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Android Spine Loading Issue

J

JayR

Guest
Let me quickly bring you up to speed on my issue..

I've been using GMS2 v2.1.5 from mid-2018 due to a bug that affected my project. Until recently it was fixed in v2.2.4 and I upgraded. All this while, I have been using an extension that allowed skeleton animations made from Spriter to work inside Gamemaker (extension made by Nux). But after the upgrade to v2.2.4, the extension broke. I contacted the author and he told me he won't be working on it anymore (at least for a long while).

I rolled back to v2.1.5.

Bought Spine (v3.8.75).

Painstakingly rerigged + reanimated everything from Spriter into Spine.

Exported the data and it does not work in Gamemaker..

@rIKmAN told me the stable version that worked in v2.1.5 was Spine v3.4.02.. (https://forum.yoyogames.com/index.php?threads/previous-spine-version-support.68834)

Downgraded Spine to v3.4.02 but I can't open my Spine project anymore..

Please tell I don't have to rerig + reanimate everything again now in Spine v3.4.02, please... Any help?
 

rIKmAN

Member
Let me quickly bring you up to speed on my issue..

I've been using GMS2 v2.1.5 from mid-2018 due to a bug that affected my project. Until recently it was fixed in v2.2.4 and I upgraded. All this while, I have been using an extension that allowed skeleton animations made from Spriter to work inside Gamemaker (extension made by Nux). But after the upgrade to v2.2.4, the extension broke. I contacted the author and he told me he won't be working on it anymore (at least for a long while).

I rolled back to v2.1.5.

Bought Spine (v3.8.75).

Painstakingly rerigged + reanimated everything from Spriter into Spine.

Exported the data and it does not work in Gamemaker..

@rIKmAN told me the stable version that worked in v2.1.5 was Spine v3.4.02.. (https://forum.yoyogames.com/index.php?threads/previous-spine-version-support.68834)

Downgraded Spine to v3.4.02 but I can't open my Spine project anymore..

Please tell I don't have to rerig + reanimate everything again now in Spine v3.4.02, please... Any help?
That isn’t a GMS issue, that’s a Spine issue.
Not even an “issue”really, it’s just how it works and always has.

I assumed being a user you would already know, but you can’t load newer versions of Spine projects into older versions of Spine, mainly due to changes and new features between versions leading to changes in the project structure, exported json and how Spine handles things internally - and it’s always been this way.

You can try steps given in the link in this thread to try and rollback the json to a previous version (3.7 > 3.6) but you are probably going to have to test by using Import Data and also do some hand editing of the json files too to format them correctly for the version you are wanting it to be.

This will involve exporting projects using features from each previous version, setting the same base values and seeing what changes have been made between them - an editor like UltraEdit that formats json and allows side by side editing etc will help massively here, or at the very least a dif tool of some sort.

Sadly there is no short answer, and if you have used features in the project that were only added in later versions then obviously you are going to lose those as you will only be able to use features available upto v3.1.42 in older versions of GMS as anything later aren’t going to load.

v3.5 and 3.6 were touted as *possibly* working but that depended on what features you had used and so what was exported in the json, anything not in 3.4.12 and you would have issues.

Not what you want to hear I’m sure, but it’s been the way Spine has worked since as far back as I can remember.

Also double check that supported version number for GMS 2.1.5 as it may actually support a a later version than 3.1.42 (3.3 maybe?) as I know for certain that 3.7 support was added in GMS 2.2.2 but it was so long ago I can’t be remember for sure if there was an update in between and if there was that will also save you some extra work.

Either way the above points still stand re: rolling back and hand editing.

There may also be more info dotted around the Spine forums, it’s GitHub and Release Notes with regards to the changes that have been made between versions which will help you know what to look for and speed things up somewhat.
 
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J

JayR

Guest
I'm aware of how versions work... This is really stupid of me. I mean I have already asked you of the supported version. I knew it before I made the Spine purchase. Stupid me got excited with the new software and went to create all the animations without realizing I did not downgrade the runtime first. Now I'm just hoping there's actually a JSON rollback tool or anyone else who had similar experience like me.
 

rIKmAN

Member
I'm aware of how versions work... This is really stupid of me. I mean I have already asked you of the supported version. I knew it before I made the Spine purchase. Stupid me got excited with the new software and went to create all the animations without realizing I did not downgrade the runtime first. Now I'm just hoping there's actually a JSON rollback tool or anyone else who had similar experience like me.
There is a rollback tool and instruction for going from 3.7 > 3.6 in that link I posted to the thread on the Spine forums, and if you do some searches you will likely find other threads with info on rolling back between other versions which might help you.

I'm not sure if the rollback tool covers all previous versions just the latest one or two as I've not had to use it for a while and ended up writing my own tool to do it the last time I needed to convert between versions.

You'll still need to hand edit json at some point though I would have thought as the rollback tool isn't perfect and won't give you a perfect path back to the version you need I don't think, but once you get started it isn't that hard, just tedious.

Good luck!

EDIT:
Deleted time saving suggestion as you need to see if the IDE will load it so it wouldn't work as a time saver.
 
J

JayR

Guest
There is a rollback tool and instruction for going from 3.7 > 3.6 in that link I posted to the thread on the Spine forums, and if you do some searches you will likely find other threads with info on rolling back between other versions which might help you.

I'm not sure if the rollback tool covers all previous versions just the latest one or two as I've not had to use it for a while and ended up writing my own tool to do it the last time I needed to convert between versions.

You'll still need to hand edit json at some point though I would have thought as the rollback tool isn't perfect and won't give you a perfect path back to the version you need I don't think, but once you get started it isn't that hard, just tedious.

Good luck!

EDIT:
Deleted time saving suggestion as you need to see if the IDE will load it so it wouldn't work as a time saver.
I've used the rollback tool and with some tinkering I got it to work! Thanks a lot man :)
 

rIKmAN

Member
I've used the rollback tool and with some tinkering I got it to work! Thanks a lot man :)
Oh nice, glad to help!

Out of interest, does the rollback tool allow you to go that far back by inputting the version number into the CLI, or does it only go so far back?
 
J

JayR

Guest
Oh nice, glad to help!

Out of interest, does the rollback tool allow you to go that far back by inputting the version number into the CLI, or does it only go so far back?
The rollback tool only allowed me to go back to either 2.1 or 3.7.
2.1 did not work.
So I went with 3.7.
Downgraded Spine from 3.8 to 3.7 and imported and exported the JSON file.
Downgraded Spine from 3.7 to 3.6 and imported and exported the JSON file.
Continued this process until I reached 3.4.
 
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