Creating many NPCs at once causes lag.

[enjia2000]

Creating many NPCs at once causes lag.

Is there a command in lua or gmod to tell the server to wait or halt so the lag does not come all at once?

This code spawns no more then 10 NPCs at once.

local result = sql.Query( "SELECT xLoc, yLoc, zLoc, type FROM spawnController WHERE map = '" .. game.GetMap() .. "';" )

	if ( !result ) then -- print("trying to get result: ")
		-- print("No result.")
		return false
	end
 	
	for id, row in pairs( result ) do
		
		local xLoc = tostring(row['xLoc'])
		local yLoc = tostring(row['yLoc'])
		local zLoc = tostring(row['zLoc'])
		local vector = Vector(xLoc, yLoc, zLoc)
		local npcType = tostring(row['type'])
		
		if (checkSpawnArea(vector)) then
			newSpawn = ents.Create(npcType)
			newSpawn:SetPos( vector ) -- This positions the zombie at the place our trace hit.
			if(table.HasValue(combine, npcType)) then -- combine need weapons
				newSpawn:SetKeyValue( "additionalequipment", "weapon_ar2" )
			end
			-- newSpawn:DropToFloor()
			if(table.HasValue(friendly, npcType)) then
				newSpawn:SetKeyValue("citizentype", 1)
				newSpawn:Fire("StartPatrolling")
				newSpawn:Fire("SetReadinessLow")
				newSpawn:Fire("SpeakIdleResponse")
			end
			newSpawn:SetKeyValue ("spawnflags", "512")
			newSpawn:Spawn()
			newSpawn:Activate()

		end
		-- print(tostring(row['type'] .. ": " .. tostring(row['xLoc']) .. ", " .. tostring(row['yLoc']) .. ", " .. tostring(row['zLoc'])))
	end

[sniperlover]

replace
newSpawn:Spawn()
newSpawn:Activate()

with
timer.Create("npcspawn"..tostring(newSpawn), math.Rand(0,10), 1, function()
newSpawn:Spawn()
newSpawn:Activate()
end)

[Crazy Quebec]

Spawning citizens are we? The lag comes from the game having to load every ressource related to each of them. Precaching them might help.

[_nonSENSE]

Why use math.Rand? There are bound to be NPCs that are spawned at the same time.

Use:
[lua]for id, row in pairs( result ) do
-- more code
timer.Create("npcspawn"..tostring(newSpawn), id, 1, function()
newSpawn:Spawn()
newSpawn:Activate()
end)
end[/lua]

Or, if the id is not a number, just use a second variable i that you set to an initial value, and increment at the end of the loop.