Function execution speed and order

[abstauber]

Hey,

I'm a little uncertain how to handle functions taking more than one gamecycle to finish.

Here's what I'm trying to do:

Code: ags

save_to_file ("room10"); // very slow function
clear_all_struts(); // not so slow function
player.ChangeRoom(11);

When I'm doing it like this, my game's going haywire. The clearing function is called before the saving function has been finished and sometimes even ChangeRoom is called before save_to_file is done.

This is my current approach:

Code: ags

if (save_to_file ("room10")) {
  if (clear_all_struts()) {
    player.ChangeRoom(11);
  }
}

It works fine, but somehow it looks quite messy. Is there a better way to wait for slow functions?

Cheers!

[Sslaxx]

Hey,

I'm a little uncertain how to handle functions taking more than one gamecycle to finish.

Here's what I'm trying to do:

Code: ags

save_to_file ("room10"); // very slow function
clear_all_struts(); // not so slow function
player.ChangeRoom(11);

When I'm doing it like this, my game's going haywire. The clearing function is called before the saving function has been finished and sometimes even ChangeRoom is called before save_to_file is done.

This is my current approach:

Code: ags

if (save_to_file ("room10")) {
  if (clear_all_struts()) {
    player.ChangeRoom(11);
  }
}

It works fine, but somehow it looks quite messy. Is there a better way to wait for slow functions?

Cheers!

This might be really dumb, but what about the Wait command itself?

Wait (int time)
Pauses the script and lets the game continue for TIME loops. There are normally 40 loops/second (unless you change it with SetGameSpeed), so using a value of 80 will wait 2 seconds. Note that no other scripts can run while the Wait function is in the background.
Example:
cEgo.Walk(120, 140, eBlock, eWalkableAreas);
Wait(80);
cEgo.FaceLocation(1000,100);
will move the character EGO to 120,140, wait until he gets there then wait for 2 seconds (80 game cycles) and then face right.
See Also: WaitKey, WaitMouseKey

[abstauber]

Ah okay,
something like

Code: ags

while (!save_to_file ("room10")) Wait(1);
while(!clear_all_struts()) Wait(1);
player.ChangeRoom(11);

Thanks! This might be actually even faster

[Wyz]

Code: ags

//...
while(!clear_all_struts()) Wait(1);
//...

Beware: This will call the 'clear_all_struct' function over and over till one returns true. This will only work if that function internally keeps track of the progress.
I've seen in some cases that placing a single Wait(1) between the functions suffices. I don't know if that works in this case, but you could give it a try.

Code: ags

save_to_file ("room10");
Wait(1);
clear_all_struts();
Wait(1);
player.ChangeRoom(11);

If that doesn't work then you need to do something with a wait loop after all.

[abstauber]

Hey Wyz,

thanks for the tip - I've adjusted my code.