Jase00's Forum Posts

  • Do you access Construct 3 in Chrome? What is the website you see in the address bar when you have Construct 3 open?

  • Yeah, that's what Remote Preview for NW.js is for.

    Ah amazing, thank you! I should have read that entire thread, I assumed it was all about using C3 in NWJS rather than having only the preview in NWJS.

    I'll try it out later!

  • Ayy,

    I have a Nwjs-heavy project, and I have been using the NWJS C3 to work on my project, which has been working very well for me, but I'm getting very unpredictable crashes as of recent months.

    The crashes cause C3 to never open again in NWJS (c3 silently closes on startup) until I delete construct3 in the appdata folder to repair it, causing me to need to install plugins again, login again, only to have the crash happen again randomly (sometimes the crash happens immediately again after clearing my appdata and logging back in, even without third party plugins installed).

    The crashes occur when a popup window is created, whether it is within the project (e.g. Popup the "Find" bar) or when clicking preview. The crash is a silent crash that just closes all of NWJS without giving me a chance to save. I don't have enough info for a bug report, and I also don't know if Scirra would be able to do much about nwjs specific issues. As you can imagine, it's really frustrating to use NWJS in this manner.

    Sooo, as Scirra intends C3 to be used in Chrome, and I do not get this crash in chrome, I was thinking, is there a way to load remote preview URL in NWJS? So then I can use C3 in Chrome, but test the project in NWJS.

    I understand that I'd need to update the package.nw with the newly generated remote URL each time I use Construct 3, but that's absolutely fine by me. I just want stability and no silent crashes.

    I tried installing nwjs, taking a package.nw from an exported project, editing the package.nw to point to the remote preview URL, and the ran nwjs, and it loads up the "loading remote preview" window and Construct 3 seems to detect this, but once it fully loads the remote URL, nwjs goes to a black screen.

    Any hints or tips on what to do would be greatly appreciated!!

  • Lol 6+ years ago I joined a college (in Epsom, UK) for game design, and it had Construct 2 as its main software to use. It was great, I was already an avid user of c2 and had projects to show off already 😎

    Then I dropped out of college opps

  • Sure!

    I choose Construct 3 because:

    The event sheet editor

    Lol there's other reasons too but it could be argued that Gdevelop have similar aspects.

    I like how close Scirra interacts with the community and I do think they are very passionate and knowledgeable.

    I like the multiplayer plugin, which for some reason gets a lot of hate, but it works extremely well and easy to use.

    I like the way construct 3 feels UI-wise and the structure.

    Performance comparisons would be interesting, but I wouldn't have expected too much difference between construct 3 and gdevelop, maybe in certain areas but there'd be a more dramatic different when comparing one of these engines to something else. Scirra have had an opportunity to reinvent their runtime engine after making construct 2, so I assume they have designed construct 3 with performance and efficiency as top priority.

  • On a slightly related topic - Howcome it's rare to see Construct mentioned on reddit in /r/gamedev?

    I always see godot mentioned, gamemaker occasionally, but construct is rarely mentioned. When it is mentioned, its usually someone asking "what engine should I use? Unity, gamemaker, godot, construct?" and noone ever offers an opinion about Construct.

    I don't often see clickteam fusion mentioned nor gdevelop either.

    I wonder about this, especially considering the recent blog post about performance between gamemaker vs construct 3, which made gamemaker look a lot more antiquated compared to the modern construct 3.

  • To be honest, I check out Gdevelop every now and then, and the same opinion pops up in my mind each time I give it a try:

    Clunky/Busy UI - too many options displayed when you're creating events and such, just feels a bit too all over the place. Maybe it's a learning curve thing.

    The other thing - I always try to add a text object to set it to the current FPS. In construct, you'd simply add a text object, and then the action "set text to: fps", done.

    In gdevelop, I never figured out how to find the equivalent of "fps" in expressions - maybe I'm an idiot but it seemed so intuitive to find within construct (construct had all math/system/time related things in the "System" object).

  • EDIT 1:

    Oh my gosh I don't understand. I spent the entirety of yesterday using popup windows and such, with r260 and NWJS v54, previewing over and over, closing the preview popup over and over, all working fine. However, today, I open C3, same exact versions as yesterday (r260, NWJS v54), made some event changes, clicked "Preview" and then C3 silently crashed when trying to open the popup window for preview (I only made a few changes so I didn't lose much work thankfully).

    Then beyond that, every time I try to re-open C3, I cannot use preview or popup windows at all unless I clear the appdata folder.

    I'm quite lost at the moment with this but if I gather more info to make a bug report, I shall, but damn it's frustrating how random it feels.

    Original post:

    Just an update:

    With r260, If I use C3 in NWJS v54, it works fine and I can use popup windows without C3 closing silently

    I updated to beta r261, still using NWJS v54, and I got this crash again when using popup windows, so again I had to clear my appdata folder, and start over again.

    I will make a bug report when I have time to mess around with this and get finer details, but for now I'll stick to r260. Just posting in case anyone else encounters this issue and needs a workaround!

  • quackgyver I agree that this is unusual! I often move and drag "else" events all over the place and I have never encounted this. I tried to reproduce this but cannot - If I had a red "else" and delete the previous event's condition that causes the "else" to be red (e.g. have an else below a "for each" loop, then delete the "for each" condition), then the else fixes itself.

    How did you get this else to be like this? What happens if you dragged it somewhere else, then back to below this event, does it fix itself?

    The only "Else" oddity that I have seen is when you have a disabled event with a red "else", it will refuse to run your project (even though the entire event is disabled). Makes sense generally, but you'd think it'd ignore the disabled event.

  • Edit 14NOV2021

    To everyone using the C3 editor in NWJS, I've tested this on a fresh new VM with Windows 10, and there is definitely a significant random issue when using popup windows or the debugger, so right now, I'd strongly urge everyone to avoid using C3 in NWJS, even from the official source or the third party launcher (which I always used and really adore!) but for now, you will run the risk of C3 suddenly closing with no error, possibly lose unsaved work, and then you need the computer knowledge to find your appdata folder and delete the right folder and waste time setting up C3 again, with the chance that you might need to repeat this process multiple times to get it working again. I recommend, and I believe Scirra also recommends, using C3 in Chrome, and then using the Remote Preview Tool to preview your project in NWJS, even though C3 itself is running in Chrome.

    EDIT 2:

    I might have found a further clue - Lowering the NWJS version from v55 down to v50, the popups work again. Weirdly, the popups open maximised, I don't believe they used to do that? I'll pinpoint the latest NWJS version and post back, and maybe write a bug report, but at least there is a hopeful workaround!

    EDIT 1:

    I just tried opening NWJS Construct 3 in a fresh new virtual machine, and did the exact steps to trigger the same issue:

    NOTE: Please follow the below steps CAREFULLY if you are a NWJS user, as this may corrupt your "construct3" appdata folder, meaning you will need to reinstall addons and set your settings and themes again.

    1. Rename your current appdata folder for c3 to back it up safely! (c:\Users\YOUR_USERNAME\AppData\Local (the folder is named "construct3")

    1. Open NWJS C3 in r260.

    2. Click the cross to close the welcome message.

    3. Close the "Start page" to make the project bar appear.

    4. Right-click the Properties/Layers/Project bar and choose "Popup Window" option.

    5. Silent crash. And it will reoccur every time you open NWJS C3.

    6. To fix - Delete the newly-created "construct3" folder, and rename your original construct3 folder back to normal.

    Step 3 is the clue - I believe the "Buy now" screen is supposed to hide the project and property bars, yet they display if you close the "Start Page" tab, maybe this is a clue to the bug - baring in mind I triggered this bug mid-way using C3 rather than on startup

    If, however, I do the below, it works fine:

    1. Open NWJS C3 in r260

    2. Click the cross to close the welcome message

    3. Open Kiwi Story from start page.

    4. You can safely use "Popup Window" on the project bar, properties bar, etc.

    5. Close all popup windows.

    6. Close the current Kiwi Story project.

    7. You will now be on the "Buy now" tab.

    8. Click the "Start page" button.

    9. Open Kiwi Story.

    10. All is working fine with popup windows still.

    Original post:

    Hey all, hope someone could help me at all, I'm at a loss :(

    I use the NWJS version of C3 all the time, as my project fundamentally relies on loading local files and using File/Save popups.

    Mysteriously, in the middle of using C3 yesterday, it crashed without warning. Hours of use, suddenly it just crashes (closes silently).

    Now I opened C3 again in NWJS, and I am finding that, even with no project open, if I use "open as Popup window" on ANY panel (Properties, Find, etc.), it will silently crash and leave a crash dump in my APPDATA folder for "construct3" (which I have no clue how to open, apparently I need WinDBG?).

    I have tested this thoroughly, renaming the old appdata folder and using an older version of C3, and I still get the crashes when using "Open as popup window".

    SOMETIMES it works with a fresh C3 in NWJS with no appdata folder. But so far, I can't find a pattern. The only pattern I find is, once it crashes once, it will 100% crash again the next time I open and try to open a popup window.

    When testing, I open Kiwi Story, and manage to get the same crash to happen, so it's not related to my project.

    I'm HOPING this is a computer issue, and I do not suspect it is C3. I use Avast, and nothing is appearing in my history. Windows Defender has nothing in the logs. Event Viewer has nothing interesting in its logs.

    Anyone had anything similar? Any suggestions that may help? I use dual-monitors and use popup windows all the time :(

    I believe the admins don't work on weekends - it's a small company, and everyone needs a break from work to switch off and get on with their lives and do their hobbies, see friends and family.

    If they peeked at the forum every single day for the past 10 years, then that'd drive anyone insane.

    Rest assured, it will be looked at and maybe even fixed on Monday.

  • Try Construct 3

    Develop games in your browser. Powerful, performant & highly capable.

    Try Now Construct 3 users don't see these ads

  • ACCES-Mathieu , How strange, I can see "Align" when I highlight 2 instances and right-click one of them.

    I also finally discovered the "Expand" and "Collapse" groups button in C3 - If you right-click a group, it's within a sub-menu called "Event Sheet" which I didn't even realise existed, so that's good to see! (C2 had it immediately visible when right-clicking a group).

  • I had a similar question but always thought it was too minor to post about.

    C2 has "collapse all groups" in the event sheet editor, but I don't believe this exists in C3.

  • Ayy,

    Just curious, what options are there for a entirely offline LAN game, without the need to be online to connect to a signalling server or anything?

    Is it impossible to use IP connections in HTML5, even with a 3rd party plugin?

    Also, this is NW.JS only, if that matters.

    The purpose is to send really basic data, doesn't need to have UDP, but does need to bi-directional. Think of a turn-based simple game, like chess.

    Thanks for the input!

  • Thanks for feedback piranha305 and dop2000 - I asked, and I received! Yeah even if it's on the forums here (I don't even have social media beyond Reddit, tbh I'd actually make an account just to vote if it was only social media, that's how eager I'd be for some form of influence for C3), and it doesn't need to be "monthly", it could be once a new beta cycle starts and it could gauge what to make in the next beta cycle for 2 months into the future perhaps (of course not at the start of a new beta cycle and then expecting to have the suggestion made within the next few releases).

    It's a shame it didn't come to be though when you suggested it a year back.

    I think if we do a 6-monthly reset, we could take the top 10 or so ideas at the end of that period, and permanently archive them somewhere, so the fact they got a lot of votes is recorded and isn't lost right away.

    I mean, I'm not 100% against the idea, but I guess I don't know exactly what you had in mind - if you archived the top 10 or something, would this be public, or tucked away at Scirra...and wouldn't this build up suddenly over time?

    The whole point of this discussion is to figure out how to avoid people inundating us with a mountain of work that is literally impossible to implement. Then people get disappointed that what they suggested isn't being worked on. If people can post unlimited suggestions, we'll be inundated.

    With the "monthly poll" idea combined with dop2000's "upvote once on all suggestions" idea, then you don't need to worry about the hundreds of new ideas that only get 6 upvotes, and you don't have to worry about being inundated with a huge amount of suggestions, nor worry as much about disappointing people, because: If the casual C3 user browses the suggestions website, and they know that they can upvote whatever they like, then they'll probably check out "Recent" and will hand out upvotes and comments to whatever they feel is a good idea, and ignore (or downvote?) the ideas that are poorly written, bad, pointless, or even defend Scirra on suggestions that go against Scirra's philosophy (e.g. The community will defend Scirra if someone's trying to attract attention to a "native export" idea - We care about C3 and we understand its mission and we would explain this to anyone trying to scream about native exports).

    Once suggestions start reaching a high amount of votes, then it's up to Scirra to set boundaries on what they will acknowledge or not, maybe Scirra would only acknowledge & write a comment on the top 20 suggestions, which doesn't mean Scirra will immediataely work on the suggestion, but Scirra could at least provide feedback, even if a suggestion gets to number 1, Scirra can dish out the facts and say "Sounds great, this is feasable" or "That's impossible I'm afraid, [maybe a quick reason why it's impossible, just to soften the blow]".

    I think it needs to be accepted that a fair amount of people will have to be disappointed, it's impossible to cater to all suggestions, but I guess I'm trying to focus on how to make the disappointment lower, as well as change the "reason" for disappointment. If people are competing to get their suggestion noticed, then yes disappointment exists, disappointment will always exist regardless of the solution to this topic, but where now we have people thinking "Does Scirra randomly check up on this website? Or not? Is it alive? Should I even bother?", we could instead have a busy suggestions platform with unlimited upvotes, and people would be thinking "Damn I need to write something well-written and spark discussion on my suggestion to encourage people to vote for it, because if I do, then it will rise and then there's a guarantee that it will be acknowledged by Scirra". This would happen primarily because the suggestion-creator knows the community has unlimited voting power, and would be thinking "The community are upvoting based entirely on how I write my post and the idea itself (and not voting based on "Hmm I only have 1 spare vote to give, I'll use it elsewhere"), so I better write this out well so I attract maximum attention".

    This all relies on the suggestions website being a busy website, but I really do think that the consistency of a monthly/bi-monthly poll of 5 highly-rated suggestions (that Scirra picked from the top 10 highest-rated ideas) would surely attract people to the suggestions website. With the existence of these polls, people will know that the suggestions site is alive and thriving, which attracts more visitors, more votes, more participants - I mentioned doing these polls on Social Media; wouldn't this boost Scirra's visibility too when more people engage on your Social Media posts?

    The absolute key point about being inundated with a mountain of work: The 5 suggestions that are in the poll will be voted on, and once the poll is over, those 5 suggestions will then be filtered down into one ultimate suggestion, which then Scirra could then work on. All said and done, this leaves Scirra with 1 suggestion to implement into C3 between each poll, and maybe commenting on like 20 suggestions. That's it for Scirra. The rest is the community curating the suggestions and essentially doing most of the admin work with votes and comments. A consistent pipeline like this just sounds really ideal to me, I wish I could articulate why.

    I'm hyper-focused and passionate about the poll and "unlimited upvotes" concept, but to comment on the "minor suggestions" thing - I'd say keep this section! Or, can you do "tags" and make it so people can tag things as a "minor suggestion", therefore keeping categories tidy? If Scirra could then browse via "Highest-rated minor suggestions", then this can be another poll at a different rate to monthly (considering they are MINOR, this shouldn't become a huge addition to Scirra's workload), and maybe only acknowledge the top 5 instead, or however Scirra would want to handle the numbers and workload. Keeping in mind that these should still have the strict "This isn't exactly a minor suggestion, sorry" judgement from Scirra - because otherwise it WILL waste your time.