handle (object);

Parameters:

Returns:

Speed:

Remarks:

• A handle is similar to a pointer, but is just a number and therefore can be assigned to any variable or skill.
• For getting a handle to a lite-C struct that is not an engine object, use the pVars pointer.
• After saving and loading a game, a handle generated by this instruction is guaranteed to reference always the same object - this is not guaranteed for pointers that are just references to memory areas.
• On a single player system, the entity handle is valid immediately after entity creation ( (► ent_create). On multiplayer systems, it can take up to 0.5 seconds until the entity is created on all connected machines and the handle becomes valid. During that time the entity handle can not be used.
• For using a handle to get the referenced object, it can be converted to a pointer through the ptr_for_handle instruction.
• The handle is the first integer of an object. It consists of a unique index number plus an object type identifier taken from the following table, and left shifted by 24. The handle can be used to identify the type of the object. For converting the handle to a var that contains the index number, right shift it by 24, then left shift the resulting int by 10.

Example:

if(entity)
{
  my.skill48 = handle(entity); // store entity pointer
}
you = ptr_for_handle(my.skill48); // restore YOU;

See also: