Ghosts'n Demons: OpenBOR but not OpenBOR? What's going on?

[vanfanel]

Hi!

I found out about this awesome looking OpenBOR freeware game called "Ghosts'n Demons" by BonusJZ.
It can be downloaded for free here:
http://gamejolt.com/games/ghosts-n-demons/105882

It includes a PAK and, in fact, it loads up fine in OpenBOR built from SVN.
It also loads on stable OpenBOR binaries for GNU/Linux.
However, the game exits as soon as the first stage starts, and I can see this on the OpenBorLog.txt:

"There's an exception while executing script 'updateentityscript' data/chars/Artur/Artur2.txt"

So, ok, the game gives an script error and exits. So I contact the author and he says "the game is compatible with the included executable". Yeah, but that executable IS OpenBOR.
Any ideas on what's going on here? Did somebody get this OpenBOR game working on.. well, on OpenBOR? Did the author modify OpenBOR? How?

PS: It's not that I want to play the game that badly (I have original GNG series perfectly emulated my Raspberry Pi, etc), but this situation is intriguing.

 

[rafhot]

he uses an older version executable for his projects

i currently use one executable for each openbor game to keep things work as the developer has made

you can use hyper spin to make your openbor front end and will have a very cool pak selector

the result is something like this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GmZBnJIPFA

 

[vanfanel]

But the version he uses is from 2009 and depends on SDL1, which is unmantained and bit-rotten, causing problems on newer systems.

The error that GND gives on new OpenBOR seems minor: would it be hard to fix so the PAK runs on up-to-date OpenBOR which runs on SDL2?

 

[Bloodbane]

Well, have you asked BonusJZ himself to fix the pak?

 

[Tilaval]

2009 version still useful... the problem on newest version is that it didn't spawn proper  while using summonframe on the object, Spawn to Idle... in the version it keeps looping in the spawn anim and it didn't execute into idle afterwards...

 

[vanfanel]

@tilaval: any way I could fix the game script so it works on newer OpenBOR?

 

[Tilaval]

@tilaval: any way I could fix the game script so it works on newer OpenBOR?

I am no idea on this, maybe you should ask Utunnel.

 

[netspider1]

I made fixes on both Ghosts'n Demons for PC and Dreamcast. Also enabled the cheats, fixed crashes and stuck levels, to make it run on recent OpenBOR  8)
I did my fixes over the last version.  8) Yep, last version which the creator BonusJZ  told you cannot work on recent OpenBOR, only on ancient versions from 2009  , yep same version from the link you posted and discussed above, that last version of Ghosts'n Demons I fixed.  8)
With my fixes both releases for PC and Dreamcast load fast and run OK on OpenBOR v3.0 Build 3711 which is pretty recent OpenBOR that fits my needs perfectly 8) so to me no needs to do any more fixes.  If you need more than this feel free to do it yourself
Also works on Android OpenBOR build 3805.apk which you can download from Part 1, first page

Find the game in my collection http://www.chronocrash.com/forum/index.php?topic=2360.0 not sure in which part is

 

[Davidgilmour]

I made fixes on both Ghosts'n Demons for PC and Dreamcast. Also enabled the cheats, fixed crashes and stuck levels, to make it run on recent OpenBOR

Thanks, found it and it is working. One small problem. It does not save the control settings. Is that a bug?

 

[valver]

Thanks, found it and it is working. One small problem. It does not save the control settings. Is that a bug?

Hi Davidglimour. Did you run this game in batocera raspberry pi4? I am trying it but it doesn't work. Could you please help me?

 

[Adam hunter]

I’ve run into similar issues with OpenBOR projects before; it’s usually because certain creators use a highly customized or outdated build of the engine that includes specific script commands not supported by the standard SVN or newer stable releases. That 'updateentityscript' error is a dead giveaway that the game is calling a function the engine doesn't recognize. I managed to get it running on my setup by strictly using the .exe that came in the zip—even though it’s just OpenBOR, it’s likely a "hardcoded" version tailored for those specific assets. It’s annoying when you want to use a clean, updated binary for performance, but with these niche freeware titles, the version parity is usually what breaks the scripts.

 

[valver]

I’ve run into similar issues with OpenBOR projects before; it’s usually because certain creators use a highly customized or outdated build of the engine that includes specific script commands not supported by the standard SVN or newer stable releases. That 'updateentityscript' error is a dead giveaway that the game is calling a function the engine doesn't recognize. I managed to get it running on my setup by strictly using the .exe that came in the zip—even though it’s just OpenBOR, it’s likely a "hardcoded" version tailored for those specific assets. It’s annoying when you want to use a clean, updated binary for performance, but with these niche freeware titles, the version parity is usually what breaks the scripts.

Thanks a lot for this clarification!!!

 

[O Ilusionista]

It’s annoying when you want to use a clean, updated binary for performance, but with these niche freeware titles, the version parity is usually what breaks the scripts.

But that is the error - and a common one: people treat OpenBOR like an emulator, where you can simply throw a new executable version and expect it to run.
That is not the case, at all.

OpenBOR is an engine. Game were developed to work specifically for the version the author provides.

Plus, sometimes people uses non official ports - like the raspberry one - and expect it to run "because it's OpenBOR". That is not how it works.

 

[Kratus]

certain creators use a highly customized

specific script commands

even though it’s just OpenBOR

@Adam hunter Basically this is how an engine update works. I mean, since a new function is added and the developer decides to build a game using it, depending on the function automatically all other previous executables may not work. This is not related to "excessive" customization like it sounded in the post, this is just a developer's decision.

Look at some examples below, from the manual. All these were official engine updates, and if a dev uses the 4183 as base, you will have many problems with all the previous builds.

updated binary for performance

Like @O Ilusionista said, OpenBOR is not an emulator. Unlike the PCSX2 for example, you don't need to update it for performance
Instead, you should treat it like a common PC game made with Unity/Godot, and ask for the original author to make updates in order to improve the game (and then he can update the engine version in the process).

breaks the scripts

I managed to get it running on my setup by strictly using the .exe that came in the zip

Exactly, the game should always be used strictly with the OpenBOR executable that came with the game. Even if it works, there are no guarantees that there will be no problems.
Nothing is broken, the game was just developed around a specific version due to the developer's decision.

And this is how other engines work too.