I think I found the issue, and I guess NLua isn't really capable of handling that kind of stuf PROPERLY!

Okay NOW I can say that didn't help at all!

And go for TAKE IV!

So let's do that first

But maybe that is because I forgot to recompile NALA

That didn't shine a light on things

Take III, I think?

A try{}catch scope MAY provide some answers???

".NET error in user code" fuck it!

And again

Missing )

Another test

I really should make sure that higher level locals cannot conflict with higher level ones, but for now this will prevent a crash

The difficulty was not saved, that has been fixed!

Let's see what'll happen

I've set up a reader for the directory file... This is an essential part of the savegame routine

I see, what I wanted to see... Good!

Will likely produce an empty screen now with only the side bar, but it makes things easier on me as I don't have to go through the game sequence all the time now!

I've written the link code to link the main menu to the save game manager, in order to load a game

the item itself does NOTHING yet!

The main menu should check if a savegame directory file exists, if so then allow "Continue a Game" to be used

My primary concern now is though, to get the directory files properly read, and to make the main menu properly respond to its existence

Back to the game, all I know for sure now is that RPG character can load the way it should do, about SAVING, I know nothing right now, the upcoming time this needs to be sorted out....

Another note... You won't notice the difference in NIL yet

Unfortunately this doesn't work on locals... If there's a way to make it happen, I'm all ears...

Some experimental code has been written to bring more strictness in global variables in NIL... They are often considered as "dangerous" so maybe....

Time for a break

And fixes the stats issue in the process too, even better!

In order to fix I did first try a little experiment, and HEY IT WORKS!

Well only 2 bugs left and they are minor ones, which should be easy to fix, so no real harm here ;)

I forgot to replace the BlitzMax style tabs with C style tabs, and C# requires the latter

Lists do show the links, but

And lists also look in order

And so do their links

Points show

But their links are in order

Stats names show, their values do not

Along with the links

Data also shows accordingly

The RPG Char viewer shows the party the way it should

And that should also fix ANOTHER issue I had on the road

the TRPG data class... it was a leftover from the translation, contained the same properties as the new RPG data, and was causing conflicts

The linking issue has been fixed, and that's a good thing as this is a fix that will also automatically be fixed in NALA as well (due to both project using the same code file for this one), however not all issues are over yet, and I really cannot code the save game routine as long as those bugs linger

I don't have any TFT savegames available right now, so I can't check, but I expect the same kinds of issues there, especially in the New Game+ since the character in the history flashbacks are linked to the main party

The RPG Character engine fails to establish a link between Crystal and UniCrystal (which is technically a link to Crystal in cyborg from and in her prologue full human form, in which "Uni" stands for "Uniform" as she wears one during that mission.

I didn't "fix" this error, since this error is microsoft's and microsofts alone... In Duch nicknamed "MicroSCHOFT" for a reason, but at least this unwanted behavior should now be avoided

Added tag VOID

NEVER rely on MicroSoft to do a good job on such things

How could this happen? All slashes were replaced with BACKSLASHES!!!

This result by JCR6 tells me something different

 Real Size Comp. Size Ratio   Offset MainCode    Storage Entry
========== ========== ===== ======== ======== ========== =====
       145        124   86%       1F YEAH CYC       zlib LAURA/System
     10197       3400   33%       9B YEAH CYC       zlib LAURA/Vars
       302        222   74%      DE3 YEAH CYC       zlib Map/Actors
      1676        433   26%      EC1 YEAH CYC       zlib MS_Save/SCRIPT/FLOW/ACHIEVEMENTS.LUA
      2313        721   31%     1072 YEAH CYC       zlib MS_Save/SCRIPT/FLOW/COMBAT.LUA
       242        168   69%     1343 YEAH CYC       zlib MS_Save/SCRIPT/FLOW/FIELD.LUA
        32         32  100%     13EB YEAH CYC      Store MS_Save/SCRIPT/FLOW/NIZOZEMSKASAVE.LUA
       413        174   42%     140B YEAH CYC       zlib MS_Save/SCRIPT/FLOW/PHANTASARSTORE.LUA
        35         35  100%     14B9 YEAH CYC      Store MS_Save/SCRIPT/FLOW/SAVEGAME.LUA
      9060       1681   19%     14DC YEAH CYC       zlib MS_Save/SCRIPT/FLOW/TRANSPORTER.LUA
        19         19  100%     1B6D YEAH CYC      Store MS_Save/SCRIPT/FLOW/UPGRADE.LUA
        24         24  100%     1B80 YEAH CYC      Store MS_Save/SCRIPT/MAPS/PHANTASAR - FRENDOR.LUA
        17         17  100%     1B98 YEAH CYC      Store MS_Save/SCRIPT/SUBROUTINES/PARTY.LUA
       152         42   28%     1BA9 YEAH CYC       zlib Net/Anna
       199         61   31%     1BD3 YEAH CYC       zlib Net/GameJolt
       314        197   63%     1C10 YEAH CYC       zlib Party/Character/Crystal/Lists
        11         11  100%     1CD5 YEAH CYC      Store Party/Character/Crystal/Name
       874        302   35%     1CE0 YEAH CYC       zlib Party/Character/Crystal/Points
     12637       2122   17%     1E0E YEAH CYC       zlib Party/Character/Crystal/Stats
      1462        531   36%     2658 YEAH CYC       zlib Party/Character/Crystal/StrData
       622        207   33%     286B YEAH CYC       zlib Party/Character/ExHuRU/Lists
        10         10  100%     293A YEAH CYC      Store Party/Character/ExHuRU/Name
       127         82   65%     2944 YEAH CYC       zlib Party/Character/ExHuRU/Points
      6824       1128   17%     2996 YEAH CYC       zlib Party/Character/ExHuRU/Stats
      1496        492   33%     2DFE YEAH CYC       zlib Party/Character/ExHuRU/StrData
       690        245   36%     2FEA YEAH CYC       zlib Party/Character/Foxy/Lists
         8          8  100%     30DF YEAH CYC      Store Party/Character/Foxy/Name
       127         80   63%     30E7 YEAH CYC       zlib Party/Character/Foxy/Points
      6779       1163   17%     3137 YEAH CYC       zlib Party/Character/Foxy/Stats
      1449        505   35%     35C2 YEAH CYC       zlib Party/Character/Foxy/StrData
       622        207   33%     37BB YEAH CYC       zlib Party/Character/Johnson/Lists
        10         10  100%     388A YEAH CYC      Store Party/Character/Johnson/Name
       127         83   65%     3894 YEAH CYC       zlib Party/Character/Johnson/Points
      6824       1161   17%     38E7 YEAH CYC       zlib Party/Character/Johnson/Stats
      1532        530   35%     3D70 YEAH CYC       zlib Party/Character/Johnson/StrData
       622        207   33%     3F82 YEAH CYC       zlib Party/Character/Rolf/Lists
         8          8  100%     4051 YEAH CYC      Store Party/Character/Rolf/Name
       127         80   63%     4059 YEAH CYC       zlib Party/Character/Rolf/Points
      6824       1146   17%     40A9 YEAH CYC       zlib Party/Character/Rolf/Stats
      1496        492   33%     4523 YEAH CYC       zlib Party/Character/Rolf/StrData
        51         51  100%     470F YEAH CYC      Store Party/Character/UniCrystal/Lists
        11         11  100%     4742 YEAH CYC      Store Party/Character/UniCrystal/Name
       127         83   65%     474D YEAH CYC       zlib Party/Character/UniCrystal/Points
      6779       1157   17%     47A0 YEAH CYC       zlib Party/Character/UniCrystal/Stats
      1462        529   36%     4C25 YEAH CYC       zlib Party/Character/UniCrystal/StrData
       643        256   40%     4E36 YEAH CYC       zlib Party/Character/UniWendicka/Lists
        12         12  100%     4F36 YEAH CYC      Store Party/Character/UniWendicka/Name
       127         82   65%     4F42 YEAH CYC       zlib Party/Character/UniWendicka/Points
      6781       1164   17%     4F94 YEAH CYC       zlib Party/Character/UniWendicka/Stats
      1488        518   35%     5420 YEAH CYC       zlib Party/Character/UniWendicka/StrData
       643        256   40%     5626 YEAH CYC       zlib Party/Character/Wendicka/Lists
        12         12  100%     5726 YEAH CYC      Store Party/Character/Wendicka/Name
       127         79   62%     5732 YEAH CYC       zlib Party/Character/Wendicka/Points
      6781       1169   17%     5781 YEAH CYC       zlib Party/Character/Wendicka/Stats
      1488        519   35%     5C12 YEAH CYC       zlib Party/Character/Wendicka/StrData
      1002        308   31%     5E19 YEAH CYC       zlib Party/Character/Xenobi/Lists
        10         10  100%     5F4D YEAH CYC      Store Party/Character/Xenobi/Name
       127         80   63%     5F57 YEAH CYC       zlib Party/Character/Xenobi/Points
      6779       1144   17%     5FA7 YEAH CYC       zlib Party/Character/Xenobi/Stats
      1469        500   34%     641F YEAH CYC       zlib Party/Character/Xenobi/StrData
       408        192   47%     6613 YEAH CYC       zlib Party/Character/Yirl/Lists
         8          8  100%     66D3 YEAH CYC      Store Party/Character/Yirl/Name
       127         81   64%     66DB YEAH CYC       zlib Party/Character/Yirl/Points
      6779       1162   17%     672C YEAH CYC       zlib Party/Character/Yirl/Stats
      1513        554   37%     6BB6 YEAH CYC       zlib Party/Character/Yirl/StrData
     76485       5880    8%     6DE0 YEAH CYC       zlib Party/Links
        61         59   97%     84D8 YEAH CYC       zlib Party/Party
      7423       2982   40%     A0F9 YEAH CYC     STRONT Secu/Secu
      1061        381   36%     8513 YEAH CYC       zlib SWAP/Perma-Map/Excalibur_Home.lua
       314        216   69%     8690 YEAH CYC       zlib SWAP/Perma-Map/Excalibur_UnderAttack.lua
       308        236   77%     8768 YEAH CYC       zlib SWAP/Perma-Map/LostPlanet_Bonus_SpaceObservatorium.lua
       363        232   64%     8854 YEAH CYC       zlib SWAP/Perma-Map/LostPlanet_Dungeon_Cell.lua
       269        215   80%     893C YEAH CYC       zlib SWAP/Perma-Map/LostPlanet_GrassJungle_2.lua
       273        218   80%     8A13 YEAH CYC       zlib SWAP/Perma-Map/Nizozemska - Dark Graveyard.lua
       195        162   83%     8AED YEAH CYC       zlib SWAP/Perma-Map/Physillium - Ji Temple.lua
       250        180   72%     8B8F YEAH CYC       zlib SWAP/Perma-Map/Poloqor - Mid-Boss.lua
       220        173   79%     8C43 YEAH CYC       zlib SWAP/Perma-Map/Prologue_Yaqirpa.lua
       304        194   64%     8CF0 YEAH CYC       zlib SWAP/Perma-Map/Vulpina - Town.lua
       275        219   80%     8DB2 YEAH CYC       zlib SWAP/Perma-MultiMap/Excalibur - Final/SECRET1.lua
       645        230   36%     8E8D YEAH CYC       zlib SWAP/Perma-MultiMap/LostPlanet_Dungeon/#003.lua
       619        227   37%     8F73 YEAH CYC       zlib SWAP/Perma-MultiMap/LostPlanet_Dungeon/#007.lua
       271        217   80%     9056 YEAH CYC       zlib SWAP/Perma-MultiMap/LostPlanet_Junkyard/#001.lua
       195        163   84%     912F YEAH CYC       zlib SWAP/Perma-MultiMap/LostPlanet_Junkyard/#004.lua
       273        219   80%     91D2 YEAH CYC       zlib SWAP/Perma-MultiMap/Nizozemska - Belioss/#006.lua
       242        194   80%     92AD YEAH CYC       zlib SWAP/Perma-MultiMap/Nizozemska - Groenhart Bos/Bos.lua
       281        223   79%     936F YEAH CYC       zlib SWAP/Perma-MultiMap/Physillium - Black Castle/#003.lua
       434        273   63%     944E YEAH CYC       zlib SWAP/Perma-MultiMap/Physillium - The Ruins of the Y Anhysbys/#001.lua
       197        165   84%     955F YEAH CYC       zlib SWAP/Perma-MultiMap/Physillium - The Ruins of the Y Anhysbys/#002.lua
       307        201   65%     9604 YEAH CYC       zlib SWAP/Perma-MultiMap/Physillium - The Ruins of the Y Anhysbys/#003.lua
       198        166   84%     96CD YEAH CYC       zlib SWAP/Perma-MultiMap/Physillium - The Ruins of the Y Anhysbys/#005.lua
       273        218   80%     9773 YEAH CYC       zlib SWAP/Perma-MultiMap/Volcania - Caves/#002.lua
       193        163   84%     984D YEAH CYC       zlib SWAP/Perma-MultiMap/Volcania - Volcanic Plains/#000.lua
       280        220   79%     98F0 YEAH CYC       zlib SWAP/Perma-MultiMap/Volcania - Volcanic Plains/#003.lua
       279        224   80%     99CC YEAH CYC       zlib SWAP/Perma-MultiMap/Vulpina - Flower Forest/#002.lua
       283        225   80%     9AAC YEAH CYC       zlib SWAP/Perma-MultiMap/Ysperon - Eugorvnia Caves/#007.lua
      7547        579    8%     9B8D YEAH CYC       zlib SWAP/Perma-MultiMap/Ysperon - Eugorvnia/#003.lua
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       285        185   65%     9EAD YEAH CYC       zlib SWAP/Perma-MultiMap/Ysperon - Facility/#001.lua
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        This resource has 100 entries

for starters, it claims that character Crystal doesn't have a list record

Okay, I fixed, that but the trouble ain't over yet!

But after that NOTHING's shown, which is quite odd

Mascot not found

CSS ignored

Still A LOT to be done here!

Le moment suprème

All parse errors accounted for

5 errors left

VS still gives me 11 errors (which was over 300 or so, so I'm making progress).

I'll first do some more work on the RPG character viewer, as that's where I must fix some errors first, and which I will need badly once the save game routine is fully operational, fo the essential debugging that will start immediately, and may even be needed over the course of this entire project

Well, back to work

Indeed

Success... I think

Generated this devlog anew and let's see now what happens...

And recloning the site onto my system

This is a time-eating process, though

A safety backup is created first (and since I can make most archivers add-and-delete in one go, this is all fine).

These devlogs are generated from a database stored elsewhere on my system, so It'll never be endangered! ;)

Let's destroy that entire repository (on my own disk I mean, and re-clone it)

And "git" keeps throwing errors, but when everything is ruined anyway, I can easily do this without messing things up any further

Yes, I deem that a failure and with that I state a fact, sorry!

Microsoft's unwanted unasked autoupdate ruined my setups

Calling it a day!

vUpdate

Updated

Yup, it works now

And another test coming up

Fixed that issue

Because I'm an idiot!

I wonder why time says "nil"... especially since the file created shows an actual value here

And while the backup goes, let's test on!

And yup, some adaptions needed to be done here too!

Let's start this one up first, as I fear for a long going backup!

Language code showed in the time field, which is of course not right

No info at all in new-slot

A few things are not yet right, though!

And another go, then!

Case Error

Another test coming up!

And I made sure it only shows in games already saved, not in new slots

And some extra data should show now in the savegame screen!

In the field the play time already increases (although you don't see it yet)

In the Save/Load project I've now moved #37 , #36 and #35 to in progress... those are the easiest to take care of, really

As far as I can tell that indeed fixes things

And see if that fixes stuff

used that in savegame state

Duper remover in LinkedList module

Testing!

I need to look a few things up here

For some reason the first 'create new file' box is created twice

ID 0 comes twice, but the others do not.... Hmmmm?

Y not adepted

At least I think so, but let's check this, eh?

Which should be done now

I do need to create a box for this new item though

Yeah that works

But I gotta be sure, first!

I think I fixed it

Var conflict?

Let's test if that is indeed how it works!

If a new file was created a new "create new file" slot should be generated

I did forget though (and that could cause an issue later) to ignore '-1' ID slots, as these are non-existent files after all!

I do not know why, but strangely enough the 'dupe' issue also seems gone

Now I need to check the 'dupe' data issue

The 'nil' values have indeed been taken out of the directory file

Correct picture at least, but how about all other data

Let's go!

Fixed the damage my haste caused

I was too fast!

And let's test this once more!

Directory file, so we can have a start-over!

But that one has been fixed

Oh yeah, I forgot not Aziella's picture, but Eric's picture had to be shown....

Well, always look on the bright side of life... There have been some important progressions, already

second the number of 'nil' records should be non at all, as they should not have been saved at all.. Why does that still happen?

First issue 2 records with ID:0 -- Not allowed

I do not like what I see in the directory folder:

NEW:0
Location:Xenor Bushes
Language:EN
Time:    0:00:00
CharTag.1:YoungIrravonia
CharPic.1:1
CharTag.2:nil
CharPic.2:nil
CharTag.3:nil
CharPic.3:nil
CharTag.4:nil
CharPic.4:nil
CharTag.5:nil
CharPic.5:nil
CharTag.6:nil
CharPic.6:nil
CharTag.7:nil
CharPic.7:nil
CharTag.8:nil
CharPic.8:nil
NEW:0
Location:Xenor Bushes
Language:EN
Time:    0:00:00
CharTag.1:YoungIrravonia
CharPic.1:1
CharTag.2:nil
CharPic.2:nil
CharTag.3:nil
CharPic.3:nil
CharTag.4:nil
CharPic.4:nil
CharTag.5:nil
CharPic.5:nil
CharTag.6:nil
CharPic.6:nil
CharTag.7:nil
CharPic.7:nil
CharTag.8:nil
CharPic.8:nil
HighID:1

Like a wrong picture reference

It looks like it's working, but I need to sort some more things out here

And that another test is in order now!

It goes without saying I fixed that

I wonder how I came to that property name

I think I fixed that?

It keeps me busy I suppose...

But got another

Fixed ONE thing

And let's test out what'll happen

let's fix up the door a bit closer... I mean, nail it shut

the test though confirmed what I expected... nil was generated by an other function, but why?

Time to check my rice... I'm hungy!

Git threw a few failure message on this devlog.... But not a clear reason why could be found.... Oh well...

In the meantime a few fixes in the RPG viewer (of the many more to come, trust me)

Well, let's find out!

In order to find out how GetChar() could get 'nil', I've made a few other calls a bit stricter, and let's now see what happens, as the traceback fails to give way this time (nothing new here, though).

In my RPG viewer tool which I'm now also rewriting in C#, I've now translated the tool that has to generate HTML data to C#. There is still a lot to do though before it can be properly put to action.

And let's test!

Recompiling

Let's see if this gets me more information on the next error

Well that issue's been fixed... Or so it seems....

I think I found out where it goes wrong.... I guess that was the woe of a multi-state engine :-/

Further investigation of the code of that party bar rule the possibility out even more....

Everything about this error is impossible, so if you've eliminated all the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth... However once I've eliminated all the impossible... NOTHING remains so that must mean the truth doesn't exist. If this error was correct, the party status bar would not work, and it works, and the data in it is in order... None of that could be possible that way, so none of that makes sense....

The error thrown is a bit odd... Is further investigation needed?

Okay, brb, guys!

I've also combined this with the work on my RPG Viewer... 2 projects in once, yeah... only I am stupid enough to even TRY that!

Updated

License and versions

Like I said I'll tackle that one later, as I really need a break now!

Before that test can really start I must rebuild NALA, but I've set it all up in a sequence... just wait for it :P

and regardless if new bugs pop up... I'll first take a break... But only if I can confirm the fix below...

An now Take TWENTY-ONE must tell me if there is more stuff that is wrong

Anyway this should be fixed now... (At last)

In stead of (state,call,chunk) it was (statecall,chunk)... Everybody knows Lua knows a nil will be produced and that parameter 3 has become parameter 2, so this was bound to go wrong. This could happen because the glue code in this department was written in pure Lua (as I had the illusion that would be quicker, but I guess I was wrong).

The try catch did now cause the real error message to appear, and also to reveal stuff was sent to the API that was as false as hell!

The Truth has been found... at last!

Take TWENTY!

Another Try{}Catch scope must confirm this now

I think I found the source of the "evil", but I'm not sure... At least it seems that a few suspects I had before have now been proven innocent!

Take NINETEEN

I've done a few more breakdowns, so I can really pinpoint more precisely what could be wrong, and make sure all other stuff is REALLY impossible now

STILL NO GOOD!

Cockroaches! Lovely creatures aren't they?

Take NINETEEN!

Another try{}catch

Take EIGHTEEN!

Compilation done

NALA must be recompiled as a result though

As the interstate communication appears to be to blame I've added some exception catchers in there

Indeed no difference, but it was expected, and at least that is one possible truth less for sure now!

Take SEVENTEEN!

I've investigated the import order in AnyWay.nil, and I've seen that GameVars is done later, than the time module... Very likely this is an impossibility given the fact that then the translation of time.nil would already have failed before I could even select a savegame slot, but I wanna be sure I can rule this one out, completely!

That does indeed seem to be one of the "impossibilities", but more elimiation may be needed here

Take SIXTEEN!

Now what I did see is that I missspelled "os.date", but I deem it unlikely that is the case, but I gotta run another test to rule this out as a possibility

that being said, the only "possibility" appears to be the communication with the time generator

If you've eliminated all the impossible, whatever remains, however impropable, must be the truth!

The breakdown DOES show that the error took place during the base configuration

Take FIFTEEN!

Forgotten ")"

Computers, don't even TRY to understand them!

And now it doesn't happen....

Now THERE is an error that is not possible... WTF is going on here?

Let's GO! Test FORTEEN!

Some debug lines must provide me some more answers!

Mostly I just need to find out which API is being called, as the evil can lie there (not always, though, as I found out errors during #use clauses also cause this error, but that doesn't seem to be likely now given the time this error is given).

In other words "get lost, asshole!"