FixedString64Bytes reporting the wrong length on the client

Unity Engine
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1

I have a problem with FixedString64Bytes in INetworkSerializeable in a network variable. ON the client it is throwing an error saying that the length is 605 bytes when the string is empty.

The code is as follows:

public struct SerializableMaterialHash : INetworkSerializable, IEquatable<SerializableMaterialHash>
{
    public FixedString64Bytes Name;
    public Color Color;

    public SerializableProperty[] properties;


    public bool Equals(SerializableMaterialHash other)
    {
        return Name == other.Name && Color == other.Color;
    }

    // INetworkSerializable
    public void NetworkSerialize<T>(BufferSerializer<T> serializer) where T : IReaderWriter
    {
        if (serializer.IsReader)
        {
            // De-Serialize the data being synchronized
            var reader = serializer.GetFastBufferReader();
            reader.ReadValueSafe(out Name);
            if (Name == "") return;
            reader.ReadValueSafe(out Color);
            reader.ReadValueSafe(out int numprops);
            properties = new SerializableProperty[numprops];
            for (int i = 0; i < numprops; i++)
            {
                reader.ReadValueSafe(out FixedString64Bytes Key);
                reader.ReadValueSafe(out float Value);
                properties[i] = (new() { Key = Key, Value = Value });
            }
        }
        else {
            var writer = serializer.GetFastBufferWriter();
            writer.WriteValueSafe(Name);
            if (Name == "") return;
            writer.WriteValueSafe(Color);
            if (properties == null)
            {
                writer.WriteValueSafe(0);
                return;
            }
            writer.WriteValueSafe(properties.Length);
            foreach( SerializableProperty prop in properties)
            {
                writer.WriteValueSafe(prop.Key);
                writer.WriteValueSafe(prop.Value);
            }
        }
    }
}
2

I tried your code and didn’t get any errors. Are you using the latest version of NGO?

3

I am using the latest version of NGO but I also tried regarding NGO back to 1.9.1 to test and it seems the same.

I am not sure “how” this site could happen on the client - surely the purpose of Fixed string is to avoid that.

4

Assuming Serializable.Key is of type FixedString64Bytes and SerializableProperty.Value is of type float, the code doesn’t seem problematic. Fixed string types are encoded as a length followed by that number of bytes for the string content. Reading a size larger than is supported given a fixed string instance’s capacity would be an error. WriteUnmanagedSafe/ReadUnmanagedSafe could be used if you want to remove that as a factor, though it’s probably not the cause of the issue. A likely explanation is some previously written data does not have a correct serialization implementation and offsets the reading or writing position inappropriately.

5

Interesting - that would mean that the error is actually in another network variable I guess. I had not thought of it like that.

I will have to go away and check that out.

Thanks

6

For information - the problem was caused by a badly serialized Enum in a totally different Network Variable.