nice, thank you for taking the time for this. sounds like there's a bug to fix but it's not from the default settings. this should reveal it and prevent others from running into it.
So my problem turned out to be two problems...
- my old install is subtly broken, possibly due to a bug in the in-program update feature or due to me trying to use the .exe in 'app' folder before realising my mistake. Earlier, when I tried to run the default 'Reincarnated to Another World as a Cute Assault Drone' world the placeholders were super broken in the introduction message. And, of course, now that I want to show that brokenness it is suddenly working normally again. In either case, I am unable to reproduce this... weirdness.
- If you open Formamorph 1.2.0, export a world that has the dictionary entry {key: '--', value: 'Ignore this'} and then import said world into Formamorph 2.3+, then the dictionary for that world is permanently broken. Even if you remove that entry and add other entries. I found this out with the world I was using to debug test things (modified version of "Test Your Ai's Knowledge" with that entry present along with several others). In other words, I was using a broken world to try and find general problems with the entire program. No wonder things did not seem to add up.
- This bug does not occur if you import a world .json exported from 2.3+, only when the file was exported from 1.2.0.
- I have no idea how that error managed to spread to all worlds on my original install. Right now, I'm just chalking it up to the general brokenness of that install. Possibly that I did a multi-import with the problem-causing world present? Not sure.