initialization script option for the object was unchecked but it was still running the code or errors

[euclidaeun]

From case study
https://textadventures.co.uk/games/view/m23wcpbjzeotjvmvseuhiq/titan-submersible

Credits to Magicalus

Basically all objects have a features tab, and 'a run an initialization script for this object'

Game creators may put a code that creates error or simply a text message "test",

but game creators off the 'a run an initialization script for this object',

but yet somehow the errors continue to run or text messages "test" continued to be printed.

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The solution is to go to attributes tab of target object to delete the initialize script manually, which might not be intuitive or creates difficult-to-diagnose startup error as game creators will often check game startup scripts instead of finding all attributes of all objects

Hence, the app itself should delete any initialization script when unticked to be more professional and creates less diagnosis issues

[KVonGit]

The checkbox "Run an initialisation script for this object" is really just so the editor knows it should display the "Initialisation script" tab for that object. That feature_startscript attribute doesn't even end up in the published game's code.

I agree that it is confusing, just explaining why it's behaving the way it is.

During game load, Quest checks all the objects, and if any have an _initialise_ script attribute, Quest will invoke the script (as you have already found).

The only non-work-in-progress-breaking approach I can think of would be to change the checkbox wording to "Show Initialisation Script Tab for This Object", and maybe not allow that checkbox to be unticked if a script attribute exists?

I'm betting someone else will provide a better solution, but I've helped out with many games that have objects with _initalise_ attributes in external library files. There are at least two of Pixie's libraries that have objects like that. One of them needs that script to run to set the game's time when the game is loaded, and the other does something with NPC clones and such.

Those libraries are created outside of Quest's editor, and they don't need that feature_startscript attribute at all, as it is only for the Quest editor to know to display the tab containing the actual _initialise_ script for the author to access it via the tab rather than the attributes tab (which does not exist in the online Quest editor).

So, if an update changed things to ignore those script attributes if the feature_startscript wasn't set to true (which is toggled by that checkbox), I think that update would be considered "game-breaking." (I know no one advised this.... Just thinking "out loud.")

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the app itself should delete any initialization script when unticked to be more professional and creates less diagnosis issues

This is a good solution, if it can be applied to the web editor, too.

I recently learned that the Windows version of the Quest editor removes the attributes when changing things from the GUI most of the time, where the web editor just leaves the attributes empty when doing the same exact thing. This was not an issue until the Quest Viva webplayer came along, as it is more strict and was throwing errors when it found an empty attribute. (This has been fixed.)

@Pertex , do you know how to fool with the code to make the editor remove the _initialise_ attribute completely when the feature_startscript box is unchecked?

[angelwedge]

This should probably be better documented.

The features tab allows you to show or hide controls in the editor, making the interface less cluttered. It does not change the in-game behaviour of an object in any way.

I can imagine a way to prevent tabs being hidden if there's a value set there; but that could be counterintuitive in other ways (and in some cases, I've done this deliberately to avoid clutter, knowing that the values won't need changing again).

But I do think it would be possible to have, for example, a global "always show features whch are set" checkbox (set by default); so that if you uncheck the "run an initialisation script" feature for an object where the script already exists, it would display a message instead of hiding the tab. The downside would be making the onlydisplayif expressions more complex.