Question Mark Bug won't leave my unshared project I haven't touched in weeks.

ProjectGenerator354

Over the years, this bug happened multiple times, and it became a commonly known bug. The earliest I can go to is 2019, and the ST most likely fixed the bug many times. Some costumes get restored and the bug affects different specific costumes, but I haven't seen the 0.00-second-long audio bug until last month (May)

D3StudiosFREDBEAR

One of my projects has been corrupted for 2 weeks i think and yet the mods just ignore me like i'm a ghost.

CHAISTARS47yt

I downloaded all of my projects into my computer just to be safe!
I think everyone should do it at this point.

I just make a announcement about this *:
https://scratch.mit.edu/discuss/topic/887135/

Slatch12

CHAISTARS47yt wrote:
I downloaded all of my projects into my computer just to be safe!
I think everyone should do it at this point.

I just make a announcement about this *:
https://scratch.mit.edu/discuss/topic/887135/

Downloaded projects have the question mark bug, sadly…

CHAISTARS47yt

You mean it's already like that when you download?
Now what…

TBMTheFunniestPerson

D3StudiosFREDBEAR wrote:
One of my projects has been corrupted for 2 weeks i think and yet the mods just ignore me like i'm a ghost.

i hope its recovered

NovaShrugs926

Slatch12 wrote:
…Downloaded projects have the question mark bug, sadly…

Now this's getting out of control…

Matikiscool

Paddle2See wrote:
Sorry to hear about this issue. Engineering is going to want links to specific projects that are showing the issue so that they can track it down. Please supply some project links and a description of which sprite / costume is missing.

https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/1305044509/ The Me sprite got affected sadly.

Matikiscool

Slatch12 wrote:
CHAISTARS47yt wrote:
I downloaded all of my projects into my computer just to be safe!
I think everyone should do it at this point.

I just make a announcement about this *:
https://scratch.mit.edu/discuss/topic/887135/
Downloaded projects have the question mark bug, sadly…

How?!?!?!

Edgarm1446

This is a rather significant issue; I am hopeful that whatever the root cause is will soon be resolved, as several of my unshared projects have been affected, rendering many assets irretrievable. Might have to switch to the warping turbo for the time being until this resolves itself; although it isn't the best solution as I cannot access it from school.
An affected (currently-unshared) project, for reference:
https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/1259225446/ - An unfinished and unshared animation, featuring a stick figure named Khivvhi battling a powerful being.
Widespread corruption can be found in several sprites.
(it's unshared, but the Scratch Team can see unshared projects so this is still useful)

lionheart921

i dont have a lot of vector-sprite projects, but i can try replicating the bug to see what exactly is the problem.

lionheart921

lionheart921 wrote:
i dont have a lot of vector-sprite projects, but i can try replicating the bug to see what exactly is the problem.

It looks like all data is lost when I try to export it. Finding out if it's an export issue or a project issue remains to be determined. There is also the possibility that both ? sprites I found were modified. Just to be safe, I recommend NOT TOUCHING ANY ? SPRITES.

Also, try making projects with all bitmap sprites if possible. Bitmap sprites are stored differently and should not be affected by this issue (I haven't with all my bitmap sprites)

Last edited by lionheart921 (June 2, 2026 20:27:18)

RedAndBlue64

It Just Happened to One of My Most Important Projects Earlier Today. That’s Ridiculous That You Can Just Lose Hours or Days of Work Just Like That.

Also, is it Only Specifically Large, Unshared Projects?

SirBob_

My game Goober Run was hit with the bug recently. Going to the affected costumes shows that they're just question marks. Luckilly, I have a backup of the project so that I can fix it, but it's kind of weird that this is happening all over the place. I'm probably back up my other projects in case this new question mark bug is a more permanent corrupted file-style bug.

SirBob_

RedAndBlue64 wrote:
It Just Happened to One of My Most Important Projects Earlier Today. That’s Ridiculous That You Can Just Lose Hours or Days of Work Just Like That.

Also, is it Only Specifically Large, Unshared Projects?

It's happened to a bunch of shared projects (I first heard of this bug through a medium-large-ish animation) and it happened to my somewhat large shared game recently, so it seems like it impacts any projects.

notkiddo

I was working on slatchyland really tiny world ride and my France scene corrupted, gotta redo it i guess

Plus, even slatchearth sky costume too, but dont know if my other would be corrupted, but i might check

Last edited by notkiddo (June 3, 2026 01:12:36)

Nicpet99888

Still broken for a few days now, this is infuriating at this rate. Some were fixed but now others are broken.

SirBob_

SirBob_ wrote:
My game Goober Run was hit with the bug recently. Going to the affected costumes shows that they're just question marks. Luckilly, I have a backup of the project so that I can fix it, but it's kind of weird that this is happening all over the place. I'm probably back up my other projects in case this new question mark bug is a more permanent corrupted file-style bug.

Update: I found that on Firefox-based browsers (My specs: Zen 1.20.1b 64-bit; Firefox 151.0.2), the question mark glitch on Goober Run doesn't seem to happen. It seems to me that the glitch might have to do with Chromium (My specs: Brave 1.90.124 64-bit; Chromium 148.0.7778.179), where it does occur when loading the project. Some projects might still show question marks because people have saved them with the glitch active, keeping the question marks there permanently regardless of what browser is being used. Goober Run hasn't been modified with the glitch active, so I won't update the project to keep it as an example.

D3StudiosFREDBEAR

TBMTheFunniestPerson wrote:
D3StudiosFREDBEAR wrote:
One of my projects has been corrupted for 2 weeks i think and yet the mods just ignore me like i'm a ghost.
i hope its recovered

SPOILER ALERT:It isn't.
oh and here's the link,it's both okay and scary:
https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/1259651052/

Last edited by D3StudiosFREDBEAR (June 3, 2026 05:03:46)

Burgnew_On_A_Laptop

If this happens, do NOT see inside or save the project, or else the ?-boxes could permanently overwrite those costumes! For shared projects in particular, it's safer to view those through Turbowarp. It'll also reveal which ?-boxes have become permanent - the only choice for those is to replicate the original costumes from scratch.

I know for sure this website-wrecking invasion of costume corruption is down to the new backend being rushed out without enough prior testing. I have a theory for why this may've been the case, but still…

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