DarkRP Entity Problem

[IAMYourReason]

Hi, I've made an ent for DarkRP, and it was working fine, but suddenly it started giving me this error:

ERROR: GAMEMODE:'PlayerSay' Failed: DarkRP\gamemode\main.lua:1129: Tried to use a NULL entity!
Error: hook->PlayerSay returned a non-string!

The line number points to:

item:SetPos(tr.HitPos)

however 1128:

item:SetNWEntity("owning_ent", ply)

works fine???

This makes NO sense to me, and I reverted all changes to the entity itself since It started happening, but the error persists.

This is the line in AddEntities.lua:

AddEntity("Marijuana Plant", "marijuana_plant", "models/props/cs_office/plant01.mdl", 100, 2, "/buymarijuanaplant")

The init.lua for the entity itself is as follows:

[lua]AddCSLuaFile("cl_init.lua")
AddCSLuaFile("shared.lua")
include("shared.lua")

function ENT:Initialize()
self:SetModel("models/props/cs_office/plant01.mdl")
self:PhysicsInit(SOLID_VPHYSICS)
self:SetMoveType(MOVETYPE_VPHYSICS)
self:SetSolid(SOLID_VPHYSICS)
local phys = self:GetPhysicsObject()
if phys:IsValid() then phys:Wake() end
self.sparkling = false
self.damage = 100
timer.Simple(30, self.MakeBag, self)
end

function WiltEffect()
Tbl[1] = Tbl[1] - Tbl2[1]
Tbl[2] = Tbl[2] - Tbl2[2]
Tbl[3] = Tbl[3] - Tbl2[3]
Tbl[4] = Tbl[4] - Tbl2[4]
DieTime = DieTime - 1
self:SetColor(Tbl[1], Tbl[2], Tbl[3], Tbl[4])
if (DieTime == 0) then
Notify(ent:GetNWEntity("owning_ent"), 1, 4, "Your marijuana plant has died!")
ent:Remove()
end
end

function ENT:BeginDying()
Notify(self:GetNWEntity("owning_ent"), 1, 4, "Your marijuana plant is dying!")
self.IsDying = true
DieTime = math.random(20, 50)
Tbl = { self:GetColor() }
Tbl2 = { Tbl[1] / DieTime, Tbl[2] / DieTime, Tbl[3] / DieTime, Tbl[4] / DieTime }
end

function MorePot(ent)
if ValidEntity(ent) then
ent.sparkling = true
timer.Simple(3, ent.MakeBag, ent)
end
end

function ENT:MakeBag()
if not ValidEntity(self) then return end
if self.IsDying then return end
if self:IsOnFire() then return end
local OutPos = self:GetPos()

if math.random(1, 36) == 8 then self:BeginDying() end

local ply = self:GetNWEntity("owning_ent")
local marijuanaBag = ents.Create("durgz_weed")
marijuanaBag:SetModel("/models/drugz_mod/katharsmodels/contraband/zak_wiet/zak_wiet.mdl")
marijuanaBag:SetPos(Vector(OutPos.x, OutPos.y+15, OutPos.z+5))
marijuanaBag.ShareGravGun = true
marijuanaBag.nodupe = true
marijuanaBag:Spawn()

self.sparkling = false
timer.Simple(math.random(75, 250), MorePot, self)
end

function ENT:OnTakeDamage(dmg)
if self.IsDying then return end

self.damage = self.damage - dmg:GetDamage()
if self.damage <= 0 then
self:BeginDying()
end
end

ENT.NextThink = 0
function ENT:Think()
if !(CurTime() > self.NextThink) then return end

if self.sparkling then
local effectdata = EffectData()
effectdata:SetOrigin(self:GetPos())
effectdata:SetMagnitude(1)
effectdata:SetScale(1)
effectdata:SetRadius(2)
util.Effect("Sparks", effectdata)
end

if self:IsOnFire() and not self.IsDying then self.BeginDying() end

if self.IsDying then WiltEffect() end

self.NextThink = CurTime() + 1
end[/lua]

[IAMYourReason]

Any help at all? I've tried reinstalling darkRP, and redoing the AddEntity() line. But it still gives me an error that PlayerSay failed.

[Crazy Quebec]

You can't expect us to debug your whole script for you, that's something you'll have to do yourself.

Right now it's saying you're using a NULL entity, well why don't you go and find out which entity is NULL? Once you know which it is finding out why will be easy.

My guess is that your entity has errors in it which stops it from loading, so use lua_reloadents ingame to reload all entities and look for errors. Errors aren't that hard to read.

[IAMYourReason]

[QUOTE=Crazy Quebec;18388011]My guess is that your entity has errors in it which stops it from loading, so use lua_reloadents ingame to reload all entities and look for errors. Errors aren't that hard to read.[/QUOTE]

Thank you, I'll try this.

EDIT:

Yes, that resolved the issue, It said:

entities/marijuana_plant/init.lua:52: function arguments expected near 'then'
Folder = entities/marijuana_plant
Couldn't register Scripted Entity marijuana_plant - the Type field is empty!

I fixed the error on line 52 and can now spawn the plant.

[editline]10:45PM[/editline]

Now another problem arises:

When this function is called:

[lua]
function DoNothing()
local wat = nil
end

function WiltEffect(ent, time)
local Tbl = { ent:GetColor() }
local Xinc = Tbl[1] / time
local Yinc = Tbl[2] / time
local Zinc = Tbl[3] / time
local AlphInc = Tbl[4] / time
for i = 1, time do
Tbl[1] = Tbl[1] - Xinc
Tbl[2] = Tbl[2] - Yinc
Tbl[3] = Tbl[3] - Zinc
Tbl[4] = Tbl[4] - AlphInc
ent:SetColor(Tbl[1], Tbl[2], Tbl[3], Tbl[4])
timer.Simple(1, DoNothing)
end
Notify(ent:GetNWEntity("owning_ent"), 1, 4, "Your marijuana plant has died!")
ent:Remove()
end[/lua]

either it happens in a matter of milliseconds, or it doesn't do the for loop at all.

When I hit the plant to dying, it just dissapears and doesn't darken a little every second like I want it to.

I used a timer.Simple() because thats the easiest way I know to delay the script. This is the final bug in the SENT and I'm really looking forward to getting it onto our server.

lua_reloadents doesn't give any errors for the SENT.

[Crazy Quebec]

timer.Simple means that in 1 second DoNothing will be executed, it doesn't delay it in that sense. You could use a bunch of embeded timers calling one another but one of the simplest ways to do it is to use a think hook.

[lua]ENT.NextThink = 0 --Initializing the variable
function ENT:Think()
if !(Curtime() > self.NextThink) then return end -- Execution ends here unless the current time is higher then NextThink
self.NextThink = CurTime() + 3 --The next execution will be in 3 seconds
print("Hey there!")
end[/lua]

This prints "Hey there!" every 3 seconds.

[IAMYourReason]

`When I use:

if !(CurTime() > self.NextThink) then return end

I get the following error:

entities/marijuana_plant/init.lua:77: attempt to compare function with number

Should also be noted that the sparks effect has stopped working for some reason.

I'll update my first post with the new script.

[Crazy Quebec]

[QUOTE=IAMYourReason;18396417]`When I use:

if !(CurTime() > self.NextThink) then return end

I get the following error:

entities/marijuana_plant/init.lua:77: attempt to compare function with number

Should also be noted that the sparks effect has stopped working for some reason.

I'll update my first post with the new script.[/QUOTE]

Are you using an entity base? Because either it has defined ENT.NextThink as a function or you have. Try another name and see what it does? :smile:

Also are you sure your effect being broken doesn't have to do with it being placed after an error in the code? :v:

[IAMYourReason]

Okay, everything is fixed, I did some research on the wiki for entity.nextthink() and It gave me the code.

Thank you for your help, I now have to go to bed (its like 3 AM here)???

Sparks works again, and the effect renders (Using a Think hook btw thanks for that idea)