What could cause an app to export/import incorrectly?

Saelvarath

I've made a simple game on the Windows Client and exported it for publishing on a Mac. however, whenever try to open it in the Mac Client there is either no response or GS crashes. I've tested exporting an extremely basic app and it works fine. but every attempt to replicate this with my game fails.

I've tried using multiple versions of GS, different computers, and Deep Blue's converter but nothing works.

I can only conclude that there is something in the game itself that isn't converting correctly or is otherwise causing the problem.

What part of an app could cause this sort of trouble and how does one fix it?

Thank you.

tatiang

Would you be able to compress the original project file into a .zip file, upload it to a file-sharing site and post the download link here?

Saelvarath

I messaged you a link.
I only just noticed that it's a .rar, can you open that?

tatiang

Yes, I was able to open the .rar file. I'm upgrading to the newest version of Mac Creator and then I'll let you know what the project file looks like on my Mac.

tatiang

I can't open the project file. Did you send me the exported one or the original PC project file?

Saelvarath

the original, for the PC.

Saelvarath

I'm uploading the exported version now. I'll send you the link when it is done.

tatiang

I can't open either file. There's no error message... it just doesn't ever appear after double-clicking the file. I've never had that happen with any Creator files, Mac or PC.

Saelvarath

I've tried it on a few Macs and each had different results. on one early attempt I got a huge error message (i think the jist of it was there there was a LUA error). on more recent tries I've had GS crash, or give no response at all.

Saelvarath

Wait, can you not open the PC version on the PC client?

Manto

Some XML files in the project might be corrupted. That tends to cause projects not to open. If you want I can check the XML files for you.

Saelvarath

Is there a way that I could check for myself? Would it be as simple as running them through an XML validator?

Manto

@Saelvarath said:
Is there a way that I could check for myself? Would it be as simple as running them through an XML validator?

XML validator might tell you what's wrong. That's what I would try first. What you can also try is to make a copy of your project and start deleting scenes and actors to find out what file causes the crash. Maybe even delete all actors and scenes and see if that helps.

tatiang

whenever try to open it in the Mac Client there is either no response or GS crashes

@Manto the problem is that you can't get to the point of editing the scene. It's an instant crash. It's not like you open the file, Preview it, and then it crashes. You never see the Creator interface at all.

Manto

@tatiang said:
Manto the problem is that you can't get to the point of editing the scene. It's an instant crash. It's not like you open the file, Preview it, and then it crashes. You never see the Creator interface at all.

If they still have the original windows project file they should be a to delete scenes and actors in the windows editor. Or you can delete the xml files inside the project. But you'll also need to delete the actor and scene tags in objects.xml file.

Here are some things to try:

• Replace the assets.xml file with a file from a new project.
• Delete the gsuser file.

Also the Console app on Mac can help. Check what the error message says when you open the project. Here's an example of the error message when the assets.xml is corrupted:

28.2.2015 13.08.55,321 GameSalad[9564]: Stack Trace: Stack Trace:
0: C function (null)
1: [?:(null)]:0
{
(*temporary) =

<

table>
(temporary) = nil
(temporary) = (null)
(temporary) = nil
(temporary) = nil
(temporary) = attempt to index a nil value
}
2: tail call
3: [?:loadAssets]:0
{
(temporary) =

<

table>
}
4: [?:(null)]:0
{
(*temporary) =

<

table>
(temporary) = /Users/Hanne/Downloads/Temporary/project.gameproj
(temporary) = nil
}

Saelvarath

I did some testing and I've found that it's the .xmls for my actors that is causing GS to crash. 8.xml specifically is causing the crash but several other actors don't show up in the actor prototype tab even when that file is removed.

8.xml checks out as valid according to W3C's XML validator and the object that 8.xml refers to isn extremely simple script-wise.

one more thing I noticed is that in the Mac version of the project is that 14.xml doesn't have a corresponding 14.json.

@Manto I've gotten an error output once during an early attempt but never since. I can send you the file if you want but I think the gist of it was that there was a LUA error.

"Terminating app due to uncaught exception 'Lua Error', reason: '?:0: attempt to concatenate field '?' (a nil value)"

tatiang

@Manto good info... thanks for sharing it!

Saelvarath

Any ideas on what the problem with the files is or how to fix them?