Examine System

[gusty heron]

Hello

[torpid dagger]

hey so

look on your player's root object possibly. there must be a script that modifies references of your iteminfo class

[young pulsar]

Start from going to the asset page and reading on how to use it.

[torpid dagger]

yeah also showing us what the asset is would be handy

[gusty heron]

https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/templates/systems/ultimate-examine-system-191509#publisher

oh

youtube links arent allowed?

theres a youtube tutorial attached in the docs which is what ive been using

dont think there should be a problem with setup since the cube object works

[young pulsar]

There seems to be a documentation file in the asset folder. Open it and start reading.

[young pulsar]

Alright. Then according to the docs, what affects the zoom?

[torpid dagger]

are your spawned prefabs in the examinable layer?

[young pulsar]

Okay. Now compare these parameters between the object that the zoom works for and the one that doesn't.

[torpid dagger]

do they have box colliders on them

[gusty heron]

Yep

[gusty heron]

They're the same

[gusty heron]

I've tried with and without

[torpid dagger]

can you post a link to your item info class in here

i like paste.myst.rs because you can post multiple scripts in one link

[gusty heron]

Should I download a random model

and see if it works

[torpid dagger]

can you post the code for both iteminfo and ultimateexaminesystem

[gusty heron]

alright

[torpid dagger]

i'm wondering if that class finds all item info components in the scene on awake and just works off that, which could make spawned prefabs not ever get added

can you please use paste links

[gusty heron]

This is the item info

Alright

https://paste.myst.rs/ie0bxgik

[torpid dagger]

thx. i'm more interested in seeing the brain script though. because that's the thing that's responsible for actually inspecting the items

[gusty heron]

https://paste.myst.rs/gboejxqz

[torpid dagger]

the thing that's cool about pastemyst btw, if you click "add pasty" it'll let you post multiple scripts on the same link

[gusty heron]

ohh

[torpid dagger]

okay so you see this line?

[gusty heron]

mhm

[torpid dagger]

what that's doing is a raycast in front of the camera and then storing off the detected item it hits and then manipulating it

this is the most likely culprit it seems to me, so we need to double check several things:

• we need to make sure that the object we want to hit is on the appropriate layer that the raycast is firing on
• we need to make sure that the object has either a mesh+meshcollider, or a box/capsule/etc collider
• that collider is ENABLED

can you show me a screenshot of an instantiated prefab's components

[gusty heron]

Okay one sec

[torpid dagger]

you can take multiple screenshots if you cant get them all in one view

[gusty heron]

seems to be fine

[torpid dagger]

so the radius on that sphere collider looks a little sus

[gusty heron]

hmm?

what should it be?

[torpid dagger]

can you show me the radius in relation to the object

[gusty heron]

its a kettle

[torpid dagger]

because my assumption is the sphere collider (which is a trigger) is what's used to determine proximity for interactability

can you show me a non-prefab object

it should have two colliders as well. i'm interested in the one that's a trigger

[gusty heron]

the cube?

[torpid dagger]

srue

whichever one you have in yoru scene that works as intended

[gusty heron]

it only has

a box collider

[torpid dagger]

oh nvm i'm dumb. it's doing a raycast

hold on imma edit this script so you can get more information

[gusty heron]

Ayo dont call yourself dumb

Makes me worse

;(

[torpid dagger]

lol sorry that's just my shorthand for saying i led myself down a wrong thought path

lemme tweak this quick and then you can get a lot more introspection as to what's happening in your script

[gusty heron]

Okay ty

I imported a random prefab

and it worked with that

[torpid dagger]

oh interesting

what are the differences

[gusty heron]

is it because these are models?

[torpid dagger]

what do you mean

[gusty heron]

like

the kettle

[torpid dagger]

i don't know what you're asking

[gusty heron]

are models and prefabs different?

[torpid dagger]

can you show me what you're talking about

[torpid dagger]

can you show me a side-by-side of how you're using both of those

i think you did before but it was a lot of pics all at once so i didn't look too closely

[gusty heron]

Hm wdym?

[torpid dagger]

prefabs are already pre-defined gameobjetcs. when you drag a model into a scene, it sort of imports it as a basic gameobject with just like a mesh and nothing else

drag the kettle and the prefab that worked into the scene

take screenshots of their inspectors side-by-side. show me how they look in the scene hierarchy on the left as well as their components

[gusty heron]

the only difference i see is

that they're prefabs

[torpid dagger]

can you show me though

[gusty heron]

oh shoot

i got it working

not that specific model though

[torpid dagger]

okay

[gusty heron]

i dragged the model outside of the

other prefabs

and it works

so i think the problem is that prefabs wont work

[torpid dagger]

so i would recommend you do this with your models btw

don't fuck with them directly, because when you drag them into a scene they're going to be freshly imported every time as like a new prefab. if you create prefabs for them, then you can pre-configure them to work properly

[gusty heron]

i do have a question thi

tho

[torpid dagger]

k

[gusty heron]

how do i like

edit stuff in this

u see the 'asylum'

[torpid dagger]

yeah

so you can do it one of two ways

you can find the prefab itself in your project view and double click it to go to prefab edit mode

OR

you see this

arrow

if you click that, it'll open up a context-edit mode, where you can see the prefab normally, but everything apart from it will be greyed out

that way you can edit the prefab to see how it fits in your world

[gusty heron]

oh

[torpid dagger]

but since your prefab basically IS the world it probably doesn't matter

also i would recommend making sure you click the "overrides" drop down and hit "revert all" since you want the prefab itself to be edited, not he prefab instance

if that makes sense

[gusty heron]

huh

[torpid dagger]

say i have a prefab of a person right

and i instantiate like twenty of them

[gusty heron]

oh this

[torpid dagger]

if i modify one of them to have red hair, it will now be different because i only changed the instance

and if i go into the prefab editor mode and change the hair to black, ALL the prefab instances (except the ones that already have modified hair) will now be black haired

[gusty heron]

ohhh

[torpid dagger]

and if i do override->revert all on the redhead, he'll have black hair now

because you're reverting him to the prefab default

[gusty heron]

wait wtf

i hit revert all

and a lot of stuff is weird now

[torpid dagger]

oh, ctrl+z

you had a LOT of changes in that lol

if you WANT those changes to apply to the prefab, you need to do overrides->apply all

what that does is make your instance's current state the authority for all asylum prefabs

[gusty heron]

oh

alright

but the kettle inside the map

is still not working

only the one outside the map

[torpid dagger]

you have to show me the difference between the kettle and a working object

oh

that's perfect

show me the kettle instances inside and outside the map

[gusty heron]

okay

outside the map

inside the map

[torpid dagger]

https://paste.myst.rs/z450d33d

try this script and tell me what the debug console is showing when you point at things that work vs things that don't

it should log the item that you're detecting to the console if/when you are detecting it

[gusty heron]

oh i missed this

this is with the ultimateexaminesystem right

[torpid dagger]

yes

[gusty heron]

hm

[torpid dagger]

oh sorry

double click that error and modify the line to

hit.collider.gameObject

instead of hit.gameObject

[gusty heron]

hmmmm

[torpid dagger]

can you show me that line of code. that's interesting lol

[gusty heron]

it recognises it

which line?

[torpid dagger]

show me what you wrote

the one you edited

[torpid dagger]

they're not just called gameobject in the scene are they?

that's super weird

[gusty heron]

hmm

both seem to be the same output

[torpid dagger]

can you search in your scene view for just "gameObject" and show me what it filters out

or better yet, sec

Debug.Log($"Detected object: {nameof(hit.collider.gameObject)}", hit.collider.gameObject);

modify the line to do this

that will allow you to highlight the object when you click on the log

so we can see whats actually being hit

[torpid dagger]

so you're not detecting the kettle in the asylum

it's just detecting the asylum itself

[gusty heron]

yep

im pretty sure thats exactly whats happening

especially since

[torpid dagger]

i think i saw something in the script sec

[gusty heron]

when you click on the object in the scene

it first shows up as asylum

and then you have to click it again

to show the actual kettle

[torpid dagger]

is your asylum on the examinable layer

[gusty heron]

its on default

[torpid dagger]

oh sec hold on i'm dumb

Debug.Log($"Detected object: {hit.collider.gameObject.name}", hit.collider.gameObject);

try that instead

nameof gives you the variable name not the gameobject name

[gusty heron]

oh

i also need help with smth else btw

the kettle is being detected

[torpid dagger]

okay so it's detecting them that's good. you're saying the kettle that's in the asylum prefab just isnt zoomable tho?

[gusty heron]

yes

[torpid dagger]

what happens? can you press E and it does anything?

[gusty heron]

yes

it just doesnt zoom in

[torpid dagger]

can you rotate it or anything like that?

[gusty heron]

nope

[torpid dagger]

https://paste.myst.rs/iaz6y8m8

try this. i just added a lot of debug statements. while you're debugging, turn off the "collapse messages" option so you can see the order that they happen in

that'll probably give some insight into what the script is doing

[gusty heron]

how?

nvm

got it

[torpid dagger]

okay so we know handledetectionUi is being called that's nice

[gusty heron]

the ui works

the zoom and rotation doesnt

[torpid dagger]

change HandleDetectionUI to this

void HandleDetectionUI(GameObject item, bool detected) { //disable/enable detectuin UI
        Debug.Log("HandleDetectionUI");
        if (detected && detectionStateChange) //if examinable object has been detected
        {
            detectedItem = item.transform;  //store detected item reference
            Debug.Log($"Detected item stored: {detectedItem.gameObject.name}");

            cursorDot.color = cursorDotHighlighted; //set cursor highlight color
            detectCanvas.enabled = true;

            try //set item name UI text to UI text
            {
                _itemName.text = item.GetComponent<ItemInfo>().GetName();
            }
            catch { //if item object doesnt have ItemInfo script attached
                _itemName.text = "Unknown item";
                Debug.LogWarning(item.name + " does not have ItemInfo component!");
            }

        }
        else if(detectionStateChange){ //disable UI, set normal cursor color
            cursorDot.color = cursorDotDefaultColor;
            detectCanvas.enabled = false;
        }
    }

you see the process of what i'm doing though? just like finding hints and seeking further info

[gusty heron]

yeah

[torpid dagger]

you didn't try to enter examine state on any of them?

[gusty heron]

oh

shoot

they all say the same thing

"Examing..."

[torpid dagger]

you get "ExamineStateEnter" in the console for all of them?

[gusty heron]

Examining

[torpid dagger]

turn collapse back on

do you see examinestateenter for all of them

[gusty heron]

wwait

[torpid dagger]

and when you press E even on the one that works, does it lock your movement like the others

[gusty heron]

where?

where do i put that block

[torpid dagger]

where do you think

[gusty heron]

it wasnt showing up in find

weird

[torpid dagger]

ok so what does this tell you

i can't do every step of this for you lol

[gusty heron]

everything is being detected

its detecting the ui

the item

[torpid dagger]

yes. beyond that though

[gusty heron]

and the examine state

uh

[torpid dagger]

where does it hint that the problem lies

[gusty heron]

it has to be something to do with the model itself

[torpid dagger]

your script is treating these two objects somehow differently

you need to figure out HOW that is happening

[gusty heron]

hm

[torpid dagger]

where in the script do you think we need to look

to find that discrepancy

[gusty heron]

the place where it detects the gameobject?

to see what parameters it sets?

[torpid dagger]

we already confirmed they're both being detected

the problem isn't there

[gusty heron]

hm

[torpid dagger]

based on what you see by the debug statements

where do you KNOW we're getting to

[gusty heron]

is it detecting the zoom and rotate

but we dont know how the other objects detect it

[torpid dagger]

okay you're either overthinking this at all or (i hope not) gaming me lol

here's a hint

[gusty heron]

this

might be why

[torpid dagger]

what does this line tell you about what we know is happening

[gusty heron]

its examining the object

[torpid dagger]

but it's not right

which means we're getting INTO the examine method and THEN something is going wrong

[gusty heron]

so the examine function is wrong?

[torpid dagger]

which tells you the problem is likely where?

[gusty heron]

for the specific object

in the examine settings?

[torpid dagger]

the function isn't necessarily wrong

it's doing something we don't expect

so what do we need to do

[gusty heron]

find out where it derails

[torpid dagger]

cool. how

[gusty heron]

either trial and error orrr

uh

[torpid dagger]

what have i been doing

[gusty heron]

checking what is actually happening

oh

add in more debug statements?

[torpid dagger]

ayyyyyyy!

[gusty heron]

to detect zoom

[torpid dagger]

that sounds awesome

[gusty heron]

and

other stuff?

[torpid dagger]

so we know something is going wrong inside the Examing() method, which really narrows our focus

looking at the code, can you identify some points where it might derail and cause us problems? and being able to see that information might be illuminating?

i can think of two off the bat

[gusty heron]

maybe when its getting the input or getting the item position

[torpid dagger]

well one specifically

show me the most suspicious chunk of code in your opinion

aka the thing that NEEDS to happen for zooming to work

something that isn't guaranteed to work

[gusty heron]

            float temp = zoomDistance;
            float input = Input.GetAxis("Mouse ScrollWheel");
            RaycastHit hit;
            if (Physics.Raycast(cam.position, detectedItem.position - cam.position, out hit, zoomDistance + input + collisionCheckDistance) && !hit.transform.IsChildOf(detectedItem)) //if new position would collide do this
            {
                zoomDistance = Vector3.Distance(cam.position + cam.forward, hit.point); //sets zoom distance to the point where the collision was detected
            }
            else { //if new position wouldn't collide, freely change according to player input
                zoomDistance += input;
            }

            zoomDistance = Mathf.Clamp(zoomDistance, zoomMinMax.x, zoomMinMax.y); //clamp current zoom distance to min/max limits 

            detectedItem.position = Vector3.Lerp(detectedItem.position, cam.transform.position + cam.forward * zoomDistance, zoomSmoothness * Time.deltaTime); //smoothly zoom by moving an objects closers/farther from the camera

            //handle dynamic depth of field
            _volume.profile.TryGetSettings<DepthOfField>(out var DOF);
            DOF.focusDistance.value = Vector3.Distance(cam.position, detectedItem.position);
        }
    }```

[torpid dagger]

try to pick a smaller chunk

[gusty heron]

is it in that vicinity>

[torpid dagger]

yes

don't overthink it

variability in code happens most often when decisions are made

what does a decision look like in code

or rather a choice

[gusty heron]

zoomDistance = Vector3.Distance(cam.position + cam.forward, hit.point); //sets zoom distance to the point where the collision was detected

[torpid dagger]

is the code deciding anything there?

[gusty heron]

not rlly i guess

[torpid dagger]

sure

so

[gusty heron]

this feels like school

detectedItem.position = Vector3.Lerp(detectedItem.position, cam.transform.position + cam.forward * zoomDistance, zoomSmoothness * Time.deltaTime); //smoothly zoom by moving an objects closers/farther from the camera maybe this since its the script where its actually zooming the camera

[torpid dagger]

if i tell you to go to the store and buy me some eggs, and if they have the kind i like, get me two dozen, otherwise get me one dozen of the store brand

[gusty heron]

into the object

[torpid dagger]

that gives you opportunity to behave differently when you get to the store, based on what happens

[gusty heron]

ohhh

OHHHH

so the if statement?

[torpid dagger]

[gusty heron]

NO WAYYY

holy fucking shit

[torpid dagger]

especially raycasts, because the script can't control what we're looking at, so its a very contextual moment in code

[gusty heron]

ahhh i see

[torpid dagger]

which makes it BIG SUSSY

so what information do you think we can get in this raycast section that might tell us whats going on

[gusty heron]

uh

[torpid dagger]

what i can think of right off the bat

1. did we hit anything at all?
2. if we did, which object was it?
3. what is the zoomDistance value after we perform the raycast

[gusty heron]

hm

but since we detect the object

and it examines

plus the cursor changes colour

[torpid dagger]

this is a different raycast from the object detection raycast

[gusty heron]

doesnt it mean that it detects our input on the object

oh

[torpid dagger]

this is checking for collisions

[gusty heron]

ohh

right

dif sections

[torpid dagger]

what i'm automatically suspicious of out the gate

your asylum object is scaled, which means the scale factor of your children are compensating for that fact. so you could theoretically be projecting much larger raycast distances on your childed object, which means that it could be firing a ray directly into the object you're trying to pick up and considering it a collision

[gusty heron]

i tried unpacking the asylum

[torpid dagger]

thats just a theory though

I would also debug the zoomDistance before and after clamp

[gusty heron]

hmm ok

so i just

unpacked the asylum object

and then moved it out of asylum

but still nothinh

[torpid dagger]

well

why would you change that at this moment lol

that's introducing more variables before we even figured out wtf is going on

void Examine() {
        Debug.Log("Examining...");
        if (Input.GetKeyDown(KeyCode.E)) //Stop examining
        {
            ExamineStateLeave();
        }
        else {
            if (Input.GetKey(KeyCode.Mouse1)) //rotate the object if input detected
            {
                float rotX = Input.GetAxis("Mouse X") * rotationSpeed;
                float rotY = Input.GetAxis("Mouse Y") * rotationSpeed;

                detectedItem.Rotate(cam.up, -rotX, Space.World);
                detectedItem.Rotate(cam.right, rotY, Space.World);
            }

            if (hasInterestPoints) DetectInterestPoints(); //look for interest points

            //Check for collisions when zooming an item
            float temp = zoomDistance;
            float input = Input.GetAxis("Mouse ScrollWheel");
            RaycastHit hit;
            if (Physics.Raycast(cam.position, detectedItem.position - cam.position, out hit, zoomDistance + input + collisionCheckDistance) && !hit.transform.IsChildOf(detectedItem)) //if new position would collide do this
            {
                Debug.Log($"Collision detected on zoom: {hit.collider.gameObject}");
                zoomDistance = Vector3.Distance(cam.position + cam.forward, hit.point); //sets zoom distance to the point where the collision was detected
            }
            else { //if new position wouldn't collide, freely change according to player input
                Debug.Log("No Collision Detected on zoom");
                zoomDistance += input;
            }

            Debug.Log($"Zoom Distance: {zoomDistance}");
            zoomDistance = Mathf.Clamp(zoomDistance, zoomMinMax.x, zoomMinMax.y); //clamp current zoom distance to min/max limits 
            Debug.Log($"Clamped Zoom Distance: {zoomDistance}");

            detectedItem.position = Vector3.Lerp(detectedItem.position, cam.transform.position + cam.forward * zoomDistance, zoomSmoothness * Time.deltaTime); //smoothly zoom by moving an objects closers/farther from the camera

            //handle dynamic depth of field
            _volume.profile.TryGetSettings<DepthOfField>(out var DOF);
            DOF.focusDistance.value = Vector3.Distance(cam.position, detectedItem.position);
        }
    }

modify your examine method to that

[gusty heron]

i undo'd everything

i was just testing

[torpid dagger]

my thinking is something is causing your zoomDistance to be set to like nothing

so it's "zooming" just between 0 and 0

[gusty heron]

hm

0 - 0 should be the default value

[torpid dagger]

negative

[gusty heron]

im not too sure what it actually signifies

[torpid dagger]

if it's 0-0 it should be replacing it with these values

[gusty heron]

i meant

in the inspector

[torpid dagger]

right

we don't care about the inspector

for this

[gusty heron]

i guess thats what it actually

signifies

[torpid dagger]

that value lets you manually determine the min/max zoom. but if not it sets it to 0.9/2

[gusty heron]

do i go into examine again?

[torpid dagger]

what do you mean go into

you replace examine with the code i just gave you and run it again yeah

[gusty heron]

like examine mode

in game

[torpid dagger]

yes

see what happens differently if anything between the working and non working objects

[gusty heron]

the zoom value

is off by 1

[torpid dagger]

what do you mean off by one

[gusty heron]

wait

the other objects zoom in close to a value of 1

but this one is different

[torpid dagger]

i still don't know what off by one means

[gusty heron]

the zoom distance value

[torpid dagger]

right but

how is 0.3 off by one

what do you mean when you say that

[gusty heron]

wait nevermind

the zoom distance depends on how far away you are from the object when you click on it

[torpid dagger]

yes

so on the one that's NOT working

it's just stuck at that value regardless of what you do?

[gusty heron]

its actually giving different values for some reason

its kinda confusing

[torpid dagger]

the zoomDistance refers to the distance from the camera

[gusty heron]

it starts from 0.3

[torpid dagger]

the minmax zoom distance is the minimum and maximum distance from the camera

[gusty heron]

u go closer it goes to 0.04

then it goes to

[torpid dagger]

i know

[gusty heron]

0.8 when u go even closer

it increases for some reason??

and the mouse wheel has no effect ofc

[torpid dagger]

that happens for all of them?

[gusty heron]

let me make sure

not rlly

the other kettle is at

0.3

at this distance

the cube is at around 0.2

[torpid dagger]

did you check teh difference between things that are being hit by the collision detection

"Collision detected on zoom..."

[gusty heron]

im not too sure how to check that

[torpid dagger]

you're obsessing over the distance values of objects with different scales

WHAT DO YOU MEAN lol

i hand held you through the entire logical process of debugging and gave you the code to log those values

[gusty heron]

oh wait

[torpid dagger]

it should SHOW IT in the log

[gusty heron]

too much stuff

i couldnt see

i had to search for it

2 instances found

[torpid dagger]

you need to see if it's different for the objects that work and dont

[gusty heron]

theres too much stuff in the console tho

ill just limit it

[torpid dagger]

so comment out the stuff you're not using

[gusty heron]

ah ok yeah

both working ones

detect no collisions

so the kettle is detecting a collision

the non working one that is

[torpid dagger]

so the kettle is colliding with "collider placeholder"

what does that make you think

search for that value in the script

[gusty heron]

yep

[torpid dagger]

the answer is like three lines away

do you see it

[gusty heron]

is it the localScale?

[torpid dagger]

yeah

think about your problematic kettle. remember i said it has a different scale than the working stuff

[gusty heron]

cuz of the objec

t

the asylum object

[torpid dagger]

you scaled it up to look normal in the world, but the collider that this script generates scales to match the object

[gusty heron]

ahhh

[torpid dagger]

can you show me the whole heirarchy of the kettle in the prefab

[torpid dagger]

one of its parents is probably scaled-down and you're scaling up to compensate

either gatehouse or 1st floor or asylum itself

[gusty heron]

gatehouse is

[torpid dagger]

there's your problem then

[gusty heron]

0.2026508

do i make it 1?

or

will that break it

[torpid dagger]

so there's no reason for the actual gatehouse mesh to be the parent of the kettle

[gusty heron]

ok i see it now

the kettle is

4.934599

[torpid dagger]

i would say modify your structure so you have a "gatehouse" object that's completely empty, scale 1:1:1, and the gatehouse mesh would be a child of it, with no children, scaled to the value you need

so it's not fucking the scale of everything else

[torpid dagger]

remember when i told you to edit the prefab itself

not the instance

unity is telling you not to edit the prefab instance

[gusty heron]

oh yeah

true

and then wb the other objects?

[torpid dagger]

wb?

[gusty heron]

what about

[torpid dagger]

well clearly this package you're using is fucked for anything that doesn't have an absolute world scale of 1:1:1

so just make sure anything you want to be examinable has a Vector3.one scale and all of its parents do as well

unless you want to refactor the package to be completely scale-able but i assume not

this is a lot less work

and we use packages to avoid work

[gusty heron]

ture

true

[torpid dagger]

this developer, based on his code though

is extremely halfassed and messy

i would think twice about buying other packages from them lol

[gusty heron]

i dont usually buy packages

this was one of the only ones i could find for an examine system

that looked good

it was only like $7 anyways

ok im gonna head to sleep

its 5 am

ty for the help

[torpid dagger]

alright gj