Cerulean the Blue's Modding Frenzy

I had a number of random encounters with possums or rats or heaven-knows-what lurking in the undergrowth in a city park tonight... lucky my survival skills are high.

I feel I have gotta say somehing about this, because I never do it yet never have any problems that can't be explained some other way, and (usually) get my .py file hacks working, but ALWAYS without having to delete the .pyc file to 'force' a recompile.

I hypothesise that if people are having issues where a .py hack is not kicking in, then it has to do with the save they are using: perhaps they are saving next to an NPC, changing that NPC's .py file then loading the save. This may well caus things not to fire.

The answer is not so much deleting the .pyc as get into the habit of saving on a seperate map to changes and ALWAYS use a save from another map. This can be inconvenient (certainly was when I was hacking up Prince Thrommel and had to make my way back to him from the 4th lvl stairs to test every little thing) but is important not just for .py files but for most other changes on the map, eg new .mobs, changed .sec files etc any and all of which may be found in any given Co8 release.

Ergo, its a good habit to get in and u never have to worry if you've deleted your .pyc files or not.

 

Yeah but what I am saying is I don't do it, and the py files seem to recompile anyways. Which suggests either they recompile on a map change, or just when u start the game. I don't know when it is, but unless u r running the game in a window and making file changes without restarting the game (which some people may well be doing but I never do and should think would be problematic when modding) its automatically happening.

I'm not saying don't delete your .pyc files, but lets not start advertising this as a panacea for problems. People coming to the site asking questions should NOT be advised "delete your .pyc files", its a complication to folk who struggle enough as it is and if our mods don't suit certain situations, well people should be told straight up "you have to start a new game", not "u have to delete these files and you have to avoid saving on these maps and you have to do blah blah blah". Thats fine for us modders but not the ordinary folk who download our efforts in large numbers and just want something easy to run.

[EDIT] If people are having this problem because they mod in a wondow, can they let us know?

[2nd EDIT] Actually, yes they do compile when u use them <smacks forehead>. Which begs the question, can anyone honestly say they had a problem that was solved purely by deleting the .pyc file and nothing else?

 

I tried editing script files while the game is running, it didn't make any difference until I restarted, so I guess the entire script library (*.py) is loaded when the game loads, and is held in memory? (not 100% sure about that part) and only refreshed when loading the game the next time.

I can't say I have, but then I try to avoid scripting as much as possible, that said I always delete all .pyc files and map cache files before uploading a new version of the Verbo-mod, but that's more to cut the file size down a bit than to prevent problems.

 

Thanks Ug but actually Rufnredde and I have decided to do a quick bit of testing to get to the bottom of this. Stay tuned for results.

EDIT: u too Al

 

I hope you don't mind ol' blue one, I had to re-number your dlg, scr and the proto references to them to avoid a conflict with my Verbo-mod (I used number 379 instead of 339). I'll take a look at the changes and post my feedback shortly.

 

Ok, back from a kwik test:

I added a KOS command to Calmert's heartbeat file and loaded a save standing next to him (without deleting the .pyc). I've got pix, but couldn't b bothered photoshopping them: suffice it to say he went me the instant the screen loaded (complete with summoning Terjon). Sooooooo even on the same-map save, he still compiled the NEW .py file.

I then transfered the KOS command to the first_heartbeat file and reloaded the 'next to him' save. This time he stood around placidly: the first_heartbeat hadn't fired, BUT the normal heartbeat had clearly been recompiled WITHOUT the KOS command that would have been in the previous compile.

I walked outside, walked back in, the first_heartbeat fired and Calmert (and Terjon) attacked me. So the file worked

We know that first_heartbeat doesn't work too well with autosaves. I would suggest they simply don't fire when u load a save, but only on map changes.

I don't think it has anything to do with the pyc file. Guess I shoulda tested a first_heartbeat change with the .pyc deleted