Dream Maker Encountered an Improper Argument

ID:1863950
 
Jun 1 2015, 11:22 pm
Windows 7

I updated to 507 from 506 and every time I try to search for a phrase in Dream Maker(either 'included files' or 'all files', other options seem to work fine) I get the message "encountered an improper argument." After this, DM will be open in the task bar but can't be alt tabbed to. Trying to interact with the program in any way will cause it to minimize.

This didn't happen in 506.
Jun 2 2015, 12:18 am
There's actually a bug report on this as well. Do you have the project this happens in (and the phrase you searched for) handy? There might be something in your specific project that triggers it that isn't causing this for me. I haven't seen this in 507.1286 when following the exact same steps you listed.
Jun 2 2015, 1:06 am
I have the project, yeah. The search phrase doesn't really seem to matter because it triggers the issue every time. I assume it'd help if I paged you a link that you could download it from?
Jun 2 2015, 1:16 am
Yes, that would be helpful.
Jun 2 2015, 10:05 am
This isn't happening for me in Windows 7. I haven't been able to reproduce the issue at all. When I try searching for something in your source, or another game like SS13, using the included/all files option, a new tab will open (if applicable) with the file. I suspect this is failing for you at the point the tab is being created.

I can't help but wonder if there's some kind of weird interaction with an older build involved. When you can, please search your system to find any and all copies of BYOND that might exist. If you find one that doesn't belong, my advice would be to wipe it, then try reinstalling BYOND.

Another possibility, and this has bitten us in the butt before, is that somehow VirtualStore is in play. I also suggest searching VirtualStore for BYOND, and if you find it there, remove it--then do a full reinstall.
Jun 2 2015, 1:32 pm
Our of curiosity, does this same error come up whenever you open any additional code file in Dream Maker? It seems like the place where this is triggering for you is on tab creation.
Jun 2 2015, 1:43 pm
I've closed all the tabs in DM and tried opening them again, if that's what you mean, and it hasn't done anything.
It doesn't happen for any other project I use either, just the one that I've sent you and any of the recent backups of it that I have.
Jun 2 2015, 6:15 pm
I don't know if this is related, but I found a problem in your code while trying to compile it. In Shinigami.dm:2603, there's an icon referenced that apparently isn't found. If that's fixed, does the issue go away?

And to clarify further, opening tabs doesn't cause the issue, but when you do a search for anything in included/all files, you get the error after the search begins?
Jun 2 2015, 6:26 pm
That error's definitely unrelated; I caused that accidentally while cleaning up some of the backup files I had in the directory so the archive size wouldn't be huge.

And yeah, opening tabs is fine. It only happens when I search for included/all files. Searching 'this file' and 'open files' works fine.
Jun 2 2015, 6:36 pm
Actually, testing it out now, I think Communication.dm is causing a lot of problems for the searches. If I try to search for a random phrase('bvai', in this case) it'll work in 'all files' if I'm starting the search from something below Communication.dm, like Creation.dm. Similarly, if I try to search 'included files' it'll pop the error if Communication.dm is included. The same thing applies to 'open files'.
Jun 3 2015, 4:24 pm
 
            msg = replace(msg, "ãÆ’»,"'")
            msg = replace(msg, "ãÆ’»,"")
            msg = replace(msg, "ãÆ’»,"'")

This code is the reason why I've been getting crashes and I assume it has something to do with the odd text. Escaping the phrases makes searching work properly, but I'm not sure if it'll have the same function:
            msg = replace(msg, "箪\","'")
            msg = replace(msg, "è²¼\","")
            msg = replace(msg, "曾\","'")

Not really sure why it works properly in 506 but not 507, but if anybody else has this problem they can get an idea about what might be causing it, at least.
Jun 3 2015, 7:43 pm
Curiously it's still not causing problems for me, but that's a great clue. I'll continue to look into it.
Sep 24 2015, 5:26 am
I hate to necropost but I'm still seeing this issue myself. Most recent stable ( 508.1299 ) and on windows 10.

I'm in a fairly large project and I can't search every .dm file looking for references to specific defines.
Sep 24 2015, 9:33 am
If you can get me a copy of the project I'll try to take a look. The earlier post had a project I was unable to reproduce this on, but maybe yours is the one that'll finally show it.
Sep 24 2015, 9:36 am
Out of curiosity also, what is your system locale?
Oct 2 2015, 4:28 am
I'm not sure about the other person but I encountered (and still do) the error with system locale set to Japanese. v509.1303. Still seems to have something to do with, for me at least, text.
Oct 2 2015, 9:46 am
I can't figure out why the Japanese locale has caused so much trouble. I thought it might be the path characters but apparently it's the same character; it just displays different.