showdigit

official documentation from script_commands.txt
*showdigit <value>{,<type>}; Displays given numeric 'value' in large digital clock font on top of the screen. The optional parameter 'type' specifies visual aspects of the "clock" and can be one of the following values: 0 - Displays the value for 5 seconds (default). 1 - Incremental counter (1 tick/second). 2 - Decremental counter (1 tick/second). Does not stop at zero, but overflows. 3 - Decremental counter (2 ticks/second). Two digits only, stops at zero. Except for type 3 the value is interpreted as seconds and formatted as time in days, hours, minutes and seconds. Note, that the official script command does not have the optional parameter. // displays 23:59:59 for 5 seconds showdigit 86399; // counter that starts at 60 and runs for 30 seconds showdigit 60,3;
there is much more than this

because the decremental counter for type 3 runs 2 ticks per seconds, it is not advise to use type 3
type 2 is much preferred, but it risk in going into negative value, so this is usually how I do it
prontera,155,185,5 script kjdshfkshfj 1_F_MARIA,{ .@a = 60; showdigit ~.@a, 2; sleep2 .@a * 1000; showdigit 0, 3; end; }use showdigit type 2 for the countdown, then sleep for the duration, type 3 with 0 value will remove it

and to use this practically for an event, let's say the event only last 5 minute
prontera,155,185,5 script kjdsfhksdjfh 1_F_MARIA,{ if ( .start == false ) { mes "no event atm"; close; } warp "guild_vs2", 0,0; .@timeleft = .event_duration - gettimetick(2) + .starttime; dispbottom .@timelieft; showdigit ~.@timeleft, 2; sleep2 .@timeleft * 1000; showdigit 0, 3; end; OnStart: announce "event start", bc_all; .starttime = gettimetick(2); .start = true; sleep .event_duration * 1000; .start = false; end; OnInit: .event_duration = 5*60; bindatcmd "eventstart", strnpcinfo(0)+"::OnStart", 99, 100; end; }
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Now for the weird part of this script command

No.1 it run together with pvp counter

if you enter a PVP map, and try to showdigit, it actually show both of them

 so NEVER use showdigit inside a PVP map

No.2 log out and log in , the counter continues

this is another weird bug about *showdigit, it only send a value to the client
the countdown is totally handle by the client

for example from the script above,
if you log out inside the guild_vs2 map, just change character, log in back, the counter still shows
OnPCLogoutEvent also fail to remove it
prontera,158,185,5 script kjdfksjdf 1_F_MARIA,{ showdigit 0, 1; bug_showdigit = true; end; //OnPCLogoutEvent: // doesn't work showdigit 0, 3; end; OnPCLoginEvent: if ( bug_showdigit ) { showdigit 0, 3; bug_showdigit = false; } end; }

External Links:

How to put countdown
showdigit will continue to countdown if the player logout