Lights Controller (Flowgraph Node)

Overview

• Node Name: Lights Controller
• Category: repeat_instant
• File: extensions/flowgraph/nodes/mission/lightsController.lua
• Icon: AI icon
• Color: AI color

Controls the Christmas-tree countdown light sequence for drag-race missions. Supports both Pro Tree (all ambers flash simultaneously) and Sportsman Tree (ambers illuminate sequentially). Also detects jump starts and triggers disqualification.

Pin Schema

Input Pins

Output Pins

Internals

• self.lights - table of scene-tree light objects, split into stageLights (pre-stage / stage) and countDownLights (amber 1-3, green, red, left + right).
• self.starttimer - elapsed simulation time since the sequence began (incremented by self.mgr.dtSim).
• self.jumpStarted - bool, set when the player moves (velocity > 0.5) before green.
• self.started - bool, set when the green light appears.

initLights()

Looks up all scene-tree objects by name (e.g. "Prestagelight_l", "Amberlight1_R", "Greenlight_L").

How It Works

1. Reset - When the reset impulse fires, all lights are hidden, timers and flags are zeroed.
2. Pro Tree sequence (all ambers at once):
   • t > 2.0s → Show all six amber lights (L + R).
   • t > 2.4s → Hide ambers, show green. If no jump start, mark started = true.
3. Sportsman Tree sequence (sequential):
   • t > 1.0s → Amber 1
   • t > 1.5s → Amber 2 (hide amber 1)
   • t > 2.0s → Amber 3 (hide amber 2)
   • t > 2.5s → Green (hide amber 3), mark started = true.
4. Jump start detection - If the player's velocity exceeds 0.5 before the green light, jumpStarted is set. Right-side lights stay amber, the red light is shown, and disqualified fires. The left-side sequence continues normally but started is never set.

Lua Code Example

-- Typical flowgraph wiring:
-- 1. Connect vehicle velocity sensor → lightsController.velocity
-- 2. Connect a trigger zone → lightsController.reset (to begin countdown)
-- 3. lightsController.started → race timer / checkpoint system
-- 4. lightsController.disqualified → fail state / restart prompt

Key Dependencies

• scenetree.findObject(name) - requires named light objects in the scene (e.g. "Amberlight1_L")
• self.mgr.dtSim - simulation delta time from the flowgraph manager

Additional Methods

C:_executionStarted()

Called when graph execution starts. Used for initialization/reset.

C:work()

Main work function called each frame/tick when the node is active.

See Also

• ARunForLife (Flowgraph Node) - Related reference
• Update Display Drag Race (Flowgraph Node) - Related reference
• Clear Lights Drag Race (Flowgraph Node) - Related reference
• FlowGraph Guide - Guide