Why won't my character register as near?

Question

 #pragma strict
 var player : Transform;
 var distance = 7;
 private var playerCloseEnough = false;
 
 function Start () {
 
 }
 
 function Update () {
 if(Vector3.Distance(transform.position, player.position) < distance){
         playerCloseEnough = true;
     }
     else{
         playerCloseEnough = false;
 }
 if (playerCloseEnough == true){
         print("It works!");
         }
 else
         {
             print("It doesn't work!:(");
             }
 }

This is attached to a cube that is supposed to detect when the player is near. So far It doesn't register as I always get "It doesn't work!". Any idea's?

Answer 1

Answer by TrickyHandz · Oct 06, 2013 at 02:37 AM

Your script is written fine and it works. I just tried it out in a new project with a cube and a sphere, where the script was on the cube and the sphere assign as the player. As soon as I moved my sphere inside the range it worked as expected.

I would recommend changing your "It doesn't work" code to printing the distance so you can see how far away you actually are. Like this:

 print(Vector3.Distance(transform.position, player.position));

Add comment · Show 4 · Share

Kamiyama · Oct 06, 2013 at 02:44 AM 0

Share

When I try that- it looks as if Unity takes the distance from when the game starts and then doesn't update and continue checking the distance. It's very odd. I'm kinda at a loss.

TrickyHandz · Oct 06, 2013 at 02:48 AM 0

Share

That is rather strange. As I said your code works right out of the box for me. Try it in a new empty scene to see if something else is causing an issue. If it works in a new scene with just two objects the culprit is elsewhere.

Kamiyama · Oct 06, 2013 at 02:51 AM 0

Share

Actually I take that back. I started the player in a different spot and it gave me the same number...86.9916. So that's a problem. I'll try an empty scene and hopefully it'll work.

Kamiyama · Oct 06, 2013 at 03:00 AM 0

Share

So I did try it and it this point- it still doesn't work for me. This time it gives me a number in the 70's. Really at a loss here. I'm not sure what could be causing the problem. EDIT: So apparently I have to drag the player controller from the hierarchy for it to work. So it's solved then.

Answer 2

Answer by darkhog · Oct 06, 2013 at 03:23 AM

Why so much ifs? First of all, you could simplify first if as

 playerCloseEnough = (Vector3.Distance(transform.position, player.position) < distance

But even that's not needed, as you can just do:

 if ((Vector3.Distance(transform.position, player.position) < distance){
        print("It works!");
        }
 else
        {
          print("It doesn't work!:(");
          }
 }

This way you'll avoid unnecessary ifs which may make your game run faster.

Add comment · Share

Why won't my character register as near?

2 Replies

Your answer

Welcome to Unity Answers

Follow this Question

Related Questions