XBOX Makecode Arcade Kiosk - Game will only run once

[dc-carrolls]

Description
When running a any game from within the Makecode Arcade Kiosk App on an XBOX Series S, it will work the first time, but any subsequent attempt to run the game will stall at the "Loading..." screen. To fix you need to uninstall the game and reinstall, but this will again only allow you to run the game once before failing again.

To Reproduce

1. Start the Makecode Arcade Kiosk App on XBOX Series S (Not tested on any other XBOX)
2. Select and game or load one of your own
3. Play the game
4. Either wait until game over or exit the game
5. Try to start the game again
6. The "Loading..." Screen is displayed, but game never loads (The error)

Expected behavior
When selecting the game for a second time it loads and plays.

Desktop (please complete the following information):

• XBOX Series S console

[abchatra]

@dc-carrolls is this with all the games or particular game? We will investigate.

[dc-carrolls]

@abchatra This happens with all games, and I have now found that this also happens on any device when you access this link:

https://arcade.makecode.com/--kiosk

I've tried this on multiple devices and on different networks with the same result.

[ottoread]

@dc-carrolls I am unable to reproduce this on Microsoft Edge 137.0.3296.83 on Windows 11, I will try and reproduce this on an Xbox One later to see if the issue applies there.

[ottoread]

@dc-carrolls I am unable to reproduce this on Microsoft Edge 137.0.3296.83 on Windows 11, I will try and reproduce this on an Xbox One later to see if the issue applies there.

I have successfully recreated the issue on both the Xbox One and on different device on desktop using Google Chrome 137.0.7151.104.
It seems to be a compatibility issue, the games work fine on Edge however on Chrome / Firefox, the game loads forever.

[eanders-ms]

@ottoread Thanks for confirming. Can you repro in Chrome with Dev Tools open? It would be useful to note any failed network requests or errors logged to the console during the second load attempt.

[ottoread]

@eanders-ms Here are the errors logged to the console during the second load attempt (Apologies in advance if they are formatted poorly or I've sent the wrong files, this is my first time using DevTools for debugging).

arcade.makecode.com-1750109865269.log
arcade.makecode.com-1750109862673.log
arcade.makecode.com-1750109859101.log
arcade.makecode.com-1750109856027.log
arcade.makecode.com-1750109853578.log

From what I can see, there are no failed network requests.

[eanders-ms]

Thank you for capturing the output! I'm not able to repro locally, but comparing my output to yours, I don't see this uncaught exception:

(anonymous) @ pxtembed.js:15
pxtembed.js:15 Uncaught (in promise) TypeError: Cannot read properties of undefined (reading 'config')
    at k (pxtembed.js:15:3143368)
    at n.simulateAsync (pxtembed.js:15:3148611)
    at ---run?id=25572-25731-72869-29244&hideSimButtons=1&noFooter=1&single=1&fullscreen=1&autofocus=1&loadingColor=white&server=1:241:32
k @ pxtembed.js:15
n.simulateAsync @ pxtembed.js:15
(anonymous) @ ---run?id=25572-25731-72869-29244&hideSimButtons=1&noFooter=1&single=1&fullscreen=1&autofocus=1&loadingColor=white&server=1:241

Because it's only happening the second time a game is loaded, I suspect it has to do with loading a game from cache rather than from download. cc @aznhassan, in case any recent change to game encryption or server-side compilation might have affected this.

[ottoread]

Hey @eanders-ms, I have tested under a different network on a different device, and I'm capturing other errors that occur when the game is loading on both the first and second attempt:

Failed to load resource: the server responded with a status of 404 (Not Found)Understand this error
VM49 ---run:191 simulator started...
VM52 pxtembed.js:15 Failed to execute 'postMessage' on 'DOMWindow': The target origin provided ('https://trg-arcade.userpxt.io') does not match the recipient window's origin ('https://arcade.makecode.com').
postMessageCore @ VM52 pxtembed.js:15Understand this warning
VM52 pxtembed.js:15 Failed to execute 'postMessage' on 'DOMWindow': The target origin provided ('https://trg-arcade.userpxt.io') does not match the recipient window's origin ('https://arcade.makecode.com').
postMessageCore @ VM52 pxtembed.js:15Understand this warning
VM52 pxtembed.js:15 Failed to execute 'postMessage' on 'DOMWindow': The target origin provided ('https://trg-arcade.userpxt.io') does not match the recipient window's origin ('https://arcade.makecode.com').
postMessageCore @ VM52 pxtembed.js:15Understand this warning
VM52 pxtembed.js:15 Failed to execute 'postMessage' on 'DOMWindow': The target origin provided ('https://trg-arcade.userpxt.io') does not match the recipient window's origin ('https://arcade.makecode.com').
postMessageCore @ VM52 pxtembed.js:15Understand this warning
pxtsim.js:1 Simulator ServiceWorker registration successful with scope:  https://trg-arcade.userpxt.io/
---simserviceworker:1 Installing service worker...
---simserviceworker:1 Opened cache
sim.js:1378 Canvas2D: Multiple readback operations using getImageData are faster with the willReadFrequently attribute set to true. See: https://html.spec.whatwg.org/multipage/canvas.html#concept-canvas-will-read-frequently
draw @ sim.js:1378Understand this warning
---simserviceworker:1 Activating service worker...
4--kiosk:1 Uncaught (in promise) Error: A listener indicated an asynchronous response by returning true, but the message channel closed before a response was received

[eanders-ms]

@ottoread that log actually looks fine. We see those console messages during regular operation. But notably, the uncaught exception from your earlier logs is not present in this one. Was the game still not loading the 2nd time in this case?

[ottoread]

@eanders-ms, the game was also not loading the second time in this case, and would sometimes not work on the first time (even if I cleared cache).
However, whenever I change this in the console:

<iframe class="sim-embed" sandbox="allow-popups allow-forms allow-scripts allow-same-origin" src="/---run?id=25572-25731-72869-29244&amp;hideSimButtons=1&amp;noFooter=1&amp;single=1&amp;fullscreen=1&amp;autofocus=1&amp;loadingColor=white&amp;server=1"></iframe>

to (removing the server=1 section):

<iframe class="sim-embed" sandbox="allow-popups allow-forms allow-scripts allow-same-origin" src="/---run?id=25572-25731-72869-29244&amp;hideSimButtons=1&amp;noFooter=1&amp;single=1&amp;fullscreen=1&amp;autofocus=1&amp;loadingColor=white"></iframe>

the game instantly loads without issue. I'm not sure if its directly related though.

[ottoread]

2025-06-17_21-27-02.mp4