Wrong Action File Being Loaded

[webbles]

I wrote up a very simple action file that was using equipment to control the state of the players. I started the game with just this action file. During the game, I opened up the action editor and loaded the equipment file to see what states I needed to get certain actions to play. I then close the action editor and open the equipment editor. I noticed that I'm seeing equipment from a different action file I have as well as the current one. And then the next turn, the action is loaded from the Basic Actions file. I've duplicated this now 3 times.

[Don]

Hi,

Thanks for your report. I am working on duplicating this and will get back to you.

Don

[LXK8]

Just as an FYI.
I have seen this happen as well.
An UNchecked action file starts being usd at some point in the game.
I've seen it happen several times but can't figure out a pattern as to what triggers this to happen.
For us, the only conistent thing is the fact that it is always the first action file in the list.
Hope this helps.

[Don]

Hi,

Could I get you to verify which version of the game you are running.

Thanks,

Don

[LXK8]

I am running Version 1.5.7 Build 1.5.7.28416

[LXK8]

Upon some testing, it seems that this tends to happen if you have 'edited the current action' several times during a game.
Usually the modifications include text correcions, clothing specifications or adding/modifying a timer.
Hope this helps.

[Mick]

This problem seems to be getting worse for me too. I downloaded and installed version 1.5.7 again, and it is still a problem.

Does anyone know if the jBliss version has this problem?

In an older version, this was not a problem. In fact, even if all the actions for a situation had been used, I would get an error message rather than an incorrect action. Would it be better to download the older version and try that?

Thanks.

[Mick]

OK, I downloaded the older Windows version and tried it, but still I get actions from other situations, even though there are actions available for the situation I landed on.

One thing - since modifications to the basic actions file is not permitted, I copied my old modified basic actions file into the program. I have "Photo Studio" set up for custom actions rather than any that use cameras, but when the player lands on this, the game is more likely to come up with an action from some other situation rather than one designated "Photo Studio". This should not happen - even if there were no actions usable that were designated "Photo Studio" the game should give an error message (like it used to) rather than just coming up with an action checked for, say, "Chance".

This is getting frustrating, as there are a lot of actions in the basic actions file that comes with Bliss that we don't want to use.

Any suggestions?

[Don]

Mick,

I am afraid that I am a little confused by what you are saying here.

All versions of Bliss have used actions from other situations under one specific circumstance. If you land on a developed property (something you have built like a Photo Studio or a Cabaret), AND there are no usable actions for that situation, the game will use an Undeveloped Land action, but it has always done that.

You say that you copied a Basic Actions file from an older version of the game. So do you have two basic actions file, or did you do a replacement?

I am not sure what you mean by any action that uses a camera. Photo Studio actions are specifically marked as such just like any other situation.

I mighe be misunderstanding what you are saying. Please let me know if this helps

Thanks,

Don

[Don]

Upon some testing, it seems that this tends to happen if you have 'edited the current action' several times during a game.
Usually the modifications include text correcions, clothing specifications or adding/modifying a timer.
Hope this helps.

It looks like you have found the issue here. When you use "Edit the current action" it causes a reload of unused files. You can work around this by moving files you don't want to a different directory. This will be corrected in 1.6.

Thanks,

Don

[Mick]

Hi Don,
Maybe I have confused the software. Quite awhile ago, I copied the BasicActions file and used the copy as the main Basic Actions file in the game. (I know that this can conflict with updates, but I wasn't concerned with that.) This way I could edit the BasicActions file to our liking rather than run a parallel MyBasicActions file with a higher priority. Since then, I have simply copied the modified BasicActions file over whenever I have updated Bliss. I also did edit some of the levels of the action types.

So, anyway, now when we play, the game often does not choose an action from the right situation. An example is the Photo Studio. Since we don't use this at all, I re-wrote actions for this situation and deleted all the original actions. I choose a camera as a toy simply to make the Photo Studio appear when playing the game. I always have plenty of actions available in Photo Studio, and I an very certain that they are set up right for the levels of the game, but the game will often choose an action not from Photo Studio, but one from some other situation like Chance - or any other situation - but not necessarily only Undeveloped Land. It is not consistent, as some times it will choose from Photo Studio, and sometimes it will not, even when I am certain that actions are available. This is not only the case with Photo Studio either, as I have seen the same with Dance Hall and the Art Studio.

So, I guess my question is - do I absolutely need the original "read only" Basic Actions" file in the game? If I do go to the work of creating a copy called MyBasicActions and use it to not allow some actions in a particular situation and re-write the others to replace the original actions in BasicActions, will it work for me, would you think?

One other question - I am running both Mac OS X Snow Leopard and Windows XP (under Parallels) - which version of Bliss would you use (If I am going to start over)?

Thanks for your reply. You have a great game here.

[Mick]

I downloaded the newest version (Windows) again and re-installed it. I started from scratch this time - entering the license numbers again (rather than copying the file over from the old install), and I even re-entered the player profiles (again, rather than copying them over). I used the situation "Dance Hall" rather than "Photo Studio" to avoid any possible conflicts. This time, rather than copying my old actions files over, I made a "MyBasicActions" file and unchecked all but a few of the "Dance Hall" actions. There were only a couple of these that did not have the actions to remove clothing, and those were very low level actions (talking or hugging). I then made a new action file with four actions that required both players to be nude and four that had the action of removing an article of clothing.

The first game I ran through had just a couple of glitches. I chose only "Dance Hall" every time I had a chance to build. Once I got an "Undeveloped Land" action when there was an appropriate action that could have been used. More interesting, however, is that once I got an action from the original "BasicActions" folder. Note that I deleted nothing when I saved this file as "MyBasicActions" - I only unchecked many of the "Dance Hall" actions in this new file. I know it was from the original "BasicActions" because I went to "edit the current action" and it brought up the READ ONLY original action (which, of course, could not be edited).

I then played another game doing the same thing - selecting only "Dance Hall" actions - and the game went even better, with no incorrect actions brought up. One interesting thing, however, was that when I ran out of actions (both players nude) in "Dance Hall", I did get some "Undeveloped Land" actions, but then the game started over on these actions and ran through all four again. Also, even if all the actions had been used once, if I chose to build another "Dance Hall", the game re-used one of these actions.

So, conclusions, FWIW - the game seems to work much, much better when I do what you suggest as far as handling the "BasicAcions" file. I don't understand why I cannot simply delete that file after copying it and making it an editable file, but it sure seems to be that way. Using a highly modified file as a basic actions file and copying it into new releases of the program seems to make it unstable. Also, the game seems to have some "fuzzy" way of selecting actions - it is not simply rule-based, as it occasionally still will select an inappropriate action. But, it is a huge improvement from what I was seeing, and appears to be no longer a problem.

If I get a chance (and if you are interested), I could check to see how the game runs if I do not check the "BasicActions" file on startup - running only on "MyBasicActions" and any other files I have. I also wonder if changing the levels for the some of the actions might tend to make the game unstable. As I said, the algorithm seems to be a bit "fuzzy" and not simply rule based.

[Don]

Once I got an "Undeveloped Land" action when there was an appropriate action that could have been used.

The rules for determining whether or not an action can be used are quite complex. There are restrictions on how often certain toys can be used, how often clothing can be removed and how often certain type of actions can happen. Also, there is an attempt to "balance" things between the two players. I suspect there was a subtle reason why the actions you thought were appropriate could not be used.

More interesting, however, is that once I got an action from the original "BasicActions" folder. Note that I deleted nothing when I saved this file as "MyBasicActions" - I only unchecked many of the "Dance Hall" actions in this new file. I know it was from the original "BasicActions" because I went to "edit the current action" and it brought up the READ ONLY original action (which, of course, could not be edited).

It is important to understand how overrides work. If you have two files, and they both have an action with the same title, the game will only use the one from the higher priority file. So it can still use actions from both files, but will not use an action from the original file if there is an action with the same title in the override file.

I am glad to hear that things are running better for you. I will be interested in hearing the results of any other tests you might run.

Thanks,

Don

[LXK8]

Just curious. What would happen if you have 2 action files with the same named actions with both files having the same priority?

[Don]

Just curious. What would happen if you have 2 action files with the same named actions with both files having the same priority?

The two actions would both be included in the game and would be treated as two seperate actions. This might make it appear as if an action had been repeated if the two files actually contained the same action.