Windows Creator: First stop if you experience unexpected behaviours

Hopscotch

Hi all,

for many new users, the Windows version of the Creator is the first contact they have with Gamesalad.

While many users develop quite happily on the Windows version, a large number immediately gets frustrated because the Creator seems buggy and exhibits some of the following problems:

- actors dragged onto the scene just disappear
- the size of actors changes unpredictably if scaled on the scene
- in the preview the actors are sometimes all shifted to the bottom left
- sound volumes can not be adjusted
- colors and transparency/alpha can not be adjusted
- certain animations are jerky

The problem arises from the fact that the Windows Creator does not take your Windows Regional settings into account when dealing with decimal numbers. Gamesalad expects a decimal point ("."), not a comma, as in some international regional settings.

Therefore, if you drag an actor onto the scene to position X:240,5 and Y:120,5 and let go of the mouse, the actor actually jumps to X:2405 and Y:1205 because the comma is ignored. The actor now is way off screen an seems to have disappeared.

The same symptom appears when changing sizes, colors, etc.

Fortunately the solution to all of the above is quite simple.

- Close Gamesalad if you have it open
- In Windows click on START and open up the CONTROL PANEL
- Open the REGIONAL AND LANGUAGE OPTIONS
- On the REGIONAL OPTIONS tab click on CUSTOMIZE
- On the NUMBERS tab ensure that the DECIMAL SYMBOL is set as a . (full stop)
- Change the Thousands separator to a , (comma)
- Click on APPLY and on OK
- On the next window click on APPLY and on OK

Start the Gamesalad again and now the Creator should behave as expected.

Caveat: You may have to change the Regional Settings back after you are done in Gamesalad if you notice a problem in other software. For most users it will be fine with the new settings though.


@jamie_c posted a great comparison between Windows and Mac versions here:

http://forums.gamesalad.com/discussion/58898/gamesalad-macintosh-and-windows-interface-comparison

This is particularly helpful for Windows users who have difficulty following the online Tutorials and Videos which are mostly for the Mac version of Gamesalad.

I hope this helps those of you that prefer to use the Windows version of Creator.

Have fun and be creative,
Roland

KevinCross

Thanks for sharing! Bookmarking now as I know my friend is going to experience all of these when he gets around to looking at GameSalad after installing the Windows version the other day.

jamie_c

This is good info, thanks for posting!

-Timo-

good info thanks

loolazoola@gmail.com

Hi
I use Windows 8 and i don't find "REGIONAL AND LANGUAGE OPTIONS" in the Control Panel. Only "Region" and "Language" but both don't have option to change the number/decimal setting

tatiang

@Hopscotch thanks for posting this! I'm sure people will find it useful. What version of Windows were you using when you made the instructions?

Hopscotch

@tatiang this applies to ver 0.10.00 and before.

Hopscotch

@loolazoola@gmail.com you are on the right track.

For Win8:

Control Panel -> Clock, Language, and Region -> Change date, time, or number format

...then click on "Additional settings..." to change the Decimal- and Digit grouping symbol.

Donronca

I'm using Windows 7 ultimated and When i'm open my game, gamesalad shuts off. and get error , When i'm open other game is works fine.. Does This fix This to? Greets

kinzua

Nice share :-bd
Don't really use a windows creator but nice to know about such a function.
Good finding.

triplenine

Thanks a lot! I was so frustrated , glad to know that we can count on this community. Awesome!

Hopscotch

UPDATE regarding problems with the Preview Window

A few users have mentioned problems with the Preview Window:

either the whole page is white and empty or the black preview pane appears but the actual preview does not play. This apparently happens about 50% of the time, going back and reopening sometimes works.

It seems that this problem is related to the graphics driver. In the case where I was able to reproduce this, updating the graphics driver to the latest version solved the problem.

SmokeyAce73

Please help, I am unable to update my gamesalad, windows, I get the following error message:Unable to find resource on server. Please check if the URL is correct.

Where do I find the URL

Thanks!

codybeans

@SmokeyAce73‌ same problem

PandaParents

Thanks for posting this. I am using windows 7 and how do I change the setting?

Hopscotch

@PandaParents, the procedure for Win7 is the same as posted at the top. From the Control Panel you can get to the regional settings.

garufa

I am having a problem when exporting a project for Mac, with the creator of Windows. When I open it on the Mac, which has some features that are play and work perfectly in Windows, on the Mac are not working. The funny thing is that there are 14 equal actors in the scene with the same rules and only one is not working.
Any idea what can be happening?

Hopscotch

@garufa, please ask your question under the category "Working with GS (PC)".

This thread is specific to some minor issues getting GameSalad to work under Windows in some countries.

Tomato7100

Attribute browser does not come up when I press the 'e'. the attribute box goes blue on the frame and that is it. Maybe I'm missing something but this is really annoying. I copy code in but cannot create my own. Can anyone help..I've read your posts and seen numerous videos and I can tell you the attribute 'E' does not pop any box! Using windows 7.

Hopscotch

Hi @Tomato7100, are you using dual monitors by any chance? My suspicion is yes. If so, close GS, disable one monitor, open GS again and it should solve it. Now you can enable the second monitor again. Sometimes the offset for displaying the popups gets confused.

JodyMitoma

So, earlier today, all I did was delete an actor, and Windows Creator decided to crash. Sometimes I try moving Rules around, and it crashes... Sometimes just SCROLLING through the rules and behaviors of one of my actors makes it crash. Very unstable, but I am VERY thankful for its existence.

jigglybean

@JodyMitoma - you just need to save often. Windows creator crashes more if you keep switching from viewer to creator and sometimes if you have lots of rules. If you make changes, ALWAYS save first before trying them out.

If its a major change, I make a template of the previous version, just in case I don't like the changes made

blackhamlet

OK this is very frustrating ... I have disabled double monitors; I have checked and updated every driver that exists; I have checked and double-checked the Windows regional settings and options; I have closed down and restarted both Gamesalad and my entire PC for every separate operation. I have also systematically disabled ANY potential software conflict like virus scanners etc one at a time and in groups and even disabled everything except basic operating system. No matter what I have tried so far I still get both the problem reported by HOPSCOTCH on March 15 (preview screen is white and nothing plays) plus the problem reported by SmokeyAce73 on March 17. This (Gamesalad) is the first module in the the training series offered by the School of Interactive Design and it's starting to leave a bad taste in my mouth. Is there a workable solution or are we playing 3 guesses? Please help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! - Roy

JodyMitoma

@blackhamlet said:
OK this is very frustrating ... I have disabled double monitors; I have checked and updated every driver that exists; I have checked and double-checked the Windows regional settings and options; I have closed down and restarted both Gamesalad and my entire PC for every separate operation.............. - Roy

There are no available updates for the Windows GameSalad Creator, so don't bother trying to hit the "Update" button. It is not set up to any specific location to download anything. When there is a new release for Windows, simply come to this website to download it.

Your issue with white preview screen has to do with your graphics card drivers. Update your drivers and you should be well on your way.

Best of luck Roy.

blackhamlet

Hi all,

Issue was my hosts file had entry's in it pointing to 127.0.0.1
So I added

127.0.0.1. Localhost

and the problem is fixed. For everyone else out there with the same issue please follow these instructions:
Go here: C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc
Open the file called Host using Notepad.
You will find a section similar to this:

localhost name resolution is handled within DNS itself.

127.0.0.1 localhost

::1 localhost

Start of Entries made by A1C V1x0r's cs5 Activator

0.0.0.0 localhost

Where you see the 0.0.0.0 change this to 127.0.0.1

Then save the file.

Hope this helps!

Gdogg

if i go pro, will they update windows? its critical for android apps

stevej

@Gdogg said:
if i go pro, will they update windows? its critical for android apps

Pro users have access to preview builds of Windows Creator. For instance, there is a preview build of WC 10.5 available to pro users, and a post-10.5 preview build should be coming soon.

artsoils

I'm using window, thank for this info

ookami007

I'm Pro, but I'm not sure where to download the preview versions... where do I go.

Right now, I just upgraded my Windows 8 to 8.1 to support my monitor and now GameSalad is doing weird things - like not opening up the attribute menu when I try to change an attribute.

Is this fixed in the preview 10.5?

Hopscotch

@ookami007‌ have you tried the nightlies here?

http://gamesalad.com/download/releases#win

Other than that, make sure you have the latest graphics drivers installed if attribute menus fail to show.

ookami007

Ok... so, how do you know what the nightly builds mean...

For instance, for Windows... it's shows the current stable is 0.10.4.1 but the latest nightly is... 0.0.0.20

How do you know if it's later, earlier... when it was released... etc?