Help with server-side variables

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#1

So I have a PlayerAdded event in a server-side script. When the player joins, a ball is created and named what the players name is.

I am trying to assign a global variable outside of the function to the ball that is created inside the function, because I need to do things to the ball elsewhere server-side.

How do I do this?

#2

You can store the ball inside the player and just reference the player’s ball by doing

game.Players:FindFirstChild(PlayerYouWantToFind).Ball

#3

Nevermind I just read that and the part wouldn’t show up, put it in a folder in workspace with the player’s name.

#4

By global variable, do you mean global variable, or a shared variable/element of a table that is shared across all scripts?

#5

Use a module to create/store information about the ball and who owns it. Modules are a great way for global things.

For instance you could have something like module:CreateBall(Player) then store the ball in a table with the players name. This way you can easily call upon it at a later time

#6

I recommend using a ModuleScript here

A basic example is to have a module in ServerStorage named “Balls”

local Balls = {}
local playerballs = {}

function Balls.GetBalls()
    return playerballs 
end

function Balls.NewBall(player)
    if playerballs[player] then
        playerballs[player]:Destroy() --destroy their ball if they already have one
    end

    --code for creating the ball goes here
    
    --
    playerballs[player] = ball --ball is the ball you created a moment ago

    return ball
end

game.Players.PlayerRemoving:Connect(function(player) --references to players remain even after they leave, so we have to manually do this
    local ball = playerballs[player]
    if ball then
        ball:Destroy()
        playerballs[player] = nil
    end
end)

return Balls

In your server script:

local Balls = require(game.ServerStorage:WaitForChild("Balls"))

game.Players.PlayerAdded:Connect(function(player)
    local ball = Balls.NewBall(player) 
    --do something with the ball here if you'd like
end)

If you’re in another script and you want to access a player’s ball, you can do

local Balls = require(game.ServerStorage:WaitForChild("Balls"))

--code somewhere:
local ball = Balls.GetBalls()[player] 
if ball then
    --code
end
--

You can read more about modulescripts here

7 Likes
#7

You could try sending a local variable for the ball through a BindableEvent to all the other server scripts where needed

and then re send the new variable each time the ball respawns or something

#8

You can’t send variables that reference objects through events/functions to my knowledge.

#9

If you want to avoid the module approach for whatever (ill) reason, you could parent the objects to a folder. In your other server scripts, you can reference the saved objects inside that folder to do whatever you need.

#10

Surprisingly, you can, so long as the instance is replicated on both environments. I can have a variable referencing a part in the Workspace on the server and send it through a remote to the client. The client, likewise, can do the same if the part it indexes exists on the server.