Super awesome update! I’m running into an issue, however. Before this update I could tell if the server was in a Play Solo environment via. RunService:IsClient() - which is no longer possible. Is there a way to get around this? This is especially frustrating with the BindToClose yield issue.
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There’s a fix for that BindToClose bug in the pipeline, will take a couple weeks or so to be rolled out. I’d recommend using regular Play Solo for the time being so that the hacky patch for BindToClose works.
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No idea what any of this means, pretty confused.
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Ah yes, absolutely love this update. Makes testing convenient. 
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There’s a difference between old-school Play Solo and actual game servers, for example:
- If you require a module from a Script and from a LocalScript in Play Solo, it will return the same value even though they should be on different network clients. This doesn’t happen in real servers, the client gets its own version of the required module, just like the server.
- RunService:IsClient() and RunService:IsServer() both return true in Play Solo, while in real servers this only returns true on the client/server respectively.
- Play Solo lets you break FE principles: if you insert a part into workspace from a LocalScript, that part is actually there in the DataModel from the server’s point of view, while it should only be visible on the client that inserted it.
- Everything in Play Solo runs on one thread. So code that runs for a long time in LocalScripts will actually interrupt Scripts from being able to run.
- etc…
All of this can cause a lot of issues if the developer is not aware of these differences. You have probably heard some of your colleagues say something along the lines of “it works in Studio, but not in-game” before.
This is solved by running the client and server in separate contexts in Studio when you hit Play Solo, and each of the client/server part has a dedicated thread of its own, and this is what is called “Accurate Play Solo”. It is meant to accurately depict what your game will do if you were to play it on your own in a live game / were to do “Test Server” + 1 test player.
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This is amazing! Thanks so much for the update!!
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Hey, now I don’t need to constantly be running servers with just me in it to test how things actually work. This update is great, you guys did very well with this.
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I had a dream where everything in test mode was the same as your real game. And today, it came true!
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Awesome! Now I don’t need to worry about the annoying Windows Authorisation pop up when starting a test server, or having to publish the game and join it from the website!
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You should probably take note of all your ’ flavour text’ and put them in a book. Fantastic read well done.
APS is pretty nice as well.
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I agree—we definitely need a way now to detect when we are in APS. I distribute an additional set of debugging modules to the client, but only when in Play Solo. There are many more use cases, not just working around temporary bugs like the BindToClose mess. We need a new function RunService:IsAPS or :IsAccuratePlaySolo or perhaps if it is completely replacing Play Solo, simply :IsPlaySolo.
Please consider adding this feature.
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@BuildIntoGames @tbradm Is there a reason you don’t just disable the BindToClose saving with IsStudio() instead of specifically in Play Solo?
You should be able to get everything you need with the current methods.
| Mode | Check |
|---|---|
| Edit (non-TC) | IsEdit() and IsServer() |
| Edit (TC) | IsEdit() and not IsServer() |
| Run mode | IsRunMode() |
| APS player | IsStudio() and IsClient() and not IsServer() |
| Test player | IsStudio() and IsClient() and not IsServer() |
| Team test player | IsStudio() and IsClient() and not IsServer() |
| APS server | IsStudio() and IsServer() and not IsClient() |
| Test server | IsStudio() and IsServer() and not IsClient() |
| Team test server | IsStudio() and IsServer() and not IsClient() |
| Legacy play solo | IsStudio() and IsServer() and IsClient() |
| Live Player | not IsStudio() and IsClient() |
| Live Server | not IsStudio() and IsServer() |
The only modes you can’t distinguish between is the three types of players and the three types of servers, but they’re all pretty much the same. With APS you shouldn’t have to write special cases where something runs in play solo but not a test server. E.g. it should be fine to run your debugging modules on any of the studio clients.
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Edit: This makes sense. Thank you.
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Didn’t know these existed, really appreciate it!
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Sounds cool and everything, but I am simply unable to use APS. With it enabled, once you press Play, Studio pretty much becomes unusable. Buttons won’t respond, neither the shortcuts or the widgets (explorer, properties, plugins, etc.) - the game won’t load and you need to bring the Task Manager to shut it down (Studio become unusable but doesn’t really crash or go into Not Responding mode.) as the close button doesn’t work either.
I didn’t bring up a Bug Report as it seems I’m the only one being affected with this.
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You can still make a bug report if only you are experiencing it. This is why some bugs involve including your computer’s specs. Chances are if you’re experiencing it, someone else who isn’t on the forums is also experiencing it.
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@davness
How much memory on your system?
Also: 32 bit OS, or 64 bit OS?
APS uses considerably more memory than not-APS.
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To avoid bloating the thread I set up a Bug Report: APS mode keeps hanging when Play button is pressed
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I get the following error in my game:
Usage error: RegisterKeyframeSequence can only be used in Solo mode.
Could you please enable KeyframeSequenceProvider:RegisterKeyframeSequence in APS so that we can continue to test quick changes to Animations? Or would this make it no longer “Accurate” Play Solo? If legacy Play Solo gets removed in the future, and this is not enabled on APS, it becomes useless. Or was this service only ever intended to be used by the Animator plugin? It has come in very handy and simplified multiple of my projects’ workflows, and I hope to be able to continue using it in a test environment.
RegisterKeyframeSequence makes a couple of things possible:
- Make quick changes to an Animation and test them in a play environment before uploading
- Test a Team Create game that does not belong to you, with the Animations enabled
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Additionally, I receive the following error in APS, but not in actual online server, nor in legacy Play Solo:
Key "ExampleKey" for locale "" not found in any active LocalizationTable
Edit: This seems to have been fixed. Thanks.
Full details
where ExampleKey is a valid key in a LocalizationTable parented to LocalizationService. Again this exact setup (same LocalizationTable, same script) works online.
My specific usage is:
local translator = LocalizationService:GetTranslator(LocalPlayer)
...
local text = translator:FormatByKey(key, args)
The error does not occur when I set up the translator in this way:
local translator = LocalizationTable:GetTranslator('en-us')
I’m guessing it has to do with the fact that it thinks my LocaleId is an empty string. The LocaleId still shows up in LocalizationService as en-us for both SystemLocaleId and RobloxLocaleId.
1 Like