Rework/save load system #209

GalacticChimp · 2023-11-11T13:12:33Z

Goal

The primary goal is to simplify and stabilize the save system and to implement some additional improvements, as described in #171

Requires #237

Description

My main idea is to split (de)serialization logic to it's own objects, e.g. obj_ini is responsible for creating and loading it's own data via structs. This way, everything gets encapsulated and it becomes much clearer which variables/entities belongs to which object. Additionally, the structs are very easy to (de)serialize using GMLs out of the box tools/scripts. The new format is json.

Benefits

very easy to save-edit
creating serialization structs makes it really clear where each entity/variables is placed and how relationships between everything is structured, so this can be used as a foundation for refactoring the code into a more data-driven approach
might be able to vastly simplify Restart, serialize() can be simply called when restarting the game, which will make the whole process way easier and more robust
extension is very easy, just update serialize() and deserialize() of relevant object(s)
saving and loading should be more robust, i.e. less likely to crash, and if it crashes it should be obvious what went wrong.

Pitfalls

the uploaded example save file is 3.2MB, and it's still missing star data, there isn't really a good way to resolve this
- UPDATE: the final save file is about 3.5MB. It's 3x bigger than ini format, but the tradeoff seems reasonable.

Additional info

I did some clean up and beautifications in save related files, but the actual changes are in:

Create_0 files - (de)serialization functions
save_load.Alarm_0 - handling save/load process
scr_load - TODO extracted deserialization logic to other objects
scr_save - extracted serialization logic to other objects
scr_squads - small json changes
scr_marine_struct - small json changes

Resolves #171

Attached example save file: save5.json

…e part of save system rework)

GalacticChimp · 2023-11-11T13:14:52Z

scripts/scr_save/scr_save.gml

-
-}
+	controller =  obj_controller.serialize();
+	ini = obj_ini.serialize();


it's bit hard to see in Github's PR, but the main idea is to simply call (de)serializers from relevant objects and script, and just save/load them as one big json.

GalacticChimp · 2023-11-11T13:32:34Z

objects/obj_controller/Create_0.gml

@@ -1648,3 +1648,422 @@ if (vih>=5){
 remov=string_length(string(temp[65])+string(temp[66])+string(temp[67])+string(temp[68])+string(temp[69]))+1;

 action_set_alarm(2, 0);
+
+#region serialization


thinking about extracting this whole region into a separate file

GalacticChimp · 2023-11-11T13:33:21Z

objects/obj_controller/Create_0.gml

+        popup_master_crafted,
+        select_wounded,
+        terra_direction,
+        stc: {


as you can see, I reorganized variables a little, I wanted to see how a more data-driven approach would look like, and I like it so far

GalacticChimp · 2023-11-11T13:37:47Z

options/windows/options_windows.yy

@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
  "option_windows_copy_exe_to_dest": false,
  "option_windows_copyright_info": "",
  "option_windows_description_info": "Become the 40,000th warhammer",
-  "option_windows_disable_sandbox": false,
+  "option_windows_disable_sandbox": true,


this is required to allow handling files in game executable folder

GalacticChimp · 2023-11-11T13:44:47Z

objects/obj_saveload/Alarm_0.gml


-if (save_part=3){txt="Charting Sector";with(obj_controller){scr_save(2,obj_saveload.save_number);}trickle=10;save_part=4;}
+if (save_part = 6) {
+    txt = "Praise to the Machine God";


I'll re-add these last

GalacticChimp · 2023-11-18T20:45:12Z

Serialization part is done, about 40% of the rework is done. Next step: saves.ini removal, then deserialization.

Also updated attached save file.

# Conflicts: # objects/obj_star/Create_0.gml # scripts/scr_load/scr_load.gml

GalacticChimp · 2023-12-01T10:28:11Z

objects/obj_controller/Create_0.gml

 	Heretics,
-	Necrons = 13
+    Placeholder_1,  // 12, not used anywhere currently, will be removed after creating proper structs for Factions
+	Necrons         // 13


small tweaks to eFACTION enum

OH296 · 2023-11-11T17:22:01Z

scripts/scr_marine_struct/scr_marine_struct.gml

+	}
+
+function serialize_marine_struct(company, marine){
+	var copy_marine_struct = obj_ini.TTRPG[company, marine]; //grab marine structure


Suggested change

var copy_marine_struct = obj_ini.TTRPG[company, marine]; //grab marine structure

var copy_marine_struct = obj_ini.TTRPG[company][marine]; //grab marine structure

OH296 · 2023-12-15T22:15:42Z

scripts/scr_planetary_feature/scr_planetary_feature.gml

+		// General data and init
+
+		var	_planetary_feature_data = {
+			_index: index,


Suggested change

_index: index,

index: index,

keys can't be variables unless variable_struct_set() is used so may as well just use index over _index

the point of the underscore, is to denote that this is a bookkeeping variable, which should not be touched during save-editing. I'll add comments to make this clearer. I did this way because I'm not sure if the order of elements in an array are preserved during jsonification and dejsonification.

OH296 · 2023-12-15T22:22:29Z

objects/obj_ini/Create_0.gml

+                chaos_corruption_level: chaos[company_index][entity_in_company_index],
+                experience: experience[company_index][entity_in_company_index],
+                age: age[company_index][entity_in_company_index],
+                is_special: spe[company_index][entity_in_company_index], // TODO Got no idea what this does


this contains phychic power data, i'm currently trying to move all this into the struct then this can be deprecated

ok, I'll remove this

OH296 · 2023-12-15T22:24:02Z

objects/obj_ini/Create_0.gml

+    entity_in_company_index = 1;
+
+    // HQ Marines??
+    for (entity_in_company_index = 1; entity_in_company_index <= 30; entity_in_company_index++) {


this should be role data

OH296 · 2023-12-15T22:26:49Z

scripts/scr_planetary_feature/scr_planetary_feature.gml

+
+		// General data and init
+
+		var	_planetary_feature_data = {


planetary features contain a much greater array of data and methods than are being serialised here, you may have catered for this already but just need to check

yes, this is covered in my local code, just didn't push everything yet

OH296 · 2023-12-15T22:29:01Z

objects/obj_star/Create_0.gml

+        var _planet_data = {
+            _index: p,
+            //name: _planet, // TODO this is basically is_planet, does it make sense to store this?


not unless we start giving dedicated names/nicknames to planets

OH296 · 2023-12-15T22:29:34Z

objects/obj_star/Create_0.gml

+            influence: p_influence[p],
+            raided: p_raided[p],
+            problems: [],


Suggested change

problems: [],

problems: [],

operatives:json_stringify(p_operatives[p])

p_operatives stores a struct with no methods so i presume stringifying it will be sufficient

jhillacre · 2023-12-27T18:13:43Z

in #245, I propose removing was_zoomed from the save system. Once merged, you should be able to simplify your zoom obj now to a zoom bool.

GalacticChimp added 7 commits November 10, 2023 19:05

Initial code cleanup and beautification

485fdef

small cleanup

915f39c

Prepared basic setup for new save system

7734709

good progress on serialization

73a4dd2

about 33% of save part of the save system rework is done

6260b1f

only saving non-empty entities now + storing indexes

c7b9bfe

obj_controller now gets serialized to json (finished about 66% of sav…

e19f6d8

…e part of save system rework)

GalacticChimp added the I: Major Coding significant rework or refactor label Nov 11, 2023

GalacticChimp added this to the 0.8.3.0 milestone Nov 11, 2023

GalacticChimp self-assigned this Nov 11, 2023

GalacticChimp commented Nov 11, 2023

View reviewed changes

GalacticChimp added 5 commits November 15, 2023 23:05

Merge branch 'main' into rework/save-load-system

91ff3f4

Merge branch 'main' into rework/save-load-system

4fdc99e

Serialized remaining global stuff

9abf44e

everything should be serialized now

1aa577a

simplified serialization in obj_controller and obj_ini

67974b5

GalacticChimp added 2 commits December 1, 2023 10:25

Merge branch 'main' into rework/save-load-system

5b71dc1

# Conflicts: # objects/obj_star/Create_0.gml # scripts/scr_load/scr_load.gml

small faction enum tweaks

9751429

GalacticChimp commented Dec 1, 2023

View reviewed changes

OH296 reviewed Dec 15, 2023

View reviewed changes

EttyKitty added PR: Major Coding Big enough to possibly clash with other PRs PR: Refactor Rewriting/restructuring code, while keeping general behaviour and removed I: Major Coding significant rework or refactor labels Dec 25, 2024

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Rework/save load system #209

Rework/save load system #209

GalacticChimp commented Nov 11, 2023 •

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jhillacre commented Dec 27, 2023

	var copy_marine_struct = obj_ini.TTRPG[company, marine]; //grab marine structure
	var copy_marine_struct = obj_ini.TTRPG[company][marine]; //grab marine structure

	problems: [],
	problems: [],
	operatives:json_stringify(p_operatives[p])

Rework/save load system #209

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Rework/save load system #209

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jhillacre commented Dec 27, 2023

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GalacticChimp commented Nov 18, 2023 •

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