dressup VS samples

sorry i thought i clicked paste on the github i have of a previous version of the project https://github.com/Potat-OS1/dressup/tree/main/DressUp2/src/main/java . the javafx-template worked perfectly, it just seems to be my merging of my code thats making things go wonky. with the example i was 100% successful in creating an .exe

If you're relatively new to this, I would recommend checking out the JavaFX documentation at https://openjfx.io/openjfx-docs/#maven and starting from the samples: https://github.com/openjfx/samples/tree/master/HelloFX/Maven

i also replaced the build.gradle file contents with what the openJFX suggested i changed it to. then i sync'd it after changing the javafx version in that .gradle file to 17.0.1 instead of 16.

An example pom file (maven) for a JavaFX program looks like https://github.com/openjfx/samples/blob/master/HelloFX/Maven/hellofx/pom.xml

Yes, JavaFX is a pain to configure. I'd recommend using Maven or Gradle with the JavaFX plugin to manage your application, that way you don't need to download and configure the entire OpenJFX SDK. There are samles for both Maven and Gradle in the repo you linked, so I would try them out. Note that only the Gradle sample includes a wrapper, so if you try the Maven sample you'll need to install Maven first.

Non-modular project (i.e. not using java modules): https://github.com/openjfx/samples/blob/master/CommandLine/Non-modular/Gradle/hellofx/build.gradle

example maven no modular project structure here https://github.com/openjfx/samples/tree/master/IDE/Eclipse/Non-Modular/Maven/hellofx/src/main