spawn() causing lag? and sleep does it too if I try to use sleep

ID:2124093
 
Jul 30 2016, 10:16 am
(See the best response by Reformist.)
Code:
Object
    Items
        var
            slot = ""
            in_slot = ""
            stack_size = 99

            count = 1
            description = ""
            cost = 0

            overlay_icon = null
            overlay_state = ""
            overlay_layer = 1

            map_icon = null
            map_state = ""

            owner
            capturing

        New(atom/a, quantity = null)

            if(isnum(a))
                quantity = a
                a = null

            ..(a)

            if(!isnull(quantity))
                count = quantity
        Click()
            if(src in usr.contents)
                use()
            else
                return

        proc
            use(mob/m)

        Pokeballs
            icon = 'Items.dmi'
            map_icon = 'Pokeballs.dmi'
            var/catch_multi
            var/catch_multi2
            isbeingused

            Pokeball
                name = "Pokeball"
                description = "Standard ball used to capture Pokemon"
                icon_state = "pokeball"
                map_state = "pokeball"
                catch_multi = 1
                density = 1

                bound_x = 6
                bound_y = 5
                bound_width = 6
                bound_height = 6

                use()
                    var
                        mob/user = usr
                        Object/Items/Pokeballs/Pokeball/Ball = new()

                    Ball.owner = user
                    count -= 1
                    Ball.icon = map_icon
                    Ball.icon_state = map_state

                    Ball.loc = user.loc
                    Ball.dir = user.dir
                    Ball.step_x = user.step_x
                    Ball.step_y = user.step_y

                    if(Ball.dir == NORTH)
                        Ball.y += 1
                    if(Ball.dir == SOUTH)
                        Ball.y -= 1
                    if(Ball.dir == EAST)
                        Ball.x += 1
                    if(Ball.dir == WEST)
                        Ball.x -= 1

                    var/Pokemon/target = PokeballProjectile(user,Ball,8,1.5)

                    if(target)
                        target.canmove = 0
                        flick("[Ball.name] return",Ball)
                        Ball.icon_state = "[Ball.name] catching"
                        target.icon_state = "invisible"
                        if(target.number == "003"||target.number == "006"||target.number == "009"||target.number == "012"||target.number == "018"||target.number == "019"||target.number == "020")
                            target.underlays -= /obj/ShadowP1
                        else
                            target.underlays -= /obj/ShadowP
                            
                        spawn(15)
                            target.Capture(target, Ball)
                    if(count == 0)
                        user.contents -= src
                        del(src)
                        



proc/PokeballProjectile(mob/P, Object/Items/Pokeballs/O, distance, delay)
    while(distance > 0 && O && P)

        var/mob/target
        for(var/Pokemon/A in get_step(O,O.dir))
            if(A&&A!=P&&ismob(A))
                target=A
        step(O,O.dir)
        spawn(delay)

        distance--
        if(target) return target

Pokemon
    proc
        Capture(Pokemon/target, Object/Items/Pokeballs/ball)
            
            
                var/mob/user = ball.owner
                var/capturerate = round(((target.capturerate/target.HP)+user.Trainer_Level/target.level)* ball.catch_multi)
                
                if(prob(capturerate))
                    target.loc = user.PokemonBag
                    user.PokemonBag += target
                    target.owner = user
                    target.realowner = user
                    target.caughtwith = ball.name
                    user.PokemonOwned += 1
                    user << "Congratulations you have caught a [target.name]!"
                    target.hasowner = 1
                    target.icon_state = target.number
                    if(target.number == "003"||target.number == "006"||target.number == "009"||target.number == "012"||target.number == "018"||target.number == "019"||target.number == "020")
                        target.underlays -= /obj/ShadowP1
                    else
                        target.underlays -= /obj/ShadowP
    
                else
                    target.icon_state = target.number
                    if(target.number == "003"||target.number == "006"||target.number == "009"||target.number == "012"||target.number == "018"||target.number == "019"||target.number == "020")
                        target.underlays -= /obj/ShadowP1
                    else
                        target.underlays -= /obj/ShadowP
                    user << "[target.name] has broke free!"
                
                target.canmove = 1
                del(ball)


Problem description:

Okay so I've been stuck for a few days now, some parts of this like the target shadow underlays will be taken out soon but they are there just for the time being, but my problem is that the spawn(15) sequence and even if I set it to sleep() it causes unimaginable lag and I honestly can't seem to find the problem and a lot of programmers I've asked haven't been able to help either so help would be really appreciated thanks.
Jul 30 2016, 10:46 am
A couple efficiency changes:

Sanity checking after spawn to avoid null reference runtime errors:
spawn(15)
    if(target)
        target.Capture(target, Ball)



for(var/Pokemon/A in get_step(O,O.dir))
    if(A&&A!=P&&ismob(A))
        target=A


Could be simplified to:

for(var/Pokemon/p in get_step(...))
    if(non-catching conditions for pokemon p)
        continue
    return p


Side-note: No idea why you were checking if the pokemon was not the player. That should be a non-issue by design.

Additionally, instead of using del(ref), you can let the garbage collector automatically clean those up for you by setting their loc to null. However, in order for this to work, there must be no other references (variables) pointing to it. Use of del() can be costly.

But anyway, I'd like to know more about the "lag" you are experiencing. The term "lag" is so loosely used that you can never know what someone is referring to.

This is important to pinpointing a possible deeper-seated issue that may not be evident in the information provided. I don't see any thing that stands out as a major issue efficiency-wise though.
Jul 30 2016, 11:27 am
Well the second the spawn(15) is called it instantly becomes really slow, you can't move really but the animation for movement happens in well slow-mo and it'll remain this way until the spawn is over and yeah going over some of my coding to make it simpler and easier to use once I can figure out what's causing this issue, I've restarted the entire system twice
Jul 30 2016, 11:43 am
It's okay, with help from Reformist the problem has been solved, thanks anyways
Jul 30 2016, 12:30 pm
What was the problem anyway (for future reference)?
Jul 30 2016, 1:44 pm
In response to FKI
Best response
Something completely unrelated to the code he posted. I turned on the profiler after doing some preliminary text output debugging. Turns out when a Pokemon entered a ball its AI loop went haywire because the Pokemon couldn't move. It was creating a new instance of the AI() proc every time spawn() could be called. It ended up with an excessive number of calls in a short period.