"N units in the exit" not shown

[Akamashi]

I play on a steel will. There is no chance of a mistake. In the briefing of the mission with ghosts in the mental hospital, it is written that at any moment you can leave the mission by gathering fighters at the exit. But it doesn't work! If I had known, I definitely wouldn't have gone on this mission.

[Solarius Scorch]

First of all, this mod is in progress, so playing Ironman is not the best idea due to possible bugs.

I tested this mission in Quick Battle and it appears that you can escape with your people after all, despite the message. Yeah, it is weird. Still, I'd appreciate if you could send me a save to analyse.

[Akamashi]

Oh! Mr. Scorch! In any case, I am eternally grateful to you for developing this incredible mod. And even if it looks like a complaint, it's actually just a bug report. The tone in which it was written here only confirms that it is impossible to treat this magnificent game indifferently.

And if on business, then when I pressed the leave mission button a minute ago, then despite the inscription 0 fighters in the evacuation zone, all my agents were saved.

[Solarius Scorch]

Oh! Mr. Scorch! In any case, I am eternally grateful to you for developing this incredible mod. And even if it looks like a complaint, it's actually just a bug report. The tone in which it was written here only confirms that it is impossible to treat this magnificent game indifferently.

It's cool, it was a very appropriate bug report. (Well, a save would be nice.)

And if on business, then when I pressed the leave mission button a minute ago, then despite the inscription 0 fighters in the evacuation zone, all my agents were saved.

That's what counts. But indeed it is strange.

@Meridian if you see this, could you please investigate? I don't have a save prepared, but you can run "Asylum Apparitions" in Quick Battle, move all units to the yellow tiles around the gate near the southern border and press abort.

[Meridian]

@Meridian if you see this, could you please investigate? I don't have a save prepared, but you can run "Asylum Apparitions" in Quick Battle, move all units to the yellow tiles around the gate near the southern border and press abort.

There are:
0 units in the entrance
2 units in the exit
0 units in the field

Normally, you abort missions on craft or entrance tiles. Did you use exit tiles by mistake?

The game doesn't recognize this mission as exit-relevant and hides the "units in exit" label.

Exit tiles can be used for missions with a next stage (e.g. tftd alien colony) or for missions with escapeType = EXIT (1) or EITHER (3).

[Solarius Scorch]

Normally, you abort missions on craft or entrance tiles. Did you use exit tiles by mistake?

There is no craft in this mission and no other entrance area. For story and design reasons, X-Com units are spawned in random places using X-Com nodes (but there are no associated tiles, since these places would not be valid exit points). So this is set up exactly as intended and works as designed, except for the incorrect "0 units in exist area" message.

The game doesn't recognize this mission as exit-relevant and hides the "units in exit" label.

These definitely are exist tiles (they have type 13 in byte 59). I understand that it was not predicted, but they should be recognised as such.

Exit tiles can be used for missions with a next stage (e.g. tftd alien colony) or for missions with escapeType = EXIT (1) or EITHER (3).

Well, I can't do that here.

Bottom line: the mission works fine, it's several years old. I am not willing to alter it by adding a second stage or something, because it doesn't make sense. Using standard entrance area like in alien bases is not an option either. And I can't use "escapeType: 1", because running away does not equal victory here.
Sorry, I'm not trying to be difficult, I just can't see what else I can do - but I am open to suggestions.

[Meridian]

so what solution do you propose?
should I count those soldiers as lost?
or add some new attribute to force the label to be displayed even if the game thinks it's not relevant?

[Solarius Scorch]

so what solution do you propose?
should I count those soldiers as lost?
or add some new attribute to force the label to be displayed even if the game thinks it's not relevant?

These soldiers shouldn't count as lost; the whole point of this exit area is that it allows you to evacuate, but the mission is still aborted. There is simply no other area to retreat to abort, so I made this map edge block.

From the context, I am not sure if some other attribute would be needed. The Ufopedia entry describes the current feature as "Which type of tiles can be used for escape", but in this sense "escape" still means "mission successful". Which is fine, as long as the mission is "get to point X".

From the gameplay point of view, the current setup is 100% fine, except that the abort screen message doesn't count escape tiles as escape tiles. (But they work anyway.)

[Juku121]

I imagine the problem is that replacing exit tiles with entry ones would allow soldiers and equipment to spawn there? In that case, wouldn't it be easiest and cleanest to just add a field to e.g. alienDeployments that would disallow entry tiles for agent spawns and force them to X-Com spawn nodes?

Equipment can probably be left on entry tiles, I always found the fact that an agent really quickly carried a few hundred kilos of stuff to some random corner a bit strange.

[Meridian]

From the gameplay point of view, the current setup is 100% fine, except that the abort screen message doesn't count escape tiles as escape tiles. (But they work anyway.)

There is no problem with the tiles.
Tiles are correctly recognized as exit tiles by the abort screen, as I wrote in the first reply, and the game even prepares a label "2 units in the Exit area".
It just hides this label, because the mission (not the tiles) is not recognized as any known kind of mission that uses exit tiles.

Thus I asked about a new attribute on the mission/deployment level (not on tile level), which would tell the game: "hey game, this is a mission where exit tiles are relevant, please do not hide the label showing the number of units on the exit tiles".

[Solarius Scorch]

There is no problem with the tiles.
Tiles are correctly recognized as exit tiles by the abort screen, as I wrote in the first reply, and the game even prepares a label "2 units in the Exit area".
It just hides this label, because the mission (not the tiles) is not recognized as any known kind of mission that uses exit tiles.

Thus I asked about a new attribute on the mission/deployment level (not on tile level), which would tell the game: "hey game, this is a mission where exit tiles are relevant, please do not hide the label showing the number of units on the exit tiles".

All right, got it. I was just clarifying to be 100% sure we are on the same page.

Anyway, I guess you'd need this new attribute, then? Honestly I don't feel qualified to answer, but it makes sense. "Escape possible but won't give you the win."

[Meridian]

I made a workaround for now.
(so that I don't have to add yet another attribute)

Whenever there is at least one unit on an exit tile, the label won't be hidden.
(it will still be hidden if nobody is on the exit tiles yet)

[Solarius Scorch]

I made a workaround for now.
(so that I don't have to add yet another attribute)

Whenever there is at least one unit on an exit tile, the label won't be hidden.
(it will still be hidden if nobody is on the exit tiles yet)

Sounds good to me. Thanks!