Project updates

[Rick]

Do we have any ideas on what can be done with the little annoyances that come with updating a project? I feel like there should be a difference between critical files (maybe shaders) vs MyGame files that aren't so critical. I dislike files that I delete coming back. I dislike files getting overwritten and backed up. There must be something to do to make LE updates 100% annoyance free. I'm always terrified to update my LE project in fear of it breaking my game.

[Josh]

The alternative is for me to make changes and no one ever gets them.

[Rick]

For sure update the MyGame template project with your changes so new projects get the fixes, but some kind of "blank" project that would only include the bare minimum (shaders and app.lua maybe) would be nice. These project types wouldn't get updates to anything else (for sure LE C++ updates though as those don't break things). That might be nice for the more advanced users who don't want 90% of the MyGame template stuff. A lot of changes are around these MyGame scripts which are nice for beginners but people who aren't using them deal with some annoyances with them.

 

Maybe an option when creating a new project to pick what we want and don't update these at all. We can do it ourselves if we want to. I feel like a middle ground of beginner users vs experienced users would be nice.

 

I don't know, but the current process just seems clumsy.

[Josh]

One thing I have considered is always running the executable from the template directory and getting rid of the update option altogether.

[Rick]

Updating the exe is generally not the annoyances people have been complaining about though. The complaint is generally around the MyGame scripts that get put into every project. When LE C++ stuff gets updated it doesn't cause any issues. So yeah, just have the Lua game exe's in the template folder. That part should be fine.

[YouGroove]

There must be something to do to make LE updates 100% annoyance free

It's not possible otherwise it would not be major updates. Take a look at UE4 updates, some major ones really breaks compatibility sometimes, i got a map totally lost also. I create my your own folders for model,script,textures ... so they won't be impacted by updates.

[gamecreator]

Josh, correct me if I'm wrong but you seem opposed to giving users the option on this.

 

 

Probably my biggest frustration with Leadwerks is that it recreates assets like the Crawler and Barrel folders that I specifically deleted. What is the benefit to anyone to keep doing that?

[Josh]

Why even use project updating then? Why not copy the EXE manually?

[gamecreator]

Maybe I'm not 100% clear on what the update is supposed to do. Which EXE are you referring to?

[Josh]

When I create a new build of the Lua interpreter your project needs to get it. C++ projects do not have a provided EXE, so you just recompile it.

[gamecreator]

I don't use Lua. I only use C++. I see in the Project Manager that my project needs an update. So I update it. And my project folder is repopulated with files I removed. All I'm trying to do is not have this happen. If it's easier for me to not update the project and copy over two or three files manually insetad from some other folder, I'm fine with that. I just don't know which ones.

 

Edit: for that matter why replace the App.cpp file? Even if it's backed up, why overwrite what I created?

[cassius]

I use only c++. Before updates I make a copy of source folder contents then just swap them over..

[beo6]

you can also try some of the project cleaners here:

http://www.leadwerks.com/werkspace/topic/8808-le3-project-cleaner/page__hl__project+cleaner

[gamecreator]

Looks familiar.

[beo6]

lol. i didn't even checked who started the project cleaner thread.

[randomkeyhits]

For LUA the way I'd do it is to have a "system" folder where everything Josh update goes, for us its read only.

 

Then the game folder which structurally mirrors the system folder, these are the two top level folders.

 

Anything we want our own copies of to modify we just copy/import from system -> game

 

The search path is game then system. If we never modify one of Josh's components then it always gets updated and we use the updated one. If we play with it then it goes into the game folder and tnat has precedence.

 

We could even have a check in things like the script editor.

 

"Cannot save a System folder entity. Do you want to copy this to the Game folder?"

[Gonan]

Why not have a Mods folder, into which you can copy and modify any of the standard scripts. Make the Leadwerks engine search path, check the Mods folder, like the addons folder, before looking in the normal folders. If you use the Mods folder and you want to add in the changes, use notepad++ to find the differences and make the changes to your private code base manually. This would protect you from having your amended code overwritten.

If you don't use the Mods folder, then you are allowing the "Updates Required" to work as they do now.

[Josh]

If you don't want the effect of this feature, why even update your project at all?

[Rick]

To get the core LE library & shader updates. I assume those come along with these other MyGame script updates? If we could pick and choose when updating between core LE library & shader updates vs MyGame script updates (or both) then that would be great because 99% of the time I don't need MyGame script updates for an existing project. I don't need a fix in my existing project for FPSPlayer.lua because it's most likely I've already fixed it or heavily modified it so I don't need it updated. Or if push comes to shove I can see on the forums what code changed and make the change myself if I want it, but asking that we copy off the base scripts to make our own copies and use those because of the update process works today just seems like a clumsy flow. It's not intuitive and nobody does it and then when they make a change to a script and update their game they come to the forums and ask what happened to their script in which case you explain the update and backup process that happens. It's just a clumsy process.

[Josh]

Good explanation.

[MarkusR]

a simple file list between with a checkbox and the possibility of rename before start update would help.

[AnthonyPython]

+1 I am always worried something might break when I update, so I check the blog before i update to see what is changed.

[Olby]

So when is this going to be fixed? I've already updated my project 5 or 6 times and takes time to find what was updated. Its a very silly process. To get a fix for a shader or two I spend minutes restoring other files it overwritten. Mainly App.lua. why the hell that gets updated, I've never seen a change in it for ages.