Strange scene changing/cutscene calling issue (possible bug)

skitt2501

In most of my scenes I have a timer/clock cutscene relationship set up where as soon as the scene begins, I start the timer cutscene which is then delayed by 1 second, and then adds 1 to the current timer. Then the clock cutscene is run, which translates that timer variable to minutes/hours variables or what have you. Then the timer cutscene is run again at the end of the clock cutscene. I have the time variable set up to be on the in game menu so I can see it counting up during gameplay.

This works fine in most of my scenes, lets call them scenes A and B, and in switching between scenes A and B there are no problems. The timer continues as it should. I also have a battle scene, scene X, where I'd like the timer to be paused, so I do not have the cutscenes in this scene. 

This also works fine, and the timer stops. However, when the battle scene, X is over and I switch back to scene B, the timer is run at two times what it normally runs at. Meaning, the timer cutscene is called twice, instead of once. 

So I played around with it trying to figure out what the issue is and I found only one reference to the timer cutscene in scenes B and X, and I finally decided to remove the call to the timer cutscene when coming from scene X, by using the check previous scene action. So ideally, the timer cutscene would not run at all when coming from scene X, rather, only when coming from scene A.

But much to my surprise, the timer cutscene was still being called TWICE when switching from scene X. I have notifications (play speech actions) set up to indicate whether or not the correct actions are being called for the correct scene, and those are showing up correctly. 

How is the timer cutscene being called twice? More importantly, how is it being called at all when I have removed the run cutscene action when coming from scene X? Also sorry this post is so confusing, but it's a very confusing problem.

ChrisIceBox

It is confusing, and though I appreciate you trying to explain it, I'm still not that clear on the issue. The Engine: Check scene Action works fine - have you disabled AC at all during the battle scene X?

A handy feature when testing Actions is in the GameEngine's Action List Manager inspector: check the Show Active Action Lists box to get a list of all currently-running lists.  May help you to shed some light.

skitt2501

Ah thanks, I didn't know about that. And no, AC is not disabled at any point in the project. But the show active action list menu  certainly helps pinpoint my issue- I have a cutscene which acts as a timer, with the following action list: http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3766/13279124093_e4f17d1f00_o.jpg

It calls the clock cutscene with this action list: http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3683/13278987435_199c4896c6_o.jpg

I believe I've found the source of this problem- I previously would call the clock cutscene at the end of my start scene cutscenes so that the timer starts 1 second into the scene. In searching for the cause of this problem, I changed the end of the start scene cutscene to simply stop, and not call the clock or timer cutscene.

So there are no action lists which run the timer or clock cutscenes. But it still runs! The timer counts up as normal, and the clock cutscene changes the variables as it is supposed to. 

I'm betting that is the cause of the previous problem... any idea why these cutscenes keep getting called? Is it because they are set to run in background? Or does it have to do with the start delay? I noticed another cutscene in a different scene which has a start delay running continuously after it was supposed to end. Could this be a bug? 

Thanks again.

ChrisIceBox

Probably.  Would you mind testing?  When a Cutscene is set to Run In Background, the start delay should be interchangeable with a Pause game Action at the start.  Try setting the delay to zero, and replacing it with a Pause action.

skitt2501

Ah I assumed it would just pause the game as it normally does. I tested that out, and I finally found the problem.

So previously, the timer cutscene was called at the end of the RoomEnter cutscene, which I had set to run on the scene start. 

At the end of that actionlist I had it run the cutscene: timer (or clock, both have the same effect), and it worked as intended. But in trying to solve this problem, I removed those run cutscene actions, and instead have it set to stop. 

It looks like the action remembers the run cutscene command even if the after running command is changed to stop, or continue. I switched back to run cutscene, and clock was still being called. So I removed that cutscene and it finally works! I think the run cutscene action overrides the stop or continue actions, even if it is set to stop or continue. Which is a big problem! 

Whew, it took quite a lot of digging to find that issue, I hope I've reported the bug clearly enough for you!

ChrisIceBox

I think so - I'll let you know if I need more clarification.  Thanks!