error : I can't start the game anymore !

[Marion]

HELP !! I can't launch my game anymore! I got this error :



All I did since last time was adding some inventory items !

[Crimson Wizard]

Could you upload the image somewhere else, because it does not show for me?

Also, you can usually do Ctrl+C when error window is open, that will copy the text to clipboard, and then you can paste it into the forum post.

[Marion]

Sure, sorry. Here is the text :

Loading game failed with error:
There was error reading game data extensions.
Unknown extension.
Type: id:89.

The game files may be incomplete, corrupt or from unsupported version of AGS.

***

I'm using AGS 4.0. It worked fine until today.

[Crimson Wizard]

So, this is happening when running a compiled game.
Have you tried to fully rebuild it?
Please tell what version is this exactly (you can see the full version numbers in Help->About menu).

[Marion]

It's happening when I try to test the game. I also have rebuilt it fully and I got the same error when I launch the .exe.
It's the version v4.0.0

[Crimson Wizard]

It's the version v4.0.0

There should be 4 numbers, the last is important for me to know.

[Marion]

Sorry, wrong line : 4.00.00.13

[Crimson Wizard]

Well, this error means that the game was not compiled correctly. But I cannot tell how exactly that could happen.

Did you upgrade the version of AGS recently?
Do you remember what did you add to the game right before this began to happen?

[Marion]

I use the same version since I began the game. I didn't change. I tried to open the game with a previous version when I had problems importing sprites, but it couldn't open it and didn't save anything.
Apart of that, I just added some sprites and inventory items, write some code lines, but not much.

[Crimson Wizard]

I'm afraid that I won't be able to tell what is going on without knowing more, or directly debugging the game project.

Is it possible for you to send me your project files privately so that I could take a look?

[Marion]

Sure, I will send it to you by MP. But it's 15Go, it will take some times to compress and upload. Thank you very much for your help !

[Snarky]

it's 15Go

That'll be why it stopped working.

[Marion]

 

[Crimson Wizard]

Sure, I will send it to you by MP. But it's 15Go, it will take some times to compress and upload.

I'd like to give a hint for the future: there are 2 files in the project:
"acsprset.spr" - is a sprite package
"backup_acsprset.spr" - is a backup copy of a sprite package

This is usually the largest files in the game. You have put both in the archive, which made it twice as large, but only first file is necessary.

Similarly, there's Game.agf and Game.agf.bak, where latter is a backup copy. This file also may be large if there's a lot of game content (like dialogs). Game.agf.bak is unnecessary to include into the archive.

Then, in AGS 4 the rooms are stored as folders in "Rooms" folder, and files called "roomN.crm" are only used as a temporary output when compiling the game. So there's no need to include "roomN.crm" files also.

Removing "backup_acsprset.spr", "Game.agf.bak" and "roomN.crm" files from the archive shrinks it down from 22 GB to 10 GB.

Something else that you may try to do in regards to your game is to change Sprite Compression from LZW to Deflate, that option was added recently and usually better than LZW.

I will try to check out what the problem is next...

[Marion]

Noted ! Sorry ! Thank you very much !

[Crimson Wizard]

I found what's wrong, this is a bug in the engine, that makes it fail to load a Release game build since version 4.0.0.13. You probably had your game set to Debug mode, but then turned that off recently, and that's where it began to fail.

I made a fixed version of 4.0.0.13 engine, which you may replace in your Editor program folder:
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/j6le6de9nqs5z3zkwo5kq/acwin-4.0.0.13-fixloadreleasedgame.zip?rlkey=faqnjvy5c2b7z0s1yzl87bg9w&st=cfwkjzl1&dl=0

I will be adding this fix to the recent 4.0 update too, and provide a download link later today.

[Crimson Wizard]

Another thing, I made an experiment, switching Sprite Compression from LZW to Deflate.
It took ALOT of time to resave the game due to a huge size of a sprite file (about 15 minutes maybe :/).
But the size of acsprset.spr went down from 16 GB to 9.8 GB, so like 40% off.

EDIT: Although, I would question the necessity of having so much graphic data for this game. I only made a quick glance of the game process, and it looks mostly as a travel between rooms with static backgrounds and minimum of functional animations. Perhaps it could have been optimized up to a certain degree.

[Marion]

I will try immediately ! Thank you SO much !!!! ♥♥♥

[Marion]

It works !! I can continue my game !! I can't thank you enough !!!  \o/