Skip to content
OpenTS Manual

14 — Mission Timer Expired

Satisfied when the mission timer runs out. The timer stops right after the next trigger check, so the event has one chance.

Editor data
Numeric ID
14
Engine ID
TEVENT_MISSION_TIMER_EXPIRED
Editor name
Mission Timer Expired
Need token
NEED_NONE
Parameters
None
Attachment
general
INI example
[Events]
<TriggerID>=1,14,0,0

The single frame it can be caught on

Section titled “The single frame it can be caught on”

The mission timer is the countdown shown on the tab bar. Set Timer, Start Timer, Timer Extend and Timer Shorten leave it running. Stop Timer halts it, and the event never accepts a halted timer.

At the start of every frame, the engine checks the tags on the general list, then stops the timer if it is running at zero. The event can be satisfied only until that stop. A timer that runs out on its own is running at zero for exactly one check.

On a volatile tag, pair this event only with events that can be true at the moment of the check, such as a global variable or a credit total. A temporal event, such as an object being destroyed, is satisfied only by an offer that names it. The check never names one, so a trigger that also waits for a temporal event never fires.

A persistent tag remembers most temporal events when they happen, as long as the trigger is enabled at the time. On a persistent tag, the trigger fires at the check if every temporal event it waits for was remembered earlier. Five events are never remembered, including cell entry and the two attacked events, so a trigger that also waits for one of them never fires at the check.

Caveats
  • The timer must be running as well as at zero. A timer that is never started, or that Stop Timer halts before it runs out, never satisfies the event.
  • Timer Shorten taking the count to zero, and Set Timer with 0, expire the timer the same as running out.
  • A trigger that is disabled at that check misses the expiry. Enabling it later finds the timer stopped.
  • After the engine stops an expired timer, Start Timer sets it running again at zero, and the event is satisfied again at the next check.
  • In a campaign mission with TimerInherit=yes, a timer carried over from the previous mission starts running with the mission, even if that mission had stopped it. The event can then be satisfied without any action in this scenario starting the timer.
  • A semi-persistent tag fires only while exactly one object or map cell holds it, and this event attaches the tag to neither. Use a volatile or a persistent tag.