"Compare two general values" versus

"Compare to one of the alterable values"


First off, what are they?

Compare to one of the alterable values is a condition which compares the alterable value of an object to another value, while Compare two general values is a condition which compares ANY value to ANY other value.

You are probably thinking "Hmmm seems pretty straight forward, I could even use Compare two general values to compare an alterable values" and yes you can do that, but in NO way is it the same thing.

For example, observe the following condition :
Created with Compare to one of the alterable values, this condition checks if the Ship object's alterable value Health is equal to 0. So, what happens is MMF2 compares each Ship instance individually and any consequent actions will only effect those instances with a Health value of 0.

Now observe this condition:
Created with Compare two general values, this condition ALSO checks if the Ship object's alterable value Health is equal to 0. But in this case, MMF2 will compare ONLY the most recently created Ship instance and if it has a Health value is equal to 0 then any consequent actions will effect EVERY SINGLE SHIP INSTANCE REGARDLESS!!!

Summary

Compare to one of the alterable values will loop through each individual instance and effect only those instances who meet the event's conditions. Note this is also the case with any condition created by right-clicking an object directly in the New Condition window.

On the other hand, with Compare two general values will compare only the most recently created instance and effect ALL instances. Be very careful, when using with multiple instances! But don't be fooled, Compare two general values is one of the most useful and fundamental conditions in Multimedia Fusion, as many of the more advanced expressions can only be compared by using it.

Until next time, my friend.