Well, I've looked around at other lua's and I've looked around at some tutorials trying to figure out how to make timers, I was pretty sure I did it right, there was no errors or anything.

This script is currently applied to a MOSRotating that is shot out of a cannon that I made to counter reflective stuff.



Without the timer, it works perfect... But my actor gibs immediately and goes flying across the screen when I use it. That's why I tried adding a timer, but when I add a timer, the whole thing just stops working. I've even tried setting it so that when self.timeVar is greater than zero, the script activates, but still nothing.

What am I doing wrong that prevents this timer from working correctly?

Some timer info:

To create a timer, make a variable and set it to the timer function:


To reset the timer's count-up, use the reset function on the timer.


To see if the timer is past a specific time (in MS)


And to check the current time on the timer.

Replace self.timeVar > 20 with self.timeVar:IsPastSimMS(20). It is in milliseconds, so you probably want to increase that a bit.
Also, self.GibThis() ought to be self:GibThis().

Edit:
Ninja'd, somewhat.

Wow, thanks for that fast reply!

I see what I did wrong now, I should have used IsPastSimMS instead of >.

@Petethegoat
Yah, but I have it at 20 because the bullet is shot extremely fast so it should be a good enough distance away from you by then.

And I have always used self.GibThis(), is it just improper to use a . in place of a : ?

When you use GibThis(), you're calling a function, not a variable.
It has no arguments so the () should always be empty, and just gibs whatever is passed to it.

So self:GibThis() would gib self, logically enough.
The main point is that it is a function, and not a variable, so you should use a colon.

To clarify that a bit more:

A period indicates that something is either a property or a variable. In general, a period indicates either read only or read/write access to some kind of stored value.

EG: self.Mass is a property of self, stored as a number variable.
self.timer would be, technically, a pointer to the timer, stored as a reference from self.

Functions, however, do something, rather than just reading or writing to stored variables.

self:GibThis() is clearly differentiated as a function by the colon and the parenthesis (which house arguments on more complicated functions)

It's good form syntactically, but it's also explicitly necessary. Semicolons on the end of most code blocks are good form, but not necessary, in case you weren't sure.

anyways yeah you seem to have a pretty good grasp of lua already so, carry on!

Yah, I know a lot of actionscript and they seem real similar, so that makes it easier.

The ;'s I already know about, however, . and : I did not. Using actor.GibThis() was literally working without error until I was told about it, now it gives me function errors.

I can't seem to get self:GibThis() to gib the MOSRotating, though. I am testing this particularly on the Reflective Robot and I am trying to make it so that it gibs before it has a chance to reflect it, exploding, sending it flying. But instead I just goes flying and the shell comes right back at me and explodes, sending my actor rocketing around the map until it hits something and gibs.

Are MOSRotatings not able to be gibbed? Do I have to change it to something else like a TDExplosive? I was hoping to not have to use a TDExplosive.

MOSRotating should gib fine.
Are you getting any errors in the Lua console?

Nope, and I checked the Reflective Robots reflection radius... It's 10 whole pixels. My scripts radius is (now) 50 pixels. That doesn't make any sense.

I have even tried lowering the MOSRotatings velocity to 0 in both vectors when the script runs, but the same problem occurs and it gets reflected back at the same lightning speed it was shot with.

Can we see the script?

Pretty much the same as last time. Just made a few minor changes.

Try commenting out the diff check and see if it works.
If not, add prints everywhere to see exactly what it is stopping at.

Nope, doesn't work. I also don't know how to add a trace function in lua. Would it be trace("message"), or echo("message"), or something like that?

print("message") is what you're looking for.

OK, thanks.

Well, I did that, and added a print("") under each line in the script. This is what I got:



The MOSRotating should be gibbing.

EDIT: Actually, it does. I just tested it on a normal actor for the first time and it works as it should. It's a Reflective Robot problem. I guess I'll just have to learn to live with it, although I sure wish I knew how to fix it.