Time, timers & easing

Wall-clock functions use the 2000-01-01 epoch. Timers and easing functions live in c8b.timer and c8b.easingFunctions.

Conventions on every page: Availability says whether a symbol exists on the console BIOS, the emulator, or both. c8b and C8B are the same table.

Clock and date
Timers (c8b.timer)
Aliases
- RealTimer
- Timer
Easing functions (c8b.easingFunctions)
Low-level bindings (C8B.*)
- C8B.System_getFPS
- C8B.System_getTime

Clock and date

`c8b.getCurrentTimeMilliseconds`

c8b.getCurrentTimeMilliseconds()

Milliseconds since local midnight.

Returns: integer
Availability: Console (BIOS) and emulator
Note: Console without NTP returns milliseconds since boot instead.

`c8b.resetElapsedTime`

c8b.resetElapsedTime()

Resets the high-resolution timer.

Availability: Console (BIOS) and emulator

`c8b.getElapsedTime`

c8b.getElapsedTime()

Seconds since resetElapsedTime.

Returns: number
Availability: Console (BIOS) and emulator
Note: Console resolution is 1 ms.

`c8b.getSecondsSinceEpoch`

c8b.getSecondsSinceEpoch()

Seconds and milliseconds since 2000-01-01 00:00 UTC (Core8Bit epoch).

Returns: seconds, milliseconds
Availability: Console (BIOS) and emulator
Note: On the console this needs network time (Wi-Fi); until the clock is set it returns zeros. The emulator uses the host clock.

`c8b.getTime`

c8b.getTime()

Local time as {year, month, day, weekday, hour, minute, second, millisecond}.

Returns: table
Availability: Console (BIOS) and emulator
Note: On the console this needs network time (Wi-Fi); until the clock is set it returns zeros. The emulator uses the host clock.

local t = c8b.getTime()
print(t.hour .. ":" .. t.minute)

`c8b.getGMTTime`

c8b.getGMTTime()

UTC time table.

Returns: table
Availability: Console (BIOS) and emulator
Note: On the console this needs network time (Wi-Fi); until the clock is set it returns zeros. The emulator uses the host clock.

`c8b.epochFromTime`

c8b.epochFromTime(timeTable)

Local time table to epoch-2000 seconds.

Returns: seconds, milliseconds
Availability: Console (BIOS) and emulator

`c8b.epochFromGMTTime`

c8b.epochFromGMTTime(timeTable)

UTC time table to epoch-2000 seconds.

Returns: seconds, milliseconds
Availability: Console (BIOS) and emulator

`c8b.timeFromEpoch`

c8b.timeFromEpoch(seconds, [milliseconds=0])

Epoch-2000 seconds to a local time table.

Returns: table
Availability: Console (BIOS) and emulator

`c8b.GMTTimeFromEpoch`

c8b.GMTTimeFromEpoch(seconds, [milliseconds=0])

Epoch-2000 seconds to a UTC time table.

Returns: table
Availability: Console (BIOS) and emulator

`c8b.shouldDisplay24HourTime`

c8b.shouldDisplay24HourTime()

Always true.

Returns: true
Availability: Console (BIOS) and emulator

Timers (c8b.timer)

`c8b.timer.new`

c8b.timer.new(duration, [callback, ...]) | (duration, startValue, endValue, [easing])

Creates a timer (milliseconds). With a function, it is called with the extra arguments when the timer ends; with numbers, timer.value interpolates. Fields: duration, value, repeats, reverses, discardOnCompletion, paused, updateCallback, timerEndedCallback.

Returns: timer
Availability: Console (BIOS) and emulator
Note: Timers advance only when you call c8b.timer.updateTimers(), by a fixed 41.67 ms (1/24 s) per call. A new timer starts counting after 3 updates.

c8b.timer.new(500, function() print("done") end)
function c8b.update() c8b.timer.updateTimers() end

`c8b.timer.updateTimers`

c8b.timer.updateTimers()

Advances all timers; call once per frame.

Availability: Console (BIOS) and emulator
Note: Timers advance only when you call c8b.timer.updateTimers(), by a fixed 41.67 ms (1/24 s) per call.

`c8b.timer.performAfterDelay`

c8b.timer.performAfterDelay(delay, fn, ...)

Calls fn(...) after delay ms.

Returns: timer
Availability: Console (BIOS) and emulator

`c8b.timer.after`

c8b.timer.after(delay, fn, ...)

Same function as performAfterDelay.

Returns: timer
Availability: Console (BIOS) and emulator

`c8b.timer.keyRepeatTimer`

c8b.timer.keyRepeatTimer(fn)

Repeating timer: fires after 200 ms, then every 50 ms.

Returns: timer
Availability: Console (BIOS) and emulator

`c8b.timer.keyRepeatTimerWithDelay`

c8b.timer.keyRepeatTimerWithDelay(initialDelay, repeatDelay, fn)

Repeating timer with custom delays.

Returns: timer
Availability: Console (BIOS) and emulator

`c8b.timer.allTimers`

c8b.timer.allTimers()

Active timers.

Returns: table
Availability: Console (BIOS) and emulator

`c8b.timer.clearAll`

c8b.timer.clearAll()

Removes all timers (also run on game unload).

Availability: Console (BIOS) and emulator

`Timer.new`

Timer.new(duration, ...)

Global Timer class constructor; same as c8b.timer.new.

Availability: Console (BIOS) and emulator

`Timer:start`

timer:start()

Unpauses.

Availability: Console (BIOS) and emulator

`Timer:pause`

timer:pause()

Pauses.

Availability: Console (BIOS) and emulator

`Timer:reset`

timer:reset()

Restarts from 0.

Availability: Console (BIOS) and emulator

`Timer:remove`

timer:remove()

Removes the timer and drops its callbacks.

Availability: Console (BIOS) and emulator

`Timer:getTimeLeft`

timer:getTimeLeft()

Remaining ms.

Returns: number
Availability: Console (BIOS) and emulator

`Timer.updateCallback`

timer.updateCallback = function(timer) end

Callback field: called on every update while running.

Availability: Console (BIOS) and emulator

`Timer.timerEndedCallback`

timer.timerEndedCallback = function(timer) end

Callback field: called when the timer ends (with the extra new() arguments if given, otherwise the timer).

Availability: Console (BIOS) and emulator

`RealTimer.new`

RealTimer.new(duration, ...) | c8b.timer.RealTimer.new(...)

Timer that skips its first update so actions land on separate frames.

Returns: timer
Availability: Console (BIOS) and emulator

Aliases

`RealTimer`

RealTimer

Global alias of c8b.timer.RealTimer.

Availability: Console (BIOS) and emulator

`Timer`

Timer

Global Timer class (metatable of timers).

Availability: Console (BIOS) and emulator