I don't want this function to be called when the game_state = 1,2,or 3.
I don't understand why the first example doesn't work, but
if written the second way, it does work.

Code:

---

starter rival_activity()
{
	while(game_state == 0)
	{
	snd_play(bad_news_snd,100,0);
	wait(1);
           }
}  

---

Code:

---

starter rival_activity()
{
	while(1)
	{
		if(game_state == 0)
		{
			snd_play(bad_news_snd,100,0);
				
		}
          wait(1);
          }
}  

---

When and how do you set game_state?
And what is it´s value at gamestart?

that´s because you are changing the var game_state somewhere to a value different from zero.

It's a bit hard to explain, but look at it this way.

while(my.flag1 == on) { ... }

this tells the engine to do something while the flag is on, but if the flag is turned off, ever, then the engine moves on and never encounters that while loop again. therefore it never checks the state of flag1, and the stuff in the brackets doesn't happen.

while(1) { if(my.flag1 == on) }

not only does that tell the engine to do something while the flag is on, but the loop continues to run even if the flag is off, checking the state of flag1 every frame. in the example at the top, the loop ends which leads to undesirable results.

SO, in your first piece of code, the engine only checks if the game_state = 0 once. If game_state != 0, even for only one frame, the function ends and never runs again. in the second piece, the function loops and always checks the game_state every frame.

Does that help?

Very lucid explanation, LogantheHogan! Thank you. I got it. I hope I remember it.

Haha, glad it got the point across. God bless.