Defining global variables in Arma 3 scripting

Antman2010

Defining a global variable in Arma 3 is simple… use this one is for defining the max radius of a battle zone.

Declare it at the initial phase of your mission scripting like this.

missionNamespace setVariable ['PARAMS_AOSize',1000,FALSE]; // Radius of main AO.

Then it may be used where ever the value is required for a script.

_randomPos = [Loc, 0, PARAMS_AOSize, 5, 0, 0.4, 0, [], Loc] call BIS_fnc_findSafePos;

This means that you do not need to type a value over and over again, that would be a pain if it needed to be changed, this allows the user to define it once and then have the variable everywhere else.

Just like this example, I am using the variable to define the size of an area to search for a position.

_grp1 = createGroup east;
private _CarAmount = 1;
for "_i" from 1 to 3 do {
	private ["_car", "_turret"];
	_randomPos = [Loc, 0, PARAMS_AOSize, 5, 0, 0.4, 0, [], Loc] call BIS_fnc_findSafePos;
	_vehicleType = selectRandom ["LOP_BH_Landrover_M2","LOP_BH_Landrover_SPG9",
"LOP_BH_Nissan_PKM", "LOP_BH_Offroad_M2","rhsgref_ins_uaz_spg9",
"rhsgref_ins_uaz_dshkm","rhsgref_ins_uaz_ags",
"rhs_tigr_sts_3camo_msv","O_Truck_03_transport_F"];
 
	_grp1 = createGroup east;
	switch (_vehicleType) do {
		case "rhs_kamaz5350_flatbed_msv": {
			_turretType = selectRandom ["rhs_KORD_high_MSV",
"rhsgref_ins_DSHKM","rhsgref_ins_SPG9M", 
"rhsgref_ins_Igla_AA_pod","rhs_Kornet_9M133_2_vdv"];
			_car = createVehicle [_vehicleType, _randomPos, [], 5, "NONE"];
			_turret = createVehicle [_turretType, _randomPos, [], 5, "NONE"];
			_car setDir 0;
			_turret attachTo [_car,[0,-3.4,0.6]];
			_turret setDir 180;
			createvehiclecrew _car;
			(crew _car) join _grp1;
			createvehiclecrew _turret;
			(crew _turret) join _grp1;
			_turret lock 3;
			_turret allowCrewInImmobile true;
		};
		default {
			_car = createVehicle [_vehicleType, _randomPos, [], 5, "NONE"];
			createvehiclecrew _car;
			(crew _car) join _grp1;
		};
	};
	_grp1 setGroupIdGlobal [format ['AO-MRAP/Car-%1', _CarAmount]];
	_CarAmount = _CarAmount + 1;
	_car lock 3;
	_car allowCrewInImmobile true;
	[_grp1, Loc, 600] call BIS_fnc_taskPatrol;
	sleep 0.621;
};

This is a better way to program an Arma 3 mission than just having the numbers everywhere. And if a certain value is changed by a script,
you can use a variable to store the old value if you need to change it back later with setVariable.

Like this, getting the number plate of a vehicle in Arma 3, and storing the value in a variable.

missionNamespace setVariable ['LicensePlate',getPlateNumber (_this select 2),FALSE];

Then setting it back after we are done with the vehicle.

(_this select 2) setPlateNumber LicensePlate;

This is a very powerful part of scripting in Arma 3. This allows communicating values from one script to another. A script variable that starts with an underscore like this: _car is only visible in the script using it. But a variable without this is always visible.

One last trick, get the player`s height above sea level.

cuttext format[" Your current height: %1",(getPosASL player) select 2];