Recompiling Ink changes json syntax to make files unusable in Unity (without tedious edits)

[sopeculiar]

Unity requires me to Recompile Ink when I make edits to the ink files. However, this reformats my jsons from version 20 to 21 and alters the syntax, making them unreadable by Unity without manually editing each file.

Here's the json after a recompile:

And the edits I made to fix it:

What can I do to prevent this in the future? It makes editing dialogue in our game a huge pain. TIA.

[tomkail]

Hi! I’m not sure I see the issue? The plugin should play json files of the same version that it compiles to. You shouldn’t ever really need to look at the json files. Can you explain what you mean again?

On Mon, 8 Jul 2024 at 20:25, SoPeculiarGames @.***> wrote:

Unity requires me to Recompile Ink when I make edits to the ink files. However, this reformats my jsons from version 20 to 21 and alters the syntax, making them unreadable by Unity without manually editing each file.

Here's the json after a recompile: Screenshot.2024-07-08.at.3.20.50.PM.png (view on web) https://github.com/inkle/ink-unity-integration/assets/26007000/c2c69f69-6ac0-4365-9635-cfc75555a112

And the edits I made to fix it: Screenshot.2024-07-08.at.3.21.42.PM.png (view on web) https://github.com/inkle/ink-unity-integration/assets/26007000/3fc6900b-ab75-49be-8ab1-a3d20e758127

What can I do to prevent this in the future? It makes editing dialogue in our game a huge pain. TIA.

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[sopeculiar]

Hey, thanks for the response! The repro steps would be:

• Dialogue is playing just fine in the editor and in builds
• Find a typo
• Fix it in the Ink file and save
• Attempt to build in Unity
• Get an error that it is necessary to recompile Ink
• Recompile Ink
• Play the build: no dialogue plays for any character

The only fix I know of is to edit the json files after recompiling, though I would certainly rather not. :)

[tomkail]

You absolutely shouldn’t need to change the json files. When you say compile ink, how are you doing that? Unity ought to do it automatically for all ink files in your project. You shouldn’t need to compile manually. Are your ink files in your Unity project?

On Thu, 11 Jul 2024 at 21:18, SoPeculiarGames @.***> wrote:

Hey, thanks for the response! The repro steps would be:

• Dialogue is playing just fine in the editor and in builds
• Find a typo
• Fix it in the Ink file and save
• Attempt to build in Unity
• Get an error that is necessary to recompile Ink
• Recompile Ink
• Play the build: no dialogue plays for any character

The only fix I know of is to edit the json files after recompiling, though I would certainly rather not. :)

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[sopeculiar]

They are in the Unity project. Unity is not compiling automatically. It just gives me an error that it needs to be done before it will build. So I use this option under Assets:

[tomkail]

Gotcha. It ought to - can you check your ink Settings in Project Settings? It’s possible auto compilation is off? What is the error you get?

On Thu, 11 Jul 2024 at 21:43, SoPeculiarGames @.***> wrote:

They are in the Unity project. Unity is not compiling automatically. It just gives me an error that it needs to be done before it will build. So I use this option under Assets: Screenshot.2024-07-11.at.4.41.42.PM.png (view on web) https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/f378fd7f-047f-43ed-a95a-5277f1afcd38

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[sopeculiar]

I was just looking at that. Here's what I've got.

Would it have updated automatically at some point? The previous files in the JSON were version 20, and they changed to 21 after the recompile. It seemed like that was when the problem began. I've been using Ink in this project for almost 2 years, and the problem only began a few months ago.

[sopeculiar]

I just did a test, and it auto-compiled, but the dialogue isn't being read. It pops up as empty. Here's the beginning of the JSON file after the auto-compile. I think it's not reading the speaker tag correctly?

[tomkail]

Hmmm. Are you on the latest version of the plugin? If so, share your ink and I’ll have a look!

On Thu, 11 Jul 2024 at 21:52, SoPeculiarGames @.***> wrote:

I just did a test, and it auto-compiled, but the dialogue isn't being read. It pops up as empty. Here's the beginning of the JSON file after the auto-compile. I think it's not reading the speaker tag correctly? Screenshot.2024-07-11.at.4.48.53.PM.png (view on web) https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/d9d7b12f-23f3-48dd-b2f6-1b92b49394bb

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[sopeculiar]

I am on the latest version. How do I share the Ink? Add an attachment here?

[tomkail]

That’ll be fine! Ta!

On Thu, 11 Jul 2024 at 21:57, SoPeculiarGames @.***> wrote:

I am on the latest version. How do I share the Ink? Add an attachment here?

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[tomkail]

By the way - whan you say the version changes from 20 to 21 - what is compiling to version 20 and what is compiling to 21?

On Thu, 11 Jul 2024 at 22:22, Tom Kail @.***> wrote:

That’ll be fine! Ta!

On Thu, 11 Jul 2024 at 21:57, SoPeculiarGames @.***> wrote:

I am on the latest version. How do I share the Ink? Add an attachment here?

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[sopeculiar]

I'm attaching an Ink file here for you. It's a part of a larger project, so let me know if you need to see more.

As for the compiling version. When everything was working smoothly, it was compiling to version 20. I would make changes, it would not usually auto-compile, but that was fine, because I could just manually do it in 3 seconds. Then at some point (can't remember exactly), I compiled and the dialogue would no longer play. I checked the changes to the Ink and JSON files. The differences were in the version number and the syntax of the beginning of the JSON file. All the Ink JSON files had been changed to version 21. Keeping the version number at 21 seems to work fine, as long as I edit the beginning of the JSONs so that it reads the speaker tag, but editing every JSON file each time I make a change is not a great solution.



On Jul 11, 2024, at 5:28 PM, Tom Kail @.***> wrote:

By the way - whan you say the version changes from 20 to 21 - what is compiling to version 20 and what is compiling to 21?

On Thu, 11 Jul 2024 at 22:22, Tom Kail @.***> wrote:

That’ll be fine! Ta!

On Thu, 11 Jul 2024 at 21:57, SoPeculiarGames @.***> wrote:

I am on the latest version. How do I share the Ink? Add an attachment here?

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[tomkail]

Hi! I can't see the file, annoyingly. Can you reupoad it? Before that though - I've just updated the package - can you possibly try the latest version?

[sopeculiar]

I updated the package, but the problem persists. :( Trying another method of attaching the files. I can't upload an ink file here, but I copy/pasted the content into a txt. The JSON is also attached.

Charlotte.json Charlotte.txt

Feel free to email me at chera@sopeculiar.com if you want to talk through anything in detail or screenshare. I'd love to fix this!

[sopeculiar]

I did a little more testing. I think the problem is how it's parsing the speaker tag. I can move the speaker tag and get the file working again, but it won't read the speaker's name unless I change the JSON.