GGMAX Bug - Save Standalone Linear Level Linking Breaks Levels

[Kitakazi]

There are numerous issues with the Save Standalone feature, making it impossible to create a functional multilevel game. This was a significant problem in GG Classic and has re-emerged.

Firstly, the "Standalone Test All Levels" mode fails to reflect the actual standalone build accurately. This mode is presumably meant to simulate how a standalone game will play, identifying any issues before the build. However, it does not serve this purpose effectively. When using Standalone Test All Levels, my game plays fine, but once I save a standalone build, the problems start.

Here are some specific issues I've encountered:

Only the first level runs correctly. Any subsequent levels are severely broken. Scripts fail to execute, materials and textures do not load correctly on entities, and some entities display incorrect materials/textures. Emissive textures sometimes fail to render properly. Random scripts do not function as intended. Images from the image bank do not display when referenced in scripts.

Additionally, saving and loading the game introduces further complications:

Triggered events, such as water level changes, do not maintain their state after saving and loading. Enemies set to Not Show At Start, which haven’t spawned yet, inexplicably have collision enabled. Numerous scripts become non-functional. Overall, the Save Standalone feature and save/load mechanics are highly unreliable and broken. These issues need to be addressed to ensure the creation of playable standalone games. I'm sure there is many more issues than what is listed above but I can't make it through more than 2 or 3 levels before something is so broken it stops me from continuing. For example one level the Win Zone just doesn't work.

[Denis87z]

I agree. There is such a problem. If the player picks up a weapon at level 1 and moves to level 2, and then returns back. In addition, the weapon lying at level 1 will continue to lie and it can be re-picked up

[Denis87z]

due to an error in variables, it is not possible to make games with an open world and multiple locations

[Kitakazi]

@Denis87z Hi Denis87z that might be a different issue than what I am talking about. I'm just talking about a linear game. I have not tried to build any sort of open world game with multiple locations. I'm just talking about a linear game with linear level progression. Unless your game also works as expected with the Save Standalone Test - and then your game presents the issues once you actually build the game.

[mike123yy]

Yeah, this is a pretty big problem. I'm building a linear game myself and it runs fine testing it. As soon as I made it a standalone objects have different textures, scripts don't work, items either gain or lose gravity and just fall all over the place and the save and load function is almost completely broken. If you save the game on standalone when you come back it might take you to the first level once you complete the level you're on or it might not let you beat it at all because zones won't trigger. Pretty much everything you've listed above I've encountered and had a problem with. I sent my game into Lee so he could take a look at the problems but I haven't heard back yet. Hope this gets fixed soon edit: I also forgot to mention the standalone also makes entities not spawn or fall into the map when they work fine testing. Collision also breaks on several items.

[Kitakazi]

Had typo in title :( just fixed

[mike123yy]

The new dev test beta version seems to have fixed the saving and loading issue. I've been working with Lee on my game to get that solved. I noticed a bit of the bugs were gone but there's still some there so you might give the a dev test beta a try and see if it makes a difference. I also gave him a link to this issue so hopefully these issues can get squashed.

[mike123yy]

Standalone bug issues specific to my game for Lee: trigger zones that are hidden until triggered by another zone don't actually get hidden on the majority of them. They trigger immediately when stepped on.

Almost all particles are missing on the stand-alone and reset themselves with the default speed. The speed issue is also present during the testing with the dev test but not the public build.

Cinema guru Max cameras and markers are all visible during gameplay. This might also be an issue with the dev test

enemy characters when triggered make a high pitch crackling sound with the audio until offscreen or killed

wine bottles in my second level have physics set and are affected by gravity but in the stand-alone they just stay in the air and don't move. They function fine during testing. Works fine when exporting the level individually with standalone.

Ball that rolls downstairs when triggered doesn't happen with standalone works fine with test game and also works fine when you export the level individually for standalone.

Pistol is missing from the final boss battle as well with the stand-alone and shows up in all other cases.

I will update this if I find anymore.

Like I mentioned in the email if you take any of these individual levels and put them in a standalone on their own alot of the issues go away(Besides the particle issue/cineguru and the enemy noise) . As soon as you build the game with all the levels connected problem start happening. At least for the ones I tested.

[LeeBamberTGC]

@Kitakazi When the next EXP build comes out, try your project with it in the Standalone Export mode first to make sure your game works across multiple levels. If you hit a snag, pick out the first one you see and document the step by step, then email me the standalone you exported so I can reproduce following your steps in my debug mode so I can see where it goes wrong. Best to tackle them one by one as I have done with Mike123, and in this way we should resolve all the issues you encounter.

[mike123yy]

I don't know why I never considered it but I made a level select menu on my standalone to see if it would make a difference with how the levels load. When using the level select menu if you jump to any level almost every bug is gone. If you play straight through them all the bugs come back. So the main issue here seems to be a bug when linking levels directly together. I thought adding a loading screen between each level might jog its brain but that didn't seem to help. So that has to be where the main problem is coming from. Linking them together how a game should work seems to make them load incorrectly and cause all the bugs. When doing the level select the trigger zones work fine as well as the collision and gravity. My entities that go missing come back and all the camera markers for cineguru don't show after the cinematic is played. The particles didn't come back but I figured that out too. The exporter for the standalone is not exporting the users particles. If you check the user folder after exporting the stand-alone it's empty. If you place them back in manually they show up.

[LeeBamberTGC]

As this 'general standalone' issue has a growing list of items being added, reported now by two different users, it is a good idea to break this up into one report for each issue, so we can reproduce each one in turn and work on the fix. I have handed this issue to Kass to help with this, and reproduce the issues with the next DEVTEST.

[Kitakazi]

I guess originally the issue was supposed to be that the Standalone Test All Levels

that this does not accurately represent an actual Standalone Game since numerous things are missing or bugs appear or w/e. But yea I guess that is a blanket kind of report anyway... so would you like me to just close this issue or should I leave it open?

[mike123yy]

Hey kitakazi, before you close the issue you might want to try one thing. You said your first level works good but the levels after that have problems. Try making a custom screen and then make a continue button and link that to the next level using the "win level" link instead of the "go to next level" link and do that for every level then see if the issues still happen. When you connect the levels directly to each other it seems to be causing the problem, at least for me. If it's the same for both of us I would say all these issues are from the same single problem. The storyboard isn't loading the following levels correctly when link directly together. That's why the first one always works but the other ones have problems. So you'd want your levels to look like this: first level – continue screen – second level – continue screen – third level – continue screen – etc. (Avoid using the betas right now)

[Kasseyus]

@Kitakazi Hi there. Now that the EXP build has been updated, would you please try running your standalone build in this version, and if you still encounter issues, can you upload them here, as one issue per ticket. This will help us to identify, replicate and solve each individual bug.

[Kitakazi]

@Kasseyus @mike123yy is correct. Adding a new screen and having it link to the next screen or level with "win level" fixed a lot of the issues. So yea something is definitely busted with normal way of having a LEVEL > LOADING SCREEN > LEVEL. For w/e reason like he said if you connect them that way then there is a lot of problems that arise.

[Kitakazi]

@LeeBamberTGC Re-opened this one because ALOT, like seriously almost every Save Standalone issue that I think people have is caused by what @mike123yy discovered. Connecting levels with a loading screen in the HUD like you would want too, produces errors in standalone games, but connecting some sort of Continue screen before the loadscreen will actually cause the levels too load in properly with no issues. So yea fixing this would be huuuuuge.

[mike123yy]

I sent examples to Lee with my game I was working on of the game made this way with the continue screen and one without to show him how it was causing problems. He said he was looking into a solution so i was waiting on that. Glad you confirmed that was happening with your game too. Yeah, if this got fixed I think it would clear out a huge batch of problems.

[Kasseyus]

@mike123yy @Kitakazi Hi Folks. Can you please E-Mail me your project to chris@thegamecreators.com so I can replicate this issue - we can then work on getting this problem solved once and for all. :)

It sounds like a lot of the issues have a root cause in how the levels are linked, so if we solve that one first, and any bugs listed above that remain can be then identified and resolved individually.

[mike123yy]

Are you wanting a standalone with the continue screen between each level that fixes it or the broken standalone that links each level together the traditional way? Lee has all my levels for each but I don't know if you guys share files between each other. I have a standalone already in my Google drive but it's the one that uses a continue screen between each level to get it to work properly. I could send you that one quick but I would have to rebuild the game if you want the messed up version. Let me know which one you need

Edit: turns out I didn't delete the files I sent to Lee so I just emailed them over to you. I have the full version with the continue screens between each and I also sent you a version that's connected the traditional way with the first three levels that shows how it's being messed up.

[Kasseyus]

@mike123yy Would you be able to send the project files, rather than the exported standalone?

The folder can be found in the writables area, e.g: C:\Users...............\Documents\GameGuruApps\GameGuruMAX\Files\projectbank...........

[mike123yy]

They are on the way now =)

[LeeBamberTGC]

@Kitakazi @mike123yy I have fixed an issue that shows up in Tom's haunting demo, specifically related to subsequent levels not being in the state they should be. The fix was to clear out some of the LUA global tables that held onto old data and caused all sorts of minor mayhem. Adding the interstitial screen helped clear this data, but not a great solution you will agree. In the next DEVTEST this data is now cleared out so feel free to try making and playing a new standalone with multiple levels. To keep things clean, this issue will relate to the issue of secondary levels and loaded saved games from being in the wrong state, and when fixed we will close it. Related or similar issues should be reported as a new clean separate issue so we can knock the bottles down one by one :)