MutatedBuzzardManager

Based on game build 722832 | Last updated: 2026-04-21

Overview

MutatedBuzzardManager is a world-level component that manages mutated buzzard populations in conjunction with MigrationManager and CorpsePersistManager. It tracks buzzard groups migrating across the map, spawns circling shadow entities above players when buzzards are nearby, and handles corpse attraction mechanics during lunar rift events. This component only operates on the master simulation server.

Usage example

-- Access the component on TheWorld entity (server only)
local manager = TheWorld.components.mutatedbuzzardmanager

-- Control buzzard dropping behavior
manager:SetDropBuzzardsSource("rift_inactive", true)
local shouldDrop = manager:GetDropBuzzards()

-- Track or clear population association with a player
manager:TrackPopulationOnPlayer(player, population)
manager:ClearPopulationTracking(player)

-- Debug inspection
local playerData = manager:Debug_GetPlayerData()

Dependencies & tags

External dependencies:

• prefabs/rift_portal_defs -- imports RIFTPORTAL_CONST for lunar rift affinity checks

Components used:

• migrationmanager -- creates migration type, tracks populations, queries player migration data
• riftspawner -- monitors lunar rift pool state for buzzard drop conditions
• corpsepersistmanager -- registers corpse persistence source function
• mutatedbuzzardcircler -- attached to buzzard shadow entities for circling behavior

Tags:

• buzzard -- checked to exclude buzzards from corpse persistence attraction
• insect -- checked alongside small creature tags for exclusion
• smallcreature / smallcreaturecorpse -- size-based filtering for corpse attraction

Properties

Property	Type	Default Value	Description
inst	entity	TheWorld	The owning entity instance (world entity on master sim).

Main functions

OnPostInit()

• Description: Performs post-initialization setup including registering lunar rifts, updating rift state, and adding the corpse persistence source function to CorpsePersistManager. Called automatically after component initialization.
• Parameters: None
• Returns: None
• Error states: None

SetDropBuzzardsSource(source, boolval)

• Description: Sets a source modifier that controls whether buzzards should be dropped (killed and converted to corpses). Multiple sources can be active simultaneously via SourceModifierList.
• Parameters:
  • source -- string identifier for the source (e.g., "rift_inactive", "winter_active")
  • boolval -- boolean enabling or disabling this source
• Returns: None
• Error states: None

GetDropBuzzards()

• Description: Returns the current aggregated state of all drop buzzard sources. Returns true if any source is enabled.
• Parameters: None
• Returns: boolean -- true if buzzards should be dropped, false otherwise
• Error states: None

TrackPopulationOnPlayer(player, population)

• Description: Associates a buzzard population group with a specific player for tracking purposes. Sets the population UID and initializes a timer based on TUNING.TOTAL_DAY_TIME.
• Parameters:
  • player -- player entity to track
  • population -- population group table from MigrationManager
• Returns: None
• Error states: Errors if player is not a valid key in _activeplayers table (no nil guard present).

ClearPopulationTracking(player)

• Description: Clears population tracking for a player, migrates the population to the next node, and clears all buzzard shadows associated with that population.
• Parameters: player -- player entity to clear tracking for
• Returns: None
• Error states: Errors if player is not a valid key in _activeplayers table (no nil guard present).

UpdateTimers(dt)

• Description: Updates all internal timers including megaflare node timers, death attraction timers, and player population tracking timers. Called every frame from OnUpdate.
• Parameters: dt -- delta time in seconds since last update
• Returns: None
• Error states: None

OnUpdate(dt)

• Description: Main update loop that handles buzzard spawning, shadow management, and population migration logic. Runs on a throttled interval (UPDATE_TIME_SECONDS). Spawns shadows for players near buzzard populations or clears tracking if invalid.
• Parameters: dt -- delta time in seconds since last update
• Returns: None
• Error states: Errors if _migrationmanager is nil when calling migration functions (no nil guard present).

OnSave()

• Description: Serializes component state for save persistence. Returns tables containing megaflare_nodes and death_nodes timer data.
• Parameters: None
• Returns: data (table), ents (table) -- save data and entity references, or nil, nil if no data to save
• Error states: None

OnLoad(data)

• Description: Restores component state from saved data. Reconstructs megaflare_nodes and death_nodes timer tables.
• Parameters: data -- table containing saved timer data from OnSave
• Returns: None
• Error states: None

Debug_GetPlayerData()

• Description: Debug function that returns the internal _activeplayers table containing all tracked player data including population UIDs and timers.
• Parameters: None
• Returns: table -- internal player tracking data
• Error states: None

GetDebugString()

• Description: Returns a debug string representation of component state. Currently returns an empty formatted string.
• Parameters: None
• Returns: string -- empty string in current implementation
• Error states: None

Events & listeners

Listens to:

• ms_playerjoined (world) -- registers new player in active players table
• ms_playerleft (world) -- removes player from active players table
• ms_registermutatedbuzzard (world) -- registers a buzzard entity in tracking
• megaflare_detonated (world) -- records megaflare detonation location and timer
• entity_death (world) -- records death location for corpse attraction
• ms_riftaddedtopool (world) -- tracks lunar rift addition to pool
• ms_riftremovedfrompool (world) -- tracks lunar rift removal from pool
• onremove (buzzard/shadow entities) -- unregisters entities from tracking tables
• death (buzzard entities) -- unregisters dead buzzards from tracking
• shadowkilled (shadow entities) -- unregisters killed shadows from tracking

Pushes: None identified