Game won't start

[christina.jai]

I've played the game for about 8 hours & now it won't launch anymore after quitting.

[ehuddaniel]

Well that's no good, I would hate for you to lose the 8 hours of progress you made! Does the game start at all when you try to play it? If so, when exactly does it crash? If the application isn't starting at all I'm not quite certain where to start, but if it at least starts and then has a specific point at which it crashes that might make it easier to solve the issue (could be related to the save data in some way).

[christina.jai]

Thanks for replying! I think it might be a slight bug. I've gone into the tunnels underneath a trailer which I've gleaned (if I've paying enough attention which I'm sure I have) run underneath a mansion? As Chuck I've got killed & stuck midfway within a doorway while going through & the 'ghoul' is runninbg back & forth along the corridor bur that's where the game sticks/crashes - I just can't do anything else. It does seem that I just need to be either side of the doorway before Chuck is killed & not stuck in the doorway at the time?

[ehuddaniel]

So if you launch the game right now, do you start at the beginning of the underground mansion and are still free to move around until Svala enters the room and kills you? If so, try hiding behind a pile of trash (you'll find them around the mansion) when Svala enters a room. You can know that Svala is approaching by hearing a scream in the distance. When you hear that, run to the nearest room with a garbage pile and hide behind it. Otherwise yes you will die every time Svala enters the room.

[ehuddaniel]

Also I apologize for the length of time between my replies, developing Cheonsa currently demands the vast majority of my game development time and I also work a day job so opportunities are scarce.

[christina.jai]

Thanks for your reply! After repeated attempts I did finally get the game to launch again without the app. error & once the game was launched I was able to avoid the point where the game crashed. I managed to progress to get to the corridor with the fuel canister but everytime now I quit the game it's hit or miss whether the game will launch or not. I wondered whether as I'd been using the cardboard box to hide in this has upset the game as I see by your reply it wasn't intended? (But it works)
While I'm here I thought I'd ask how I get to the ladder in the long (trashfree) corridor past the fuel canister without being killed? (I have the lighter). There doesn't seem to be any You Tube videos of this ending.

[christina.jai]

Unfortunately I can't get the game to launch at all now - it's 'running' but it seems to be an app. error. If it's to do with Steam I was thinking of getting the game from Game Jolt but is it the same version?

[ehuddaniel]

Hm - I'm somewhat at a loss in regards why the game won't launch. I have known Steam to say the application is "Running" and not display it for a bit (maybe 10-15 seconds), but I've never known it to not start at all. Sadly since I used Construct 2 for Woodfall I know very little of how to debug the app not running or causing an error since it's powered by NW.js and the like (not really my forte). There are no differences between the Game Jolt and Steam version, it will even load your saved data from the same location. I will private message you a Game Jolt key of the game and let's see if that works.

[christina.jai]

Hi, thanks for your reply! I did get the game to launch after I deleted the saves but had to start again - I'm still following the same path but unfortunately I must have deleted too much as I have no sound which has now got to be a problem on entering the landfill site as I have no warning of pending attack! Thank you for your PM - the link though for Game Jolt doesn't seem to work??

[christina.jai]

I've just quit the game but now it won't launch again! Does the Game Jolt version need Steam to run btw? as if so I can't see any point in trying that one. I just want to say that it's an interesting game so I'm very disppointed it's not behaving!

[ehuddaniel]

Firstly, no, the Game Jolt download does not require Steam to run, so it's definitely worth a shot. I've PMed you again, this time with just the Game Jolt key. Let me know if that works or not. Secondly, that all sounds like something very odd is going on with the saved data. As I'm sure you discovered the saved data is kept in your user folder under a subfolder named "GRWoodfall." Did you delete all three files (Save.gao, Save.gbo, Save.gvo)? The sound not working is an indicator that the sound settings have been turned down in the game options menu. Try playing with those settings to see if the sound can be turned back up or not. Honestly I'm kind of at a loss as to what is happening, but everything points to corrupt save data. Thank you for your patience and I certainly hope we can resolve this problem!

[ehuddaniel]

As for the game not launching, that's probably what concerns me the most. I hate for you to lose saved data, but I would probably say the best option is to make sure the application is completely closed, then delete all three saved data files, and then launch again from scratch. That should ensure the game has a clean launch with no possibility of any of the files corrupting each other.

[christina.jai]

Many thanks for your help. Yes, I had deleted all 3 saves & following that the game did launch but as said when I quit yesterday I couldn't get it to launch again.
After a few attempts today the game did launch so I was able to coninue to achieve one of the 3 endings!
But there was no sound & I had to go to options several times to keep turning up the volumes as they kept resetting to 0 after every few minutes of gameplay.
Also since restarting the game there were no Lore symbols to be found.
I appreciate you sending me a key for Game Jolt - thankyou - so I think the best thing I can do is uninstall the Steam version & give the one from Game Jolt a go. It would at least establish whether the fault's with the Steam application.
I will certainly post here to let you know.

[ehuddaniel]

Yes, please do let me know! As for the sound resetting to 0 all the time. . . that just blows my mind. I know that when you leave the options menu sound settings get saved, so it's just hard to even guess why it would be turning back down. It certainly makes me wonder if other users are experiencing the same issues. I am glad that you were at least able to experience one of the 3 endings!

[christina.jai]

Yes, I tried a none Steam application to play the game but it uses the same folder for game saves so progress still shows up on Steam even though I uninstalled it!
I managed to play through to another ending without any sound but on quitting I can't still get the game to launch without repeated effort & even then mostly not........

I've tried to uninstall the game but I can't as there doesn't seem to be an uninstall facility included - the game doesn't show up in a list of installed progeams & when I try to delete the download files I'm told I can't as another program is using a file ...........please explain to me what the 'NSWJ Community' is that won't let me delete files as it's uing them? What for?

NB I didn't use Game Jolt as I couldn't see a way of using the key you sent me + they ask for too much info anyway so I tried itch io.

It's a nice game & I can see the 3rd ending on You Tube but my PC really doesn't like it - I thought it was maybe the save files and/or a conflict with my firewall but why doesn't this game show up in a list of installed programs on my PC??????









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[ehuddaniel]

I am so sorry for the ridiculous length of time it took me to respond. I have been incredibly busy at my job and then every free moment I have for development has been sunk into Cheonsa, we are working very hard to try and push something out to try and raise funding for continued development.

Steam won't get rid of the saves folder as it is created separately by the game itself. Ideally this allows user to uninstall the game, then perhaps decide to reinstall later, without losing saved data. As the saved files are extremely small, I didn't think it would cause an issue for most users.

NWJS refers to the "Node-Webkit.js" JavaScript application that is used to package an HTML 5 project (which is what powers Woodfall) into a regular desktop application. Chances are your issues are arising somewhere with the NWJS framework and not the game itself, which unfortunately doesn't help much as I have nothing to do with the production of NWJS, it's merely a tool most Construct 2 Developers use to get their games onto places like Steam. In any case, Woodfall absolutely requires NWJS to run on a desktop machine.

I'm sorry to hear that the Game Jolt link did not work, perhaps I am not understanding how their keys work as you are the second person to report issues in trying to lay claim to a Game Jolt key. I'm glad you were able to at least experience a good portion of the game, though it truly pains me that it was so difficult. I hate the thought and wish I had more power over it. As it is I have mostly moved on from using Construct 2 to the (insanely more powerful and flexible) Unreal Engine 4. Any future projects I create will use UE4 and I'm certain will be far more stable overall.

In answer to your final question about why Woodfall doesn't appear in a list of installed programs, this again has a lot to do with NWJS and HTML 5. While I'm certain there would be some process by which I could make a proper installer and get the game registered as an installed application, it wasn't a high priority for me as most users are able to just uninstall it through Steam. I apologize if it caused any inconvenience, but you can rest assured that simply deleting the folder that contains the application files effectively uninstalls it from your system. Thank you again so much for your patience and I am truly sorry for how long it took me to reply to this latest series of questions. If there is anything you need, please don't hesitate to let me know.