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Can't get a coroutine to work as expected.
Hi, I'm having trouble with this coroutine. Basically all I want is for my enemy to wait for 3 seconds before moving each time it moves. At present the enemy waits for 3 seconds and then it stops working. The only thing I can think of is that the wait gets called every frame so that after the first wait you can't 'see' it waiting anymore. Anyway, here's the code:
void FixedUpdate(){
StartCoroutine (directionGetter ());
}
IEnumerator directionGetter(){
while (true) {
yield return new WaitForSeconds (3f);
directionChange = Random.Range (1, 5);
if (directionChange == 1) {
myTransform.Translate (Vector3.up * enemySpeed * enemyHealth * Time.deltaTime);
}
if (directionChange == 2) {
myTransform.Translate (-Vector3.up * enemySpeed * enemyHealth * Time.deltaTime);
}
if (directionChange == 3) {
myTransform.Translate (Vector3.right * enemySpeed * enemyHealth * Time.deltaTime);
}
if (directionChange == 4) {
myTransform.Translate (-Vector3.right * enemySpeed * enemyHealth * Time.deltaTime);
}
Thanks in advance for any help ^_^
Answer by highpockets · Mar 10, 2014 at 02:16 AM
Create a bool system for checking if the coroutine is running. In fixed update put this:
bool inRoutine = false;
void FixedUpdate()
{
if( !inRoutine )
{
inRoutine = true
StartCoroutine( DirectionGetter());
}
}
IEnumerator DirectionGetter()
{
while( inRoutine )
{
yield return new WaitForSeconds (3);
directionChange = Random.Range( 1, 5 );
if( directionChange == 1 )
{
myTransform.Translate(Vector3.up * enemySpeed * enemyHealth * Time.deltaTime);
}
//your other code...
There is another problem though, how long do you want the enemy to walk for? Or what distance?? Because right now, the enemy will walk for one frame and then wait. It will be like nothing happened.. You could have another while statement that remains true until the enemy moves to the location you choose or walks for a certain amount of time. But the code above will ensure only one Coroutine runs at once
If you want to make the enemy walk for a certain amount of time. You can do this:
if( directionChange == 1 )
{
var walkTime = 3 + Time.time;
while( walkTime > Time.time )
{
myTransform.Translate(Vector3.up * enemySpeed * enemyHealth * Time.deltaTime);
yield return null;
}
}
thank you very much that has totally sorted my issue :) you're right that their movement being frame dependant wasn't great, it was workable, but having the Time.time/while loop really brought it to life. Thanks again for all your help!
Answer by SirCrazyNugget · Mar 10, 2014 at 02:19 AM
There is nothing to stop it working in what you've shown
IEnumerator directionGetter(){
while(true){
yield return new WaitForSeconds(3f);
//do
}
}
This will keep repeating every three seconds as you'd expect, just make sure you don't have a break or another return somewhere down the bottom of what you've pasted.
Also take a look at the switch statement instead of using multiple ifs, rules of thumb if you're using more than three ifs use a switch, if you're using three or less use "else if". Currently your code is checking every directionChange even though it's known to only ever be one.
Hey, thanks I'll definitely look into using switch statements ins$$anonymous$$d, and yes else ifs would have been better, I realise this, however I didn't realise that all the statements beings ifs would make the game more cpu intensive thanks for that tidbit. As for saying the code should work - it didnt, and there weren't any breaks etc after what I posted - only the last closing brace. It wasn't working because the enemy would only pause for three seconds at the beginning of the coroutine and then it wouldn't wait again. But now with highpockets' code it does.
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