Please do not be afraid to eat me alive with this post, I’d like to make sure I get this right.
I am making a datastore script, as you do, that only saves a players data if it is different from the data that is already saved.
Here are some specifics that I was wondering about:
Is there a better way to store all the data than an array? Perhaps a module?
Is my method of comparing the arrays reliable?
What are the chances of data loss? How can I prevent this?
If there is anything else you see that can be improved let me know in the replies.
local Datastore = game:GetService("DataStoreService"):GetDataStore("MainDatastore11")
local DefaultValues = {
["Inventory"] = {"Default"},
["Wins"] = 0,
["Coins"] = 100,
["Codes"] = {},
["Equipped"] = "Default",
["GamepassesReceived"] = {},
}
local Data = {}
game.Players.PlayerAdded:Connect(function(Player)
local NewData = Datastore:GetAsync(Player.UserId^135) or {}
for ValueName, Value in pairs(DefaultValues) do
if not NewData[ValueName] then
NewData[ValueName] = Value
end
end
Data[Player.UserId] = NewData
-- Originally there was a value.Changed event for updating leaderstats in the data variable
end)
game.Players.PlayerRemoving:Connect(function(Player)
--[Datastore]--
if Data[Player.UserId] then
local ShouldSave = false
local OldData = Datastore:GetAsync(Player.UserId^135) or {}
for Value, DV in pairs(DefaultValues) do
if type(DV) == "table" then
for I, Val in pairs(Data[Player.UserId][Value]) do
if (not OldData[Value]) or (not OldData[Value][I]) or (Val ~= OldData[Value][I]) then
ShouldSave = true
end
end
else
if OldData[Value] ~= Data[Player.UserId][Value] then
ShouldSave = true
end
end
end
if ShouldSave then
local Count = 1
repeat
local Success, ErrorMessage = pcall(function()
Datastore:SetAsync(Player.UserId^135, Data[Player.UserId])
end)
if Success then
-- Saved successfully
Data[Player.UserId] = nil
break
else
-- Hit error saving.
Count = Count + 1
wait(5)
end
until Success or Count == 5
else
-- Data not changed.
end
else
-- No data was found.
end
end)
(comments in the saving script were being used for logging but I removed them for this post :D)
Why would discord logging be bad for logging errors? When I’ve worked with big games, they always require logging incase of data loss so that they can see if the data failed etc.
They have API Rate limits. So just need to keep that in mind, but I still won’t recommend because once the game gets big there may be more fails than normally are and you may eventually cross the request Limit.
I would just recommend implementing a strong datastore system, that can handle everything incase of Data save failures, such as a Retry system etc.
Oh, sorry, I never actually saw the Original post properly, but now after seeing it feels fine although you might want to make the wait for about 7 seconds instead, as the wait time between Datastore write methods is 6.
Another thing that I notice is, you should be used pcalls on all datastore calls, with that I mean on GetAsync too, just incase data was unable to be loaded, you probably won’t want the player to keep continue playing as it may later overwrite their data.
Last thing is, that you can use pcalls in a much shorter way, I mean what you’re doing is putting a function inside the pcall and doing datastore method calls inside that anonymous function. Instead an example of using it properly (it works in your way too, this just makes it much more readable):
local success, response = pcall(Datastore.SetAsync, Datastore, Player.UserId^135, Data[Player.UserId])
The way pcalls work is, they first accept the function/method that is to be used, secondly they accept the Object, that the method is to be used on, basically self in OOP. Then the rest are the arguments for the function.
Also you should implement BindToClose too, as it saves you from alot of dataloss on server shutdown/crash events etc.
local NewData = Datastore:GetAsync(Player.UserId^135) or {}
wrap that in a pcall, GlobalDataStore:GetAsync() fails too.
Second of all, it’s best to use DataModel:BindToClose() to also save data, since if the server shuts down, the player’s data my not save in time. You should also add an autosave system, since bound functions don’t run when the server crashes. The autosave interval should be a few minutes.
Lastly, this line
local OldData = Datastore:GetAsync(Player.UserId^135) or {}
I don’t see any reason to do this, it’s just adding an extra step, rather than just saving the data.
game:BindToClose(function()
for i, plr in pairs(game.Players:GetPlayers()) do
-- save the data here
end
end)
Also, BindToClose only runs when the game closes, you need to use PlayerRemoving for saving when a player leaves (you may need to add another function that saves data so you can just call that function in BindToClose and PlayerRemoving).
Wrapping the save function inside the BindToClose function in a coroutine is needed as saving for one player can take upto 1 second, and if there are about 30-45 players, they could face a data loss for the last 10-15 players.
Thanks so much for this, I already have a player removed function. I should spawn the function inside the BindToClose, right? spawn(function() save() end)
I have taken all suggestions into consideration, and here is my new and improved script:
local Datastore = game:GetService("DataStoreService"):GetGlobalDataStore("MainDatastore11")
local DefaultValues = {
["Inventory"] = {"Default"},
["Wins"] = 0,
["Coins"] = 100,
["Codes"] = {},
["Equipped"] = "Default",
["GamepassesReceived"] = {},
}
local Data = {}
game.Players.PlayerAdded:Connect(function(Player)
local Count = 0
local Success
local NewData
repeat
local Success, Failure = pcall(function()
NewData = Datastore:GetAsync(Player.UserId^135) or {}
end)
if not Success then wait(5) Count = Count + 1 end
until Success or Count == 5
if Count == 5 then Player:Kick("Unable to retrieve data! Please try again later.") end
for ValueName, Value in pairs(DefaultValues) do
if not NewData[ValueName] then
NewData[ValueName] = Value
end
end
Data[Player.UserId] = NewData
-- Originally there was a value.Changed event for updating leaderstats in the data variable
end)
function Save(Player)
--[Datastore]--
if Data[Player.UserId] then
local ShouldSave = false
local OldData = Datastore:GetAsync(Player.UserId^135) or {}
for Value, DV in pairs(DefaultValues) do
if type(DV) == "table" then
for I, Val in pairs(Data[Player.UserId][Value]) do
if (not OldData[Value]) or (not OldData[Value][I]) or (Val ~= OldData[Value][I]) then
ShouldSave = true
end
end
else
if OldData[Value] ~= Data[Player.UserId][Value] then
ShouldSave = true
end
end
end
if ShouldSave then
local Count = 1
repeat
local Success, ErrorMessage = pcall(function()
Datastore:SetAsync(Player.UserId^135, Data[Player.UserId])
end)
if Success then
-- Saved successfully
Data[Player.UserId] = nil
break
else
-- Hit error saving.
Count = Count + 1
wait(5)
end
until Success or Count == 5
else
-- Data not changed.
end
else
-- No data was found.
end
end
game.Players.PlayerRemoving:Connect(Save)
game:BindToClose(function()
for _, Player in pairs(game.Players:GetPlayers()) do
coroutine.wrap(Save(Player))
end
end)
I don’t understand why you would use the player user id’s to the power of 135. Squaring or cubing it is fine but to the power of 135? That’ll surley cause a little bit of lag.
You should also try to store the data in a Json encrypted Table using httpservice:JsonEncode(table) to store a string which will probably use less space compared to a regular LUA table. To turn it back into a Lua table, use httpservice:JsonDecode(jsonstring)
