Factorio Forums

Posted: **Tue Jul 05, 2016 3:12 am**

Hi,

I've got a report with the below error in MP. This was also reported back in 0.12, so not new to 0.13.

10714.937 Error MultiplayerManager.cpp:129: MultiplayerManager failed: "Error while running the event handler: __Natural_Evolution_Enemies__/control.lua:201: attempt to index field 'character' (a nil value)"

Below is my code. I'm already checking if "character" is valid. So not sure what else to do.

Code: Select all

			for i = 1, #game.players, 1 do
			player = game.players[i]
         
				if player.connected and player.character.valid then
					player.surface.set_multi_command{command = {type=defines.command.attack, target=player.character, distraction=defines.distraction.by_enemy},unit_count = (20+math.floor(game.evolution_factor*100/#game.players)), unit_search_distance = 600}
				end
			end

Line 201 is: "if player.connected and player.character.valid then"

Any suggestions on a fix?
Thanks.

Posted: **Tue Jul 05, 2016 8:43 am**

character.valid won't do anything useful if character is already nil, so check player.character first?

Posted: **Tue Jul 05, 2016 11:25 am**

note that if player.character of a player is nil, it means that this player is in god mode (no little man associated on the map).

Posted: **Tue Jul 05, 2016 11:32 pm**

Does anyone see any issue with how I fixed this? It works in SP:

Code: Select all

				for i = 1, #game.players, 1 do
				player = game.players[i]
			 
					if player then
					if player.valid then
					if player.character.valid then
					if player.connected then
						player.surface.set_multi_command{command = {type=defines.command.attack, target=player.character, distraction=defines.distraction.by_enemy},unit_count = math.floor(Enemy_Count * game.evolution_factor), unit_search_distance = 1500}
					end
					end
					end
					end
				end

Thanks.

Posted: **Wed Jul 06, 2016 8:07 am**

no need to imbricate 4 tests, as AND tests are stopped at first false result.
No need to test player : if in game.players, it should not be nil.

Despite of this, I would do it in that order :

for _, player in pairs(game.players) do
if player.connected and player.valid and player.character and player.character.valid then

Posted: **Wed Jul 06, 2016 9:03 am**

binbinhfr wrote:Despite of this, I would do it in that order :

for _, player in pairs(game.players) do
if player.connected and player.valid and player.character.valid then

That'll still blow up if player.character is nil. You need to check for the existance of player.character itself before checking for player.character.valid.

Posted: **Wed Jul 06, 2016 9:12 am**

yes sorry, I forgot this one. Edited.

Posted: **Wed Jul 06, 2016 6:18 pm**

Thanks appreciate the feedback!

Factorio Forums

attempt to index field 'character' (a nil value) - Help Please

attempt to index field 'character' (a nil value) - Help Please

Re: attempt to index field 'character' (a nil value) - Help Please

Re: attempt to index field 'character' (a nil value) - Help Please

Re: attempt to index field 'character' (a nil value) - Help Please

Re: attempt to index field 'character' (a nil value) - Help Please

Re: attempt to index field 'character' (a nil value) - Help Please

Re: attempt to index field 'character' (a nil value) - Help Please

Re: attempt to index field 'character' (a nil value) - Help Please