fix: broken new installs

[cazala]

Fix Config Initialization and Recovery

Problem

We discovered a critical issue with config initialization:

1. The analytics module in the main process creates a minimal config file containing only userId
2. Later, when the renderer process tries to initialize the config, it skips creating the default config because a config file already exists (even though it's incomplete)
3. This leads to missing critical config properties throughout the application, as the code assumes a complete config structure

This issue was introduced when analytics support was added a few versions back. It specifically affects:

• New installations since that version
• Does NOT affect existing installations that already had a valid config file
• Persists across reinstalls since the config file is stored in the user's app data directory, outside the installation directory

This explains why the issue wasn't caught earlier - existing installations continued to work fine, while new users started experiencing problems with scene creation and template loading.

Solution

1. Proper Config Initialization and Recovery

• Modified both main and preload processes to properly merge any existing config with default values
• Even if a config exists (e.g., created by analytics with just userId), we ensure all default properties are present
• Added deep merging to preserve existing values while guaranteeing config completeness

2. Implementation Improvements

• Integrated deepmerge library for robust config merging
• Centralized path handling in shared/paths.ts
• Ensured consistent path resolution between main and preload processes
• Standardized config initialization across the application

Testing

1. Current Version (to verify the bug):

   # Windows
   Delete "C:\Users\<USERNAME>\AppData\Roaming\creator-hub\Settings\config.json"
   # Mac
   Delete "~/Library/Application Support/creator-hub/Settings/config.json"
   

   • Open Creator Hub
   • Observe that you cannot create new scenes and templates won't load
   • Note: Uninstalling/reinstalling doesn't fix this as the config file is preserved

2. Fixed Version (this PR):

   • Uninstall current Creator Hub
   • Install the version from this PR
   • The app should work correctly
   • For new installations (the affected group), no additional steps needed
   • For existing users, you will need to re-import your scenes, but this is a one-time operation (because you deleted the config file where those imports were stored)

Migration

These changes are backward compatible and will automatically fix broken configs:

• Existing configs with only userId will be automatically populated with all required default values
• No user action or manual migration needed
• Existing valid configurations will be preserved

[github-actions]

Test this pull request on windows-latest

Download the correct version for your architecture:

win-x64

[github-actions]

Test this pull request on macos-latest

Download the correct version for your architecture:

mac-arm64
mac-x64

Click here if you don't know which version to download

For running this unsigned version of the app, you will need to run the xattr command on it:

1. Extract the app from the downloaded .dmg file (double-click it)
2. Place the extracted app anywhere you like in your file system
3. Open a terminal on the directory where the app is
4. Run xattr -c app-name, replacing "app-name" for the actual name of the app
5. Double-click the app ✅

[Ludmilafantaniella]

🟢 Fix verified on Windows and Mac:

Steps to Validate:

1. Installed the previous version (v11.5).
2. Deleted ~/Library/Application Support/creator-hub/Settings/config.json.
3. Verified the issue: unable to create new scenes.
4. Installed the fixed version (v11.6).
5. Confirmed the fix:
   *Scenes can now be created successfully.

Validation complete; issue resolved in v11.6.