Godot 4.3 GDScript export mode breaks exported builds with some addons.

[shomykohai]

Tested versions

Reproducible in Godot 4.3 beta1 and beta2

System information

Windows 11 - Godot 4.3 beta2 - Any Renderer

Issue description

On Godot 4.3 beta1, the option to compile GDScript code on exported builds got reintroduced.
I'm using @bitbrain's Pandora addon, and I encountered a bug regarding this option:
The addon allows to declare RPG data and then later access it.

When running the project from the editor, everything works as it should, and I can load the png file into a TextureRect

However, if the GDScript export mode is set to binary tokens/compressed binary tokens, the texture won't load:

And the console output is

Finally, setting the GDScript export mode to text makes the texture load.

This is the workaround, that only fixes the issue on builds with compiled gdscript files.
bitbrain/pandora#189

Steps to reproduce

• Open the MRP attached and run it in the Editor -> The Godot Icon should be loaded into the TextureRect
• Export the project setting GDScript export mode either on Compressed binary tokens or Binary tokens -> The Godot Icon won't load and an error should appear in the console (String to Resource casting)
• Export the same project but with GDScript export mode on Text -> The Godot icon is loaded into the TextureRect.

Minimal reproduction project (MRP)

issue.zip

[HolonProduction]

Pandora dynamically loads type loader scripts to handle certain stuff. If the type loader for resources is valid it loads the resource at the given path which returns the texture. If not it falls back to just returning the string instead of loading it. (and then casting this string to a resource will result in null as texture)

The condition used to determine whether the loader is valid is the following:
ScriptType != null and ScriptType.has_source_code()

GDScripts with binary tokens return false when calling has_source_code, thus pandora deems the correctly loaded script as invalid and falls back to not loading the resource.

The question is. Is this an issue on our side or should this be fixed in the addon? I'd say returning true in this case wouldn't be correct and confusing. The better way to fix this, would be replacing has_source_code with can_instantiate in the add-on.

@bitbrain
bitbrain/pandora#188 fixed a similar issue by just removing the check altogether. Maybe this can be done in type.gd in the same way?

[HolonProduction]

We should probably document this as note on Script.has_source_code (I know it's GDScript specific but at any other place it would get lost)

[shomykohai]

Pandora dynamically loads type loader scripts to handle certain stuff. If the type loader for resources is valid it loads the resource at the given path which returns the texture. If not it falls back to just returning the string instead of loading it. (and then casting this string to a resource will result in null as texture)

The condition used to determine whether the loader is valid is the following: ScriptType != null and ScriptType.has_source_code()

GDScripts with binary tokens return false when calling has_source_code, thus pandora deems the correctly loaded script as invalid and falls back to not loading the resource.

The question is. Is this an issue on our side or should this be fixed in the addon? I'd say returning true in this case wouldn't be correct and confusing. The better way to fix this, would be replacing has_source_code with can_instantiate in the add-on.

@bitbrain bitbrain/pandora#188 fixed a similar issue by just removing the check altogether. Maybe this can be done in type.gd in the same way?

I can confirm that applying this changes to Pandora fixes the issue with binary tokens.

We should probably document this as note on Script.has_source_code (I know it's GDScript specific but at any other place it would get lost)

My guess is that with the current implementation of GDScript, the has_source_code works only with plain source code.
Surely the documentation has to be updated, as this could lead to bugs on exported builds considering that the export mode is set to binary tokens by default.

Making it return true wouldn't make sense, as it would lead people to think that they can get the source code only to be presented with an empty string.

[HolonProduction]

Maybe something in the vain of

Note: just because a Script does not have source code, does not mean, that it is invalid or unusable. For example GDScripts that are exported with binary tokenization don't have source code but can still be instantiated and behave as expected.

[shomykohai]

Maybe something in the vain of

Note: just because a Script does not have source code, does not mean, that it is invalid or unusable. For example GDScripts that are exported with binary tokenization don't have source code but can still be instantiated and behave as expected.

I'd include a suggestion to use 'can_instantiate()` for cases where someone needs to check if the script is valid, to avoid cases like Pandora.

[HolonProduction]

#94527 adds documentation for that.

I'd also open a PR against pandora with the fix but it doesn't work right now.
In the MRP exchanging has_source_code with can_instantiate works just fine. However applying this to the current master of the padora addon doesn't seem to work. Another bug was introduced on their side, which persists the property before running the game roughly as
{"type": "undefined", "value": "<CompressedTexture#84384>"} where it should be {"type": "resource", "value": "res://godot.png"}
Someone who actually understands the addon will have to deal with that.

Edit: Or maybe that's just an incompatibility between the mrp and the current state of pandora 🤷

[shomykohai]

#94527 adds documentation for that.

I'd also open a PR against pandora with the fix but it doesn't work right now. In the MRP exchanging has_source_code with can_instantiate works just fine. However applying this to the current master of the padora addon doesn't seem to work. Another bug was introduced on their side, which persists the property before running the game roughly as {"type": "undefined", "value": "<CompressedTexture#84384>"} where it should be {"type": "resource", "value": "res://godot.png"} Someone who actually understands the addon will have to deal with that.

Edit: Or maybe that's just an incompatibility between the mrp and the current state of pandora 🤷

I'm thinking of it being an addon issue too, getting this with master too (applying the can_instantiate fix).

At least we've confirmed it not to be a Godot related issue.

[akien-mga]

I'd suggest opening an issue on https://github.com/bitbrain/pandora since it's been confirmed not to be a Godot bug, but an addon-specific one.

Thanks everyone for the work debugging this!