[Phaser4/3] Troubles with running mismatching spine versions

Nick_Rimer

Hi!
I'm using Phaser 4.0.0-rc.4 with npm library @esotericsoftware/spine-phaser-v4.

I have several animations of version 4.1.24
Unfortunately, not all of them work well, while with PIXI plugin they can be launched normally.

Also several animations, where the versions are indicated as follows:
3.7-from-3.8-from-4.0-from-4.1-from-4.3.00-beta
3.8-from-4.0-from-4.1-from-4.2.40

For 3.7, the spine image does not load at all, without indicating any errors, there is simply no image rendering (although the image itself is in the assets). In case of 3.8 the image was there, but obviously with visual errors, for example, some body parts were rotated incorrectly, and the animation was played only partially (some parts remained static).

And setAlpha does not work with any version at all. With a value of 0 the image is not visible, with any value higher the image is visible, as if alpha = 1, that is, there is no smooth gradation.

I tried using Phaser version 3.90.0 and @esotericsoftware/spine-phaser-v3 -- this does not affect the result in any way.

One of the requirements when using the plugin is to make sure that the versions of spine-phaser and Spine Editor match by major.minor. But how to achieve this if the lowest version on npm is 4.2? I did not notice any difference between using 4.2.77 and 4.2.89.

The only solution is to ask the animators to give the current version 4.2, or is there a chance to work fine with the old ones? Animators say that it is preferable for them to give older ones, like 3.7 and 3.8, which do not start or work poorly for me.

I don’t really want to roll back the version for the engine.
What should I do?

Davide

Nick_Rimer

Hello 🙂

As you mentioned, the runtime and editor major.minor versions must match. If you want to use the latest supported runtime, you need to ask your animators to keep pace with the editor updates.

Using a newer editor version is always beneficial, since we add new features, performance improvements, UI enhancements, and bug fixes.

Generally, updating from one editor version to the next is a straightforward process, while updating across several versions may take more time. However, we always recommend updating as soon as a new version is available to avoid making the project upgrade process too difficult.

There's not much you can do apart from asking the animators to upgrade the project. It's crucial that animators and developers synchronize the version they are using.

Please read Synchronizing versions for more information.

Spinebot

To address the issues you're facing with mismatching Spine versions in Phaser, it's crucial to ensure that the Spine runtime version matches the major.minor version of the Spine Editor used to export the animations. Since the lowest version available on npm is 4.2, and your animations are from various older versions, you may encounter compatibility issues. The best approach is to update your animations to match the runtime version you are using, which is 4.2. This will ensure compatibility and proper functionality. If updating the animations is not feasible, you might need to consider using older runtimes that match the animation versions, but this could involve more complex setup and potential limitations with newer Phaser versions.