This code used to work, but now it doesn't. Why? (Problem with Dashingdon)

[andymwhy]

I’m reviving some old code from many years ago. The code used to work fine, but now it’s loading indefinitely as if caught in a loop.
At a guess, I think it might have something to do with the *if statements used and a change to the way choicescript works. Can anyone shed any light on what could be causing this?

The problem:
In one scene, you are given a choice. If you choose to visit the puzzler, you are taken to a different scene with a *goto_scene command.

The next scene starts with a *rand command, then a *set command. Next, are a large sequence of *if commands.

*rand winning_cigs 4 15
*set puzzle_attempts +1
*if puzzle =1
  *set puzzle +25
  "Alright everyone, listen up.  I'll give you some letters.  You need to reorder them and give me one word.  First to answer gets the cigarettes."
  *line_break
  *line_break
  "N E S S R G O T T"
  *line_break
  *line_break
  You quickly rearrange the letters and come up with the word:
  *input_text puzzle1
  *if puzzle1 = "Strongest"
    *set puzzle_wins +1
    "Nicely done!"  Says the puzzler.  "The cigarettes are yours."  $!{He} hands you ${winning_cigs} cigarettes which you pocket quickly.
    *set cigarettes + winning_cigs
    *line_break
    *line_break
    "Everyone else, better luck tomorrow!"
    Soon after, the klaxon sounds and everyone files out of the yard.
    *goto_scene 18cell
  *if puzzle1 = "STRONGEST"
    *set puzzle_wins +1
    "Nicely done!"  Says the puzzler.  "The cigarettes are yours."  $!{He} hands you ${winning_cigs} cigarettes which you pocket quickly.
    *line_break
    *line_break
    "Everyone else, better luck tomorrow!"
    Soon after, the klaxon sounds and everyone files out of the yard.
    *goto_scene 18cell  
  *if puzzle1 = "strongest"
    *set puzzle_wins +1
    "Nicely done!"  Says the puzzler.  "The cigarettes are yours."  $!{He} hands you ${winning_cigs} cigarettes which you pocket quickly.
    *line_break
    *line_break
    "Everyone else, better luck tomorrow!"
    Soon after, the klaxon sounds and everyone files out of the yard.
    *goto_scene 18cell
  "Sorry, that's not right."  Says the puzzler.
  *line_break
  *line_break
  "What about Strongest?"  Shouts a ${man} at the back.
  *line_break
  *line_break
  "Nicely done!" Says the puzzler with a smile.  Oh well, you didn't win this time.
  Soon after, the klaxon sounds and all the prisoners file out of the yard.
  *goto_scene 18cell
*if puzzle =2
  *set puzzle +25
  "Alright everyone, listen up.  I'll give you some letters.  You need to reorder them and give me one word.  First to answer gets the cigarettes."
  *line_break
  *line_break
  "C U P S I N I O S"
  *line_break
  *line_break
  You quickly rearrange the letters and come up with the word:
  *input_text puzzle1
  *if puzzle1 = "Suspicion"
    *set puzzle_wins +1
    "Nicely done!"  Says the puzzler.  "The cigarettes are yours."  $!{He} hands you ${winning_cigs} cigarettes which you pocket quickly.
    *set cigarettes + winning_cigs
    *line_break
    *line_break
    "Everyone else, better luck tomorrow!"
    Soon after, the klaxon sounds and everyone files out of the yard.
    *goto_scene 18cell
  *if puzzle1 = "SUSPICION"
    *set puzzle_wins +1
    "Nicely done!"  Says the puzzler.  "The cigarettes are yours."  $!{He} hands you ${winning_cigs} cigarettes which you pocket quickly.
    *line_break
    *line_break
    "Everyone else, better luck tomorrow!"
    Soon after, the klaxon sounds and everyone files out of the yard.
    *goto_scene 18cell  
  *if puzzle1 = "suspicion"
    *set puzzle_wins +1
    "Nicely done!"  Says the puzzler.  "The cigarettes are yours."  $!{He} hands you ${winning_cigs} cigarettes which you pocket quickly.
    *line_break
    *line_break
    "Everyone else, better luck tomorrow!"
    Soon after, the klaxon sounds and everyone files out of the yard.
    *goto_scene 18cell
  "Sorry, that's not right."  Says the puzzler.
  *line_break
  *line_break
  "What about Suspicion?"  Shouts a ${man} at the back.
  *line_break
  *line_break
  "Nicely done!" Says the puzzler with a smile.  Oh well, you didn't win this time.
  Soon after, the klaxon sounds and all the prisoners file out of the yard.
  *goto_scene 18cell
*if puzzle =3
  *set puzzle +25
  "Alright everyone, listen up.  I'll give you some letters.  You need to reorder them and give me one word.  First to answer gets the cigarettes."
  *line_break
  *line_break
  "H A S E L D O O F"
  *line_break
  *line_break
  You quickly rearrange the letters and come up with the word:
  *input_text puzzle1
  *if puzzle1 = "Falsehood"
    *set puzzle_wins +1
    "Nicely done!"  Says the puzzler.  "The cigarettes are yours."  $!{He} hands you ${winning_cigs} cigarettes which you pocket quickly.
    *set cigarettes + winning_cigs
    *line_break
    *line_break
    "Everyone else, better luck tomorrow!"
    Soon after, the klaxon sounds and everyone files out of the yard.
    *goto_scene 18cell
  *if puzzle1 = "FALSEHOOD"
    *set puzzle_wins +1
    "Nicely done!"  Says the puzzler.  "The cigarettes are yours."  $!{He} hands you ${winning_cigs} cigarettes which you pocket quickly.
    *line_break
    *line_break
    "Everyone else, better luck tomorrow!"
    Soon after, the klaxon sounds and everyone files out of the yard.
    *goto_scene 18cell  
  *if puzzle1 = "falsehood"
    *set puzzle_wins +1
    "Nicely done!"  Says the puzzler.  "The cigarettes are yours."  $!{He} hands you ${winning_cigs} cigarettes which you pocket quickly.
    *line_break
    *line_break
    "Everyone else, better luck tomorrow!"
    Soon after, the klaxon sounds and everyone files out of the yard.
    *goto_scene 18cell
  "Sorry, that's not right."  Says the puzzler.
  *line_break
  *line_break
  "What about Falsehood?"  Shouts a ${man} at the back.
  *line_break
  *line_break
  "Nicely done!" Says the puzzler with a smile.  Oh well, you didn't win this time.
  Soon after, the klaxon sounds and all the prisoners file out of the yard.
  *goto_scene 18cell

This carries on for 75 puzzles, then the 76th ends the sequence.

*if puzzle = 76
  *set puzzleaway false
  "Alright, time for today's question.  It's another tough one.  I'm gonna say some numbers.  You need to tell me what number comes next in the sequence.  First to get it right gets the cigs."
  *line_break
  *line_break
  "6, 5..."
  *line_break
  *line_break
  "Ah this is ridiculous!"  Shouts an irate prisoner.
  *line_break
  *line_break
  "Wait, just listen to the question first."  Says the puzzler, smiling.
  *line_break
  *line_break
  "It better make sense!"  Comes a reply.
  *line_break
  *line_break
  "So the numbers are 6, 5, 6, 5, 6, 3, 3..."
  *line_break
  *line_break
  "This is a con."  Says another.  The puzzler tries to calm the other prisoners, but the complaints grow louder.  Someone pushes the puzzler towards
  you.  Before you can react, another prisoner pushes ${him} away.  A laughter full of malice breaks out among the prisoners and you catch the look
  of consternation on the clever ${man}'s face as ${he} is pushed around.  Other prisoners move to the area, sensing the bloodsport in action and you find
  yourself being hustled in the small space.  A loose elbow catches your cheek, drawing blood and forcing you to look away from the centre.  
  *page_break Wipe the blood away
  Once composed, you look back to see the blooded face of the puzzler.  $!{his} fears have become real and ${his} usual smug attitude has vanished.  A fist
  comes from ${his} right, drawing more blood and forcing you to wince, partly out of empathy and partly from your own real pain.  $!{his} eyes lock with yours
  and he speaks over the din.
  *line_break
  *line_break
  "J-Jingle Bells..."
  *line_break
  *line_break
  It's the last thing ${he} says as the next blow to ${his} head knocks him to the floor.  With the kicks to follow, it is hard to say who killed the
  puzzler, but when the guards finally break up the fight they find ${his} limp body bereft of life.
  *line_break
  *line_break
  "Who was that?"  Asks the prisoner next to you as the guards carry the body away.  It's then that you realise you have no idea what this ${man}s name was.
  How do you feel about all that has happened?
  *fake_choice
    #Distraught.  $!{He} wasn't doing any harm to anyone.
      $!{he} was a clever ${man}, and ${his} intelligence cost ${him} ${his} life.
    #Sad.  There will be no more puzzles.
      With the puzzler gone and no smart person foolish enough to replace ${him}, it seems there will be no more puzzles.
    #Indifferent.  $!{he} was annoying but I enjoyed the puzzles.
      While the puzzles were a nice distraction within the prison, you didn't really know the ${man} and can't say you will miss ${him}.
    #Chuffed to bits.  The ${man} asked for it with ${his} cocky attitude.
      It feels good to know that you won't have to listen to that smug fool again.  $!{His} puzzles were ridiculous and you take pleasure in ${his} demise.
  At the sound of the klaxon, earlier than normal, you leave the yard.
  *goto_scene 18cell

That’s it. For some reason, when the scene is called to load, it doesn’t work. No error is given, the scene just loads indefinitely. This code used to work fine.

I tried adding

*else
  *goto_scene 18cell

to the end, hoping that was the issue (no closure after an *if statement, even though it’s not needed) but that didn’t make a difference.

[Phantmwolf]

While I see some errors in the code, I don’t see how it would cause an infinite loop. Did you run a quick test and a random test yet?

Edit: After testing it, no errors were found after running random and quick test. It also works fine after I played it, I don’t know what’s going on.

[HWKEye]

It happens in an infinite loop check at the bottom of the puzzle code, to see if there is a *goto to the top.

[andymwhy]

That’s just it. There are no errors I can spot and this used to work fine. I guess I’ll try uploading it again from scratch again.

[andymwhy]

Care to elaborate on any errors you spotted? Every little helps!

[Phantmwolf]

I was mistaken about the errors, It’s just some of the syntax is a little different than what I’m used to. I was able to run the scene just fine, so whatever is causing the error is not in the part of the code you provided.

[HWKEye]

How are you calling the code are you using *gosub ?

[andymwhy]

Nope. This was written before *gosub_scene was a thing. It’s good old-fashioned *goto_scene.

[andymwhy]

The rest of the code is much the same with different puzzles. It’s a bizarre one as the code used to work fine.

[HWKEye]

Can you post the code for calling puzzles and post the scene 18cells?

[andymwhy]

Ah! Found it! It’s an error with Dashingdon. Some of my txt files have capital letters in them, but Dashingdon doesn’t recognise them. I’ll re-upload with the names changed to lowercase and that should fix it!

Edit: It works! The code was fine. It’s a problem with Dashigdon not liking capital letters.

[CJW]

Worth tagging @dashingdon , this may be something that can be fixed/improved.

[andymwhy]

He’s actually aware of this! We had the same issue years ago with images on Dashingdon. Remembering that is how I narrowed it down relatively quickly. It turns out the same thing applies to text files too.