index chain too long, possible loop

[terse mason]

i am trying to make a server sided inventory system for an mmorpg what does this bug even mean

i dont even know what im doing anymore

please someone

PLEASE

[iron epoch]

ay good news is that no one knows what u are doing

why u do oop if u dont know how to do oop

ur metatable loops so if u are concerned about the title error theres that

[sand lynx]

** You are now Level 7! **

[terse mason]

i know oop a little

[iron epoch]

learn the basics bruh

[terse mason]

i idd

[iron epoch]

u dont even know how to set it up

[terse mason]

wdym

[iron epoch]

and why are we here

because you had an error which you cant even identify

which is caused by you not knowing what youre doing

[terse mason]

yeah because ive never seen that error

also how does a metatable loop

[iron epoch]

cus it points to the same table

u dont even need oop for inventory

and its rather better not to use it

[terse mason]

then how do i set it up

ive been trying for a week

[iron epoch]

normally bruh

legit make a table for items

done

[terse mason]

its not that simple

[iron epoch]

it is that simple

[terse mason]

so should i restart?

[iron epoch]

probably

ts kinda horrifying

[terse mason]

alr thx

also then what is the point of using metatables

[iron epoch]

for oop

[terse mason]

when would you use oop

[iron epoch]

bruh ask chatgpt

i do it by feel

when something feels like it should be an object and have own methods

an item an enemy

but u dont have to use oop

[terse mason]

i was trying to make methods for the inventory like adding to it and using items

[iron epoch]

ye u can do that but rather nah

[terse mason]

not until i get better ig

[iron epoch]

oop is optional anyway

u can write everything like that

but it doesnt matter its good

just another approach

[undone wadi]

But wouldn't be oop perfect for an inventory system as every item can be identified as an "object" which has a state

[iron epoch]

item is not inventory

[undone wadi]

But it is inside an inventory and an inventory is an object aswell with a state

just a more complex one

[iron epoch]

doesnt change anything

and like i said u can make anything with oop

[undone wadi]

Im just asking because i thought it would make things much simpler

But im also quite new to oop so i might not know what im talking about and i've only used it for a Tower Defense game (I started this year with oop).

[iron epoch]

i dont like wrapping my inv

its just there as a table

[undone wadi]

Im sorry but i don't know what you mean by the term wrapping

[terse mason]

should I keep the non metatable parts or just restart completely

[iron epoch]

making it oop

[undone wadi]

Well i mean oop is just a more complex table in way isn't it?

[undone wadi]

I see

[swift anchor]

1. Since ur using datastores you should only access the player datastore when they enter the game and when they leave never inbetween.
2. U should store the players the items as references so lets say they got a weapon liek this:

weapon = {
name = "sword",
damage = 20,
staminaCost = 10

You wouldnt save the whole table just save it as sword and when the player loads in the server will use that as a key to find the item that way we can avoid storing useless stats in the datastore.

3. OOP is optional but when ur starting out its not that bad it kinda lets u get away with some stuff.

[iron epoch]

with methods ye

[undone wadi]

so its a table that gives you more options for the pay off of possible confusion when setting it up

[iron epoch]

can someone send that roblox scripter roadmap

where one of the points is violently hates oop

[iron epoch]

u can do whatever with metatables

its not as much about confusion as its about knowing what it does

[undone wadi]

I see

[iron epoch]

its not confusing in the slightest u js have some boilerplate and the rest is whatever u want

[swift anchor]

not sure where the oop hate is coming from its pretty good imo

[iron epoch]

i dont dislike it

[swift anchor]

yea I know just in general

[iron epoch]

ye i know i just wanted to present my opinion

its just youll find yourself mixing oop with other stuff and the code wont be as nice in the end

its cool for smaller projects

[swift anchor]

@terse mason if ur still struggling with ur code I can maybe look at it more thoroughly tomorrow if you want and give u some suggestions

[terse mason]

i restarted

but i do have some questions

should i just use a table or keep the slot thing

[swift anchor]

what u mean about the slot thing

oh like inventory slots for the player?

[iron epoch]

this is my inventory

[terse mason]

but thats the same inventory for every player

[iron epoch]

no thats per player

[terse mason]

no

[iron epoch]

thats saved to datastore

[terse mason]

how is it per player

[iron epoch]

i use profilestore here tho

[swift anchor]

["player1"] = {} -- that table its inventory,
["player2"] = {}
["player3"] = {}

[iron epoch]

he not gonna understand like that

lowk hard to explain

[swift anchor]

you just use the player as the key in the table

[terse mason]

playerid?

[iron epoch]

or whatever

most people use profilestore so maybe u should too

u gonna understand it better then

[terse mason]

isnt profilestore for saving data

[iron epoch]

it is

but thats what this abt

u index player data including inventory by player id

[terse mason]

so it wouldnt be seperate the inventory stuff and profile store

@iron epoch

[iron epoch]

what

all player data should be together

and u get player data through profilestore

and besides inventory is just a table

all the functions you write for it are technically separate

[terse mason]

where do i start?

@iron epoch

question

[iron epoch]

https://dontasktoask.com/

[iron epoch]

unless this is the question

u start at inventory = {}

[terse mason]

in a module script?

[iron epoch]

bruh

no like as for ur data structure

i aint gonna tell u step by step bruh

go chatgpt

it aint bad

[terse mason]

ok

wait i get it now

[terse mason]

yo i did it

the inventory saves now i just have to implement items

[stoic axle]

i didn't see this shown

;compile lua lua local t={} t.__index=t setmetatable(t,t) print(t.foo) this is your error

[distant finch]

Program Output

/opt/wandbox/lua-5.4.7/bin/lua: prog.lua:4: '__index' chain too long; possible loop
stack traceback:
prog.lua:4: in main chunk
[C]: in ?

.pyrofire | lua | lua-5.4.7 | wandbox.org

[stoic axle]

when a metatable's index has itself a metatable, lua will recursively search through the metatable index metatable until it finds the value.

if the metatable's index's metatable is the first metatable, this will loop infinitely like while true do end

that's why local t={} t.__index=t is lazy