you can see in my demonstration level, they work perfectly well, when used in the extended change target of the CE.

I assumed they would work the same way when used in the explosion content of a CE, but apparently they don't. Now it's up for Holger to decide if this is a bug or a feature

[Flumminator]

Here with screenshots.

Works:

CE_change_reference.png (177.05 KiB) Viewed 6937 times

Doesn't work:

CE_explosion_reference.png (183.76 KiB) Viewed 6937 times

[Holger]

I'm not sure whether this is intentional or not, but it's certainly not what I expected

It is definitely not by intention, and more of a missing feature than a bug, I would say.

I have just added support for reference elements in explosion content of custom elements, so you level now works as you expected.

It's still not supported for the "can dig: [ ]" and "can [leave behind]: [ ]" element areas, but (same as with explosion content before) I am not sure if it can be that useful here. (If so, please let me know. Although I should probably add it just for completeness.)

[Flumminator]

I'm not sure whether this is intentional or not, but it's certainly not what I expected

It's still not supported for the "can dig: [ ]" and "can [leave behind]: [ ]" element areas, but (same as with explosion content before) I am not sure if it can be that useful here. (If so, please let me know. Although I should probably add it just for completeness.)

Yes, I think that would make sense, too. I can immediately see use for the -/+ reference to interact with neighbouring CEs.

Not remembering that they weren't supported, yet, I tried "can dig: [ * ]" the other day, wondering if it would also remove indestructible elements - and thus the level boundary - as well. So there's some bit of thought to be had, when implementing this