large arrays show up as <null> in Godot debugger

[Spycemyster]

Godot version

4.0.2.stable

System information

Windows 11, GLES2

Issue description

When there is a sufficiently large array, the Godot debugger will display it as <null>. It should probably be displayed as "too large to display" or anything other than null as that can be confusing.

I first discovered this when downloading images through an HTTPRequest. I was trying to find out why my image was displaying incorrectly, but the debugger kept showing <null> and made me incorrectly think that there was an issue with the request.

Steps to reproduce

Create an array and fill it with a large amount of elements. In the MVP I just kept doubling an array. After 17 times (131072 elements), that's when it started getting displayed as <null>.

Minimal reproduction project

LargeArrayMVP.zip

[Spycemyster]

Also, if this is something that should be changed, I would like to take this issue on as my first issue.

[Calinou]

• Duplicate of Debugger show large variable as [null] when getting Image from Viewport texture (the reference still works) #36801.

Also, if this is something that should be changed, I would like to take this issue on as my first issue.

There's a pull request working around the issue: #74148

As per the PR's description, it's difficult to create a definitive fix that does not introduce network stalling due to data being too large. There's an attempt to improve the large data situation in #74230, but it needs to be reworked not to break compatibility.