Movement speeds per player

This is continuing from a thread here.

I want players' movement speeds set differently depending on the inventory they have equipped. I have modified the code in player.h and player.cc to add a new variable (in this case swimSpeed), and initialize it in the player constructor with a value 1.0. I created a player::initPersistentFields and put swimSpeed in there. I also added a stream->read and stream->write to player::readpacketdata and player::writepacketdata, respectively.

Now, when I create a new player in game.cs:
%player = new Player() { ... };
I can see the swimSpeed variable and echo it just fine.
However, player::updateMove (in player.cc) gets called twice.

(breaking thought, tried some things)

I think I figured out what's been driving me nuts! If I have the code like this:
player.cc

void Player::updateMove(const Move* move)
{
....
     if (mWaterCoverage >= 0.8f)
     {
       if (move->y > 0) // Forward
         Con::executef(mDataBlock,3,"swim",scriptThis());
       else if (move->y < 0) //Backward
         Con::executef(mDataBlock,4,"swimbackward",scriptThis());
    }
}

player.cs

function Armor::swim(%this, %obj)
{   
  %speed = 2 * %obj.swimSpeed;
  echo("speeeed: " @ %speed);
  if (%obj.getMountedImage(4).frozen) return;
  %position = %obj.getTransform();
  %pos = getWords(%position, 0, 2);
  %eye = %obj.getEyeVector();
   
  %xx = getWord(%eye, 0) * %speed;
  %yy = getWord(%eye, 1) * %speed;
  %zz = getWord(%eye, 2) * %speed;
   
  %vec = (%xx SPC %yy SPC %zz);
   
  %obj.applyImpulse(%pos, VectorScale(%vec, %obj.getDataBlock().mass));
}

It doesn't work. The first time updatemove is called, swim gets swimSpeed correctly from %obj. The second time, it does not. Net result, the player 'jumps' forward instead of moving smoothly.

This code:
player.cc

void Player::updateMove(const Move* move)
{
....
     if (mWaterCoverage >= 0.8f)
     {
       F32 tempSwimSpeed;
       if (move->y > 0) // Forward
       {
         tempSwimSpeed = 2 * swimSpeed;
         Con::executef(mDataBlock,4,"swim",scriptThis(), Con::getFloatArg(tempSwimSpeed));
       }
       else if (move->y < 0) //Backward
       {
         tempSwimSpeed = 0 - swimSpeed;
         Con::executef(mDataBlock,4,"swimbackward",scriptThis(), Con::getFloatArg(tempSwimSpeed));
       }
     }
}

player.cs

function Armor::swim(%this, %obj, %speed)
{   
  echo("speeeed: " @ %speed);
  if (%obj.getMountedImage(4).frozen) return;
  %position = %obj.getTransform();
  %pos = getWords(%position, 0, 2);
  %eye = %obj.getEyeVector();
   
  %xx = getWord(%eye, 0) * %speed;
  %yy = getWord(%eye, 1) * %speed;
  %zz = getWord(%eye, 2) * %speed;
   
  %vec = (%xx SPC %yy SPC %zz);
   
  %obj.applyImpulse(%pos, VectorScale(%vec, %obj.getDataBlock().mass));
}

Works correctly. Both times updatemove is called, swim gets the correct swimSpeed. (2.0 in this case). Player moves smoothly.

Why does the second one work and not the first? I know that if I added the swimspeed variable to the playerdata class, it would have worked, but it would have modified all players using the same datablock, which is not what I want. caveat: I have not tried the above code in a multiplayer environment, changing the variable between players, so I am not 100% sure this is any different from putting it in the playerdata class. But it should be. Testing will happen after work tomorrow. I wanted to get some input on it in the meantime.

edit: rewording