Starting with the 2023.8 release of GameMaker, we have a bug-reporting system on the Help menu inside GameMaker:
This allows you to tell us what was happening at the time of the bug and then automatically collects all your log files and will also attach a copy of your project if you allow it. More on how to use the tool can be further down this page.
Public reports (which are actually called "Issues" on the website) are shown to all users, reducing duplicate reports and allowing us to advise if there are workarounds for urgent issues. This better communication enables us to much more quickly fix the issue and also confirm that when we say something is fixed it is actually fixed on the affected users' machines.
Which should all mean better releases and fewer bugs for you, our much-appreciated users.
Thanks!
Do NOT use this tool to report any sign-in problems, "missing" licenses or purchasing enquiries, anything relating to our helpdesk documentation, or anything on our various websites. For all of these, please continue to contact our Customer Service team via the Contact Us button shown slightly higher up on that image.
Contents
Finding Existing Bug Reports
- Where can I see existing bugs and confirm my problem has not already been reported?
- What should I do if my problem has already been reported?
Troubleshooting Problems
- Update your GameMaker before sending any reports! (Including LTS users)
- Review your log files and external tools before sending any reports!
How To Report Your Bugs
- How do I use the "Report A GameMaker Bug" tool?
- What actually gets sent in a bug report?
- Who can access my files?
- Do I need to be online all the time because of this new bugs system?
More About Our Processes / Privacy
Finding Existing Bug Reports
Where can I see existing bugs and check my problem has not already been reported?
Public bugs live at https://github.com/YoYoGames/GameMaker-Bugs (which may be the page which sent you to this FAQ...). Not all bugs are public, but if they are, then they live on that site.
To see the actual bug reports, click the Issues tab near the top of that page:
This will take you to a page with up to 3 pinned "top-reported issues" at the top:
And then all the other public bug reports appear lower down the page:
The two headings in the green boxes in that image above are buttons and so you can click them to toggle between the list of Open and Closed issues.
- Open = yet to be fixed
- Closed = a developer thinks they have fixed this now, but note that YOU may not have access to this fix yet, so do see the details in the report!
Always search for existing reports by typing suitable keywords which relate to your problem into the search bar at the top of the issues list:
You can see that some default text is already typed in for you to say what type of report you're looking for and that it should be open (unfixed) - you usually want to leave this alone and just type your bit on the end.
For example, here we type in the word "Sprite" and press the Enter key, and then we get a filtered list of matches:
What should I do if my problem has already been reported?
If someone else has already reported your problem, please do NOT report your own copy. Instead, just open their report and leave a thumbs up to say you have the same issue.
If you think their report is missing valuable information, then please leave a comment on the existing report with the info - this is always appreciated!
Adding your sample project files onto an existing report
Use the Create Your Contact Us Package tool on the Help menu inside GameMaker (saying "yes" to including your project in the package!), then send us the .zip file GameMaker made for you.
The easy way to do this is add a new comment on the existing report and then drag your .zip onto your comment box before you submit it. Files sent via this method ARE downloadable by other users, so ensure you only send small sample projects this way.
If you must send a bigger project and so it needs to be sent privately, upload your .zip to a reputable file-sharing service and ensure qa@yoyogames.com has been given access. Then email us with the download link and the ID of the bug report or comment we need to add it to. We will download your file and put it on our own secure server and replace your link with one of ours - please do not stop sharing the file yourself until you see this has been done.
(That email address is only to be used for alerting us to a project you have shared - please do not contact us for any other reason, as your email will not be responded to.)
Troubleshooting Problems
Update your GameMaker before sending any reports! (Including LTS users)
Always make sure that you are on the latest version of GameMaker, as whatever your issue is may have already been fixed - and we don't want any redundant reports. (This is the first thing our support teams will ask you to do if you do send us an issue referring to an old release.)
Make sure that your problem exists in at least the current monthly release before you send any report!
Review your log files and external tools before sending any reports!
Always check your ui.log for GameMaker in case it tells you roughly what the error is. If it's to do with internet access or with files not being allowed to be read/found, see our guide on how to fix permissions issues.
Antivirus clients/firewalls/proxy servers/OS account permissions can all deliberately block GameMaker from starting up, downloading your runtimes, and make projects fail to build because files cannot be accessed - you do not need to report any issues like this to us, as it's just your protection software doing its job and we cannot affect that.
External tools must also match what your version of GameMaker actually requires otherwise your builds will often fail. Check the whole of your Output window inside GameMaker (not just the final few lines!) for what/where the error is and then see our Required SDKs guide.
If your issue was fixed by changing your console SDKs, Android Studio, Xcode, Spine, etc., install to match what our guide says, then you do not need to send us a report that you had a machine-setup problem.
How To Report Your Bugs
How do I use the "Report A GameMaker Bug" tool?
Clicking the Help menu command will open a new dialog:
Fill in each field with all pertinent information you can provide. (Many of the fields are mandatory and must be filled-in before the Submit button will be activated.)
Send all requested information, otherwise there will be a delay while we request what's missing.
Please strongly consider sending a small sample project if your bug is in-game or when building specific assets in your projects. If you uploaded via the IDE reporter your files are always private.
Please also only set the visibility to "private" if your report description contains sensitive information and you are happy reporting this anonymously and do not require any feedback on the progress of the fix. Again, public/private does not affect that all files get uploaded privately.
The "How to submit a Bug Report" link brings you to this page, so if you have questions in future you can easily return here later.
If you click Submit...
The bug-reporter will gather the info we require, zip it up, and then send it to us. This process typically takes less than a minute or two (depending on your internet connection speed and the size of the sample project you chose to send).
After a short delay, you should then see a little confirmation dialog saying that we received your bug report successfully.
- If you chose to report the issue publicly that dialog will give you a clickable ID number as part of the "thanks" message. You can then monitor its progress on the website.
- If you chose to report the issue privately, then that dialog will simply thank you for submitting the issue. You will have no ability to see your report or get feedback on it later on (not until such time as it appears in the release notes anyway).
The QA and Customer Service teams will not respond to emails, etc., asking for personalised progress reports on private issues - if you need to see the progress of an issue, report it publicly, as that's why we made this new system.
If you click Cancel...
The dialog is closed. That's all.
What actually gets sent in a bug report?
A zip file, containing the following files:
| ui.log | GameMaker's own log file |
| licence.plist | Your current licensing file |
| um.json | your current user manager file |
| bugreport.json | The text you typed and checkbox values you selected on the bug-reporter form |
| Any additional files you attached to the bug-reporting form | e.g., screenshots, sprites, sound files that you chose to send us |
| meta.json |
|
| output.txt (potentially) | If you had an Output log at the time you filed the bug, then the whole of this will be added also so we can (e.g.) determine the reason why a build failed or see what logging a game did before it gave an error |
| Project .yyz file (optionally) | If you said yes to including your current project as a sample, then it too will be in this .zip package as a compressed GameMaker .yyz archive file |
| .dmp crash log file (potentially) | If this is a "Crash/Unstable" report which GameMaker itself asked you to send us because it said your install crashed during the previous run, then there will be a file containing GameMaker's memory at the time of the crash so we can analyse this. |
If you would like to open this .zip file and confirm exactly what is going to be be sent on your machine for a given report, simply create your report as normal, but disconnect your internet momentarily before you click the Submit button. You will then see the dialog saying we will try to send the report when you're back online. Look in your Output Window and it will tell you the path where the .zip file was created. Find that path in Explorer/Finder/etc. and you can then view the contents of the archive using your chosen zip manager tool.
It will look a lot like this:
Assuming you're happy, turn your internet back on and wait a few minutes so GameMaker detects you're back online, then click the Submit button on the bug-reporting form again and the zip should be sent to us as per normal.
Who can access my files?
- If you uploaded via the IDE reporter your files are always private. The links which get added into your bug report are clickable only by select members of development staff who actively work on GameMaker - no other GameMaker users are ever able to access your files!
- If you used the web form, then files are up to you how publicly you shared them.
- Simply dragging a file onto the website will make it entirely public, so please only do this with screenshots and small sample projects you made to show the bug.
- If you are hosting the file elsewhere and have just put a link on the report, then the permissions are however you set them on the external site (so make sure these permissions allow us to download the file!).
Do I need to be online all the time because of this new bugs system?
No.
Obviously, GameMaker will need to be online in order to successfully send us your bug report and your machine as a whole will need to be online in order to open a bug issue link in your browser, but that's it.
If you try submitting a bug report when you are offline, GameMaker will realise the upload failed, tell you it couldn't send the report because you are offline, and will keep your bug report information handy so you can try again once you have restored your connection.
Note that only the most-recent failed submission is remembered (so you can't write a second bug while offline).
More About Our Processes / Privacy
Why do you collect this info?
Well, rather than requiring you to create a Helpdesk ticket and us have a back-and-forth asking you to attach files, etc., as we did in the past, this new system makes things far quicker and easier for everyone, as now it's simplified to only one quick dialog for you and yet we know all the info we require should get reliably sent that first time.
We also now publicly show the majority of issues and add comments about the progress of these issues onto the reports - which saves us a tremendous amount of time each day responding to lots of tickets about the same problems with identical responses.
This also allows users to help identify the causes for obscure issues or to join in discussions on how a problem might be fixed - resulting in a better outcome for everyone.
What will you actually do with my report?
We triage all the new reports each morning to determine if each one is an issue we need to investigate further or if we already know the answer and so can close the report sooner. If you have not provided all the info the form requested, we will leave a comment saying so - note that in most cases nothing further will be done with the report until you have supplied the requested information.
Assuming the information is all added properly, the triage team will typically assign the issue to one of the core tech team who is responsible for the GameMaker functionality area mentioned in your report.
At the same time, the issue may be allocated to an upcoming Milestone (a GameMaker release), otherwise it will be sent to the Backlog for further investigation at an unspecified date later on.
When it comes time for them to work on your issue, the core tech team will then investigate the problem by using your sample project to try recreating the issue for themselves. If you supplied logs with a crash/error message, then they may also use this to give them an advantage in knowing where to look in the code. Please note issues may not get detailed updates before/while being worked on.
Once they have confirmed the issue, they will make an attempted fix and likely use your sample again in order to confirm all now works well for them. At this point, their fix goes into GameMaker and they close the report and leave a comment saying what was changed.
This does not mean your GameMaker install suddenly gets the fix - you will need to wait until the next release and then update your install!
Next up, someone in the docs team will review the change which the developer made and will determine if they need to update the manual to match the new/changed behaviour. They may potentially use your sample also in order to confirm they are wording things correctly and that they have understood the change properly.
And finally someone in our QA team will verify the changes made to GameMaker and to the manual which came from your bug are actually correct. They will run your sample to confirm the fix works (and probably check it on more platforms also) and extend your project as they see fit in order to confirm the change didn't accidentally break something unexpected.
Each person mentioned above would typically download a copy of your .zip package for the time period in which they actively work on the problem, but then delete it immediately afterwards.
On the odd occasion in which we claim something is fixed and you find that it is not fixed in the Monthly release it is supposed to have gone into, you are also able to reopen the issue and give us updated info.
(Please do not reopen issues before you know you have a GameMaker release in which we have actually said it's fixed!)