reload safe addEvent loop example

loopEvent.lua

-- configuration
LOOP_EVENT_DELAY = 5 * 1000 -- (in milliseconds)

-- register list of affected creatures and protect them from reload
if not LOOP_EVENT_REGISTERED_CREATURES then
	LOOP_EVENT_REGISTERED_CREATURES = {}
end

-- store session id to reload the loop without duplicating it
if LOOP_EVENT_SESSION_ID then
	LOOP_EVENT_SESSION_ID = LOOP_EVENT_SESSION_ID + 1
else
	LOOP_EVENT_SESSION_ID = 0
end

-- register login event and prevent it from duplicating
if not LOOP_EVENT_LOGIN then
	LOOP_EVENT_LOGIN = CreatureEvent("globalLoopEventLogin")
	LOOP_EVENT_LOGIN:type("login")
	
	function LOOP_EVENT_LOGIN.onLogin(player)
		if LOOP_EVENT_REGISTERED_CREATURES then
			LOOP_EVENT_REGISTERED_CREATURES[player:getId()] = true
		end
		
		return true
	end
	
	LOOP_EVENT_LOGIN:register()
end


function globalLoopEvent(sessionId)
	-- reload happened, another loop will launch now
	if sessionId ~= LOOP_EVENT_SESSION_ID then
		print("Event was reloaded. Ending the function to avoid duplicates.")
		return
	end
	
	-- loop through all registered creatures, remove unavailables
	for cid, _ in pairs(LOOP_EVENT_REGISTERED_CREATURES) do
		local creature = Creature(cid)
		if creature then
			print(creature:getName() .. " (id: " .. cid .. ") checked!")
		else
			print("Creature with id " .. cid .. " was not found. Removing from the list.")
			LOOP_EVENT_REGISTERED_CREATURES[cid] = nil
		end
	end
	
	addEvent(globalLoopEvent, LOOP_EVENT_DELAY, sessionId)
end

globalLoopEvent(LOOP_EVENT_SESSION_ID)

note: if you intend to have multiple events, the names of functions and variables should be different so the events won't overwrite each other