Scrolling Game Development Kit Forum
SGDK Version 1 => Help/FAQ => Topic started by: billybob884 on 2006-01-31, 05:41:09 PM
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after each time i save, i'm having a little problem. it saves ok, then i select continue on the menu, and it begins to play the little prelevel video clip (theres 1 before each major level). if i let it play through, it works fine, but if i press any key to skip it, it stops playing hte video and shows a black screen, with hte previous levels music playing, and then just does nothing. so far this has happened 3 times, on the first 3 levels, but doesnt happen if i try to skip the video after loading the save.
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actually this only seems to happen occasionally, and so far only for the first 3 videos. it's very strange indeed.
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I up'ed it on YouSendIt, so it should be there for another 6 days:
http://s53.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=2NK5Y1JJQ3R1P2991KEVSG1OVA
its 50.66mb (the fully compressed installer)
Supposedly they have very fast d/l speeds, I don't personally remember, but that should help a good bit for a file this large.
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I don't have time to download it at the moment, but let me see if I can get started asking some of the right questions at least:
- Do you want the video clip to play after saving or is that just a side-effect that you could or would like to do without?
- Can you work around the problem by skipping the video clip after a save by changing the special function sequence that occurs during a save somehow?
- Does the problem only occur when saving and not after loading?
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- Do you want the video clip to play after saving or is that just a side-effect that you could or would like to do without?
Yea its supposed to play;
- Can you work around the problem by skipping the video clip after a save by changing the special function sequence that occurs during a save somehow?
i could try having the video clip play before it saves, but i was hoping to keep the present order of lvl, boss, save, clip;
- Does the problem only occur when saving and not after loading?
Yep, only after saving (I'm pretty sure, have to check when I get home);
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ok, putting hte videos b4 the saves worked great, have't seen the problem since ::) . heh, thanks
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ok, i was wrong, its still a problem...
the only thing i can think of is maybe theres a problem with the video itsself..
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I downloaded the project; how do you reproduce the problem?
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well, quick way to do it is through the level select. at the nmain menu go to start, but press ctrl; that brings you to the level select. then just go to any white box with 3 horizontal ovals and a T followed by a number (i see it happen in 1-3 the most). jump up at once and it brings you to a short NPC-controlled level, then to a save screen. save it to any slot then go to ocntinue game. this will bring you to a little prelevel clip, and this is where it locks up, it will play the clip fine, but if you try to skip it or let it play through, nearly all of the time it just shows a blank scsreen with the previous level's music playing, and you have to alt-tab it to get out.
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Well, I tried going through those levels a few times now; I tried skipping and not skipping the video. I can't get it to fail in the way you describe. I looked at the level where the problem happens and the design of the level looks remarkably simple. All I can do is offer some tips on trying to help diagnose the problem next time you see it or things to try to see if it makes the problem go away. First of all, you should probably put the sequencing back the way it was (the way it is in the copy I have, I presume) if that's the ideal sequencing. Changing the sequence probably didn't help the problem, and I wouldn't want you to compromise your design for no reason.
So here's some more things to try:
- Make a visible player sprite controlled by the input device so that next time the problem occurs you can see if the game totally frozen up or if it's still responding and just failing to go to the next map.
- Try adding more functions on this map. Have one function play the video and have another function go to the next map. make sure neither of them can be activated by the player. Then create a global function that activates those two in sequence.
- Try putting the pre-level video as a function on the actual map that will be active instead of a map of its own.
- Make the sprite (invisible or not) follow a path on the pre-level video screen and put the 2 functions along the path so that they activate when the player touches them (but not immediately at the beginning of the path and not immediately next to each other). This might reduce possibilities for GameDev losing track of which level the player is on or which functions are being ativated.
These are just things to try to see if you understand the problem better. You don't necessarily have to leave your project that way if new information suggests a better solution.
Best of luck. Oh, and I don't care if this game is huge; I'm going to have to get it on the listing one way or another when you give it your blessing to be released! :)
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- Try putting the pre-level video as a function on the actual map that will be active instead of a map of its own.
so just as a function that 'activates once before gameplay begins'? hopefully that wont make it play each time the level starts (i.e. if the player dies). if it did i could always make it require an inventory
Best of luck.
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The "Activate once before gameplay begins" only applies to the beginning of the game and not the beginning of the map. But you could make it a global function that gets removed after it is activated. As long as you save the game before the function is activated, that will allow the video to play after you load the game, but it won't play again after you die.