Cutscenes and Saving

StudioKraze

Heya

From what I can tell looking into it, you can't save during cutscenes?

My game is a visual novel style game that has been built around running dialogue from one cutscene to the next, meaning majority of the game is just cutscenes and so currently there's almost no opportunities to save in the game.

Is there definitely no work around for saving during cutscenes?

I just want to double check as I'm trying to avoid having to redesign how my whole game works just to be able to save.

ChrisIceBox

Through script, it is possible to save at any time - using:

SaveSystem.SaveGame (0, saveID, true);

Where saveID is the ID number of the save file to record.

However, the restriction during cutscenes when using AC's provided Menus / Actions is with intent: because the state/progress of ActionLists is not included in save-game data. That means that if you were to save mid-way through an ActionList, reloading that save would cause the game to enter gameplay mode, and the ActionList would not continue.

At what point, specifically, do you aim to allow the game to be saved? Automatically, at the end of certain sequences?

StudioKraze

While I would like to autosave at certain points like the beginning of a scene, and whenever a new character arrives, I'd also like the player to be able to save whenever they want, like mid-conversation. And I think that's where the issue is.

Like you said the state/progress of ActionLists isn't saved, so even ignoring manual saving as an option, an auto save can say load up the current character into the scene, but the character won't do anything because the save file hasn't saved where the player was up to mid conversation/cutscene.

So I get the feeling it is not possible to save mid cutscene and continue from that point, which somewhat makes sense due to Adventure Creator being designed for point n click adventures where you wouldn't be in constant cutscene dialogue unlike in a visual novel. So in a point and click adventure there would be many more times where you are in "gameplay mode" and able to save manually (or auto-save).

ChrisIceBox

Yes, indeed.

Certainly auto-saving at pre-determined points would be the easier of the two. It's worth bearing in mind that AC does have ways of running logic upon loading - whether it be through the scene's "OnLoad" cutscene, or via the Event Runner / Event Manager.

If, for example, you Autosave immediately after a scene-change, you could have the scene's OnLoad cutscene link to OnStart so that OnStart gets run when that Autosave gets loaded.

A more complex approach, and one that would feasible also allow for manual saving, would be to use custom scripting to record the state of any ActionLists you want to resume after loading. This would essentially involve working out which Action index within a given ActionList is currently running, and then start the ActionList from that same point upon loading.

Caution does need to be exercised, however, because the state of a scene isn't always reflected by the state of an ActionList. For example, if a character was commanded to move somewhere with "Wait until finish?" unchecked, their position is now independent of the ActionList's state.

I can't guarantee this'd work, but this custom Remember script will save/restore the assigned ActionList's currently-running Action:

using UnityEngine;
using AC;

public class RememberActionList : Remember
{

    public ActionList actionListToSave;

    public override string SaveData ()
    {
        ActionListData data = new ();
        data.objectID = constantID;
        data.savePrevented = savePrevented;

        data.currentActionIndex = -1;
        if (KickStarter.actionListManager.IsListRunning(actionListToSave))
        {
            for (int i = 0; i < actionListToSave.actions.Count; i++)
            {
                if (actionListToSave.actions[i].isRunning)
                {
                    data.currentActionIndex = i;
                    break;
                }
            }
        }

        return Serializer.SaveScriptData<ActionListData>(data);
    }


    public override void LoadData (string stringData)
    {
        var data = Serializer.LoadScriptData <ActionListData> (stringData);
        if (data == null) return;
        SavePrevented = data.savePrevented; if (savePrevented) return;

        if (data.currentActionIndex >= 0)
        {
            actionListToSave.RunFromIndex(data.currentActionIndex);
        }
        else
        {
            actionListToSave.Kill();
        }
    }
}

[System.Serializable]
public class ActionListData : RememberData
{

    public int currentActionIndex;

    public ActionListData () { }

}

StudioKraze

Thanks for the response. Does the script need to be attached to anything in particular?

I tried attaching it to one of the dialogue cutscene actionlists and not only could I not manually save, if I put a forced save action in the action list and then try and load that save, it just loads a blank screen.

ChrisIceBox

The script doesn't need to be attached to any specific object, but does need the ActionList whose current state you wish to save assigned in its Inspector.

It doesn't allow for saving during cutscenes, however. That's still a separate issue and one that involves the use of scripting from my first reply.

The Save: Save or load Action also prevents saving during cutscenes. Temporarily, you can remove this restriction by removing this code block from line 205 in ActionSaveHandle.cs:

if (PlayerMenus.IsSavingLocked (this, true))
{
    OnComplete ();
}
else

StudioKraze

Thanks. I tried commenting out the code block at line 205 in ActionSaveHandle but still can't save in the pause menu manually.

I'm guessing there's no plans on the Adventure Creator roadmap anytime soon (if at all) to expand saving to being able to save during cutscenes and being able to continue from where the cutscene was upto on load as an included feature of Adventure Creator?

ChrisIceBox

There's too much unpredictability in doing so - it wouldn't be possible to ensure/guarantee that the game would be restored to its exact state.

Commenting out the code above only allows use of the Save: Save or load Action during cutscenes - not the regular SaveList element that doesn't require one.

To force saving to be "allowed" at all times, locate the IsSavingLocked function in PlayerMenus, around line 2983, and add this to the top (just inside the first bracket):

return true;

StudioKraze

Thanks for that. Unless I put that return true code in the wrong spot, it didn't work for me.

I get the feeling I'm working against what Adventure Creator was built for by shoehorning in a sort of Visual Novel style game into it, and that even if I managed to get saving working during cutscenes, that from what you've said, there's no guarantee the save games would be correct.

I might have to investigate changing my game's gameplay flow to be that the player needs to click on the character to talk to them instead of it being an automated cutscene, therefore allowing a "gameplay mode" time whereby autosaves and manual saves could take place.

I appreciate your help.