CCActionAnimate runAction: ...but not running

Question

I have a CCNode class that looks like this:

#import "CCAnimation.h"
#import "Gameplay.h"
#import "ZAFSingletonCenter.h"

@interface Gameplay ()
{
}

@property (nonatomic, strong) CCSprite *character;
@property (nonatomic, strong) CCAction *talkAction;

@end

@implementation Gameplay{

    NSMutableString *gesture;
    NSString *characterName;

    NSString *plist;
    NSString *gestureSprite;
    NSString *framefilename;

}

- (void)regresar {
    CCScene *mainScene = [CCBReader loadAsScene:@"MainScene"];
    [[CCDirector sharedDirector] replaceScene:mainScene];
}

- (void)didLoadFromCCB {


    ZAFSingletonCenter *temporal = [ZAFSingletonCenter sharedManager];
    characterName = temporal.personajeActual;

    gesture = [@"fotos" mutableCopy];

    plist = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"%@/%@.plist",characterName,gesture];
    gestureSprite = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"%@/%@.png",characterName,gesture];
    framefilename = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"%@/%@/%@_%@_",characterName,gesture,characterName,gesture];
    [self loadGesture:characterName withGesture:gesture];

    [[CCSpriteFrameCache sharedSpriteFrameCache] addSpriteFramesWithFile:plist];
    CCSpriteBatchNode *spriteSheet = [CCSpriteBatchNode batchNodeWithFile:gestureSprite];
    [self addChild:spriteSheet];


    // *** This block should be moved outside the init or didLoadFromCCB
    // *** and to the moveCharacter:withGesture method... once I make it work

    NSMutableArray *actionFrames = [NSMutableArray array];
    for (int i=1001; i<=1020; i++) {
        [actionFrames addObject:
         [[CCSpriteFrameCache sharedSpriteFrameCache] spriteFrameByName:
          [NSString stringWithFormat:@"%@%d.png",framefilename,i]]];
        //NSLog(@"%@%d.png",_framefilename,i);
    }

    CCAnimation *gestureAction = [CCAnimation animationWithSpriteFrames:actionFrames delay:0.0666f];

    CGSize viewSize = [[CCDirector sharedDirector] viewSize];
    NSString *spriteCover = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"%@/%@/%@_%@_1011.png",characterName,gesture,characterName,gesture];
    self.character = [CCSprite spriteWithImageNamed:spriteCover];
    self.character.position = ccp(viewSize.width/2, viewSize.height/2);
    [spriteSheet addChild:self.character z:99];
    self.talkAction = [CCActionRepeatForever actionWithAction:
                       [CCActionAnimate actionWithAnimation:gestureAction]];


    [self.character runAction:self.talkAction];

    NSString *logMessage = self.character.debugDescription;
    NSLog(@"---> %@",logMessage);

    NSLog(@"---> %d",self.character.isRunningInActiveScene);

    NSString *gestureMessage = gestureAction.debugDescription;
    NSLog(@"---> %@",gestureMessage);

    NSString *actionMessage = self.talkAction.debugDescription;
    NSLog(@"---> %@",actionMessage);


    // *** ending the block to be taken to the moveCharacter:withGesture method

}


- (void)actionA {
    //testingButton A action
    NSLog(@"A");
    [self.character stopAction:self.talkAction];
}
- (void)actionB {
    //testingButton B action
    NSLog(@"B");
    [self.character runAction:self.talkAction];

}

@end

This should have an animated character in the middle of the screen and it does on an empty project. But when I include this on the actual project the animation stays paused on the frame I define as "spriteCover". No errors at all, just not playing the animation.

I have tried using -(id)init instead of -(void)didLoadFromCCB but is the same. I have traced several steps (you can see log section on the code above) and everything looks fine to me. Here are the printed lines:

---> <CCSprite = 0x15693a50 | 
     Rect = (281.50,568.50,147.00,268.00) | 
     tag = (null) | atlasIndex = 0>

---> 0

---> <CCAnimation = 0x15692de0 | 
     frames=20, totalDelayUnits=20.000000, 
     delayPerUnit=0.066600, loops=1>

---> <CCActionRepeatForever = 0x15694470 | Tag = -1>

I added two buttons that trigger actionA and actionB and when tapping twice on the actionB I get an error (as expected) because reason: 'runAction: Action already running'

I have also tried this, this, this here and several other sources but haven't yet solved the problem.

Answer 1

Just to document my solution, the way I solved the problem was getting the UIViewController preceding the CCScene with the animation. I noticed that when loading after a CCScene everything worked perfectly but when loading after a UIViewController the animation didn't start.