Extremely Frustrating Experience

[Obipandawan]

So my team and I choose to use RPG MV then upgraded to MZ to build our game. Seemed like it had all the necessary tools needed for what we had imagined.

so 6 months down the road we wanted to do a BETA test with a small group of testers to get opinions and when ever we patched the game with fixes even if it’s just one file that needed to be changed such as we updated “‘map020.JSON” and updated it in their game. In order for the effects of the changes to take place they need to make and entirely new game in order to see many of the effects.

this is extremely annoying as what is the point of a rpg you need to start over everytime a change is made? There has only been 2 or 3 occasions where someone did see the effects right away. But there have been several dozen times where they had to make an entire new game.

and there are times where changes I make and test in the engine work perfectly then once it’s exported and someone else’s desktop events and other things will not work properly at all.

 

[Dororo]

I suppose the patching of ANY game suffer of this, based on save files of the user. In a VNL I've changed a score mechanic and obviously previous save files weren't compatible at all and gone wild/break the thing.
Really, for games that are entirely hosted on user device and have a structured gameplay breaking compatibility between releases is part of the deal. Not THIS engine issue.

 

[Hyouryuu-Na]

So the changes aren't seen when a save file is loaded? This is the same for every engine. You're loading an older instance or version of your game so obviously the new stuff won't be there. Actually, there's a good chance that the game will break. Even if you had used MV, this would've happened.

 

[Andar]

even if it’s just one file that needed to be changed such as we updated “‘map020.JSON” and updated it in their game. In order for the effects of the changes to take place they need to make and entirely new game in order to see many of the effects.

did you change anything in the save process, or did you just choose a bad example?
because the mapfiles are the ones that should update the way you describe...

basically only the current map is stored in the savefile, all others are loaded when entered - so even the current map of the savefile should update when they leave and return to it.

there are other files that do not update, that is correct. that is because updating them would cause more problems than it solves.
for example the actor data is only loaded from the database when the command to add a party member says to "initialize", otherwise the actor data (AND its changes like gained EXP) is kept local in the savefile.
Updating that part of the database would change the actor back to level 1 if it were loaded.
and that would be the price no matter what - you can't have some party data updated and expect the player to keep part of the data, at least not without a hell of a mess or very specific plugins.

And that has nothing to do with the RMs, that is always part of any betatesting - why do you think there are cheatcodes even in professional games? They are not to allow a player who finds them to break the game balance, they are remains of the alpha- and beta-tests where the testers used them to skip through the early and already playtested parts of the game when they had to start a new game for the million'st time.

and in case of the RMs that don't have such a incode way to cheat, most developers add a "cheat item" or "cheat gate" at the starting map (to be removed after playtesting is over) that either gives the player options by common event to modify the game, or to transfer to a portal map with an unlimited gold chest and vendors that have everything as well as portals to all maps.

 

[BK-tdm]

there are other files that do not update, that is correct. that is because updating them would cause more problems than it solves.
for example the actor data is only loaded from the database when the command to add a party member says to "initialize", otherwise the actor data (AND its changes like gained EXP) is kept local in the savefile.
Updating that part of the database would change the actor back to level 1 if it were loaded.
and that would be the price no matter what - you can't have some party data updated and expect the player to keep part of the data, at least not without a hell of a mess or very specific plugins.

You can store actor levels on variables, force a reload of the actor data and apply actor levels to their corresponding variables as long as you didnt shuffle actor order, you will lose the exp progress though...

If the map update isnt loading maybe people are loading inside the map you updated, which wont reload unless you re-enter it and those who got working updates were on a different map and then went to the updated one.

Some things will require a new game, like messing with plugins, be it changing parameters or disabling/adding new ones, sometimes they apply whitout the need to restart, most of the time they dont.

 

[Andar]

You can store actor levels on variables, force a reload of the actor data and apply actor levels to their corresponding variables as long as you didnt shuffle actor order, you will lose the exp progress though...

that is why I said it can be done with specific plugins - doing it without a plugin would require you to place events for resetting in the game, and that would be better handled by direct cheat item - because a forced reset like you describe has the risk of missing other part of the data as well.