Debugger - game stalls when trying to use inspector and shows no output

[convictedweirdo]

Is there an existing issue for this?

• I have searched the existing issues

Describe the bug

When trying to use the inspector in the debugger, the preview stalls (for around 10-15 seconds) and then resumes. No output is shown in the inspector. On a very small project, there is no issue, but as the project file grows, it gets to a point where the debugger just won't work anymore.

I've uploaded a short video of what happens: debugger being buggy

The following errors shows in the console for the preview window when the game resumes after the stall:

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In the event is it relevant, these messages show in the preview window (during normal preview not using debugger)

Steps to reproduce

1: Launch debugger
2: Press on inspector
3: Game Stalls
4: After time, game resumes (sometimes window freezes shortly) no output on debugger

GDevelop platform

Desktop

GDevelop version

5.3.180

Platform info

Windows 11
Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-10750H CPU @ 2.60GHz 2.59 GHz
Installed RAM 16.0 GB (15.8 GB usable)
System type 64-bit operating system, x64-based processor
Nvidia 2070

Additional context

Uninstalling and reinstalling has no effect.

Tried saving the project as a local project rather than cloud project. No change.

When using the web version, there is still a freeze in the game (but shorter in duration (around 3-4 seconds), and the inspector seems to work then.

Oddly enough, when I removed a number of layers, objects and effects, the profiler and inspector started working again (but I needed to reduce the amount of layers by half (around 5-6 so not excessive) and layer effects 1, 2 max per layer).

[ClementPasteau]

Hi @convictedweirdo

Thanks for the video and the detailed explanation, that's really helpful.
I'm wondering if the project reaches a size where deserializing it is not efficient anymore and blocks the ui.
Would you mind sending your local project to [email protected]?
We'll be able to try reproducing the issue with your project and figure out if this is specific to yours or affecting others.

Thanks

[convictedweirdo]

Thankyou for looking into this @ClementPasteau . I have sent the game files to the email provided. Also please note I also have been getting this error at times and the debugger seems to crash entirely (reports no game is running even when it is). Not sure if related.

[ClementPasteau]

File received 👍
I confirm I reproduce the lag spike on hit on "refresh".
We'll look into it.

[ClementPasteau]

@convictedweirdo Thanks again for reporting the issue with the detailed first analysis, and your project files.
We managed to find a fix, which was indeed caused by layer effects.
It will be available in the next release 👍