Timers are not frame accurate

[fmatthew5876]

We don't run timer updates at the right time. As per Cherry:

Main update methods for common events run (they just check if they are parallel process and the condition is met and then invoke the parallel process worker for them)
Main update methods for map events run (they do a bunch of things, described in my previous post - but actually even more, because after the check for whether there is any active event page, they will run their parallel process worker and then check once more for active)
Message window updates
Timer updates
Screen effects update
Pictures update
Foreground worker runs
Panorama updates

Also I did some quick test and saw that our lsd chunks for timers are not frame accurate.

In HH3, I noticed some case where I would load an RPG_RT save game and the timer would appear with "00:01" when it shouldn't.

Leaving this issue as a placeholder to investigate timer behavior and setup test cases.

[fmatthew5876]

Test Cases 1 - Basic Timer Operations

1. Setup EV01 parallel

Timer 1 Set 00:01
Timer 1 start
OpenSaveMenu
OpenSaveMenu
Wait 0.9s
Wait 0.0s
Wait 0.0s
Wait 0.0s
Loop:
  OpenSaveMenu

Save	timer1 secs	timer1 active	timer1 visible	stop count
1	119	1	1	0
2	118	1	1	1
3	60	1	1	59
4	59	0	0	60
5	59	0	0	61

2. Change EV01 to parallel

Timer 1 Set 00:01
Timer 1 start
OpenSaveMenu
OpenSaveMenu
Wait 0.9s
Wait 0.0s
Wait 0.0s
Wait 0.0s
OpenSaveMenu
OpenSaveMenu
Timer1 start
Loop:
  OpenSaveMenu

Save	timer1 secs	timer1 active	timer1 visible	stop count
1	119	1	1	0
2	118	1	1	1
3	60	1	1	59
4	59	0	0	60
5	58 ❗	0	0	61

Result:
Starting the timer causes it to tick down by 1

3. Change EV01 to parallel

Timer 1 start
Loop:
  OpenSaveMenu

Save	timer1 secs	timer1 active	timer1 visible	stop count
1	0	1	1	0
2	0	1	1	1

Result: Timer stays active forever with "00:00" RPG_RT bug?? ❗

4. Change EV01 to parallel

Timer 1 Set 00:00
Timer 1 start
Loop:
  OpenSaveMenu

Save	timer1 secs	timer1 active	timer1 visible	stop count
1	59	1	1	0
2	58	0	0	1

5. Change EV01 to parallel

Wait 0.0s
Timer 1 Set 00:00
Timer 1 start
Loop:
  OpenSaveMenu

Save	timer1 secs	timer1 active	timer1 visible	stop count
1	58	0	0	1

6. Change EV01 to autostart

Timer 1 Set 00:00
Timer 1 start
Loop:
  OpenSaveMenu

Save	timer1 secs	timer1 active	timer1 visible	stop count
1	59	1	1	1
2	58	0	0	1

7. Change EV01 to autostart

Timer 1 Set 00:01
Timer 1 start
OpenSaveMenu
OpenSaveMenu
Timer 1 stop
Loop:
  OpenSaveMenu

Save	timer1 secs	timer1 active	timer1 visible	stop count
1	119	1	1	1
2	118	1	1	1
3	117	0	0	1
4	117	0	0	1

8. Change EV01 to autostart

Timer 1 Set 00:01
Timer 1 start
Timer 1 stop
Loop:
  OpenSaveMenu

Save	timer1 secs	timer1 active	timer1 visible	stop count
1	119	0	0	1

9. Change EV01 to autostart

Timer 1 Set 00:01
Loop:
  OpenSaveMenu

Save	timer1 secs	timer1 active	timer1 visible	stop count
1	119	0	0	1

Conclusion:

• timer1_secs gets initialized to TIME + 59 frames
• When timer1_secs >= 60, the update routine ticks once and then disables the timer
• Timer does not tick during pre-update
• Timer updates before autostart, so autostart event shows initial values
• Calling timer start when timer1_secs >= 60, causes it to tick once and then stop

[fmatthew5876]

Test Cases 2 - Timer conditionals

1. Setup autostart event

If timer1 > 00:00
  OpenSaveMenu
EraseEvent

Save	timer1 secs	timer1 active	timer1 visible
1	0	0	0

2. Setup autostart event

If timer1 > 00:01
  OpenSaveMenu
EraseEvent

Result: No Trigger

3. Setup autostart event

Set timer1 00:00
If timer1 > 00:00
  OpenSaveMenu
EraseEvent

Save	timer1 secs	timer1 active	timer1 visible
1	59	0	0

3. Setup autostart event

Set timer1 00:01
Timer1 start
WAIT
If timer1 > 00:01
  OpenSaveMenu
EraseEvent

WAIT	timer1 secs	timer1_active	saves?
0	119	1	Y
1	118	1	Y
59	60	1	Y
60			N

4. Setup parallel event

Wait 0.0s
Set timer1 00:01
Timer1 start
WAIT
If timer1 > 00:01
  OpenSaveMenu
EraseEvent

WAIT	timer1 secs	timer1_active	saves?
0	118	1	Y
1	117	1	Y
58	60	1	Y
59	59	0	Y

Conclusion

• For autostart and parallel events stated in pre-update, waiting 1.0s (60 frames) will cause the conditional to trigger
• For parallel events not started on pre-update, waiting 59 frames will cause the conditional to trigger!

[fmatthew5876]

Test Cases 3 - Multiple timers

1. Create autostart event

Timer1 start
Timer2 start
EraseEvent

Result: timer 1 shown in upper left, timer 2 in upper right.

2. Create autostart event

Timer1 start
EraseEvent

Result: timer 1 shown in upper left

3. Create autostart event

Timer2 start
EraseEvent

Result: timer 2 shown in upper right

[fmatthew5876]

Test Cases 4 - time visibility on start

1. Setup parallel event

Set timer1 01:01
Start timer1
EraseEvent

Result: Timer is visible when map fades in

2. Change event to autostart

Result: Timer appears after fade in

[fmatthew5876]

Test Cases 5 - when is : visible?

1. Setup parallel event

Set timer1 01:01
Wait 0.1s (x4)
Wait 0.0s (x5)
OpenSaveMenu
OpenSaveMenu

Result: : is visible before fade out to first save, invisible on fade out to next save

2. Setup parallel event

Start timer1
EraseEvent

Result: Timer is frozen at 00:00 and : is not visible

[fmatthew5876]

Fixed by #1701

[Ghabry]

Can't remember if this was Celestial Silfate Story but one game also had a flickering timer (which was then fixed), good for a regression test.