Author Topic: Bugs, crashes, typos & bad taste  (Read 1387161 times)

Offline Solarius Scorch

  • Global Moderator
  • Commander
  • ***
  • Posts: 11721
  • WE MUST DISSENT
    • View Profile
    • Nocturmal Productions modding studio website
Re: Bugs, crashes, typos & bad taste
« Reply #3660 on: April 15, 2023, 01:05:22 pm »
I'm usually not very picky at such things, but it really annoying. And it drives my wife insane=)))
Good idea

Both music suggestions added to my todo list, with average priority.

I mean article. Like Some lore article + combat analysis. Although research completion window is empty like there is even no combat analysis.

Thre should be. Please check your Pedia.

Same as interrogations I think. You can research leaders to yield different techs. If you started project at different bases in parallel you can encounter situation, when nothing more to yield from particular alien class and you do research for nothing. But in this case I made "Shogg studies" project successively in one base, it yielded something at start, but then 3 times it yielded nothing, before finally disappear. Here is the save. Engine v.7.8, mod v.2.8
Checked it again and result is different. One empty research before disappear, so my guess is there some shogg techs without ufopedia record, like Reptoid Commando or Wrecked Syndicate bot.

I honestly don't follow, but it should work in a similar way to an interrogation.

Then it's good Idea to disable this event for now.

Oh boy, what a mess. I'll put it on the todo list, with high priority.

Offline Akamashi

  • Colonel
  • ****
  • Posts: 157
    • View Profile
Re: Bugs, crashes, typos & bad taste
« Reply #3661 on: April 15, 2023, 01:25:44 pm »
Nothing wrong from what I can tell, I fast-forwarded a month and actually got a medium infestation with an infector. Looks simply like bad rng to me.
That rng...

Offline Frenzyk

  • Sergeant
  • **
  • Posts: 16
    • View Profile
Re: Bugs, crashes, typos & bad taste
« Reply #3662 on: April 15, 2023, 03:50:03 pm »
Thre should be. Please check your Pedia.
Only combat analysis if I check ufopedia. I meant pop up when research is completed - it's empty. Usually it leads to lore page, which is missing(you can check my save)

I honestly don't follow, but it should work in a similar way to an interrogation.
Maybe I will make video. But it is easier to load save and make research to understand.

To other topics. Today I watched playtrough video and there was mission inside black lotus academy in 2005. But I was able to destroy cults just before invasion and never encountered such levels. Am I too efficient and forever lost some researches, because suppressed and terminated cults too soon and wasn't able to extract some higher level artefacts?
I still have Osiron, do I have to ignore Osiron missions to allow them to develop, or it dose not work that way?
MiB only starting to show up if I fast forward month ignoring all activities.

BTW, it would be grate to have ufopedia page with ranks list as there weapons with strength bonuses based on operative rank and it's hard to match name to level. Also how ranks are earned? I fought cults and ranked often. Now I'm fighting aliens and ranks feels like frozen. Is it purely kill count?
« Last Edit: April 15, 2023, 03:57:49 pm by Frenzyk »

Offline Juku121

  • Commander
  • *****
  • Posts: 1798
  • We're all mad here.
    • View Profile
Re: Bugs, crashes, typos & bad taste
« Reply #3663 on: April 15, 2023, 05:20:21 pm »
Am I too efficient and forever lost some researches, because suppressed and terminated cults too soon and wasn't able to extract some higher level artefacts?
Yes.

Although the Golden Academy can also spawn when the Black Lotus are destroyed, as an Osiron base. It's just rarer then.

I still have Osiron, do I have to ignore Osiron missions to allow them to develop, or it dose not work that way?
Not to my knowledge. Mostly, missions are unlocked by either the passage of time or by researching something that "affects game progression".

MiB only starting to show up if I fast forward month ignoring all activities.
Confirmation bias.

BTW, it would be grate to have ufopedia page with ranks list...

Also how ranks are earned?
Rank list:
  • Chief Agent
  • Commissar
  • Captain (unchanged)
  • Senior Agent
  • Agent
  • Rookie

Earning them: Ranks.

The overall rank limits were an artifact of the 250-soldier limit and thus no longer apply (except for the Commander/Chief Agent position that still requires 30 agents). The rest have been left as they were in the original.

... as there weapons with strength bonuses based on operative rank and it's hard to match name to level.
These bonuses are small and also tied to psi strength, which is pretty much not related to rank at all. Picking an agent with +20 psi strength will be as good or better than picking the Commander Chief Agent over a rookie.
« Last Edit: April 15, 2023, 05:21:56 pm by Juku121 »

Offline Frenzyk

  • Sergeant
  • **
  • Posts: 16
    • View Profile
Re: Bugs, crashes, typos & bad taste
« Reply #3664 on: April 15, 2023, 06:09:34 pm »
Confirmation bias.
Nope. Did this triple of times.

Rank list:
Thnx. Still suggest it better to have this in game.

Offline Juku121

  • Commander
  • *****
  • Posts: 1798
  • We're all mad here.
    • View Profile
Re: Bugs, crashes, typos & bad taste
« Reply #3665 on: April 15, 2023, 07:46:17 pm »
Nope. Did this triple of times.
So, are you suggesting that Meridian/Warboy/Yankes/some other developer has snuck in a hidden mechanic that increases random chances depending on whether you skip missions or not? Never mind how they manage to do this only for the MiB.

I mean, if you have a save where this happens with reliability, even if not certainty, and precise instructions for reproducing the behaviour, I might reconsider. But AFAIK, mission generation is totally random (as long as you account for it happening only at the beginning of the month and all the elaborate probability setups in the missions file producing different distributions). Well, barring research blocks. You didn't research something MiB-related last month, did you? Who exactly are 'showing up', anyway?

Offline Solarius Scorch

  • Global Moderator
  • Commander
  • ***
  • Posts: 11721
  • WE MUST DISSENT
    • View Profile
    • Nocturmal Productions modding studio website
Re: Bugs, crashes, typos & bad taste
« Reply #3666 on: April 17, 2023, 01:28:40 pm »
Oh boy, what a mess. I'll put it on the todo list, with high priority.

Okay, I examined this Syndicate parcel situation and disabled the event for now. I want to bring it back later, but I'm not sure what exactly it should give you (I'm thinking a new soldier type).

Only combat analysis if I check ufopedia. I meant pop up when research is completed - it's empty. Usually it leads to lore page, which is missing(you can check my save)
Maybe I will make video. But it is easier to load save and make research to understand.

I confirm your observation: the Shogg Studies research is completed, but doesn't give you anything else, even though there are several available getOneFree items. But I have no idea why it happens. I need some help on this, please.

Although the Golden Academy can also spawn when the Black Lotus are destroyed, as an Osiron base. It's just rarer then.

Why would you want it to spawn? It's your enemy... If it spawns, it means you should try harder to prevent such things. :o

I understand that it's a way to game the system (as it gives you more points and loot), but is this really practical? As opposed to for example Piratez, XCF doesn't reward you for amassing points, it only punishes you for particularly bad months.

Offline krautbernd

  • Commander
  • *****
  • Posts: 1108
    • View Profile
Re: Bugs, crashes, typos & bad taste
« Reply #3667 on: April 17, 2023, 03:09:33 pm »
I confirm your observation: the Shogg Studies research is completed, but doesn't give you anything else, even though there are several available getOneFree items. But I have no idea why it happens. I need some help on this, please.

Tried to recreate this on a new game playing on XCF 2.8 (while removing STR_REPTOID_AFTERMATH as a dependency and setting cost to 1) and I get Reptoids, Dragonfire turret examination, Scorpoid, etc.

I noticed however that some of the autopsies don't unlock the corresponding ufopedia articles (antman autopsy for example), probably because the ufopedia articles are tied to the corpses, e.g.

Code: [Select]
    requires:
      - STR_ANTMAN_CORPSE

Setting the ufopedia entries to require the autopsies instead unlocks the entries just fine.

From what I can tell Shogg Studies is working fine, but the lookups or the ufopedia entries might have to be modified accordingly. No idea if this might also be an issue with other research items concerning corpses/autopsies.

Offline Juku121

  • Commander
  • *****
  • Posts: 1798
  • We're all mad here.
    • View Profile
Re: Bugs, crashes, typos & bad taste
« Reply #3668 on: April 17, 2023, 03:17:31 pm »
@krautbernd: Good catch! But since this is the same in vanilla, and vanilla getOneFrees that use live aliens do work, that's probably something that's not working quite right with either getOneFreeProtected (or perhaps getOneFrees that are not tied to live aliens). So the options are to either bother Meridian, or change all the autopsies and continue doing so in the future.

Edit: Nope, vanilla medics give you corpses, too. So I guess autopsies need to become corpses everywhere.


Why would you want it to spawn? It's your enemy... If it spawns, it means you should try harder to prevent such things.
How? Osiron academy spawns according to the god of random numbers, there's pretty much nothing I as a player can do to avoid it short of winning the game before the start of the invasion. Which is even more impossible.

The point of my remark was that Golden Academies will not be 'lost' if you kill off the cults, they will still spawn and you can experience them even if you're efficient at handling the lunatics. Unlike some other cultist-related missions that do die out together with the cults.

As opposed to for example Piratez, XCF doesn't reward you for amassing points, it only punishes you for particularly bad months.
Not my XCF. :P
« Last Edit: April 17, 2023, 03:24:22 pm by Juku121 »

Offline Solarius Scorch

  • Global Moderator
  • Commander
  • ***
  • Posts: 11721
  • WE MUST DISSENT
    • View Profile
    • Nocturmal Productions modding studio website
Re: Bugs, crashes, typos & bad taste
« Reply #3669 on: April 17, 2023, 03:45:16 pm »
Tried to recreate this on a new game playing on XCF 2.8 (while removing STR_REPTOID_AFTERMATH as a dependency and setting cost to 1) and I get Reptoids, Dragonfire turret examination, Scorpoid, etc.

Thanks for checking.

I noticed however that some of the autopsies don't unlock the corresponding ufopedia articles (antman autopsy for example), probably because the ufopedia articles are tied to the corpses, e.g.

(...)

Setting the ufopedia entries to require the autopsies instead unlocks the entries just fine.

That's because of an issue where getOneFree only worked for one step; so if you have getOneFree which unlocks something that also unlocks something else (like corpse enabling autopsy via the lookup feature), you weren't getting the autopsy. I think it works fine now, but much of the mod was written before that.

Nevertheless, I dont' think this is related to the issue at hand.

How? Osiron academy spawns according to the god of random numbers, there's pretty much nothing I as a player can do to avoid it short of winning the game before the start of the invasion. Which is even more impossible.

You can't stop them completely, but you can minimize it by killing off the Lotus.

The point of my remark was that Golden Academies will not be 'lost' if you kill off the cults, they will still spawn and you can experience them even if you're efficient at handling the lunatics.

Exactly, I never claimed otherwise.

Not my XCF. :P

Wat?

Offline Juku121

  • Commander
  • *****
  • Posts: 1798
  • We're all mad here.
    • View Profile
Re: Bugs, crashes, typos & bad taste
« Reply #3670 on: April 17, 2023, 03:57:40 pm »
That's because of an issue where getOneFree only worked for one step; so if you have getOneFree which unlocks something that also unlocks something else (like corpse enabling autopsy via the lookup feature), you weren't getting the autopsy. I think it works fine now, but much of the mod was written before that.

Nevertheless, I dont' think this is related to the issue at hand.
No, it's as he said. Autopsies get researched but don't show since their display requirements are not met. Making the autopsies instead of the corpses the requirement for Ufopedia unlocks is the way to go, since you don't get corpse research from Shogg Studies - since that would be problematic, as you say.

Wat?
It's an alternate timeline with a performance-focused Council. :D

Offline krautbernd

  • Commander
  • *****
  • Posts: 1108
    • View Profile
Re: Bugs, crashes, typos & bad taste
« Reply #3671 on: April 17, 2023, 04:51:27 pm »
Thanks for checking.

That's because of an issue where getOneFree only worked for one step; so if you have getOneFree which unlocks something that also unlocks something else (like corpse enabling autopsy via the lookup feature), you weren't getting the autopsy. I think it works fine now, but much of the mod was written before that.

Nevertheless, I dont' think this is related to the issue at hand.

As Juku has pointed out, this is indeed the issue here. I don't know if my earlier reply wasn't clear enough or badly communicated, but the unlocks are working fine. The problem is that the ufopedia entries aren't tied to the autopsies but to the corpses, which "Shogg Studies" doesn't unlock. One way to fix this would be to add a matching lookup: entry to the autopsies, e.g.

Code: [Select]
  - name: STR_ANTMAN_AUTOPSY
    lookup: STR_ANTMAN_CORPSE

so that researching either the autopsy or the corpse unlocks both. I just tested this and from what I can tell it is working fine. This has the added benefit of not messing with anything else (ufopedia entries etc.). I would also like to stress that this might be an issue with other autopsies unlocked in a similar way. I haven't checked, but it might be worth adding matching lookups to all corpses/autopsies to avoid this problem going forward.
« Last Edit: April 17, 2023, 05:08:34 pm by krautbernd »

Offline Solarius Scorch

  • Global Moderator
  • Commander
  • ***
  • Posts: 11721
  • WE MUST DISSENT
    • View Profile
    • Nocturmal Productions modding studio website
Re: Bugs, crashes, typos & bad taste
« Reply #3672 on: April 17, 2023, 05:41:34 pm »
Guys, I got it the first time. I merely explained why it was coded like this: because setting it on the corpse did not trigger autopsy. How many years do you think I've been struggling with these issues?

Krautbernd's idea should work, I think. It appears simple and efficient. I need to sit down and review the file carefully.

Offline Juku121

  • Commander
  • *****
  • Posts: 1798
  • We're all mad here.
    • View Profile
Re: Bugs, crashes, typos & bad taste
« Reply #3673 on: April 17, 2023, 07:22:43 pm »
Krautbernd's idea of making corpses and autopsies trigger each other does work, but it has the potential downside of not allowing you to let corpse research trigger other topics that depend on actually getting access to a corpse instead of just getting the autopsy report from somewhere. If you're sure that you never want to make that difference, I suppose it's fine, but that's something e.g. TFTD used to use to make sure you actually got a live Deep One with Aqua Plastic bits under the skin before researching Aqua Plastics instead of just hearing about them from an alien medic.

Making autopsies require autopsy research instead of corpses to display in the Ufopedia seems the better choice to me at the moment.
« Last Edit: April 17, 2023, 07:24:27 pm by Juku121 »

Offline hsfilgueiras

  • Squaddie
  • *
  • Posts: 1
    • View Profile
Re: Bugs, crashes, typos & bad taste
« Reply #3674 on: April 18, 2023, 01:49:59 am »
I am someone who has never replied in a forum, but here`s my unintended feature report.
On beginner difficulty the light cannon HE ammo can be bought for $850 and sold for $875 thus making it a source of infinite money :)