While loop vs Run Service loops

[Roox4]

So basically I just found something I can’t really understand.

So for example you have a loop like this:

while true do 
	wait(5)
	print("test")
end

Now this works exactly how I would imagine. It waits 5 seconds and then prints “test”, then it waits 5 seconds again and prints “test” and so on.

---

But now let’s say you have a loop like this:

game:GetService("RunService").Stepped:Connect(function()
	wait(5)
	print("test")
end)

This loop for some reason, which I don’t understand, just keeps printing “test” without even bothering to wait those 5 seconds.

I also tried .Heartbeat and it’s the exact same.

So my question is why the second loop ignores the wait() completely?

[Pokemoncraft5290 (Based)]

Every frame, you’re asking it to wait 5 seconds then print test. So every frame, another wait starts. After 5 seconds, it prints test. Then the next frame, another wait finishes and prints test.

[astraIboy (The Batman)]

It runs so fast that basically it doesnt even see the wait persay

[EmbatTheHybrid (Embat)]

It ignores the wait because it is an event, it runs everything the condition for the event to happen it met, in the case of heartbeat, physics have been calculated and so it runs the event, and once another event happens, it’ll run that code separately, unlike a while loop which respects waits,

You need to debounce the event to make it work like a while loop, respecting waits and what not

[pyxfluff (Pyx)]

I use a

while wait() do
print ("hi")
end

loop. It will run every line of code n the amount of time your wait() was set. say I typed wait(2)
Every 2 seconds, it would print “hi”,.

[astraIboy (The Batman)]

You should probably stop using wait()

Avoiding wait() and why

This is an adaptation of a Twitter thread I made a while ago. This is simply a better formatted and more fleshed out version. Let’s talk about wait(). Not wait(n) (although if you are using small n values to where it’d be barely distinguishable from wait(), you’re probably going to hit the same issues mentioned in this thread). We probably learned about wait() at first as the solution to “why are my infinite loops crashing me?”. It’s a super easy solution and it works! This starts a bad habit…

[HugeCoolboy2007 (omega)]

I’ll just copy and paste my response to a similar topic:

While do loops Or Runservice loops...?

RunService doesn’t create ‘loops.’ The things you listed are events that are fired at certain points during runtime giving the illusion of a loop. Each event fires at specific points: Heartbeat fires after Physics are simulated (end of the frame) Stepped fires during physics simulation (middle of the frame) RenderStepped fires before physics are simulated (start of the frame) For example, you should use RunService.RenderStepped or RunService:BindToRenderStepped() for a custom camera system be…

[Ragnability (toastieboatie673)]

Is Run Service heartbeat a better choice to use than a loop in terms of performance and efficieny though?

[EmilyBendsSpace]

@EmbatTheHybrid

It ignores the wait because it is an event

No, it’s not ignoring the wait(5) at all. A place with this script will have nothing print out for the first 5 seconds, then it will suddenly start printing every frame. Stepped fires about 60 times per second, and each time, it’s waiting 5 seconds and then printing “test” when the thread resumes. If you’re not convinced it’s not being ignored, change the wait(5) to wait(60) and notice that you’ll have no output for the first whole minute, then “test” printing at 60fps after 1 minute.

The Heartbeat version of a once-every-5-seconds tick looks like this:

local elapsed = 0
game:GetService("RunService").Heartbeat:Connect(function(dt)
    elapsed += dt
    while elapsed >= 5 do
        elapsed -= 5
        print("test")
    end
end)

When the delay is this long, you don’t need it to be a while loop, it can just be an if elapsed >= 5 then, but I gave you the general format that works for any delay duration, even sub-frame timings.