Console Tutorial

== The Console ==
The Lua console is a very useful feature that allows you to test Lua expressions, access game functions, or just mess around. The console is displayed by pressing ~ or / on the keyboard. Statements are interpreted as a line of Lua in the context of the Cortex Command game engine.

== Console Options ==
The Cortex Command console comes with an object for accessing the console: [[ConsoleMan]]. [[ConsoleMan]] includes several variables and functions to make the console fore flexible and powerful. 

=== Screen Size ===
ConsoleMan.ScreenSize is a [[number]] between 0 and 1 that indicates the percent of the screen that the console takes up. The following example makes the console take up half of the screen:
<code lua n>
ConsoleMan.ScreenSize = .5
</code>

=== Saving Text ===
Cortex Command's console includes functions to output console text to a file:
*[[ConsoleMan:SaveAllText]]
*[[ConsoleMan:SaveInputLog]]

== Simple Console Tricks ==

=== Changing Funds ===
To change your funds type
<code lua n>ActivityMan:GetActivity():SetTeamFunds(5000,0)</code>
This may seem like overkill just to change one variable, but it is necessary. The only things you should bother changing in this line are the two numbers in the final round brackets. The first is the number that the funds are changed to. The second is the team whose funds will be changed. By default the player is Team 0 and the computer controls Team 1.

=== Gibbing Actors ===
Ever just wish you could kill all of the actors on the other team? Let's see what we can do with the console. To gib all actors in play, type
<code lua n>for actor in MovableMan.Actors do actor:GibThis() end</code>
This code gibs ''all'' actors, but that's not what we want. A little more needs to be added:
<code lua n>for actor in MovableMan.Actors do if actor.Team == 1 then actor:GibThis() end end</code>
Now this code checks if the actor's team is 1 and gibs it if it is. Note that "Health", "Team", and "Actors" use periods (.) instead of colons (:). This differentiates between member functions and member variables.

=== Changing Health ===
Give yourself super-actors or handicap the enemy by changing the Health variable. This uses a for statement like we used with GibThis(), but instead changes actor health. This line will change all of your actor's Healths to 200:
<code lua n>for actor in MovableMan.Actors do if actor.Team == 0 then actor.Health = 200 end end</code>
This code, on the other hand, will just make all enemies fall over dead:
<code lua n>for actor in MovableMan.Actors do if actor.Team == 1 then actor.Health = 0 end end</code>

[[Category:Lua]]
[[Category:Tutorials]]