The game.time Method and Making Reliable Timed Events

[Cerulean the Blue]

This thread is for comments, questions and discussion of this post on the game.time method and this post on making reliable timed events.

[Allyx]

Cool stuff there Blue, that woodcutter's time event has never triggered propperly for me, I'm glad you got it figured out. Good work guys.

[Elhoim]

Blue, do you think it´s possible to unify the various time feedbacks? I mean, in the main GUI it tells you the time elapsed since you started, and it´s like that in the rumors tab, but in the quest tab they are by day of the month and it´s kinda confusing having day 1 in one and day 15 in the other.

Thanks!

[Cerulean the Blue]

The dates and times in the GUI and the logbook are functions of the game engine, i.e. it would take a major dll hack to change them. So no, that is not going to happen.

I've added modified versions of Tillahi's and Sargen's scripts to the Timed Event post.

If I could get people to test these out it would be really helpful.

[Shiningted]

Good work Blue I was going to use nested time thingy's like this for KotB, good to see someone making it easy to do.

[Sitra Achara]

Nifty I've been waiting for this. I'll test as soon as I can (which could be a while, unfortunately).

[Cerulean the Blue]

I've Incorporated my Long Interval Timed Event code into an importable module so that it can be used with a call much similar to that of game.timevent_add.

The following is from the documentation included in TimedEvent.py.

  LONG DURATION TIMED EVENT METHOD by Cerulean the Blue

You must put these in the global namespace of your function:

import _include
from co8Util.TimedEvent import *

Furthermore "import _include" (without quotes) must be included
in the namespace of utilities.py for the method to function across
saves and loads.  Without this the game will not be able to import
co8Util.TimedEvent at startup and the save will be deemed corrupt.

Call form:

timedEventAdd(<function name>, (<arguments>), <interval>, stopFlags=[<stopFlags>], stopVars=[<stopVars>], stopQuests=[<stopQuests>])

<function name> - Name of the function you want executed after 
the interval.  The function must be in the same module as the 
call, or imported to the module.

<arguments> - The arguments you want passed to the function 
separated by comas, i.e. "attachee, triggerer".

<interval> - An int specifying the delay, in hours, till you 
want the function to execute.

<stopFlags> - OPTIONAL - The flag numbers of global flags that 
should stop the function from executing separated by comas.  
If having the flag set should cause the stop just list the flag 
number.  If not having the flag set should cause the stop, put 
the flag number and 0 separated by a coma in parenthesis, i.e. (85,0).  
Any number of stop flags can be passed.
Example: [58, (51,0)]

<stopVars> - OPTIONAL - Like stopFlags, but for global variables.  
Put each number of the global variable and the value that should 
cause the stop, separated by a coma,in parenthesis.  Any number 
of variables can be listed.
Example:  [(21, 4), (36, 10)]

<stopQuests> - OPTIONAL - Like stopFlags, but for quests.  Put each 
quest number and the quest state that should cause the stop, separated 
by a coma, in parenthesis.  Any number of quests can be listed.
Example:  [(21, qs_accepted), (101, qs_completed), (34, qs_botched)]

Sample Calls:

2 arguments, 10 hour delay, no stops:  
timedEventAdd(spawn, (attachee, triggerer), 10)

No arguments, 100 hour delay, flag stops:  
timedEventAdd(spawn, (), 100, stopFlags=[58, (51,0)])

No arguments, 34 hour delay, variable stops:  
timedEventAdd(spawn, (), 34, stopVars=[(21,4)])

3 arguments, 56 hour delay, flag and quest stops:  
timedEventAdd(give_reward, (x,y,z), 56, stopFlags=[82, 132], stopQuests=[(22, qs_completed)])

Logging has been left in to facilitate debugging.  
The log, named LOG_co8Util.TimedEvent.log, will be 
in the modules folder of the module being run.

As you can see timedEventAdd is very similar to game.timevent_add, and can be called virtually identically. It has the added functionality of optionally specifying flags, variables and quest states that will stop the event from happening. These are checked when the delay time has passed, so the timevent sequence always runs to completion. Another difference is that timedEventAdd works with the delay in hours, not milliseconds like timevent_add. Also, timeEventAdd counts time spent resting or passing time toward the delay passing, which timevent_add often does not.

I recommend using timedEventAdd for delays of more than 24 hours. Use timevent_add for delays of 24 hours or less, unless you absolutely need the added functionality.

Attached is TimeEvent.py, utilities.py, and a sample script to demonstrate the method. TimeEvent.py should go into the data\scr\co8Util folder. The other two go into the data\scr folder. The sample script also has some documentation of the method included inside it.

[Cerulean the Blue]

The Woodcutter's, Thrommel's, Tillahi's, and Sargen's scripts altered to use the method posted above. These go in the data\scr folder.

[Zebedee]

Can I confirm whether or not the files listed above were added to the CMF?

[Allyx]

Yes Zebedee, of course you can.

Actually it is in the latest CMF patch (version 5.0.4 composed by yours truely) if you don't believe me it says so here.

[Zebedee]

Always good to make sure there are no misunderstandings and people getting the wrong files in the wrong order.