Detecting Other Entities
intermediate
You might have thought about making your entities fire an event when other entities are nearby. This article details the various known ways to do so.
minecraft:entity_sensor
This is probably the most basic way to detect other entities. The main issues is it only accepts one entry and testing if the entity is out of range can be very tricky. Because it's an entity component, you can just place into your entity behavior file and edit the Minecraft filters. Here's a demonstration:
"minecraft:entity_sensor": {
"sensor_range": 2.5, //this is for the radius in blocks it will detect other entities in
"relative_range": false, //if true, the sensor range is additive on top of the entity's hitbox size
"require_all": true, //if true, all nearby entities must pass the filter conditions for the event to send
"minimum_count": 1, //minimum amount of entities required for the event to fire. by default, it's 1
"maximum_count": 4, //maximum amount of entities required for the event to fire. by default it's -1, which means infinity
"event_filters": { //you can put any filter you want here, the one that's being used in this example just detects players
"test": "is_family",
"subject": "other",
"value": "player"
},
"event": "event:on_player_detected" //the event that fires when all the conditions in event_filters are met
}
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/execute
Using the new /execute command that has been introduced since 1.19.50, you can execute commands as long as another entity is nearby.
This example you'll be following will make pigs say "oink oink" upon detecting players, though you can replace those with whatever you want. First of all, copy-paste these BP animations.
{
"format_version": "1.10.0",
"animations": {
"animation.pig.find_player": {
"animation_length": 0.05,
"loop": true,
"timeline": {
"0": [
"/execute as @s if entity @e[type=player, r=4] run event entity @s wiki:player_detected"
]
}
},
"animation.pig.find_no_player": {
"animation_length": 0.05,
"loop": true,
"timeline": {
"0": [
"/execute as @s unless entity @e[type=player, r=4] run event entity @s wiki:no_player_detected"
]
}
}
}
}
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The first one is for detecting if the entity is present, and the other for detecting if the entity is not present. The events used in the /event part of the /execute commands can be used for adding a dummy component or updating an actor property.
Next of all, copy paste this BP animation controller. This assumes that you set up the /event parts of the /execute commands to add or remove minecraft:is_sheared.
{
"format_version": "1.10.0",
"animation_controllers": {
"controller.animation.pig_find_player": {
"initial_state": "default",
"states": {
"default": {
"animations": ["find_player"],
"transitions": [
{
"detected": "query.is_sheared"
}
]
},
"detected": {
"animations": ["find_no_player"],
"transitions": [
{
"default": "!query.is_sheared"
}
],
"on_entry": ["/say oink oink"]
}
}
}
}
}
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Finally, copy-paste this snippet into the behavior file for the pig-like so. Make sure to insert this in description.
"animations": {
"manage_find_player": "controller.animation.pig_find_player",
"find_player": "animation.pig.find_player",
"find_no_player": "animation.pig.find_no_player"
},
"scripts": {
"animate": [
"manage_find_player"
]
}
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Molang, BP Animations & Animation Controllers
The for_each function and query.get_nearby_entities or query.get_nearby_entities_except_self can also be used for detecting other entities. They are more effective than using minecraft:entity_sensor because they are better at detecting if the entity you want to detect goes away than with minecraft:entity_sensor. The only downside is that they're experimental.
Just like in the previous method we will make pigs say "oink oink" upon detecting players, though you can replace those with whatever you want. First of all, copy-paste this BP animation:
{
"format_version": "1.10.0",
"animations": {
"animation.pig.find_player": {
"animation_length": 0.05,
"loop": true,
"timeline": {
"0": [
"v.x = 0.0; for_each(t.player, query.get_nearby_entities_except_self(16, 'minecraft:player'), { v.x = v.x + 1; }); return v.x > 0.0;"
]
}
}
}
}
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The first parameter that query.get_nearby_entities_except_self needs to work is the radius in blocks it will detect other entities in. The other is the identifier of the mob you want to make it detect.
Now that's good and all, but on the off chance, you want to make the pig detect players with some attribute that can be detected with Molang, use this.
{
"format_version": "1.10.0",
"animations": {
"animation.pig.find_player": {
"animation_length": 0.05,
"loop": true,
"timeline": {
"0": [
"v.x = 0.0; for_each(t.player, query.get_nearby_entities_except_self(2, 'minecraft:player'), { v.x = v.x + (t.player -> query.is_sheared); }); return v.x > 0.0;"
]
}
}
}
}
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Next of all, copy paste this BP animation controller:
{
"format_version": "1.10.0",
"animation_controllers": {
"controller.animation.pig_find_player": {
"initial_state": "default",
"states": {
"default": {
"animations": ["find_player"],
"transitions": [
{
"detected": "v.x > 0"
}
]
},
"detected": {
"animations": ["find_player"],
"transitions": [
{
"default": "v.x <= 0"
}
],
"on_entry": ["/say oink oink"]
}
}
}
}
}
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Finally, copy-paste this snippet into the behavior file for the pig-like so. Make sure to insert this in description.
"animations": {
"manage_find_player": "controller.animation.pig_find_player",
"find_player": "animation.pig.find_player"
},
"scripts": {
"animate": [
"manage_find_player"
]
}
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