Scratch
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#1 2011-03-07 00:58:54
New to Scratch - Is it always this slow and glitchy?
I have to use Scratch for a school assignment, and I've never used it before. So far, though, I'm really not very happy with it. It's easy enough to get used to, but there are two huge problems right now:
1. It's unbelievably slow. Trying to do any simple action in the program (such as changing the text field in an if statement) takes anywhere from 5 to 20 seconds. My computer runs heavy programs like Photoshop and Maya fine, so I don't think it's the computer...
2. My comments get messed up randomly. Out of nowhere, every comment will shift up one piece, or just completely get moved around to weird places. I use a ton of comments, so this is extremely annoying.
Again, I'm really new to this program, and I'd like to learn how to use it better, but is Scratch always like this? Or is there something I'm doing wrong?
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#2 2011-03-07 01:00:54
Re: New to Scratch - Is it always this slow and glitchy?
Scratch tends to be a slow language, especially when using loops. That's just the way it is. 
What exactly is your script?
As for the shifting comments, I've never heard of that. Then again, I don't use the comments all that much.
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#3 2011-03-07 01:13:29
Re: New to Scratch - Is it always this slow and glitchy?
I don't have any loops right now. Basically, I'm just trying to make an "escape the house" kind of game where you move to different rooms and pick up items.
So all I have is a "When Stage clicked:" control, with a ton of if-statements testing where the mouse pointer is, so it knows which room to move to next.
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#4 2011-03-07 01:43:20
- jji7skyline
- Scratcher
- Registered: 2010-03-08
- Posts: 1000+
Re: New to Scratch - Is it always this slow and glitchy?
Try giving scratch more memory and cpu usage on your computer, i don't really know how and my windows computer died so i'm on my dad's mac but i'm pretty sure that will solve your problem, talk to some of the scratch guys, they'll help you.
I don't know why you say goodbye, I say hello!
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#5 2011-03-07 05:32:20
- Paddle2See
- Scratch Team
- Registered: 2007-10-27
- Posts: 1000+
Re: New to Scratch - Is it always this slow and glitchy?
If your scripts get very long, you will start seeing significant lag while editing them. One solution is to break up your large scripts into smaller chunks, maybe by using the Broadcast and Wait block. Another approach some people use is to break the scripts apart for editing, then put them back together to run. That's pretty awkward though - I recommend using Broadcast and Wait to subdivide the task and turn it into multiple scripts. It will be easier to edit and to understand.
As for comments - don't get too carried away with them. They really slow down script editing. And If you make them too long, you run the risk of waking up the dreaded "Disappearing Text Bug" (if you are using a Windows PC). Comments attached to scripts slow down script editing more than "free floating" comments.
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#7 2011-03-07 12:36:40
- Paddle2See
- Scratch Team
- Registered: 2007-10-27
- Posts: 1000+
Re: New to Scratch - Is it always this slow and glitchy?
Fork wrote:
Thanks, Paddle2See, that helped a lot. It's working a lot better now.
Glad to hear it! Happy Scratching 
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#8 2011-03-07 17:17:16
Re: New to Scratch - Is it always this slow and glitchy?
Oh, you meant in the script editing! My bad. Yes, that massive lag is a result of Squeak having do redraw the entire script when you change it. Like Paddle said, break up your scripts into smaller chunks for editing.
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