Lets say for example I have a button that I want a player to be able to step on;

action button()
{
if(player.x > my.x)
{
perform action
}
}

By itself it runs just as it should without any problems. But say for example we then introduce multiple players (split screen), when we try to run the function only one player will be able to press the button as the "player" pointer can only point to one object at a time. So now one would just say "Use c_trace/c_scan". Unfortunately this isnt an option as there are a LOT of buttons and tracing/scanning will slow down the game immensely. How would you be able to have an entity react to multiple players WITHOUT tracing/scanning?

Just define your own pointers:

entity* Player1;
entity* Player2;

action aInitPlayer1()
{
Player1 = me;
...
...
...
}

action aInitPlayer2()
{
Player2 = me;
...
...
...
}

Ok let me rephrase. Say I have an IF statement...

if(abs((player.x - my.x) * my.mysize) < 180)

And this is within an entity function, how/what can I replace the "player" pointer so it will react to any entity within range? Remember, I cant use c_trace or c_scan as it will destroy computers with the amount of entities I will be having on screen lol.

do a cycle on player entities and use vec_dist, it is faster, but lacks visibility, but can decrease the amount of visibility checks done by c_trace.

Gotcha I'll give it a try. It'd be nice if we could trick the system with something like...

ved_dist(!my.x, my.x):

lol

do you need to check it for every entity or for just a bunch of them?

Yeah basicly check through the list
of entities wich are to be considered
for interaction with the button and then
check who among those entities are within
a given radius of the button and then only
can you simply trace for contact .. Well that's
one way