Is there a possible way I can wait a certain number of seconds(Even down to the fractions if possible) so that it's the same speed on all computers? I think that if you used rest it would work, but I have to be precise with the timing with this program. I'm not very well versed in delta time or any of that stuff, so an explanation on how I can wait "real" seconds would be great. Thanks.

Ok so now that I have the timer code, how can I like use "rest()" with this function? I want the gamae to use a for loop and at the end of the loop, wait 2 seconds(example) and then repeat the for loop. Is this possible?

You don't want to use rest with it See the line that says:

if (timer % 10 == 0)

Since your timer is incrementing by 1 every millisecond, that event will occur every 10 milliseconds, which amounts to 100 times per second consistently through the duration of the program. If you are looking to just keep the program running the same speed on all systems as you said in your original post, just put your logic in that if block and you have done it

If you want to time in another way, then you need to store the end time and do...something... until you reach the end time.

So if you just wanted to pause two seconds, you could do something like:

eTime = time + 2000; // 2 seconds from now
while(time < eTime);

edit: whoops made a mistake

That won't work because it'll reset your timer every .23 seconds... Just do timer % 10... Every tenth millisecond it will run your logic, so it will end up doing it 100 times per second. Let the number count up without resetting it, it can go up to like over 4 billion

edit: And note what the actual number is, is not important... the value of it, I mean. we're just using it to time with...

if (timer % 10 == 0)
{
    //do stuff
}

Ahh I see, so I could do something like:

//This is the main loop
while(!key[KEY_ESC])
{
 if(timer % 230 == 0)//.23 Seconds I think according to brknphoenix
 {
  doaction();
 }
}

Possibly?

EDIT: Sorry CGamesPlay, I posted after you posted and didn't see that. Would my idea here still work?

Well, for the main loop, the ideal solution is:

while(!key[KEY_ESC])
{
    while(timer > 0)
    {
        --timer;
        upd_ball(b);
    }
    // Draw everything outside of the timed loop.
    circlefill(screen, b->x, b->y, 32, -1);
}

[append]

Now what BrokenPhoenix is saying is also fine, but I prefer my OO approach instead.

That would be what I posted at the end of my second post in this topic.

If you want the value of 2 seconds from now, store the current value of the timer + 2000. If you wanted 10 seconds from now, store the current value of the timer + 10,000. Then do whatever you want to occur or pause whatever you want to pause using that time.

//wait for 2 seconds
eTime = timer + 2000;
while (timer <= eTime); //it will end the loop once the current time
                       //exceeds the target time of 2 seconds from when this started

So are you saying to put that in the main loop if I want it to occur every 2 seconds? I just see a problem with that because I thought that it would wait 2 seconds and NOTHING would occur. The thing is I want everything in the background to continue as normal but just have the action occur every 2 seconds. Will that while loop do what I described? I just thought that the if statement wouldn't do that.

if(timer % 10 == 0)
won't work properly because it relies on you being able to catch that exact millisecond. In general, timers are only accurate to 10ms or so (about .01 seconds, about 100 times a second). Allegro's timers are a bit worse than this due to overhead from all installed timers.

But, even if they really were accurate, say one time you check, timer is 9 (which means you won't do anything yet). The OS interrupts your game to run other threads. You get back and timer is now 22 (~13ms later). You just missed two executions, and won't make them up since timer%10 still doesn't == 0.

It's best to run the timer as fast as you want the game to update, and just do an update whenever the timer is > 0 (while decrementing timer every time you do an update).

Sorry CGamesPlay, I consistently miss what you're saying. If I used your method, would I have to install a timer for that variable and such? I'm really sorry if I seem stupid, I just don't know very much about this topic.

void function()
{
 timer++;
 if(timer >= 2000)
 {
  play_sample(...);
 }
}

Ok, now assuming I check that every millisecond, would that work to fit my needs? I'm trying to incorporate what you're all saying into what I make, but it's difficult because of my lack of experience.

Ok that makes sense. I'm going to have to use the state-based programming though because I have to update a pixel's location every so and so seconds as well. I guess I have enough knowledge to get it done and if I have any problems I should be able to figure it out. Thanks a lot everyone.