So i tried my hand at adding random heros to my map. I tried to simplify Mav's TFU script to just a simple math.random script for both hero factions and it failed miserably can anyone help me fix this up because I'm completely clueless at why it's not working.

my hero script my .lua and relavent errors in error log

You have functions that aren't doing anything and you aren't calling them in your .lua. If all you want is random heroes, all you need to do is use the math.random() in your .lua itself.

A breakdown of how the error message comes to be:

* The game starts loading your map. It loads your lua script and starts processing it. The first lines in your script are the ScriptCB_DoFile lines. The game pauses loading your main lua script and goes to load those files.

* The game loads ObjectiveConquest and setup_teams.

* The game is now loading your hero script. I'm going to ignore everything related to heroCIS... It sets heroRep to 0 (heroRep = 0). herorepand is set to a random number between 1 and 3. Next, the game creates a new function stored in the heroRep variable. That variable no longer holds 0, but instead a function. In Lua, a function is just a variable and the name of a function is also the name of its variable. (Also, the first if statement in function heroRep() has a typo.)

* The game loads AIHeroSupport which contains its own function called SetHeroClass. This function when called, does stuff for AI hero support, then calls the game's SetHeroClass funciton.

* The game is done loading the ScriptCB_DoFile lines and goes back to your main lua script. It defines the variables REP, CIS, ATT, DEF, ScriptPostLoad, weather, and ScriptInit then is finished loading your main script.

* The game loads some other stuff it uses (we don't really know what exactly...)

* The game calls your ScriptInit function. It does ReadDataFile("ingame.lvl"). Inside ingame.lvl, the v1.3 patch copies the normal SetHeroClass function variable to a new variable named RetailSetHeroClass (RetailSetHeroClass = SetHeroClass). Then it sets SetHeroClass equal to a new function which tracks the unit class (argument #2) so the FakeConsole commands will work on that unit class. After the v1.3's function records the unit class, it 'fowards' the function call to the original SetHeroClass function which is now stored in RetailSetHeroClass. (Still following along? If not, then forget that paragraph)

* The game is done loading ingame.lvl and continues with your ScriptInit function. You are not in multiplayer so heroRep is not set to the string rep_herp_fisto. heroRep is still has the value of a function. The memory pools are setup and the sides are setup. Again, you are not in multiplayer so SetHeroClass(REP, heroRep) is not called. ScriptInit finishes loading.

* At this point the game does a few other things and the map is loaded and the map selection screen gets displayed.

* The game calls your ScriptPostLoad function. Your weather function is called and the Conquest objective is setup. Now you are not in multiplayer, so the game attempts to setup AIHeroSupport. The herosupport:SetHeroClass(REP, heroRep) line is run. Remember, right now REP (argument #1) is a variable containing 1 and heroRep (argument #2) is a variable containing the function from your hero script. The AIHeroSupport's SetHeroClass function is called which does some processing then calls what it thinks is the game's SetHeroClass function, but is really v1.3's SetHeroClass function. The v1.3's SetHeroClass function does some processing then calls the game's real function which has been moved to RetailSetHeroClass. Thus the current stack trace is ScriptPostLoad -> SetHeroClass (AIHeroSupport's version) -> SetHeroClass (v1.3's version) -> RetailSetHeroClass (SWBF2's original SetHeroClass function). And the related segment in the error message:

stack traceback
[C]: in function `RetailSetHeroClass'
(none): in function `SetHeroClass'
(none): in function `SetHeroClass'
(none): in function `ScriptPostLoad'

The first argument through all these functions calls has been REP and the second heroRep. RetailSetHeroClass expects argument #1 to be a team number and argument #2 to be a unit class. However, heroRep still holds a function, thus the error message:

bad argument #2 to 'RetailSetHeroClass' (string expected, got function)

Too much info? To fix it, just do what Maveritchell said and move the code (not the functions themselves, just their inside code) from your heroCis() and heroRep() functions to right before they are used in your ScriptPostLoad() function.

thanks it works perfectly now and thanks zerted for the explanation really told me a lot about what was going on this can be locked