Script just stops running

Can anyone tell me why my script will run after compiled and for an indeterminate time afterwards and then become unresponsive even when reset? Everything works fine for a while but then it no longer wants to respond to a touch. Recompiling it will get it running again but not a reset and not a "set scripts running".

I'm not seven sure where to begin to look for a reason.

depending on the permissions of the object/script some of those commands will fail, particularly the ones from the tools menu

if you're the creator of the object and script I'd chalk it up to the sim having issues and try it on another sim.

It's hard to say without knowing more about either the script or the environment where it's running. If you find yourself in a parcel where scripts are disabled, for example, that could do it. Or you may have exceeded the script's memory somehow, perhaps by adding to many names or keys to some internal list. There are also functions which, given the wrong type of data, will cause a script to stop dead.

Well I fixed it but not sure I understand what I was doing wrong.

The script is a basic dialogue based script. On touch present user (owner) with a dialogue. Depending on what option is selected the script changes from the default state to a new state. In the new state there is a secondary dialogue presented. Amongst the options there is a Back button and a Done button. For Back I wanted it to go back to the main dialogue. For Done I wanted it to return to the default state. Back was working but Done would cause the script to stop.

What I was using before was just the return; command. I changed it to explicitly send the script back to the default state and added in a global variable to monitor what my current state was so that the main menu would not be represented to the user when they click done.

Even though it works I would like to understand why return; wasn't doing the trick. I thought return would discontinue further execution within the state it was called and return the user to a default state.

I am hesitant to put the script up here as it is going to be part of an inworld product but I can give a copy of the development object with that in it inworld.

One you go into a new state, you are basically "trapped" in that state and its event handlers until you explicitly go to another state (with state default or whatever) or reset the script. return will only get you out of functions and event handlers.

Ah..... return will dump you out of the current function or event but keep you in the same state. If you want to change states, as you discovered, you need to do it explicitly.

Ah ok, now I understand. Makes sense now. Thanks Victoria, Rolliq. The Wiki didn't come across that way to me.

One more question .. how do I turn off the partical effect every time the script does something?

You mean the swirly chat things? You can't get rid of those short of making the object silent, it's a viewer feature.

Yup those are the things I was talking about but I figured there must be a way since I have a pair of shoes that you can make changes to using the scripts in them and they don't generate any of those swirly things.

When I peek at the shoes they have what would appear to be listener scripts in all the child prims (yeah there are a lot of them .. wholly lag) and several main scripts in the root. The two shoes must talk to each other through chat but there are no swirly things.

Avoiding chat is really the only way, you won't get swirlies if you use a different interface like everything in dialogs. The swirlies are kind of limited; for example, if there is an llOwnerSay, only the owner sees the swirls because other people's viewers aren't receiving the message at all.

if a script says something via chat an av can see, that particle effect will appear (for the av that can see it). if you use llInstantMessage instead, the particle effect will not appear.

Only way I know to get rid of the swirly particles thing is to attach it as HUD.

Well I got rid of the swirlies .. just eliminated all chatting that I could hear. Once I was finished debugging and removed all the llOwnerSay commands telling me what was going on all the swirlies went away.

Thanks everyone for the help, I appreciate it. I learned a lot building this script and its companion.