Is there a better random function than rand()?

[lverona]

Hey fellas!

rand() does not seem to be very good random number generator. Is there anything else available? Maybe some other function in C which I can use?

[Game A Gogo]

why isn't it a good randomizer?

[lverona]

I tried it out in an example such as rand(5). It very frequently gives the same value, like 2,2,2,2,2.

[schnellboot]

this might be a bit off topic
but I made a test actor to test rand()
test -> Create Actor -> Script Editor

Code: Select all

int i=0;
for(i=0;i<50;i++)
{
    int rndm = rand(5);
    sprintf(text, "%s, %i", text, rndm); //add the last random number to the whole string
}

why doesn't this work?

[Game A Gogo]

can you show me the piece of code where you try to use rand()?

[skydereign]

this might be a bit off topic
but I made a test actor to test rand()
test -> Create Actor -> Script Editor

Code: Select all

int i=0;
for(i=0;i<50;i++)
{
    int rndm = rand(5);
    sprintf(text, "%s, %i", text, rndm); //add the last random number to the whole string
}

why doesn't this work?

That wouldn't work because you are writing into a string that you are accessing. It is kind of like doing this.

Code: Select all

int var = 0;
var = var++;

What should var equal? It is undefined behavior in c. So what you would need to do is create a temporary buffer, store text, and write text with the temporary buffer.

I tried it out in an example such as rand(5). It very frequently gives the same value, like 2,2,2,2,2.

rand acts just like the rand in c, which really won't get much better. The only difference is that rand in gE takes a variable, but that is the same as doing rand()%variable in real c. If you wanted to get potentially more diverse answers you could try rand(1000)%5, but for the most part those should achieve the same result. You could make your own random function, that you could force it to avoid that kind of behavior, but then it has the potential to be diversely random, instead of actually random.

[schnellboot]

sky this still doesn't work

Code: Select all

int i=0;
for(i=0;i<50;i++)
{
    int rndm = rand(5);
    sprintf(temp, "%s, %i", text, rndm); //add the last random number to the whole string
    text = temp; //temp is a global string variable
}

[skydereign]

sky this still doesn't work

Code: Select all

int i=0;
for(i=0;i<50;i++)
{
    int rndm = rand(5);
    sprintf(temp, "%s, %i", text, rndm); //add the last random number to the whole string
    text = temp; //temp is a global string variable
}

That's because that isn't what I said, and you can't assign strings like that (you can't say one string equals another).

Code: Select all

int i;
char temp[255];

for(i=0;i<50;i++)
{
    int random = rand(5);
    sprintf(temp, "%s, %d", text, random);
    strcpy(text, temp);
}

[schnellboot]

yay thanks it worked

ps you forgot to change temp to buffer