Surviving game updates

After a game update the production counter stops counting. No error on the housing, the autolathe simply keeps running. What changed is written nowhere in the chip. Updates are a special kind of silent error: the code is the same, the world around it is not.

What can change in updates#

An example of a name that never existed: RatioVolatiles. In the chip volatiles are called RatioMethane, a script with the wrong name does not even load. And some prefab names contain typos of the game itself, such as StructurePipeAnalysizer. Whoever “corrects” them no longer finds the device.

Checking prefab names#

Every name in HASH("Structure…") must be exactly as in the current list – including upper and lower case. StructureAutoLathe and StructureAutolathe are two different hashes. The checker in the IC10 coder knows the list and marks unknown prefabs.

So that a wrong name does not stay silent, the script checks whether its device answers at all:

lbn present DREHBANK HASH("Drehbank") On Average      # NaN if the name does not match
snanz present present
lbn pieces DREHBANK HASH("Drehbank") ExportCount Sum

Testing old scripts#

After an update go through every important script like this:

1. Open it in the IC10 coder. The checker marks deprecated LogicTypes and instructions yellow, unknown ones red.
2. Switch on strict mode in the simulator. It only allows LogicTypes the device really knows.
3. Repeat the script's test cases in the game: normal case, edge case, failure.
4. Enter the new GameVersion in the instruction.xml once everything fits.