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I'm trying to create a LUA code that will display a text countdown to a specific event. To this aim, I composed the following code: Unfortunately, it returns the following error: My question is in two parts, then. What's wrong with my current code, and how could I rewrite it to make it more streamlined? The current "elseif" pattern seems somewhat inefficient.

Try looking at the lua from kamino campaign and see how they show the five minute timer on the screen.

Drop your comma. Use a single, one-second timer that displays a different message each time it expires.

Alright, I revised the code to use one timer, and to reset and restart the timer each time it expires, also showing a different message each time: I kept the comma since removing it gave me another error and the stock campaign scripts I looked at used the comma in the same place. This time the error made a bit less sense: It's telling me to add a "then" near that = mark, but the "then" is there already. I have a nagging feeling I'm going about this the wrong way, but I can't think of any stock campaign scripts with repeating timers to look at for guidance.

When it come's to that, I just don't know that much about timers. What happens when a timer elapses? Is it automatically reset, and I can just use StartTimer to kick it back into motion? And what's the difference, exactly, between a timer reaching zero and me using DestroyTimer? I assume it complete removes the timer from memory, so I have to recreate it if I want to use it again, but I'm not sure, since the stock documentation says not to use a timer at all after it's destroyed.

Firefang wrote:Try looking at the lua from kamino campaign and see how they show the five minute timer on the screen.

That won't quite work for what I have in mind, since I want to display a text message rather than a number.

Now you're getting an error because your "if" statements are equations and not equalities: "=" =/= "==".
=

So the if statements are saying "if speakcount is equivalent to #" rather than "if speakcount is equal to #"? Adding in == instead of = gave me the original comma error again, so I took out the comma and got something very strange: I can't see how an = anywhere near that particular "end" would make any sense at all.

Fiodis wrote:So the if statements are saying "if speakcount is equivalent to #" rather than "if speakcount is equal to #"? Adding in == instead of = gave me the original comma error again, so I took out the comma and got something very strange:

Hidden/Spoiler:

[code]C:\BF2_ModTools\data_FTG\_BUILD\Common\..\..\..\ToolsFL\Bin\luac.exe: ..\..\common\scripts\FTG\FTGc_con.lua:139: `=' expected near `end'[/code]

Hidden/Spoiler:

[code] elseif speakcount == 5 then
ShowMessageText("level.FTG.conversations.five")
speakcount = speakcount +1
end
end
onesecondtimer
end -- Here is line 139.
)[/code][/size]

I can't see how an = anywhere near that particular "end" would make any sense at all.

Now you are missing a comma. In your first posted code, the comma was incorrect, but in your most recently posted code (just above my last post) the comma was in the correct place, which is why I didn't mention it.

I added a final elseif statement to set the function = to nil after it's done, to save CPU power. Adding in the comma and that new section, the updated code is: The place around the comma gives me another error: I'm not sure what the symbol could be unless it's the comma itself. For future reference, what is the use of the comma there for?

No, your comma is in the wrong place, along with the variable after it. The below code has been corrected: Also, use the ReleaseXXXX methods to clean up callbacks. They tell the C++ to forget about it. Just doing textspawn = nil only makes Lua forget about it. I don't have the modding docs with me, so the name might be slightly off: ReleaseObjectinit(textspawn) then textspawn = nil and don't forget to kill your timer too.

Ah, thanks Zerted and Mav, that last modification worked!