The runtime message "cannot create objects of type 'invalid type'" is misleading when the invalid type is an actual object. You wind up with messages like "runtime error: Cannot create objects of type /datum/species/human." The actual problem wound up being that new was getting passed an actual /datum/species/human object instead of the path /datum/species/human, but the reported runtime made it sound like /datum/species/human was an invalid path rather than that an object was passed instead of a type.
Numbered Steps to Reproduce Problem:
See this code snippet. Look at the runtime that results.
Code Snippet (if applicable) to Reproduce Problem:
var/thing = new /obj()
new thing()
Expected Results:
runtime error: new: expected a path, got foo instead
Or something else that makes it clear that it wasn't a path
Actual Results:
runtime error: Cannot create objects of type /datum/species/human.
Makes it sound like /datum/species/human is an invalid type.
Does the problem occur:
Every time? Or how often?
In other games?
In other user accounts?
On other computers?
Everytime for everyone
When does the problem NOT occur?
Did the problem NOT occur in any earlier versions? If so, what was the last version that worked? (Visit http://www.byond.com/download/build to download old versions for testing.)
Not sure how far back this goes but it's been a problem for at least a year now
Workarounds:
Know how misleading the runtime is.