Bug error while making shotgun

Hello fellow coders I have attempted to code a shotgun script that shoots multiple bullets but I'm a beginner per say. So I went wrong with the randomness, I think and got and error "Non-invocable member 'Vector3.normalized' cannot be used like a method". Any help will be appreciated and ill get back to you.
Code:
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Code (csharp):

1.  
2. using System.Collections;
3. using UnityEngine;
4. using UnityEngine.UI;
5. using TMPro;
6. using Random = UnityEngine.Random;
7. public class ShotGun : MonoBehaviour
8. {
9.  public float damage = 10f;
10.  public float range = 100f;
11.  public float fireRate = 1f;
12.  public TextMeshProUGUI ammoDisplay;
13.  public ParticleSystem muzzleFlash;
14.  public GameObject impactEffect;
15.  
16.  
17.  public int maxAmmo = 10;
18.  public int currentAmmo;
19.  public float reloadTime = 1f;
20.  private bool isReloading = false;
21.  int amountOfProjectiles = 17;
22.  
23.  
24.  
25.  public Animator animator;
26.  
27.  
28.  
29.  
30.  public Camera fpsCam;
31.  
32.     void Start()
33.     {
34.         currentAmmo = maxAmmo;
35.     }
36.  
37.  
38.  
39.  
40.  private float nextTimeToFire = 0f;
41.  
42.  
43.          
44.     // Update is called once per frame
45.     void Update()
46.     {
47.  
48.     if (isReloading)
49.         return;
50.  
51.     ammoDisplay.text = currentAmmo.ToString() + "/" + maxAmmo;
52.  
53.  
54.     if (currentAmmo <= 0)
55.     {
56.      
57.         StartCoroutine(Reload());
58.         return;
59.      
60.     }
61.         if (Input.GetKeyDown(KeyCode.R) && currentAmmo < maxAmmo)
62.  
63.          {
64.  
65.               StartCoroutine(Reload());
66.  
67.          }
68.  
69.  
70.  
71.  
72.       if (Input.GetMouseButton(0) && Time.time >= nextTimeToFire)
73.       {
74.     nextTimeToFire = Time.time + 1f/fireRate;
75.  
76.     for(int i = 0; i < amountOfProjectiles; i++)
77.         {
78.             shoot();
79.         }
80.       }
81.     }
82.     IEnumerator Reload ()
83.     {
84.         isReloading = true;
85.         Debug.Log("Reloading...");
86.  
87.         animator.SetBool("Reloading", true);
88.  
89.         yield return new WaitForSeconds(reloadTime - .25f);
90.         animator.SetBool("Reloading", false);
91.         yield return new WaitForSeconds(.25f);
92.  
93.         currentAmmo = maxAmmo;
94.         isReloading = false;
95.     }
96.  
97.  
98.  
99.  void shoot()
100.  {
101.  
102.     muzzleFlash.Play();
103.     currentAmmo--;
104.  
105.  
106.     Vector3 direction = fpsCam.transform.forward;
107.     Vector3 spread = Vector3.zero;
108.     spread+= fpsCam.transform.up * Random.Range(-1f, 1f);
109.     spread+= fpsCam.transform.right * Random.Range(-1f, 1f);
110.     direction += spread.normalized() * Random.Range(0f, 0.2f);
111.     RaycastHit hit;
112.         if (Physics.Raycast(fpsCam.transform.position, fpsCam.transform.forward, out hit, range))
113.     {
114.         Debug.Log(hit.transform.name);
115.         Target target = hit.transform.GetComponent<Target>();
116.         Button button = hit.transform.GetComponent<Button>();
117.         if (target != null)
118.         {
119.             target.TakeDamage(damage);
120.         }
121.         if (button != null)
122.         {
123.             button.TakeDamageButton(damage);
124.         }
125.      
126.  
127.  
128.     }
129.         GameObject impactGO = Instantiate(impactEffect, hit.point, Quaternion.LookRotation(hit.normal));
130.         Destroy(impactGO, 2f);
131.  
132.  }
133.  
134.  
135.  
136.  
137. }
138. love, MrThunderboi
139.  

 

Sounds like typing mistakes to me! Go fix 'em!

Seems like this is the THIRD time you have been reminded to format your code. Are you struggling with that simple step?

How to use code tags: https://forum.unity.com/threads/using-code-tags-properly.143875/

The complete error message contains everything you need to know to fix the error yourself.

The important parts of the error message are:

- the description of the error itself (google this; you are NEVER the first one!)
- the file it occurred in (critical!)
- the line number and character position (the two numbers in parentheses)
- also possibly useful is the stack trace (all the lines of text in the lower console window)

Always start with the FIRST error in the console window, as sometimes that error causes or compounds some or all of the subsequent errors. Often the error will be immediately prior to the indicated line, so make sure to check there as well.

All of that information is in the actual error message and you must pay attention to it. Learn how to identify it instantly so you don't have to stop your progress and fiddle around with the forum.

Remember: NOBODY here memorizes error codes. That's not a thing. The error code is absolutely the least useful part of the error. It serves no purpose at all. Forget the error code. Put it out of your mind.

For actual problems, if you post a code snippet, ALWAYS USE CODE TAGS:

How to use code tags: https://forum.unity.com/threads/using-code-tags-properly.143875/

You may edit your post above.

And as always, save yourself some time with these simple steps:

How to report your problem productively in the Unity3D forums:

http://plbm.com/?p=220

This is the bare minimum of information to report:

- what you want
- what you tried
- what you expected to happen
- what actually happened, especially any errors you see
- links to documentation you used to cross-check your work (CRITICAL!!!)

 

Don't think i have seen any actual Unity peoples as active on the forums as you have been lately Melv. Good stuff. But uhh...

?

 

hi MelvMay sorry to bother you but I did put spread.Normalize() and it worked but I'm getting an error... again maybe you could check it out...? "Operator '*' cannot be applied to operands of type 'void' and 'float'" I think it has something to do with the multiply but I don't know what to put but I think everything else is still fine

Code (csharp):

1.  
2. Vector3 direction = fpsCam.transform.forward;
3.     Vector3 spread = Vector3.zero;
4.     spread+= fpsCam.transform.up * Random.Range(-1f, 1f);
5.     spread+= fpsCam.transform.right * Random.Range(-1f, 1f);
6.     direction += spread.Normalize() * Random.Range(0f, 0.2f);
7.  

here's the error spot and I'm truly sorry for being a dunce

 

The variant of the

Normalize

method that you're using doesn't return anything, that's what void means. It returns void. What is interesting with this case is that the docs are utterly misleading.

Normalize

method has two overloads, one is static (and takes an argument; covered by the docs), the other is instance-based (and has no arguments; this is what you used, but it's completely ignored by the docs).

You rarely want to use

Normalize

method anyway and probably wanted to use normalized property instead, like so

Code (csharp):

1. direction += spread.normalized * Random.Range(0f, 0.2f);

edit:
You want to use

Normalize

only when you know what you're doing. The instance-based and the static methods will change the vector in place (meaning it will persistently change the vector).

normalized

functions differently, i.e. you apply it to a vector and get a new, normalized one in return, without changing anything.

Code (csharp):

1. // safe behavior
2. var nv = vec.normalized; // nothing happens to vec

Code (csharp):

1. // both of these modify vec forever
2. vec.Normalize(); // this doesn't return anything
3. var nv = Vector3.Normalize(vec);

edit2:
it's somewhat confusing, but at least the docs are clear on this with the static variant.

 

Man this is confusing and I'm using both but if I use normalized I'm back to the reason I posted this thread and get another error. By the way do you work for unity??

 

Have you thought about taking a step back, just a little, to try and get a good grasp on what works and how?

I mean what you're doing right now is the proper way to learn, don't get me wrong, but maybe you can follow some good tutorials first, and slowly get a feel for what's expected of you, both c-sharp- and Unity-wise.

I agree that this situation with the docs isn't the best one, but if you only consider that it took me 5-10 minutes to explain this mistake to you, and only a couple of seconds to notice it, learning what is expected and why really pays off.

No.

 

Alr I’ll step off the shotgun project

 

Feel free to ask direct and concrete questions along the lines of "what this does" or "how do I achieve this or that" at any point in time. Of course you're free to ask whatever you want on this forum (as long as you follow the rules), but for such questions in particular I will always find time, which usually isn't the case with "I've got a null error", "pls halp" and "fix this". I think nobody likes those.

 

Ok thank you and by the way does Unitys code sometimes change for updates??

 

Thank you melv and orionsyndrome for taking your time on me.