I think I just lost several hours of work in gzdoom builder

[Ganryu]

I have no idea how this is possible.

I save regularily, but there seems to be some kind of interference if you save a map while having the wad open in slade. Essentially, gzdoom builder does behaves like normal. Saving seems to work (no complaints from gzdoom builder). Changes to the map appear when testing the map in the game.

But if you restart gzdoom builder, the map is reset to some earlier point.

Is it possible to save my work?

[Graf Zahl]

You should never have a file open in two tools at the same time.
If you save in both without reloading the changes that were saved first will inevitably be lost forever.

[RestlessRodent]

Graf Zahl said:

You should never have a file open in two tools at the same time.
If you save in both without reloading the changes that were saved first will inevitably be lost forever.

Files can also usually be edited in place also, which means that the internal WAD structure may become corrupted.

[Graf Zahl]

Yes, but not by the tools he mentioned.

[Gez]

If you have tested the map from within GZDB, it's possible you still have a temporary file with it.

I feel the need to point out that SLADE has an "open map with Doom Builder" feature. If you want to edit something with both SLADE and GZDB simultaneously, you should use this feature. Any other way will provoke file access conflicts between both editors, meaning that one of them will have the last word, without including the changes made in the other.

[Chezza]

It happened to me twice before. To avoid this you must be aware that neither programs update simultaneously. If you open the map with Slade and Doom Editor and make an edit in one program and save it, the information does not update on the other. So you add a whole bunch of rooms in doom editor etc, you save and quit. Then you notice Slade is still up so you save and quit that as well. BANG, PROBLEM. Slade had the old version of the map loaded and still did even if you saved your changes on Doom editor. So saving in Slade reverted your map back to the older version.

So play it careful and avoid running both programs. Make your edits in Doom Editor first and then save it (with a backup too), then open up Slade afterwards so it will load the latest version of your map (your last save). Then Slade will successfully load the latest build and all will be well.

[Ganryu]

Lesson learned :D

The fact that I had to re-create some things turned out to be actually beneficial to the level design too. I ended up rethinking some decisions.

[Gez]

Chezza said:

So play it careful and avoid running both programs. Make your edits in Doom Editor first and then save it (with a backup too), then open up Slade afterwards so it will load the latest version of your map (your last save). Then Slade will successfully load the latest build and all will be well.

Or what I said about Open map with Doom Builder.

[scifista42]

Gez said:

SLADE has an "open map with Doom Builder" feature.

It doesn't work on my computer - it says that I don't have DB2 installed (I have, but in a custom directory, not in Program Files), and I haven't found an option to set file path to it.

[Knas]

scifista42 said:

It doesn't work on my computer - it says that I don't have DB2 installed (I have, but in a custom directory, not in Program Files), and I haven't found an option to set file path to it.

I have it installed to the default location, but it doesn't work for me either.

[Gez]

Set the console variable "path_db2" to point to your Doom Builder executable.

[scifista42]

Thanks, it worked. I wonder why such a nice and noteworthy feature needs such an obscured setup.

[baja blast rd.]

Ganryu said:

Lesson learned :D

The fact that I had to re-create some things turned out to be actually beneficial to the level design too. I ended up rethinking some decisions.

Love this attitude. :)

[sirjuddington]

scifista42 said:

Thanks, it worked. I wonder why such a nice and noteworthy feature needs such an obscured setup.

It checks the registry for the DB2 installation path, does GZDB still write all the same registry keys as DB2 did?

[Gez]

I'm not sure GZDB touches the registry. From a cursory scan in HKLM\SOFTWARE, I don't see a "CodeImp" (like DB2) or "MaxED" folder. Running a search for the install folder found nothing. Also, I installed GZDB from a zip of a development build, not by running an installer, which may explain the former points.

I remember I made path_db2 a CVAR precisely because DB2 wasn't always detected and because people had wanted it to open with GZDB instead, and this was the simplest way to address these issues.

[MaxED]

1. DB2/GZDB don't use registry in any way.
2. DB2 installer creates a single string value named "Location" at "HKLM\SOFTWARE\CodeImp\Doom Builder\".
3. GZDB 2.3 installer creates a single string value named "Location" at "HKLM\SOFTWARE\CodeImp\GZDoom Builder\".
4. GZDB 2.4 installer will create a single string value named "Location" at "HKLM\SOFTWARE\MaxED\GZDoom Builder\".

Also, wouldn't a better solution be "When a user clicks "Open with BD2" menu item, ask him to select DB2 location when stored path is empty or points to non-existing file"?