Ren'Py World's Crossing Academy [v1.3.5.1] [TeamEmberWings]

[Deleted member 1808184]

If you need help with GIT, do say.

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[VictorSeven]

CRISIS AVERTED.



Apparently RenPy automatically makes backups in the Appdata/Roaming/RenPy/backups folder. I renamed the old files, copied and pasted the backups into the game folder and cut and pasted the corrupt files into a different folder. And the game booted and ran perfectly.

Thank.

God.

The show goes on. We are now officially 8 scenes away from finishing the build.

 

[Kionashi]

Im glad you got to recover the data, take that as a learning experience... As a programmer myself I would highly recommend using github or Bitbucket to save your project in a remote repository, just in case something bad happens like your PC exploding is good to know you will still have a recent backup in the internet...

 

[VictorSeven]

Im glad you got to recover the data, take that as a learning experience... As a programmer myself I would highly recommend using github or Bitbucket to save your project in a remote repository, just in case something bad happens like your PC exploding is good to know you will still have a recent backup in the internet...

Is there a way to do this automatically?

 

[Deleted member 1808184]

Is there a way to do this automatically?

Technically, given both use git, nothing prevents you from setting a repeatable task (Linux has cron, Windows should have something similar too but I long forgot the name of the program) which does git commit -a -m "automatic" ; git push though.

However, personally, I do not advise automating this part. The commits take a message and are easily reversible. When used correctly, it makes easier to find which changes introduced new bugs, to rollback releases or problematic changes (even when they change dozen of files), or to just see the project history and draw statistics out of it (e.g. which scenes took longer, or how much time you're spending on WCA).

Version Control System, such as git (e.g. github, gitlab and bitbucket), is much more powerful than just backups. They can even run Ren'Py linter for you after every change (workflow/CI), and you can even send a message to Discord automatically every time you push something (containing the commit message) so followers are always up-to-date with what you're working on.

Unfortunately, that doesn't work for Patreon... Or F95Zone forums, for that matter. (Well... might be doable with phpBB and some hack wack high wizardry magic; Totally NOT advised.)

PS. It also makes "easier" to work in collaboration with others - you can have them writing the stuff and just review it, making any minor edit you feel like - but then you need to actually learn the VCS workflow. You can also have them doing the review work for proof-reading, testing and bug-fixing without disrupting your own work, even if they need to edit something you're working on; But that involves learning conflicts resolution. Nowadays it is easier, used to be among the trickier parts of git.

 

[Kionashi]

once you get the ball rolling with git updating the project in the cloud will be as easy as typing 3 commands on the terminal

git add .
git commit -m "Add scene X and fix bug Y" (you can actually write whatever here)
git push

and that's it

 

[Hordragg]

Kionashi and pazkero covered it nicely. The next higher levels of disaster mitigation do involve combinations of COW filesystems with periodic snapshots, mirrored drives, and remote locations. Which basically boils down to dropping Windows. Like using ZFS on your daily driver and syncing its snapshots to the mirrored drives of a home server which does periodic backups to the cloud and/or a fourth drive – yes, I'm talking three-way-mirrors here, so data is still mirrored in the event of one drive failing – which you can then store in a safe location…

 

[VictorSeven]

I... have no idea what most of this means. Like, I can build PCs and code in Visual Basic 6 and shit, but I do not understand most of this.

What I DO understand is that the Version Control System/git thing seems to be my best option. I'd need someone to walk me through setting that up, though.

What I should probably do is just manually back up the project folder each time I finish some changes.

 

[I am Gone]

Poll: Patron-Only Pinup Pack 1

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5 days ago by

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I mentioned in one of my last posts that I wanted to start working on a Patron-Only Pinup Package featuring girls that the Patrons vote for. This poll is to select WHICH girls get the pinup shots, and I'll likely be taking the Top 5. In a later poll, we'll vote on a theme, such as lingerie, swimsuit, topless, booty shots, etc.



Join the Patreon now to take part in the poll and get the Pinup Package when it's delivered! I currently have no release date, but if this catches on, I may make it a regular thing!

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[Kionashi]

daaamn, those girls are looking fine....is just me or the art quality has been improving compared to how they used to look?

 

[I am Gone]

Small Delay - Build 2 (Week 2/Chapter 5)

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Hi, All!

When I first started working on this game, I was using two separate computers. My PC at home, with its more robust video card, and my laptop at work for, well, when I have to work but still want to work on the game. Don't tell my boss, but that's where I get most of the work done on World's Crossing.

Problem was, I'd have to CONSTANTLY be transferring files back and forth and it got ANNOYING. So I did what I thought was a smart. I bought an external SSD. Crucial brand, which is known for its memory. Got that shit in April, and it's been smooth sailing.

Until now. The drive is starting to give me errors. I'll take some screens on my PC at home, then bring the drive to work, and it just says Folder is Empty. Like, I know they're there, ya little...

I surmised that the drive is going out. I'm not gonna touch it for a few days while I wait for the replacement drive to come in. So that means no work on WCA for a few days. BUT! Never fear, for I had some ideas regarding these Pinup Packs I mentioned in the last post, which got me thinking about video loop requests and custom h-scenes for the higher tier patrons and... well, let's just say I have lots of ideas. I'm gonna spend this time brainstorming on what more I could make available to fans of the game.

Thanks for reading, and thanks for your patience! At present, I'm nearly halfway through Saturday's scenes, and I only have Sunday to finish up after that. We're almost there. Chapter 5 is almost ready for you!​

 

[Deleted member 1808184]

Until now. The drive is starting to give me errors. I'll take some screens on my PC at home, then bring the drive to work, and it just says Folder is Empty. Like, I know they're there, ya little...

First of all, perform an antivirus test.
There are hundred of viruses which has exactly what you described as a side effect.

If it returns no viruses, run smartctl and check for the error counters.
In linux, you just use smartctl --all /dev/sdb. No idea how to obtain this data in Windows.

Ensure you get exactly this info on the middle of smartctl information dumps:

SMART Error Log Version: 1
No Errors Logged

If there are errors, send your disk for repairs. Otherwise, the disk itself is fine and problem is elsewhere.
(There are tricks to circumvent smartctl errors, but most of them only work on HDDs.)

For the record, if you learn git workflow, you DO NOT need the extra disk - Git is made so multiple people can collaborate on something at once - so it (obviously?) handles multiple computers well. (The standard git pull; git push drill)

I advise learning git even if it is not the most fun thing in the world, because it is super convenient once you master it.

 

[VictorSeven]

First of all, perform an antivirus test.
There are hundred of viruses which has exactly what you described as a side effect.

If it returns no viruses, run smartctl and check for the error counters.
In linux, you just use smartctl --all /dev/sdb. No idea how to obtain this data in Windows.

Ensure you get exactly this info on the middle of smartctl information dumps:


If there are errors, send your disk for repairs. Otherwise, the disk itself is fine and problem is elsewhere.
(There are tricks to circumvent smartctl errors, but most of them only work on HDDs.)

For the record, if you learn git workflow, you DO NOT need the extra disk - Git is made so multiple people can collaborate on something at once - so it (obviously?) handles multiple computers well. (The standard git pull; git push drill)

I advise learning git even if it is not the most fun thing in the world, because it is super convenient once you master it.

Full scan of the drive, no viruses. And yeah, I'm running windows.

Here's what happened. I highlighted a bunch of screens I'd taken (about 118 screens), back to front, in the "cap" folder where they automatically go. Hit F2 to bulk rename them like I always do. It did its thing. I highlighted them all and CTRL+X to cut. Went into my Screens folder, then the Girls folder, then created a folder for the girl. Accidentally pasted inside that folder. Cut again, created folder for the scene, pasted them there. When I plugged the drive in again at work, the entire scene folder was missing. I got back home, got on my PC, same thing, even though the folder name shows up in temporary files when I do a system-wide search for it. So I DID create it and I DID paste those files there. They're just... not there for some reason. The character's folder just shows as empty. I dunno what happened. I lost a huge scene and may have to reshoot it.

daaamn, those girls are looking fine....is just me or the art quality has been improving compared to how they used to look?

Thank you! For pinups like that, I use a different graphics mod called DHH. It's got much better detail lighting and whatnot, but I don't use it for the main game because it has no FOV option. Still takes a lot of tweaking, and I'm getting better at it. Thanks for noticing!

 

[VictorSeven]

Oh, I should probably add that some of the RenPy games I have stored on the very same drive now will no longer open.

 

[cuckoo4cocoapuffs]

Oh, I should probably add that some of the RenPy games I have stored on the very same drive now will no longer open.

Does it pass a Smart test? It sounds like the drive is failing.

 

[VictorSeven]

Does it pass a Smart test? It sounds like the drive is failing.

See that's what I was thinking. I downloaded the Crucial software, and yesterday it was telling me the drive was fine. Today, it's saying that the drive has a firmware error, and when I try to do anything, the Crucial software says the drive is unavailable due to an invalid parameter. I've already transferred all my WCA-centric programs and data to the new drive. I'm keeping the old one to experiment with in case this is a recurring problem with Crucial drives. I've only had it since April.

 

[Deleted member 1808184]

(Raining on the wet here, but just to be sure, you did used the normal ejection and waited it to finish writing data to disk, right? When doing filesystem operations, depending on the partition type, it may not save the changes immediately in order to prevent fragmentation. Such data is only written to the disk when you "remove securely" the drive, if you simply unplug it may end up with only half of what it was supposed to have due this logic. I don't think this is the case - if SMART is failing, the disk should be replaced; Formatting is unlikely to yield you any result. There are tricks but most of these work only on HDDs, not your case either. Still, always worth mentioning.)

 

[VictorSeven]

(Raining on the wet here, but just to be sure, you did used the normal ejection and waited it to finish writing data to disk, right? When doing filesystem operations, depending on the partition type, it may not save the changes immediately in order to prevent fragmentation. Such data is only written to the disk when you "remove securely" the drive, if you simply unplug it may end up with only half of what it was supposed to have due this logic. I don't think this is the case - if SMART is failing, the disk should be replaced; Formatting is unlikely to yield you any result. There are tricks but most of these work only on HDDs, not your case either. Still, always worth mentioning.)

There were many times where this drive in particular would refuse to be ejected. It would tell me to close whatever was using it even though I had nothing open. I'd leave it alone for a bit and try to eject again, only for it to have the same result. I ended up shutting the computer down in order to be able to remove the drive quite a few times. When plugging it in, I had to use a USB C to USB A cable and adapter. At work with my laptop, the connection became loose from plugging it in and unplugging it through various months of working with it. A few times, the cable got jostled and the drive was disconnected even though the USB cable was still connected. So the loose connection could have contributed to errors on the drive. I had to repair the drive a few time using Windows' automatic tool on my laptop at work.

I also dove into learning Git. Watched Colt Steele's tutorials, got Git and Atom installed on both, and created a Github account. If you're willing, could I perhaps hire you to help me set up the repository in the directories I want on both of my machines?

 

[cuckoo4cocoapuffs]

See that's what I was thinking. I downloaded the Crucial software, and yesterday it was telling me the drive was fine. Today, it's saying that the drive has a firmware error, and when I try to do anything, the Crucial software says the drive is unavailable due to an invalid parameter. I've already transferred all my WCA-centric programs and data to the new drive. I'm keeping the old one to experiment with in case this is a recurring problem with Crucial drives. I've only had it since April.

I would recommend taking a screenshot of the error and seeing if you can get a manufacturers warranty on it since you've only had it a few months.

Use

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myself but if it's warning about firmware issues that could be a major internal chip failing. Either way if it's faulty and you can get a replacement I would try for one.

 

[I am Gone]

Progress Report and Patreon Pinup Pack 2

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10 minutes ago by

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Ahoy again!


Alright, so between planning for funerals and having someone walk out on our jobsite, forcing the rest of us to work overtime, there has been less time to work on WCA than I'm used to. That being said, I've made significant progress on our last little hangup.


All of my relevant files are now on a brand new external SSD. And I discovered I had made another dumbshit mistake. Regardless of the hardware failure, I would have had to reshoot Saturday's scenes anyways. Why? You ask?





I had Aurum in his fucking work uniform instead of his weekend/casual outfit, despite the morning scene clearly showing him changing into his casual outfit. Sure, I probably could have just written another shift into the story now that I think about it. But the reshooting has already started, and I intend to finish it. I like to stay true to my story rather than cover up errors. So, 118 frames and... what, 20 video clips or so? I'm working on reshooting all of that. And by that I mean posing the models all over again and taking screenshots. So unfortunately, it looks like I'll miss the October goal I had set for myself. But to compensate, I've been working on some extras for you all.


Not too long ago, I introduced the first Patreon Pinup Pack. This ended up being Nook, Tilai, Aoibheann, River, and Jade in sexy Halloween costumes. Normally available only on Patreon, one of you had the brilliant idea of making them available here for a small fee.





These are VERY high quality images which are run through the DHH lighting engine rather than the GraphicsMod engine I use for normal screenshots. That, coupled with a lot of lighting work, really emphasizes the shadows and the texture of the skin of each model. In short, they're HD images with a hefty file size.


The only PROBLEM is... Itch doesn't allow sale of individual DLCs. When someone pays for something, they're paying for the whole game project. If, say, I made each Pinup Pack $5 for the non-nude stuff and had 4 or 5 Pinup Packs available, all you'd have to do is spend $5 on the project and you'd get ALL of the $5 tier pinup packs. Since each pack is gonna have different girls and different themes as designated by either a Patron vote or a request from one of our T5 Creator Patrons, I wanted every fan to be able to pick and choose which Pinup Packs they wanted to purchase.





The good news is, for you fellow Goblin lovers out there, Pinup Pack 2 will be a Duos pack with Nook and Princess Tilai, and the theme is Lingerie. The bad news is I'm still racking my brains on how to offer these to the public, since some of you are unable to use Patreon to support due to your country of residence. My current ideas include looking into Subscribestar and other alternate platforms, as well as perhaps making an Etsy shop and just selling the Pinup Packs there. Kind of counterintuitive since I'd much rather just keep everything on Itch. But currently, the only way to sell the Pinup Packs individually is to create an entirely new game for each pack, which... I dunno if that's a good idea. Let me know what you think, or if you have any ideas as to how I could offer these packs to those of you who can't or prefer not to interact with Patreon!





Anyways, there's a lot to come in the near future. And I'll be honest, I'm worried this next update may be a bit short compared to how long y'all have waited for it. I'm considering releasing Wed/Thu/Fri as an update of its own like... now while I keep working on Saturday and Sunday. I worry that might cheapen the experience, since you'd have less to play all at once, but at this point, you've been waiting so long, and I have at least those 3 days playable and ready to go.


Again, lemme know what you think. I'll likely do a Patreon vote to see how they want the release handled. Thank you all for reading this fuggin novel of an update, and thank you all for your patience. You shall be duly rewarded. I plan to upload Pinup Pack 1 for absolutely free once the next update is live, so all of you can enjoy some HD images of the girls!


See you soon!


-Vic​