Timer Count Down Help.

Unity Engine
1

I am fairly new to javascript and programming. I want to try something simple and heck even a timer is giving me trouble. After googling and searching I feel I can get more direct help from the pros here.

Here is my code:

var minutes = 5;
var seconds = 59;

function Update () {
    seconds -= Time.deltaTime;
}

function OnGUI () {
    guiText.text = minutes + " " + ":" + " " + seconds;
}

The code is attach to a gui Text, the format is correct, however the timer counts down like a rocket, took about 2 sec to count down 59 sec. I tried Time.deltaTime * 1, I tried using Time.time etc. Nothing works the way I need it to be.

Also I got this error to go with it.

ArgumentException: get_time can only be called from the main thread.
Constructors and field initializers will be executed from the loading thread when loading a scene.
Don’t use this function in the constructor or field initializers, instead move initialization code to the Awake or Start function.
TimerCounter…ctor () (at Assets/Scripts/TimerCounter.js:3)

Head Explodes <<

Anyone here can help a noob out?

2

The main problem is that you’re defining “seconds” as an integer. Time.deltaTime is a float, probably something like .01-ish or thereabouts, so subtracting .01 from 59, since 59 is an integer, results in 58. You need to either explicitly specify “float” when defining seconds, or use a float value like 59.0, so Unity knows you want it to be a float.

However, unless you actually need fractions of a second, you may prefer to avoid floats altogether and just subtract 1 every second, like so:

var seconds = 59;

function Start () {
    InvokeRepeating ("Countdown", 1.0, 1.0);
}

function Countdown () {
    --seconds;
}

function Update () {
    // Note that you don't need each character added separately.
    // Also, OnGUI is for UnityGUI functions like GUI.Label, GUI.Box, etc., not for GUIText,
    // which is a component on a GameObject.
    guiText.text = minutes + " : " + seconds;
}

As far as the error, I think it must be from something else, since the code you posted is technically OK even if it didn’t do what you wanted.

–Eric

3

Once I apply this, it slows down the android a lot. I will try to see if something else is causing the problem.