Callouts SDK

A callout is one Lua file in c3r/callouts/. It says what the caller reported, where it can happen, and what really happened: a few hidden stories, one picked at random each time. Copy the example, change it, restart c3r, and it's in rotation.

#How a callout works

• The report is what dispatch reads out. Every story shares the same reports, so the report never gives the story away.
• Locations are where it can happen: a street name, a scene point, and the exact spot for each person, car and prop.
• Stories are what really happened. Each story's setup puts people, cars and evidence on scene, writes the objectives, and says what happens when officers do things.
• People are real. Everyone you add gets a hidden truth like any driver: name checks find them, searches find their items, and they answer the usual questions plus their own.
• Several units at once. Objectives are split between the units on scene, so a team works it faster.

#Your first callout

#1. Copy the example

c3r/callouts/_example.lua is a complete, fully commented callout (a suspicious person by parked cars, with two stories). Copy it to a new file, e.g. callouts/loitering.lua, and change its id and name.

#2. Write the reports

Callout({
    id = 'loitering',
    name = 'Suspicious person',
    priority = 3,          -- 1 most urgent
    enabled = true,
    reports = {
        'Caller reports someone hanging around the parked cars, looking in the windows.',
        'Suspicious male by the parked cars. Caller is watching from across the road.',
    },

#3. Name the points

points lists every spot a location needs, in the order /c3rplace walks you through them. A third value of 'car' means "sit in a car parked where it should be".

    points = {
        { 'caller', 'The person who rang it in, waiting nearby on their phone.' },
        { 'subject', 'The person they called about.' },
        { 'parked_car', 'The car he was at. Sit in a car parked where it should be.', 'car' },
    },
    locations = {},

#4. Place it in game

Stand at the scene and run /c3rplace loitering. It walks you through each point: go to the spot, face the way they should face, press E. Backspace goes back a point, X cancels. When you're done, the location is written into your file's locations and used straight away.

Run it again for more locations. /c3rplace loitering 2 replaces location 2. You need the command.c3rconfig ace.

To place points by hand instead, /c3rpos caller copies caller = vector4(x, y, z, heading), to your clipboard.

#5. Write the stories

    stories = {
        thief = {
            weight = 2, -- twice as likely as a weight-1 story
            setup = function(c)
                c:person('caller', { at = 'caller', label = 'Caller', scene = 'WORLD_HUMAN_STAND_MOBILE',
                    questions = { { id = 'c_what', label = 'What did you see?' } },
                    lines = { c_what = { { 'He went car to car, pulling the handles.', set = { c_saw = 'doors' } } } } })
                c:person('subject', { at = 'subject', label = 'Person', secret = 'warrant', demeanor = 'nervous',
                    items = { 'Slim jim' } })

                c:objective('caller', 'Talk to the caller', { blip = 'caller' })
                c:objective('find', 'Find the person they called about', { blip = 'subject' })
                c:objective('deal', 'Deal with them', { after = { 'find' }, who = 'all' })

                c:on('act', function(who, action, arg)
                    if who == 'caller' and action == 'ask' and arg == 'c_what' then c:done('caller') end
                end)
                c:on('contact', function(who) if who == 'subject' then c:done('find') end end)
                c:on('custody', function() c:finish('Suspect arrested for vehicle tampering.') end)
            end,
        },
        lockout = { weight = 1, setup = function(c) --[[ he locked himself out ]] end },
    },
})

#6. Test it

Restart c3r, go on duty, and run /requestcall loitering. It puts your call out near you now.

#Rules that keep a callout good

• Same reports, same starting objectives, for every story. Story-specific objectives start hidden and are revealed by something found. Otherwise players learn to read the card instead of doing police work.
• Start with objectives that can be done at once, so a second unit has real work.
• Every objective needs something in c:on(...) that marks it done.
• An error in your file cancels that one call and prints why in the server console. Nothing else breaks.
• Check scenario, animation and prop names against the game files. A wrong one just does nothing.

#Reference

#Callout fields

#People, cars and evidence

c:person(key, opts) Someone in the story, made when the first unit gets close.

lines can also replace their answer to any normal question (e.g. lines.where), and a line can be a function that returns the list, decided when it's asked. needs = { c_fact = value } shows a question only once they've said it; press = true gives a fresh answer each time it's asked; stress = true lets nerves show.

c:vehicle(key, opts) A parked car, on file.

c:clue(key, opts) Evidence. Up close, "E Inspect: label" shows text and puts it on every unit's MDT.

#Objectives

c:objective(id, text, opts) A line on the objective card.

c:done(id) marks it done, c:reveal(id) shows a hidden one (and a clue with the same key), c:hide(id) takes it off again, c:is_done(id) checks.

#Events

c:on(event, fn)

#Helpers

#Sharing

Made a good one? Share it on Discord. Callouts are yours to share; remember the licence: free to share, never to sell.