Windows Creator: First stop if you experience unexpected behaviours

HopscotchHopscotch Member, PRO Posts: 2,782
edited March 2014 in Working with GS (PC)
Hi all,

for many new users, the Windows version of the Creator is the first contact they have with Gamesalad.

While many users develop quite happily on the Windows version, a large number immediately gets frustrated because the Creator seems buggy and exhibits some of the following problems:

- actors dragged onto the scene just disappear
- the size of actors changes unpredictably if scaled on the scene
- in the preview the actors are sometimes all shifted to the bottom left
- sound volumes can not be adjusted
- colors and transparency/alpha can not be adjusted
- certain animations are jerky

The problem arises from the fact that the Windows Creator does not take your Windows Regional settings into account when dealing with decimal numbers. Gamesalad expects a decimal point ("."), not a comma, as in some international regional settings.

Therefore, if you drag an actor onto the scene to position X:240,5 and Y:120,5 and let go of the mouse, the actor actually jumps to X:2405 and Y:1205 because the comma is ignored. The actor now is way off screen an seems to have disappeared.

The same symptom appears when changing sizes, colors, etc.

Fortunately the solution to all of the above is quite simple.

- Close Gamesalad if you have it open
- In Windows click on START and open up the CONTROL PANEL
- Open the REGIONAL AND LANGUAGE OPTIONS
- On the REGIONAL OPTIONS tab click on CUSTOMIZE
- On the NUMBERS tab ensure that the DECIMAL SYMBOL is set as a . (full stop)
- Change the Thousands separator to a , (comma)
- Click on APPLY and on OK
- On the next window click on APPLY and on OK

Start the Gamesalad again and now the Creator should behave as expected.


Caveat: You may have to change the Regional Settings back after you are done in Gamesalad if you notice a problem in other software. For most users it will be fine with the new settings though.


@jamie_c posted a great comparison between Windows and Mac versions here:

http://forums.gamesalad.com/discussion/58898/gamesalad-macintosh-and-windows-interface-comparison

This is particularly helpful for Windows users who have difficulty following the online Tutorials and Videos which are mostly for the Mac version of Gamesalad.

I hope this helps those of you that prefer to use the Windows version of Creator.

Have fun and be creative,
Roland
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