Timer Problem

[Yeormom]

Some of the data is sent to the timer event, such as $name of player and $entity_list for the zone. I was specifically trying to functions for the client but those seemed to fail as well, strangely enough.

sub EVENT_TIMER
{
     quest::say("Hello $name");
     $c = $entity_list->GetClientByName($name);
     $charname = $c->GetName();
     quest::say("Hi $charname");
     $c->MovePC(1,1,1,1);
     $c->CastSpell(1,1);
}

Output:

NPC says, 'Hello JohnDoe'
NPC says, 'Hi JohnDoe'
*crickets*
*more crickets*

Not an actual script but prefect representation if all function input had valid data.

[Congdar]

not sure if this will fix it, but the client movepc function takes 5 parameters... zoneid, x, y, z, heading

and since movepc failed, castspell probably didn't even get called.

[Yeormom]

Well that was just a sample of what would happen and would produce the same results each time, even if only one line per event_timer. The heading parameter is optional. The perl parser checks to see if there are 4 or 5 parameters, and a default is used if only 4 are present.

I just rewrote the quest functions to get the client by entity_list if initiator was not defined for my solution, as it appears not all data is exported when an event timer is triggered. Not sure how some people are reporting they are successfully using quest functions like selfcast and movepc in the EVENT_TIMER call.

[Capheus]

Ok, trying to figure out what you are looking for. Here is another script that will allow you to use the client in sub EVENT_TIMER.

sub EVENT_SAY {

	if($text=~/hail/i) {
		
		quest::say("Would you like a [buff] or would you like to [goto] Crushbone?");
	}

	if($text=~/buff/i) {
		quest::say("Ok hold on while I get you the spell in my book.....");
		$theclienteid = $client->GetID();  #store client id
		$thename = $name;		   #store client name
		$theclient = $client;		   #store client
		quest::settimer("heal",10);
	}

	if($text=~/goto/i) {
		quest::say("Ok hold on while I find the right coordinates.....");
		quest::settimer("goto",10);
		$thename = $name;		   #store client name
		$theclient = $client;		   #store client
	}

}





sub EVENT_TIMER {

	if ($timer eq "heal") {
		quest::say("Found it! This should help $thename.");
		quest::stoptimer("heal");
		$theclient->CastSpell(26,$theclienteid); 	#casts skin like wood on self
	}
	
	if ($timer eq "goto") {
		quest::say("Off you go $thename!");
		quest::stoptimer("goto");
		$theclient->MovePC(58,143.4,-595.8,3.1,62.4);   #MovePC(zoneID, x, y, z, h)
	}
		
}

[Yeormom]

I'll give that a whurl Capheus. That's exactly what I was trying to do with little to no successful results. I'm starting to believe it has something to do with my highly customized build of Perl that I use for other applications. Thanks for taking the time to post your example.

I rewrote the timer trigger event so it tracks and always exports $client and $npc now so even the generic quest functions like quest::movepc() work now in EVENT_TIMER. I'll need to do more QA against it before distribution can be considered.

[trevius]

Just a minor note that might help a bit;

When exporting the client (or anything for that matter) to a timer, you always want to check for a NULL pointer before doing anything with it. Otherwise, if your client has died or left the zone, the zone will probably crash when you try to use the pointer later. Here is an example of what I mean from part of the script posted above:

if ($theclient && $theclienteid) {
  $theclient->CastSpell(26,$theclienteid); }

[Yeormom]

You most often don't get the crash if the player has left the zone since the perl client is checking to see if the reference is defined and IsClient() but when a player re-enters the zone with the timer still active, as their $entity_list id has changed.