Getting the Error "Cannot implicitly convert type 'float' to 'bool'. Seriously confused.

Unity Engine
1

Hey so my goal with this code is to control an enemy’s movement as well as have them instantiate a projectile gameObject that flies ahead of them toward the player EVERY “throwRate” seconds.

Important info: My player is motionless, the shurikans are their own gameObject prefab, the enemy is suppose to get close to the player to a certain range and then stop while continuing to throw shurikans.

public float speed = 3f;
    public float throwRate = 10f;
    public GameObject weapon;
    public float throwSpeed = 5f;
   
    GameObject player;
    GameObject shurikan;
    private Vector3 target;
    float distance;
    float timer = 0f;
   
   
    void Start ()
    {
        player = GameObject.FindGameObjectWithTag("Player");
        target = player.transform.position;       
    }
   
    void Update ()
    {
        timer += Time.deltaTime;
        float distance = Vector3.Distance(transform.position, target);
        if (distance > 5)
        {
            transform.position = Vector3.MoveTowards(transform.position, target, speed * Time.deltaTime);
        }
       // this is the area of trouble.
        if (timer >= throwRate)
        {
            shurikan = Instantiate(Resources.Load ("Shurikan")) as GameObject;
            timer = 0f;
        }
    }

I’m getting the error about cannot convert float into a bool on line 28. Both timer and throwRate are floats and I’m trying to use a simple if statement. I’ve tried using a constant in place of throwRate but it still doesn’t work. I’m still new to Unity, thank you for any help you can offer.

2

I copy-pasted your code, and it works perfectly. Compiles, runs, instantiates the things it’s supposed to instantiate.

Is your error a compilation error, or does it happen when you run the game?

By the way, instead of using a timer, you should really look into using a coroutine. Those are usually a lot more readable, and once you get used to them, easier to use.

Oh, and it’s “Shuriken”, not “Shurikan”.

3

Weird, I’m getting a compilation error. It won’t let me run the game.

Coroutines… okay I’ll look into those. But I’m still stumped that it works for you :S

And yes, I should fix that typo. Thanks for pointing it out.

4

Double check what you have in your code compared to what is here. It sounds like you’re inadvertently handing the if statement a float instead of a bool. Maybe you have += instead of >=? Or even => which would be a lambda statement not a comparison. I’m confused too, the way it is typed here should be just ducky.

5

Thanks for your feedback. Actually after restarting the entire program it fixed itself. However I did copy and paste the code exactly from my project. So still weird :S

6

Your code probably got out of sync with the project, so the project never recompiled any code changes. Happens with MonoDevelop sometimes. There’s a solution, though.