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What alternatives are there to infinite loops?

Asked by
Juolite395 11
4 years ago

Hello! I've been working on a little side project recently and have run into a recurring problem; infinite loops. Here is an example of one of these problems:

x = true
wait(4)
player = game.Workspace:FindFirstChild("Juolite")
while x do
    if (script.Parent.Position - player.HumanoidRootPart.Position).Magnitude <= 40 then
        script.Parent.PointTwo.Transparency = 0
    else
        script.Parent.PointTwo.Transparency = 1
    end
    wait(0.2)
end

In the code above, I've got a little part (PointTwo) that appears when a player is within a certain radius of the script's Parent part (40 studs). I've just been learning how .Magnitude works. The code runs fine. The problem is, I'd like to avoid using an infinite loop here, and in future scripts too. How should I go about doing this?

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w h y t h o u g h greatneil80 2647 — 4y
0
Because infinite loops seem like they would lag up the game, checking every 0.2 seconds instead of firing upon something happening. Could you imagine thousands of infinite loops running in parallel? The horror... Juolite395 11 — 4y

2 answers

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Answered by
BlackOrange3343 2676 Moderation Voter Community Moderator
4 years ago

Well if you're looking to decrease lag I've got you since I'm mostly into this stuff.

So you have a couple options here:

  1. Put the loop on the client and check on the client.

Loops on clients are definitely better then putting them on the server. You can check for statements and such on the Client and then send a signal to the server after.

  1. You can use .Changed

.Changed is a common event normally used on Value instances such as IntValue or ObjectValue or StringValue.

  1. You can use GetPropertyChangedSignal on the velocity of root part

GetSignalPropertyChanged is an event that will run when a specific property is changed. If the character is moving then the velocity wouldn't be 0, 0, 0, If they are moving one of these values will change. You can detect if the velocity are certain values and then run checks so that only when the character is moving you check.

  1. You can use GetPropertyChangedSignal on Position or CFrame

I'd personally wouldn't do this as it's unnecessary but it's basically number 3 but with orientation

  1. RunService

A lot of people use RunService mostly for the client. It does act like a loop.

So, I personally would do the Velocity or Position / CFrame one as it is the most reasonable ones.

Hope this helped if you have any questions feel free to contact me via comments

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Thanks so much! I'll try some of these when I get the chance, am particularly interested by the velocity change one! Juolite395 11 — 4y
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Answered by
123nabilben123 499 Moderation Voter
4 years ago

To be honest if it’s nesscary to have an infinite loop then go for it. Limit the un nesscary amount of loops. I don’t think this would lag up the game since if the loops execute at the same time with using a wait(0.2) since the scripts in a character already do that.

For your script I’m not sure if there is a Walk Event for the humanoid. If there is then make a debounce for sure to make sure the event only runs once every 0.2 seconds. Then do your distance thing and you have just avoided using a infinite loop!

Just make sure whenever you don’t need the event anymore you disconnect it.

If you need clarification ask me anytime.

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