Re: saved games of 0.4.3 and 0.4.5 incompatible?

[Jens Granseuer <jensgr@xxxxxxx>]

On 07.01.2005 13:38, Matthias Grimm wrote:
> I just discovered that the saved games from version 0.4.3 (debian sarge) and
> from version 0.4.5 (CVS) are not compatible. Was that a planed action or an
> mistake?

[...]

> I would suggest to define an general and compatible extendable file format
> for saved games and try to keep it compatible between different versions.

We do try to keep saved games compatible between versions, and I'd even
claim we mostly succeed. However, some changes make it impossible or at
least unreasonably difficult to maintain this compatibility.

For example, in version 0.4.4 we removed one of the existing event types
and replaced it by another, more powerful one. It was an event that was
used in every single map we are shipping so we couldn't just let it slip
and hope no one noticed. Another option would have been to keep the old
code around but in such a case clean code without any obsolete cruft is
much more important to me than keeping saved games compatible. CF is,
after all, still only at 0.4, so everyone should expect things to break
now and then. Or rather, you shouldn't expect it, but you shouldn't be
suprised when it happens, either.

We don't break compatibility if there is no good reason, and I have
sometimes held back incompatible changes for one or two revisions so
that several of them could go in at once. But I'm not (yet) willing
to declare the file format stable.

I can tell you, though, that 0.4.5 remains compatible with 0.4.4
(so far) ;-)

Jens