Messages

106

Resolved Questions / Re: Lists too big? FPS Issues

« on: June 30, 2015, 01:01:16 pm »

This? http://community.stencyl.com/index.php/topic,41034.45.html

I looked through it, and I notice a "busy" Boolean that references "_ErrorsPresent"

That right there is what I'm looking for.  Not entirely sure how you attained verbose (for a lack of better terms) to enable/disable the Boolean "Busy" to allow the next step to work.  Could you give me a simplified version of how to get this behavior to work, even with a custom behavior?

107

Resolved Questions / Re: Saving Game State (Like, FULL Save)

« on: June 30, 2015, 12:47:56 pm »

Can you give me an example of how to use the latest version of the Attribute Saving extension?  I was unable to get it to function for Windows platform testing.

EDIT:  I just realized you posted your own extension (Extra Utilities) that relatively does the same thing I need for separate files.  I will give it a shot and see if it resolves my issue.  Thanks again

108

Resolved Questions / Re: Lists too big? FPS Issues

« on: June 29, 2015, 08:48:21 pm »

I actually determined it's not the lists existing that is causing the issues, it is the clearing the lists as part of the "deleting world" process.

But, once again I come to a point where I need to have a loading screen show up while the script is running in the background to clear up the 36k item list to be made fresh for a new 36k item list.  Is there any way to attach loading screens/bars to a large process like that?

109

Resolved Questions / Re: Lists too big? FPS Issues

« on: June 29, 2015, 08:11:07 pm »

Unfortunately the Attribute Saving extension may not be working properly, or I am using it incorrectly.  The game completely crashes when trying to use the extension so I am still at a loss.  No idea what I can do other than limit my players to one game save, or shrink the worlds dramatically. 

Attached is how I was trying to use it.  Save to a private attribute list, save that data with Attribute Saving extension to data file, clear attribute for performance, and load the value with the extension to set the value of the private attribute list to the data I saved in the file with the extension (gosh that's a mouthful).

110

Extensions / Re: Attribute Saving [Extension]

« on: June 29, 2015, 07:36:29 pm »

I just wanted to double check that this is working.  Maybe I am just doing things wrong?

Attached is an example of how I understand it.  I'm using Windows platform and saving a biiiiig list (36000 items), but this is just the usage of the blocks themselves:  I am simply trying to save the value of a list into the tilesave1 slot under "MYGAME", and then load it to set the variable of that same list.  The list will be cleared after the level loads for performance purposes.

Do I need to use attributes?  if so, which attributes are allowed to be used in the fields?  Entering the text as shown just crashes the game.  It stinks only because this was a fix for have 3 large lists and bogging down the game.  I hope I'm just making a mistake, as I do not have enough knowledge codewise to assist in repairing the issue .

111

Resolved Questions / Re: Lists too big? FPS Issues

« on: June 29, 2015, 12:42:05 pm »

I triple checked, it has to be the contents/size of the lists:

1) I did a Boolean as suggested, no change.

2) I did a "If NOT Scene is Transitioning" block around everything, no change.

3) I thought about checking something else, and leaving the lists alone to see if it was a drawing issue.  Instead of emptying the tilesave lists, I deactivated those blocks to leave the lists full.  Upon "Deleting" my last entry, which would normally speed up and be a clean transition, it froze up for 2-3 seconds due to the existence of the lists I hadn't removed.  I think the problem is now I have to be able to load/unload these game attribute lists in the background so that they don't load.

There was an attribute saving extension I was introduced to last week to accomplish something different, I think I may have to use it to unload/reload these lists for performance sake.   I will post my results, and will revisit if anyone has any non third party suggestions (existing blocks/no extra extensions).

112

Resolved Questions / Re: Lists too big? FPS Issues

« on: June 29, 2015, 06:51:30 am »

Mmk.  The only things active in this scene:

3 regions listening with an "Always/Updating" to load world on click

3 regions listening with an "Always/Updating" to delete world on click

6 drawing instances for text (world X and "Delete" for each world)

there are 6 drawing instances for tiles (two tiles for each world to indicate a save)

The events I have attached to said main menu screen:

1) Load Game  Save when created
2) An Always/Updating to create an actor to activate regions I mentioned above (if actor enters region, load scene)
3) See attached
4) The tile drawing mentioned above
5) The Delete text for the regions mentioned above

To answer your drawing question:  It is referencing a command upon creation to draw the blocks depending on a variable called "IsGenX" which is a Boolean that is ticked to true if once the world is saved.  If it is true, it will draw the word DELETE in the delete region.

113

Resolved Questions / Re: Lists too big? FPS Issues

« on: June 28, 2015, 07:49:48 pm »

Continuous until i delete the world saves it seems.  While screen is loaded its lagging, if i delete the world save (clear list and save game) it seems to resolve it.

The only thing happening on the main menu scene is six regions listening for input. (Load worlds and delete worlds) and they seem to run fine with one world save but not two nor three

114

Resolved Questions / Lists too big? FPS Issues (SOLVED)

« on: June 28, 2015, 05:52:55 pm »

Greetings!

I am having issues with FPS and I believe I have narrowed it down to my lists being too large.  I was wondering if anyone has any insight.  Here's the scenario:

I have a Main Menu:  There are 6 regions to click.  3 to load 3 separate procedurally generated worlds, and three to delete worlds in their respective save spot.  If there is save data in the world slot, it displays a different block  on that save slot.  If you click delete, it clears the data, and reloads the scene with a crossfade to show that there is no data in that save slot.

Everything works fine if I have one world with it's save data.  I click delete, and it slowly fades away.  If I have two worlds, it lags for a second or so, then just disappears.  I notice I'm experiencing FPS lag when I have 2 worlds saved.

Here's how the save data is saved:  I procedurally generated the world, then used the same method I used to generate to collect tile IDs in a specific order and add them to a list.  The worlds all save/load just fine (with some tweaks that I have to make, but that's a different topic).  Once I delete the 2nd world, the FPS issues go away and if I delete the last remaining world, I see the full fade animation with no FPS lag.

The size of these lists is pretty nutty.  There has to be 36000 entries to accommodate for all of the blocks in a world save.  Would this be too big?  If I have 3 lists with 36000 entries, will this bog down the game itself?  I still need to generate actors, and other game attributes that are much smaller, but this is a little bit of a problem to experience these issues throughout gameplay.

If this is the problem, is there a way to unload the game attributes that are not in use with some sort of Atlas work?  Thanks a ton for any help, as always!

115

Resolved Questions / Re: TilesetIDs - Can I change them?

« on: June 28, 2015, 12:16:58 pm »

Thank you very much!

I was able to figure out that the resources weren't overwriting as needed.  I changed the tileset ID to 0, and renamed the new tileset from 4 to 0 (there were 4 of them. 4, 4@1.5x, 4@2x, and 4@4x) and I accomplished exactly what I was going for. Thank you for the prompt response!

116

Resolved Questions / TilesetIDs - Can I change them? (SOLVED)

« on: June 28, 2015, 11:58:29 am »

Howdy!

It's a beautiful day for tweaking out on procedural generation!  I ran into something I feel is incredibly simple and I can't find an answer:

Can I manually change the TilesetID of a tileset?  Somehow it bugged out and I had to delete my tileset, and when I created a new one, it's ID is now tilesetID4.  For my procedural generation, I was using tilesetID 0. 

I know I can change it in my behavior, but I shouldn't have to hunt through my blocks for my old tilesetID and replace them with the new one.  Any help is much appreciated, as always

117

Resolved Questions / Re: Saving Game State (Like, FULL Save)

« on: June 27, 2015, 12:44:39 pm »

hahaha yes I am newbish... this is why I need consistent variables.

I forgot which one I used at first... fixed it aaand.

whatdya know... it saved a 90x270 block scene in like 1/10 of a second.  Thanks a ton for your help guys.

At first I was thinking inside the box and for some reason wasn't considering being able to even use the same "scan" logic I used to generate.  The code gets really small and does a whole bunch!  Thanks again!

NEXT Question (If I may piggyback on my own post)

Multiple Save States?  Is this an option?  Say I would like to have 3 worlds.  Could I save to a specific save file with an appending number?

118

Resolved Questions / Re: Saving Game State (Like, FULL Save)

« on: June 27, 2015, 12:34:12 pm »

Mmk, I am trying to build without extra extensions or custom code blocks (if at all possible) as I am new to game design/logic all together.  Lemme see if this is right, and maybe you guys can put me in the right direction:

Attached is a save function I pieced together with the same logic that generates my terrain, but instead of placing a tile by ID, it just takes that ID, puts it in a list, and then saves the list.

NOTES: 

Yes, I am aware that I can make better variables to accommodate all level sizes, I am just using this to understand better.  The conditionals for X/YLoc are the last row of tiles.

Specifically, the script waits for button press (default action1 - Z), sets variables to 0 to start at top left, puts the ID for each tile in a list in order of the scan, then saves it to the game save file.  Right now as soon as I press the save button, it freezes.  I assume I am assuming it's supposed to be simpler than I think. 

Another note, I am only working with one layer of tiles at the moment, later on once I understand the generation and saving a bit better it will become much more intricate.

119

Resolved Questions / Re: Saving Game State (Like, FULL Save)

« on: June 24, 2015, 01:46:58 pm »

Would anyone else perhaps have an alternative route to accomplishing save states?  At this point it seems I would have to block out a script that checks every row/column for tile IDs, store them in a list, then go through every pixel and check for actors, store them to a list.  Is this the only way to store the exact state of the scene?

As I mentioned, procedural generation is involved, which means a lot of extra work, but no idea if the listing idea above is even really feasible.

120

Resolved Questions / Re: Saving Game State (Like, FULL Save)

« on: June 23, 2015, 05:04:21 pm »

I'm trying to figure out if this can save generated scenes after they have been created.  By default, my scene will be empty with exception of the background, and when it is loaded the terrain will be generated.  After generation, I would like to save what the computer created with the formulas I gave it.