GameSalad 0.9.3 — Project File Won’t Open

Broken GameSalad gameproj fileI’m a bit surprised at how well the latest GameSalad update has been received. I’ve read lots of praise on the GameSalad forums, but there are so many issues with the latest version. In addition to the issues I’ve been experiencing with the new Game Center feature, my background images disappear. But worse than that — my project file wouldn’t even open. Double-click… nothing! How do you fix that? There’s an easy solution to this problem, but it’s not as visible as it should be on the official GameSalad forum. So, I’m posting the fix here.

If you’re recently upgraded the GameSalad Creator to version 0.9.3 and your GameSalad project won’t open, you might be able to salvage your work.

  1. Make a copy of your project — just in case something goes wrong.
  2. Right-Click the project file in the Mac OS Desktop
  3. Select “Show Package Contents”
  4. Locate the .gsuser file
  5. Rename that file to something else… like broken.gsuser
  6. Try opening the file again.

It should work! 🙂

This problem happened with BOT. It wasn’t a good feeling to see that little loading icon constantly spinning. Fortunately, I knew what was wrong, so I didn’t have to panic. I just renamed the .gsuser file and my project opened right up — way faster than before!

Considering that I’ve been working on BOT since last year, it wouldn’t be good to see my work get destroyed. That’s why it’s important to make copies. You might even want to keep a couple of different versions of your project around. That way, you can backtrack to a safe-point. I’m planning to keep a 0.9.2 version of my project around, at least until things with GameSalad 0.9.3 get settled.

I’m surprised at the amount of frustration that this latest update has caused. Sure, Game Center leaderboards are cool. The increased stability of the GameSalad Creator is also awesome. (I no longer need to restart the app every 15 minutes.) Yet, I don’t like to see months of work disappear. I don’t like seeing white boxes where my artwork used to be. Being unable to open my project file was also unsettling.

GameSalad is still in beta, so this stuff is to be expected. 🙄

5 thoughts on “GameSalad 0.9.3 — Project File Won’t Open”

  1. Hello Photics!

    Think you do not know me as I am “knowing” you only by these past days as I am joining GameSalad community and have been seeing your nickname around there forum as well.

    So I was “walking around” the web looking for anything that mentions GS (I am learning, and learning again…) and so I got your blog!

    Would like to say I am going to buy your textbook and REALLY HOPE that it help-me get at least one app done. Could be?! Hope so.

    Will be the textbook updated? As I saw there at itunnes store and says it refers for GS 0.9.1 and we are now 0.9.3 almost 0.9.4 right? So as a new customer/buyer of your book, may I wait for updates as well?

    Btw, thank you for your time and for this post helping other users solve their “bugs” easier way.

    Regards,
    RSCdev.

    1. Updates to the textbook app are not guaranteed. However, I’m planning to get back to work on the textbook once things with BOT settle down. The textbook is not that far behind though. GameSalad 0.9.2 was a bug fix for the errors with GameSalad 0.9.1. GameSalad 0.9.3 is unstable right now, and it is expected that 0.9.4 will be released soon. The tricky part about the next update is that most of the images have to be redone, as 0.9.3 adds the ability to change behaviors on and off.

      TANK — the main character in my RPG — is the mascot in the book, so having a finished RPG also means major changes for the update.

    2. Ok Photics.

      Thanks for the explanation about the future textbook update.

      Just wishing success to you and your projects.

      best regards,
      RSCdev.

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