Scripting nightmares!

I am building a weapon that needs to do the follwing:

Attach and appear / disappear to two different points on an avatar.
Animate that avatar when the item is visable and stop animating the avatar when the item is invisable.
The weapon needs to cause damage to another avatar when they are wearing a GLM meter.
The avatar needs to go into mouselook to use the weapon and the weapon needs to strike when someone left clicks.

So far, I have figured out the following:

How to get the item to appear and disappear using an alpha script(show /hide) that listesn for the words "draw lance and sheath lance".
How to animate the avatar but only at all times while it it attached ( I can not figure out how to get the animation to stop when it hears "sheath lance".

I have the animations I want to use, full perm. I have the damage script for GLM meters.

I want to give this weapon to everyone at an upcoming competetion for free so that the fighters are all using the same weapon.

OMG! first time I've scripted and I'm screwed! Help please?

The scripting tips forum will probably get you better results..

Good luck!

and I think my brain is melted by now. I know there is a way, but I can't seem to wrap my mind around it. At this point, I'm willing to pay someone to just put it together for me.

Ugggg.

You'll pay me to post your question in the Scripting Tips forum instead of the Building Tips forum?

No! But I'll pay someone to take the pieces I have and put them together into a working weapon.

I have a huge event to plan and this part is holding me up like crazy.

So, if you need some tips on scripting, maybe you should post in the Scripting Tips forum instead of the Building Tips forum.

Either Scripting Tips or, even better, the Products Wanted or Services forums.

and no one has looked at it.

***Sigh***

I guess I should post strictly as a help wanted ad.

Thanks

So I posted a thread to higher someone to do it. I think my brain is just fried at this point. Thanks for your comments.

M

Want to know why? I notice three things right away that you may want to consider:


1. A little patience would be in order. You waited all of 42 minutes before deciding "no one looked" at your post. Come on. Give it at least a day or two before you come to any conclusions. It's not like people are just sitting here waiting with bated breath for new posts to pounce on. Most people browse through once or twice a day, if that, and see what catches their eye.


2. The title of your post in the other forum is extremely off-putting. If I'm a scripter looking to hand out free advice on SCRIPTING, do you really thing I'm going to click on something called "Gotta Love the Forums"? No, I'm going to click on the posts that seem like they're asking questions I can answer.

Notice all the posts whose titles are direct questions like "How to ______?" or direct summaries of discussion topics like "_____ vs. ______" all have tons of responses. Your title offers no hit whatsoever at what your post is about, so it not at all surprising that it hasn't yet attracted any responses.

"Gotta Love the Forums" suggests that the post will be a negative criticism of this site and its users, the kind of thing very few of us who frequent the Content Creation section have much patience for. That's not actually what the post is, of course, but there's no way to know that without clicking on it. And why would anyone want to click on it if they believe the post won't be worth reading in the first place? A little thought in the wording of a title goes a long way. Had you titled it something direct like "Weapons Question" or "Help With First Weapon Script", I'm sure you would have gotten a response.


3. The end of the post says you're looking to hire someone to write the script for you, not that you're looking for tips on how to write it yourself. Since the Scripting Tips forum is for tips on scripting, not for recruiting or hiring, it's again not surprising that no one responded.

If you're looking to hire someone to do work for you, post in Help Wanted. That's where those looking to be hired hang out. If you're looking for education, post in the ______ Tips forums. This is where those looking to teach are. There's not a ton of overlap.

I know forums can be difficult to use. Sometimes people are not as polite because they don't connect with the fact that there is a human on the other end of the name. I am very new to this, so I recognize that I may not know where to go or what to do... which is why I am reaching out and asking for help.

I'm not looking for free advice at this point. But if I am missing something small,( and I'm sure that I am... ) if it's something silly that someone can say "Oh, it's YXZ..." then I would be very grateful to them for the help. If it is something that takes more experience than I have, then I want to pay someone to do it. LSL may seem simple to some people ,but to us just starting to dabble, it is no easy task to figure it all out. My hat is off to those who can zip right through it. I'm not asking for someone else to work hard and not offering to pay them for their talents.

I am however working on a very tight deadline (2 days) and would love to know where I should actually post this. I have read and read for two weeks now and still can;t seem to get it to work right, so needless to say, I'm a little frustrated. But instead of help or even a valid lead to a talented scripter. I get the usual responses of "You not asking the right way" or" Go somewhere else cause you're in the wrong place." Thank you, I understand and I have reposted in a few different areas, but I would rather not post in twelve different places before someone says it's ok to stay there, that just clutters the forum. The repeat postings one after the other are in response to people telling me to go elsewhere as it is.

Anyways, thanks for making my day so much better.

D'oh! You had me ready to change my mind and help until that last bit!

I took a webcam pic with a big teary eyed smile and sigh saying "please???"

I will never take on a project like this again, but I've promised and now I need to find some way to fix it.

And you weren't one that was so mean Meade...

No one's been mean at all, Misty. You complained that your post wasn't getting the response you wanted, so I offered you an explanation as to why. You can choose to take it for what it is, and discover how to get the responses you're looking for, or you can totally misinterpret it as some kind of bizarre cristicism of you as a person. It's up to you.

Look, the reason I haven't answered your question is simply because, like most people who frequent the Building Tips forum, I don't know the answer. I'm not a scripter. It's not because I'm trying to send you on some kind of "Post over here. No, post over there." wild goose chase. I can assure you I've got better things to do with my day than that. All I tried to do was advise you on the best and simplest strategy to employ in order to get the results you want. If you want to call that mean, I shudder to think what it would take for you to think of someone as nice. I could have just ignored you, and let you continue to flounder around as you were, you know. I certainly didn't have to go out of my way to try to help steer you in the right direction to find the help you'd asked for.

You'd do well not to be so quick to bite the hand that's trying to feed you.

Chosen, I looked through some of your replies and you are not always very sensitive to others. Truly, I'm sure that your grasp of the content creation in SL is far above mine, I would never pretend otherwise. There are so many incredible people out there, really they deserve more than a pat on the back. But your grasp of treating others with respect and care could use some work .

Tell me, what exactly did I say to you that was disrespectful?

I've moved this over to another area. There are some people who know about scripting who have replied.

Have a good day.

I'm glad you got the response you needed. See, I told you you should give it time.

I'd still like to know what you think was so disrespectful about the advice I offered. Is not "disrespecful" in and of itself to throw out an accusation like that, and then not back it up in any way?

You didn't do anything wrong, Chosen. She's just new to these forums and a frustrated scripter that overcommited on a project..

If you can not or will not help , then will you both leave me alone already?

I'm just trying to get people who want to help me, either because I'll pay them or becuase they want to help. When either of you make a comment that is negative or puts me down, even slightly so, it makes me look like an even bigger ass and no one wants to help.

Look, I'm not scripting for money, or doing this event to gain anything for myself. I've spent alot of my own real hard dollars already on this and I will not see a dime of it back. I'm doing this because someone needed to and I was the only person remotely, and I do mean remotely, qualified to do this.

So can you lighten up on me? Please?

(Meade, Just fyi, I'm a woman, shrug. Doesn't matter but just so you know.)

You'll have better luck here if you stop giving people crap.


Oops! Sorry..

You may wish to look for a free script pack called the "melee kit". It is not amazingly sophisticated and rather old now but includes the basic functions that people expect from hand weapons. I have one somewhere if you are unable to locate it.

As a note:

You should most definitely avoid doing anything in the above sort of situation. There are an indefinite number of people in this world who need a surprising amount things in situations where you are, somehow, the only person who can help them. For free.

Oh, and the control mechanism that you mention is not at all standard for melee weapons and would in fact confuse people.

I get that all the time myself. It's hard to tell gender from a name.

Meanwhile, good luck in the Services forum. Just don't expect instant turnaround.

Yer a girl???