Debugging

When something just isn't working right, look here for possible causes and ways to track down the bug.

Comma Instead of Period

This can cause severe headaches for the scripter: The compiler will accept a comma in place of a period in reference syntax, but the script will silently fail in the game when the line is encountered.

 player.modAV health 200 <- Fine
 player,modAV health 200 <- Suddenly your script is no longer running and you're wondering why

Easy to miss when you're looking for logic errors.

Numerals

Don't start an ID or variable with a numeral.

 short 5forFighting; BAD
 long benFolds5; GOOD!
 myGuy.moveTo 0marker; BAD

Mismatched If/Endif

The compiler will ignore extra endifs when you save your script, but they can cause the script to stop running when encountered during gameplay. Make sure each if in your script is paired with exactly one endif:

if ( something == happened )
  do something
endif ; GOOD
endif ; BAD, extra endif may cause errors in the game

The best way to avoid this problem is to use proper indentation of if-blocks.

Quest Topic Scripts

The Scripting section in the Quest/Topic editor seems to be for very generic scripting like setting global variables and doing things like setstage. Be aware that while some things may compile clean here and seem perfectly fine, they just don't work in-game.

Getself != player

Be careful if you use:

 Getself != player

When called in a scripteffect spell, the statement sometimes evaluates true for the player. The easiest solution is to add another condition to double-check it, such as:

 getdistance player > 0

However, getDistance is unreliable if the player is swimming. The best solution is to use:

 ref refVar
 set refVar to getSelf
 if ( refVar.getIsReference player == 0 )

Using PlaceAtMe's referenced item in the same frame

If you use the referenced item of a PlaceAtMe call in the same frame

set pItem to (player.PlaceAtMe IronBow 1, 0, 0)
pItem.Activate player ;this adds the bow to the player

the script on the object may not run.