.data?

[spiral axle]

Was looking through a few tutorials about save and loading, and one of them caught my eye , it seemed to work but it relied on a file type with '.data'. tried but, found nothing. And there's two answers im happy to receive:
does .txt also work for handling saves?
and if not: How does one do a '.data' file

i know some games use txt files for data handling but i want to be safe whatever i do won't break the game like a twig

[vestal vessel]

You can name a file .data if you want. How to read and write the file is up to you. But in practice if you are putting information in that file in json, yaml, tres format, it’s helpful to give the file a name which reflects that.

[spiral axle]

no no

the file type is '.data'

im wondering how tf im meant to do that
either that or :
does a .txt file also work

[vestal vessel]

You mean extension? untitled.data?

[spiral axle]

yes- that sorry

[vestal vessel]

That’s what I mean too

[spiral axle]

between a .data extension or a .txt extension...

[spiral axle]

i mean, i tried .data and godot said it was invalid so

Does a .txt work fine or ?

[vestal vessel]

I think neither .data or .txt is a good choice because neither one tells me how the data is saved

[spiral axle]

right

[vestal vessel]

If you’re storing your data in json, use a .json file. Godot resources, a .tres file

[spiral axle]

im not tho

im doing neither

im just doing a dictionary

and saving the dictionary state

[vestal vessel]

How is that written?

[spiral axle]

var savefile = FileAccess.open("res://data/savefile.txt", FileAccess.WRITE)

and then on save you store var

and on load you do

'dictionary = savefile.get_var()

[spiral axle]

this is from when i tried using a txt file and it ''worked'' but it was clunky, so thats why im asking here now

i could do a json method but i'd need to find the method for it

Rn im wondering abt just doing it with a raw dictionary

[vestal vessel]

Ok so you’re using godot’s serialisation format, which doesn’t have a canonical name or extension as far as I know. Name it whatever makes it clearest for you what the file is for. Could be .txt, .data, .vanilla

The file’s name doesn’t change its contents, it’s just a bit of information about what the file is for and how to use it

[spiral axle]

ig i'll do .txt then since it wont physically let me name it anything else

[vestal vessel]

What’s clunky about it?

[spiral axle]

Well,im also operating with the dialogic plugin , and when i loaded back in , it played the music and didnt stop even if i returned to menu

it was

weird

[vestal vessel]

Doesn’t sound like something a file extension can do

[spiral axle]

fair point-

honestly idek

if changing it to a json method would do anything

unfortunately couldnt replicate the whole 'music persisting through where it shouldnt' bit

[grizzled grove]

first mistake i spot is that you put your save file in res://
you shouldn't do this as you can not write to this folder once the project is running, it's only good for files you only, and ever want to have as READ only

the correct root of the path should be:
user://

You can find more on that here: https://docs.godotengine.org/en/latest/tutorials/io/data_paths.html

On top of that, it's better to copy the code and paste it here then to record a video, as it's easier to read and help you out, unless the video provides extra details

Is the Data. class something built in from Godot? I can't find it back or is this something you created?

As for file extensions, it's usually suggested to not use an extension like .txt for saving 'save files' but in the end, it's just a extension, what ONLY really matters is how you handle this file in your program, you could save valid JSON structure in a .txt file and just parse it fine in godot, it's just misleading. But since you are learning right now I highly suggest reading up on JSON, and trying to get it to work in this format.

[spiral axle]

it's something i found in the video you suggested, funnily enough

I'll get the code as soon as i can

although i already removed all of the save file related code and im back to square 1 of just using dialogic's built in, but i still remember how the code was like so.

n aye, I'll check up on Json

[grizzled grove]

Am like 95% sure he explains the difference, he likes showing a way how peole do it, why it runs into error and explains why.

[spiral axle]

oh , I don't think he did for that one.. he just kinda said "yeah we'll save it to this .data file"
and "so we'll rename the json file back to .data"

[grizzled grove]

How far in the video did you get

I know its a longer video

But as discussed yesterday its better to take the time, and listen to what the dude has to say instead of rushing in

[spiral axle]

Right uhh, im on dictionaries

completed the dictionaries chapter, to be specific

or rather

was.

what i did is basically see if something fit my needs and acted on it.
So, checked simple "nope"
skipped Json because i figured that wasn't what i wanted, and watched the dictionaries chapter. and acted on that

[grizzled grove]

How can you know what fits your needs if you dont know what everything is

You gonna end up taking so much more time for everything you want to do, if you dont take a breather from time to time to read/watch something all the way trough

[spiral axle]

fair point

just waiting for someone to respond irl so i can buy somethings, but afterwards I'll like, keep up both with the video and keep this thread posted up on the code

[grizzled grove]

Don't feel like you have to watch this video to learn about the topic, if you don't like listening to this guy and it's the reason you stopped watching that is fine. Don't force your self, but just do it good that's all, don't half ass it, if you decide I am gonna watch this, watch it trough, reading the docs, asking questions to chatGPT, not why does it not work, but let him explain the docs or ways of doing it, using another video, using a demo project : https://github.com/godotengine/godot-demo-projects/tree/master/loading/serialization are all fine methods of learning

[spiral axle]

oh its not i dislike.. Well ig i do dislike the use of GenAI but , i stopped because i thought 'oh surely thats it then' and i figured i'd try it, and when that failed i came back here lol. Im not forcing myself trust me

But i'll try all of these

i did consider 'swapping projects and coming back later' but idk, part of me kinda wants to sit down and finish this visual novel first

so i probably know why the code fucked up at this point thanks to your insight, BUT , i'll say what i did anyways:

So i made a folder called data
And in that folder made a txt file 'savefile.txt'

in my global, autoload node called 'data'
i had
var file = FileAccess.open("res://data/savefile.txt", FileAccess.WRITE)

and
var save_data : Dictionary = {
"location" = "scene"
}

and the rest of the code i put in the save ,load, and load game buttons (the diff between load and load game is that one belongs to a pause menu canvas layer scene and one is on the title screen, but functionally they're almost the same)

For saving i did:
on pressed
Data.save_data["location"] = get_tree().current_scene.name
Data.file.store_var(Data.save_data)
Data.file.close()
Dialogic.Save.save("slot")

And dialogic's built in save, can save dictionaries but you have to put extra code in for it, this one, in theory , should only be keeping track of the current active dialogue, were there to be any.

then the load buttons were
On pressed
var file = FileAccess.open("res://data/savefile.txt", FileAccess.READ)
Data.save_data = file.get_var()
file.close()
Dialogic.Save.load("slot")
if get_tree().current_scene.name != Data.save_data["location"]:
get_tree().change_scene_to_file("res://scenes/" + str(Data.save_data["location"]) +".tscn")

And load game is identical except it doesn't have the if clause, its just 'change scene to location.tscn'

and it worked mostly fine, but some things were just..clunky..No crashes, but, red errors that scared me a little, save games still not necessarily working across closing and re openings of the game, and some sound related bugs.

[spiral axle]

again, i'll check all of these out, Json, videos, documentations and so on. i also have a theory on something i could do, but i need the official dialogic discord to answer something for me for it, and considering they didnt answer my forums about the settings subsystem im not too confident they'll answer this either. so
Watch tutorials n full, and explore Json a bit

[grizzled grove]

but i need the official dialogic discord to answer something for me for it

You have a theory, yet I don't understand why they must answer, why are you just not testing it yourself?

[spiral axle]

Im a bit scared to hard commit to something jsut for it to fail, since changing one thing could result in a lot of time changing other things to work around it, + i wanna make sure i know how , since im not even fully sure how to do things.

one thing i could test but would be extremely time intensive:
instead of a dictionary, store all the variables in dialogic's built in variables system, which the built in save function actually naturally accounts for.

the other is. Like i said, the dialogic built in save can store Dictionaries, but im not sure if i need to do something to access it or not.
"Dialogic.Save.save("slot",false, Dialogic.Save.ThumbnailMode.NONE, Data.save_data)"

but if i close and re open it doesnt actually seem to remember what Data.save_data was at the time, and so im wondering if theres maybe something extra i have to do, or if theres any way to communicate with the file that Dialogic is storing this info, if so then it should be possible, but theres nothing in documentation

the big main factor is mostly fear though

The end result of all of this, is to learn and be able to work with this at a professional level.
But i also want to upload these as games for people to play .
And if i do , lets say, a catastrophic fuck up, im not sure i'd have it in me to start from scratch or go through a monumental fixing phase just for that

so i generally

like to first make sure i know what im gonna be doing

and that it wont be too wild of a curve ball

and then i get my hands dirty

[grizzled grove]

Are u using version control? Git?

[spiral axle]

not github

i tried version control but it didnt let me bc i didnt have a version control plug in

at least from what godot itself said

[grizzled grove]

Your highest priority should be to have this set up

Its funny you trying so vae progress for the player but ur not even saving ur own progress

If tomorrow ur pc breaks

U can just download it again

[spiral axle]

fair

[grizzled grove]

If u fk up catastrophic today, you revert back

[spiral axle]

any readily available in the asset library or do i have to find it by searching

[grizzled grove]

After that, play around with it, feel comfy with it

Then test your idea

[spiral axle]

alright

[grizzled grove]

It might be, i just have git installed and do everything trough the command line but al sure there other options as well

[spiral axle]

oh when you said git i thought you meant github
is there sum called git that acts as version control?

[grizzled grove]

Git is like the tool, while github is the one that let us use the tool

Like mail in Gmail

Like p* in p*hub

I got timed out for that second like for 10 minuts btw

But also again very many guides out there to help u get started

Downloading github desktop is the easiest

https://desktop.github.com/download/
But it's another one of those cases, you can probaly get it up and running pretty easily, but it's worth taking ur time, reading up about it, practicing it

[spiral axle]

Jesus Christ

[spiral axle]

where do i get git then

actually i can also probably google about version control

admittedly still scared of course but.
Version control
Then Json saving

and from there , it should be as easy as just.. doing the story/drawing the scenes..

looks like im also gonna be using Git lol

[spiral axle]

the fuck is anchorpoint

[warm sphinx]

Here's some stuff I've written about Git: https://neropatti.com/git-for-godot-beginners/

[warm sphinx]

Seems like a derivative of Git

Would say to just use normal Git unless you have a good reason to do something different

[spiral axle]

alright

So im assuming git is..something on the asset library then?

i got the desktop github app

a github account

[warm sphinx]

• Git is a command-line app used in software development for version control
• Github is a website centered around the usage of Git, but is not associated with Git
• Github desktop is a GUI app that makes using Git easier, allowing you to click buttons instead of typing commands on the command-line

[spiral axle]

So.. i imagine i dont need to download a git app or..?

bit confused on that front

[warm sphinx]

"Version control" just means that you can make checkpoints that you can return to, and "merge" different branches of code

[warm sphinx]

If you're on windows, you probably don't have Git already installed

so at the very least you would have to download the command-line Git tool

BUT

[spiral axle]

i have github n i have godot.
that is about it-

[warm sphinx]

If you don't want to use it from the command-line, a GUI app like github desktop is good

Github desktop comes with everything you need

[spiral axle]

alright bet

[warm sphinx]

I could give a quick crash course on this over VC if you're available for that

[spiral axle]

could it be later on ? Or

[warm sphinx]

I'm thinking now!

About to go sleep but I have a little bit

If now doesn't work, we can schedule for later

[spiral axle]

alright then

i mean

what would YOU prefer.
if you'd rather sleep we can schedule later n i can see how much i can gather from tutorials

[warm sphinx]

I prefer now! But I will take a few min to brush my teeth, so brb

should be good in... 5min

[spiral axle]

sure

[spiral axle]

só, do i need to make a text file myself, or can i just name something that doesn't exist and godot will create it?

[spiral axle]

yknow what maybe i dont skip chapters next time actually- (this is from the tutorial video)

the consequences of my actions catch up to me once more

[pastel nest]

Are you sure it isn't .dat?

Oh nvm

[spiral axle]

Nah, but im gonna try Json

[spiral axle]

my biggest concern rn is this tbh
With how easy he just, renamed stuff in code withoug even stopping to make a file

i. prob could cclose the thread and make a new one asking abt it..But, idk im doing questions so often that im not sure if it can reach the point of becoming too much.
So it feels safer to just stay here

[pastel nest]

Honestly a good idea, Json is my best friend when it comes to saving and loading data. Dictionaries are really great for that

[pastel nest]

So the way it works, is that when you do FileAccess.WRITE with a save path, if that file doesn't exist, it gets created automatically

[spiral axle]

I learned how to use dictionaries and immediately fell in love with them.

[spiral axle]

perfect

except this time i'll actually watch the video through before actually doing it-

[pastel nest]

Yep! Just remember to do filePath.close() or some weird stuff will happen

As I've found the hard way xD

[spiral axle]

tbf weird stuff was happening even when i did filepath close
but then again that was when i was doing res:// so

[pastel nest]

Yeeeah don't do res:// do user://

Though I think someone said that already

[spiral axle]

yup

thats why i said its prob the reason it was being fucky

[pastel nest]

Yeeee

Also another thing with Json is that it sorts your data alphebetically, so when stringifying it I always do
json.stringify(yourData, "\t", false)
To turn off the sort, in case you sort your data differently and need to loop through it for whatever reason

I never saw that in any tutorials when i learned and it tripped me up a lot

[spiral axle]

Oh, bet
yeah i dont really..sort ..mostly because if you actually saw my code you'd see that theres actually not a lot going on.
So when it comes to variables im just writing them as they become relevant

[pastel nest]

Ahh yee fair. I sort cause I have a rpg with a loooot of materials I have to loop through when the inventory loads

[spiral axle]

and since im mostly in a testing phase (i wanna make sure everything works before i start doing actual story and art) theres just. not a lot of variables going around

[pastel nest]

That's fair yeah

[spiral axle]

Ah yeah i'd imagine so

[pastel nest]

Lmk if you have any questions or need help with Json, I've worked with it quite a bit in the past

[spiral axle]

the video is..an hour long, so it'll take a little! but, for sure

[spiral axle]

i mean..he finished the json part..And now he's going on through resources..even after the resource chapter so im not sure...if there is a point to watching it fully- but- maybe-

i'll say

im also tempted to just try dictionaries again but
Both times i tried i fucked up so
maybe i do just try Json fr

wait..okay..i think i can see one mistake on my part

i cant quite tell if the default state should be read or write..considering...
this is a global node thats gonna be referenced by the save and load buttons

i mean , could maybe move these vars to the buttons themselves but then idk if i can reference them from anywhere

[pastel nest]

I wouldn't declare the variable as an open file, id declare the path then declare the state in ready or process

Json and dictionaries kind of go hand in hand

[spiral axle]

oh?

well i dont really have any

funcs..

On the global node

just the scene changer one

so im not sure..

[pastel nest]

Global?

[spiral axle]

Autoload

[pastel nest]

Do you have an overarching manager node in your scenes? Like gameplay scenes like levels, stages, etc..

[spiral axle]

yep

though since this is a visual novel, this really is more of a

glorified variable storage

its just so that any scene can have access to the variables that were checked in any other scene

[pastel nest]

Ohh

Okay so in that case, I would recommend saving and loading rather than an autoload. And then you can put the save code in a function in either a resource or blank node, and then instance that node where you need it.

[spiral axle]

Oh i already have a save n load

its just

ok its a bit weird but

[spiral axle]

Data is the manager

and then

i have these 3

save and load are part of the same scene, PauseMenu, a canvas layer.

and load_game is exclusive to the title screen

and what i did before was essentially

i estabilished the variable on data manager.
and then just did all of the usual code in the buttons themselves, referencing the data manager's dictionary

[pastel nest]

Okay so data is your manager, and handles saving and loading correct?

Ohh wait I see it. You have a saving script and loading script as separate things

[spiral axle]

Data is my manager, and has the dictionary containing all of the data, and is set to auto load

then.
pausemenu is a scene with a save button child, and a load button child
and Menu is the title screen, with a load_game child node

[spiral axle]

Yeh cuz they're diff buttons..!

https://tenor.com/view/touhou-nazrin-touhou-project-rat-nazrin-dancing-gif-9880463730935510158

( i fully realize how stupid this all is but i was scared)

((this was the safe approach))

[pastel nest]

Okay so your storing saving and loading code in canvas layers
For a visual novel game idk if it matters as much, but that means if you ever wanted to save or load anywhere else you'd have to copy and paste those functions

[spiral axle]

Well would i?
I have the canvas layer as a scene and then i just

instantiate it

:D

[pastel nest]

Will those canvas layers be in every scene?

If so then ig this works

[spiral axle]

i can very easily make it so , yeah

[pastel nest]

But the data being an autoload is what's mainly tripping me up

[spiral axle]

So it can be referenced

if its not auto load, then i cant interact with the dictionary at all unless i put the scene on my scenes

it being an autoload means i can now just sorta go

Data.save_data["variable"] = thing

[pastel nest]

Yeee I understand
My only issue with that is if there's ever a time you don't need it in a scene, it's loaded anyways and taking up space

[spiral axle]

mmm.. Fair but .. I dont think there'd ever be a time that it wouldnt be needed..

after all, if its not there, then when you save the game , all of the stuff you did wont be recorded..

[pastel nest]

That's what auto saving is for

[spiral axle]

Still though i could. maybe move functions around to the auto load, or just putting both save n load in the same script. or fucking idk,
making the variables be applied on the buttons themselves..but im not sure

[pastel nest]

Even if you don't want to save it to their file right away, you can make a separate file for autodata/resetdata that stores everything, and then you can clear that file if something in game happens that would need to erase that data (like game overs and whatnot)

[pastel nest]

I would def put the open file in a function

Opening a file every time your scene initializes could be rough

Especially cause there's no close()

[spiral axle]

is it fine to just, manually do var file = the whole schbang under the button pressed functions

[pastel nest]

Yes

[spiral axle]

well yeah cuz i didnt fully implement stuff yet,im more so just , making sure im on the right path before fucking stuff up lol

alright then

lets see..

maybe i put the json var in..the autoload? So it can be referenced in all buttons..

this is from the tutorial btw-

the question really is just.
how to make sure all of these scripts and nodes/scenes are all properly interacting with one another ig..
moving save n load to same script is doable im just scared
as is..literally any alternative probably

[grizzled grove]

you shoud stop saying I am scared, you are typing text into a file, then hitting a button to compile it.

it's why you first set up version control though, so you can mess up the code and with a single press of a button you revert it back to the last working state

but most of all you should just start typing in your preferred code editor instead of typing here. If you are actualy stuck, or don't understand something this forum, or creating a new one is the perfect place to come. But first try what you want to try, if it doesn't work, say what you were trying to achieve, what you did, how you did and then people can give feedback

[grizzled grove]

A good way to save all your data is with groups:

# Note: This can be called from anywhere inside the tree. This function is
# path independent.
# Go through everything in the persist category and ask them to return a
# dict of relevant variables.
func save_game():
    var save_file = FileAccess.open("user://savegame.save", FileAccess.WRITE)
    var save_nodes = get_tree().get_nodes_in_group("Persist")
    for node in save_nodes:
        # Check the node is an instanced scene so it can be instanced again during load.
        if node.scene_file_path.is_empty():
            print("persistent node '%s' is not an instanced scene, skipped" % node.name)
            continue

        # Check the node has a save function.
        if !node.has_method("save"):
            print("persistent node '%s' is missing a save() function, skipped" % node.name)
            continue

        # Call the node's save function.
        var node_data = node.call("save")

        # JSON provides a static method to serialized JSON string.
        var json_string = JSON.stringify(node_data)

        # Store the save dictionary as a new line in the save file.
        save_file.store_line(json_string)

```This example is straight from the docs I linked yesterday. Just add all the scenes that need to be saved to the group name of your choosing, then add a script, or add it to your already exsisting script a method called "save"
Here you fill in all the variables that need to be saved

Then for the loading you to the same thing but just revert the logic

[grizzled grove]

I think what you are asking here is how to load the data? is that what you are stuck on ?
You just do, again just the example of the docs

var player : Player = get_tree().get_first_node_in_group("Player")
# Load the file line by line and process that dictionary to restore
    # the object it represents.
    var save_file = FileAccess.open("user://savegame.save", FileAccess.READ)
    while save_file.get_position() < save_file.get_length():
        var json_string = save_file.get_line()

        # Creates the helper class to interact with JSON.
        var json = JSON.new()

        # Check if there is any error while parsing the JSON string, skip in case of failure.
        var parse_result = json.parse(json_string)
        if not parse_result == OK:
            print("JSON Parse Error: ", json.get_error_message(), " in ", json_string, " at line ", json.get_error_line())
            continue

        # Get the data from the JSON object.
        var node_data = json.data
        player.global_pos = node_data["player_global_position"]

But that last line will fail, but that was explained in the first 15 minutes of that video you watched, so am sure you will fix it yourself

player.health = node_date["player_health"] will work though

[spiral axle]

nah..what im asking is just.. where im supposed to put things

My dictionary is stored in an autoloaded scene.

my save , load , and load game buttons each have their own script, so im unsure where i should put all of these different vars, because there's no telling if they'll be able to reference each other

but yeah I'll close this forum in a bit.

but i imagine It's probably better if i..
Make the save and load part of the same script.
and then use groups, or just the dictionary probably.

y'know what, fuck it we ball

[spiral axle]

FUCK

I FIGURED OUT THE ISSUE WITH THE SOUN