Conversations and Context Issues

Support
1

Hi,

I wonder if someone does have similar technical issues with Narrova.

I’m working on an adaptation of a book since Narrova came out. Know Dramatica since the 90th but was flashed when Jim connected Dramatica with AI. I am still in the Storyforming phase.

The first problems arose in September when my conversation got stuck. Narrova didn’t answer anymore. But Jim had the idea to export the conversation and begin a new one with the exported data. That went well. I could continue exactly where I was. Nothing was lost.

The end of November my conversation vanished. It was still listed and I could open it but only my first prompt and Narrova’s answer were in it. When I write something it vanishes, too. Very strange. I should have exported it for safety. But now it’s gone. Backup is essential, also here when you spent weeks working on a project. I learn this the hard way now.

I don’t think I can get the conversation back on my own. But I am quite sure that it still exists and it should be possible to fish it out in the backend. Guess it is a ChatGPT API problem. But support is silent.

Did anyone experienced similar problems? And did you get help restoring the conversation?

Thank you,
Gerard

2

Hi Gerard,

I think the core issue here is a misunderstanding of how conversational context works in Narrova (and AI systems generally), so let me clarify that directly.

1. Conversations do not share memory or context

Each conversation thread is its own isolated context. There is no background memory that allows Narrova to “remember” decisions, reasoning, or story discussions from a different conversation unless that information is explicitly reintroduced.

So requests like:

“Can you please recover our current status of the storyform we were working on?”

will not work if that information is not present in the current conversation’s context. Narrova cannot infer or reconstruct prior reasoning unless it is provided again via:

  • Uploaded files
  • Exported conversations
  • Explicit story or storyform context created inside the thread

This is documented here:
:backhand_index_pointing_right: https://platform.dramatica.com/docs

2. What you’re seeing with the old thread

From what you describe, the thread itself still exists, but it no longer behaves correctly. This usually means it was created under an older system configuration and is no longer compatible with the current version of Narrova.

That explains why:

  • The thread still appears in your list
  • You can open it
  • But new replies disappear or fail to persist

This is a known symptom of a deprecated or unstable conversation state, not something you caused.

3. Why you can’t simply “pick up where you left off”

Even if the thread still exists somewhere, Narrova can’t reliably resume work from a conversation that is months old and no longer functioning. The system has no safe way to re-establish that earlier conversational context in a live, up-to-date session.

So while it may feel like “everything is still there,” the practical reality is that the system cannot re-enter that state as-is. In those cases, the correct approach is not recovery inside the old thread, but starting fresh with context reintroduced intentionally.

4. The recommended way forward (best practice)

Since the discussion and reasoning matter more than the final storyform, the recommended workflow is:

  • Start a new conversation

  • Use whichever option you prefer:

    • Upload an exported conversation
    • Paste relevant excerpts
    • Upload notes or files

  • Reintroduce:

    • The story premise
    • Key character and storyform decisions already made

From there, Narrova can continue cleanly and reliably.

This is the same approach that worked for you previously when a conversation became stuck.

5. Going forward

For long-running projects, conversations should be treated as working sessions, not permanent memory. Periodic exports or saved notes are helpful—especially when work spans weeks or months, and development of the platform has necessitated a new conversation.

If you’d like help setting up a clean new conversation or structuring Storyform context efficiently, support is happy to help. But resuming directly inside a non-functional, older thread isn’t something the system can reliably do.

I strongly recommend reviewing the documentation above, as it explains these workflows and constraints in more detail.

3

I previously had the same problem of the entire conversation not displaying. When I downloaded it (using either the hamburger menu at the top right inside the conversation; or using the “…” to the right of the conversation title on Narrova’s main page), the entire conversation downloaded. I hope this helps.

Since the conversations download as Markdown text, I’ve taken to saving them in Obsidian (the free version). You can also open them in OpenOffice. Once you’ve opened the Markdown file, you can copy/paste it wherever you want.

4

Thank you for the reply, Jim, and thanks for the tip, mac.

I just wanted to try it out and what did I see? After weeks the whole conversation is back online. Jim, did you do something? Or what happened? First I did was downloading the whole conversation. So now I feel save making it a strategy to do this every day for backup.

For the insights into AI’s way of working I am thankful, Jim, because Narrova isn’t the only point of contact with AI nowadays for me. Everything you mentioned should be case in any AI conversation or API. So good to know.

The only critic I have: I would have liked to know this earlier. Guess the best way is to asked the community first.

And Jim, please tell me if you had something to do with the restored conversation. If not it must be crazy AI magic.

Thanks,
Gérard

5

I did, but not manually.

Dramatica is constantly updated, at times daily. I’m wary of overloading everyone with info, and so don’t always communicate all the improvements.

As I’m using a third-party API for AI services (OpenAI), I don’t always have control over the end result. This is what likely happened with your conversation and others. The request was not fulfilled to completion and the conversation became corrupted.

When you load a conversation now, Narrova runs through the whole thing and cleans up any lingering errors—making it possible for you to resume the conversation. I’m glad it worked for you.

This forum should be the best place to keep up with things going forward. I’ve moved to release versioning so you can always check out the latest changes and improvements.

Thanks for the feedback.:blush: