Test Game problems -- possible fix

[Pumaman]

I've been looking into the Test Game problems that some people have been having for a while now.

Here's an experimental version of the editor:
http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/agsedit.zip

It requires 2.7 Pre-Final 3; just unzip it over the existing agsedit from that version.

If you have the test game problem, could you try it out and let me know if it helps; if you don't have the test game problem but have some spare time, would you mind just trying it out and making sure it doens't suddenly break things for you.

Let me know whether it helps at all.

[Privateer Puddin']

What is this supposed to fix? if it's the issue where you need to alt tab to get the program back, i didn't get that with this fix.

I did get one engine not shut down properly message (which has normally been a lot more common, but then i only tested it, rather than having ags open for awhile doing stuff then testing, if that's an issue.)

edit: the engine not shutting down message was when i used the X in the top right corner (just testing different ways of exiting ), rather than ctrl q or exit through the gui

[Pumaman]

This is supposed to fix the application hanging / locking up when you use the Test Game feature, which happened to some people.

[strazer]

if you don't have the test game problem but have some spare time, would you mind just trying it out and making sure it doens't suddenly break things for you.

Nope, everything works fine here, just as before.

[rich]

When I test the game, upon quitting out of the game, I still get this from time to time:

"The game engine does not appear to have shut down properly. If the problem persists, post the problem on the Tech forum."

Is this the bug in question? I don't get it everytime but probably half the time. I don't really mind though since it doesn't seem to affect anything. I can continue working on the game after that and AGSEdit doesn't close.

I did use the new zip and copied it into my Pre-Final3 folder, btw.

[Booboo]

I was having a problem with the "test game" feature.

Problem description:
In all tested 2.6 and 2.7 versions, when clicking on the "test game" command in the file menu for the first time, the mouse cursor disappeared and the screen froze.

Opening the task manager and terminating the AGS process returned control to the OS, but opening AGSedit again and attempting to use the "test game" command would produce an identical freezeup.

When the screen was frozen, if you pressed the windows button on the keyboard, it opened the start menu and overlayed a working taskbar over the frozen one (winxp). Moving the mouse down until it reached the taskbar area made it visible (only in that area). Right-clicking on the taskbar button for the test game, allowed you to close it without closing AGS. After doing that, the "test game" feature works flawlessly, no matter how many times you attempt it. If you close AGS and open it again later (even weeks later), the "test game" feature still works correctly. If the computer is rebooted, the freezup problem returns.

Resolution:
Even after two reboots, the experimental version of the editor provided in this thread solved the problem.

[RickJ]

I am using this patch without any different behaviour. 

The problem I have using test is that ocassionaly when the game begins the pallette appears to get screwed and the screen colors are all weird.  This happens in the first room after a short delay (5-10 seconds).  It's possible the problem happens when I initiate some event such as a mouse click or movement but I can't be sure.   Making a room transition (even to the same room) clears up the problem and it never happens again in that specific test session.  The problem does not occur every time, fairly infrequemntly actually. 

I haven't reported this before because I knew there were outstanding issues regarding test and that they were not successfully reproduced.   In light of the patch it now seems apporpiate to document what I am seeing and hence this report.

[rich]

Actually, come to think of it, I get the same problem that RickJ just described. Upon loading up the games, the colors are all wonky. But, like him... this only happens maybe once in thirty or forty times... I hadn't given it much thought until he mentioned. Sorry, I don't know exactly how I get it. I am running at 8-bit (256 color) mode on my game.

[Pumaman]

Problem description:
In all tested 2.6 and 2.7 versions, when clicking on the "test game" command in the file menu for the first time, the mouse cursor disappeared and the screen froze.

Resolution:
Even after two reboots, the experimental version of the editor provided in this thread solved the problem.

That's the problem I was looking at -- so thanks for the feedback, glad to see it seems to have worked.