686 posts
Posted 06 January 2013 - 07:54 PM
I'm trying to create a firework launching program, and a problem I'm having is getting the length of the redstone pulses correct. I want to launch multiple fireworks from the same launcher repeatedly, but if I go too fast it seems to not detect the redstone input. What is a good value to use? I want it be fast enough that the program doesn't spend a ton of time sleeping (since I'll be using an API to control my launchers), but slow enough that it won't skip ticks. I settled for 0.2 seconds on my test program, but that seems like a big delay for an API to force on a program.
Also, is there a better method to delay setting the bundled outputs to 0 than using os.sleep? I am considering maybe using a timer created each time the launch function is fired, but I am not sure how to create a distinct timer each time the event is fired, or how I would keep track of which wires each timer needs to reset. And that wouldn't prevent the running program from calling the launch function repeatedly on the same wires before they reset. Come to think of it, how would I even pull the timer events when needed? The more I think about it, the more I think about it, the more it sounds like just using os.sleep is the best method, and writing the program and API to minimize the impact of that mandatory delay. A 0.2 second sleep would still allow 5 discrete launch commands per second. But it would be nice to be able to fire multiple launch commands simultaneously.
For reference, this is what I've got so far:
Also, is there a better method to delay setting the bundled outputs to 0 than using os.sleep? I am considering maybe using a timer created each time the launch function is fired, but I am not sure how to create a distinct timer each time the event is fired, or how I would keep track of which wires each timer needs to reset. And that wouldn't prevent the running program from calling the launch function repeatedly on the same wires before they reset. Come to think of it, how would I even pull the timer events when needed? The more I think about it, the more I think about it, the more it sounds like just using os.sleep is the best method, and writing the program and API to minimize the impact of that mandatory delay. A 0.2 second sleep would still allow 5 discrete launch commands per second. But it would be nice to be able to fire multiple launch commands simultaneously.
For reference, this is what I've got so far:
launchdelay = 0.2
launchercluster = {side = "bottom", output = 65535}
function launchercluster:launch (targets)
local excluded = 65535 - self.output
local bundleout = targets - excluded
redstone.setBundledOutput(side, bundleout)
os.sleep(launchdelay)
redstone.setBundledOutput(side, 0)
end
function launchercluster:new (o)
o = o or {}
setmetatable(o, self)
self.__index = self
return o
end
