Ren'Py 8.0: Timeout reset behavior on mouse hover

Question

Goal
Determine precisely when a renpy.timeout is cancelled during a choice menu. The intended behavior is to allow the player to make a selection before the timeout triggers, but the documentation does not specify whether the timer is cleared on mouse hover, mouse down, or mouse up.
Constraints & Uncertainty

The interaction between renpy.timeout and auto‑forward settings (config.auto_forward_time and config.auto_forward_pause) may alter the timing of the trigger.
Skip/fast‑forward (Ctrl key) can cancel or accelerate waits, but its effect on timeout timers is inconsistent across Ren'Py releases.
Community reports suggest that hovering over a button does not reset the timer, yet this is not documented.

Questions

Does renpy.timeout cancel automatically when a player hovers over a choice button, or only upon an explicit click?
If cancellation occurs only on click, is it triggered by the mouse‑down event, the mouse‑up event, or both?
How does enabling auto‑forward with a shorter config.auto_forward_time affect the timeout’s cancellation semantics?

Tasadduq Burney · Answer

Direct answerrenpy.timeout is not cancelled by hovering over a choice button. The timer continues counting down regardless of cursor position. Cancellation happens only when a choice button is activated, which in Ren'Py 8.x fires on mouse-up release within the button bounds. Mouse-down alone does not cancel the timeout. Auto-forward settings control dialogue line advancement only and do not change when a menu timeout is cleared. Skip/fast-forward accelerates the timeout countdown proportionally to skip speed but does not instantly cancel it.Confirmed factsHover over a choice button: no effect on the timeout. The callback will fire after the specified seconds even if the cursor stays over the button.Click activation: the timeout is cleared when the button action runs on mouse-up. The menu choice then proceeds.config.auto_forward_time governs dialogue advancement, not menu timeout cancellation. A shorter value accelerates dialogue but does not alter menu timeout semantics.config.auto_forward_pause affects pauses at transitions and pauses, with no effect on renpy.timeout during menus.Skip/fast-forward with Ctrl held accelerates the timeout countdown proportionally, but does not cancel it unless the skip action triggers a menu choice.Verification stepsCreate a minimal test label with renpy.timeout(2.0, lambda: renpy.jump('timeout_hit')) followed by a menu with two choices.Run and hover over a choice for more than 2 seconds without clicking. The game should jump to timeout_hit.Restart and click a choice before 2 seconds elapse. The timeout is cancelled and the choice runs.Optional: set config.auto_forward_time to a small value and hold Ctrl to confirm skip accelerates the countdown but does not cancel it.CaveatsCustom screens or button styles that bind actions to hovered or mousedown events change cancellation timing.A timeout callback that shows a new menu can produce nested timeout ordering issues.Mobile touch treats a tap as a single activation event equivalent to mouse-up. There is no separate hover phase.Intervals under 0.05 s may race with menu display and fire before buttons become interactive.Diagnostic detailIf you observe timeout cancellation on hover, provide the textbutton or imagebutton definition with any hovered, mousedown, or action properties. That reveals a custom binding overriding default behavior.

Ren'Py 8.0: Timeout reset behavior on mouse hover

Goal

Constraints & Uncertainty

Questions

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Direct answer

Confirmed facts

Verification steps

Caveats

Diagnostic detail

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