Event Procrastination

[catfighter]

Although I was earlier told that it is not currently possible to delay a weapon's fire, I would like to ask more generally: Is it possible to make any part of the game pause for a specific amount of time? Many programming languages have a PAUSE function to make the program wait for a set amount of time before continuing execution of code (or some similar function), but I have not seen one in TLisp. Does such a function exist? Or is there a way to simulate one?

I wanted to use this for things like making a weapon delay fire to play a power-up sound effect, making a usable item have a short-term effect and then wait before starting a different long-term effect, or other similar applications. I am aware of the time-stop function, but I don't think it's usable for these kinds of things. I appreciate any help!

[pixelfck]

You can simulate pause functionality by setting a timer and fire an event after x ticks. It ain't perfect, but it will result in delayed execution of your desired block of code.

~Pixelfck

[catfighter]

Thanks! But what's the code bit for "after x ticks"? (I don't have much experience outside of ships/weapons/shields/etc)

[pixelfck]

You would get something like:

Code: Select all

<Events>
		<OnWeaponFire>
			(block Nil
				; your code here
				(sysAddObjTimerEvent 40 gSource "OnDelayedAction") ; 40 is the delay in ticks
				)
		</OnWeaponFire>
		
		<OnDelayedAction>
			(block Nil
				; your code here
				)
		</OnDelayedAction>
	</Events>

I'm not sure the <OnWeaponFire /> event exists or that it is the one you want, but it should serve as an example.

~Pixelfck

[RPC]

Look for the timer functions on the current funclist or Xelerus. There are timers for stations, ships, overlays(I think?) and event handlers. You can use any of those objects to hold your code and execute them when it is time. If you have more questions about specifics please ask.