Trying to make a "Ghost Sphere"

[Empyre]

I am trying to make a replacement for the BlurSphere that makes the player partially invisible, but also makes him not solid and gives him NoTarget, all for 120 seconds. Here's the DECORATE code:

ACTOR GhostSphere : CustomInventory replaces BlurSphere
{
  +COUNTITEM
  +INVENTORY.AUTOACTIVATE
  +INVENTORY.ALWAYSPICKUP
  +INVENTORY.BIGPOWERUP
  Inventory.MaxAmount 0
  RenderStyle "Add"
  Alpha 0.95
  Inventory.PickupMessage "You will be a ghost for a while!"
  States
  {
  Spawn:
     PINS ABCD 6 Bright
     Loop
  Pickup:
    TNT1 A 0
    TNT1 A 0 A_ChangeFlag ("NoTarget", True)
    TNT1 A 0 A_SetTranslucent (0.50, 1)
    TNT1 A 4095 A_ChangeFlag ("Solid", False)
    TNT1 A 105 A_Log ("WARNING! Your time as a ghost is almost over!")
    TNT1 A 0 A_Log ("You are not a ghost any more.")
    TNT1 A 0 A_ChangeFlag ("NoTarget", False)
    TNT1 A 0 A_SetTranslucent (1.0, 0)
    TNT1 A 0 A_ChangeFlag ("Solid", True)
    stop
  }
}

It prints the two A_Log messages before it even prints the pickup message, so the effect has zero duration, so I can't even find out if the effect even works.

[SaladBadger]

CustomInventory items ignore state durations in their Pickup and Use states. you'll need to use a script or something else in order to implement the effect.

[Empyre]

In the Zandronum forums, fr blood said that I could make my own powerup type inheriting from PowerTargeter, putting stuff in the Targeter state. He gave this example code:

ACTOR MedPack : CustomInventory
{
Inventory.MaxAmount 1
Inventory.Icon "I_MBPK"
Inventory.PickupMessage "Medical Backpack"
Inventory.PickupSound "pickups/pmedkit"
Inventory.UseSound "pmed/use"
+INVBAR
States
{
  Spawn:
   MBPK A -1
    Stop
  Use:
   TNT1 A 1 A_GiveInventory("MedPackHealing",1)
   Stop
}
}

Actor MedPackHealing : PowerupGiver
{
    Powerup.Type MedPackHeal
    +AUTOACTIVATE
    +ALWAYSPICKUP
}

Actor PowerMedPackHeal : PowerTargeter
{
    Powerup.Duration -20
    States
    {
    Targeter:
        TNT1 AA 0
      TNT1 A 0 HealThing(2,150)
      TNT1 AAAAAA 3 A_SpawnItemEx("HealingEffect",random(24,-24),random(24,-24),random(0,32),0,0,random(1,4),0,128,0)
        Loop
    }
}

What I am wondering now is how can I use this to turn the effect on and then turn it off after the time elapses?

[Arctangent]

I would avoid using that method entirely, since it's so actively future-proof it's almost painful. That is in no way intended behavior for PowerTargeter, and there's no telling how PowerTargeter may change considering it's a pretty irrelevant actor for most mods. You're better off using ACS, likely in conjuction with dummy inventory items or user variables to keep track of the powerup's duration.

[Empyre]

I have another idea, but it depends on being able to do something that I am not sure can be done. The idea is to have the player actor continuously turn off the effect, and use A_JumpIfInventory to skip those commands if the power-up is still in effect. The power-up itself would start the effect and last a certain time. I could inherit it from the invisibility power-up instead of using A_SetTranslucent.

This will work only if A_JumpIfInventory can detect whether a power-up is still in effect. Can it? Also, in which state of the player actor should I put the loop that deactivates the power-up?

[Empyre]

I was unable to get this to work. I wound up settling for giving the player 2 minutes of partial invisibility (with the cantseek flag), frightener, speed, and protection (taking only 33% of normal damage, with the noradiusdamage, dontrip, and nopain flags). It isn't what I wanted, but it is still a pretty good power-up. I might decide to add flight as well.

I might learn ACS some day, but for now, I am learning DECORATE.