View Issue Details

IDProjectCategoryLast Update
0021139AI War 2Graphical BugJul 31, 2019 3:41 pm
ReporterApthorpe Assigned ToBadgerBadger  
Severitymajor 
Status resolvedResolutionfixed 
Product VersionBETA 0.853 An Officer And A Bunch Of Fleets 
Fixed in Version0.877 The Strikecraft Goldilocks Zone 
Summary0021139: Rapidly flashing diagonal blasts
DescriptionI've often had a graphical bug occurring where rapidly flashing blasts will appear during battles which don't correspond to the actual combat. They always appear diagonally, oriented from the top-right corner to the bottom-left. They don't happen every battle, but when they do happen it's impossible to miss. They're usually yellow but the coloration can vary. They are extremely irritating on the eyes.

I've attached a screenshot as well as save game featuring one instance of their appearance (at the Anabas system).
TagsNo tags attached.

Relationships

related to 0021124 resolvedBadgerBadger Shots firing in random directions 
related to 0020748 resolvedBadgerBadger Shots going to bottom left corner 
related to 0021428 resolved Shot Visualization error 

Activities

Apthorpe

Apr 25, 2019 10:05 am

reporter  

flashing.jpg (447,703 bytes)
flashing.save (1,499,775 bytes)
flashing.savemet (51 bytes)

BadgerBadger

Apr 25, 2019 11:47 am

manager   ~0051401

I believe those are shots being fired at invalid targets. I would bet this problem corresponds to specific unit types in combat; is there a pattern to when the problem shows up.

BadgerBadger

Apr 27, 2019 7:51 pm

manager   ~0051435

Here's another save game that shows this problem (from hearthunter)
perfomance.save (2,390,248 bytes)

Chris_McElligottPark

Jul 8, 2019 10:59 am

administrator   ~0052081

Is this still a thing that happens in the latest versions? A savegame in the new post-fleets stuff would be welcome if anyone runs across one. Thanks!

(that savegame is large enough I'm pretty sure it's pre-format-conversion).

ptarth

Jul 8, 2019 2:51 pm

reporter   ~0052101

I've seen it in the current patch. My guess is dead ships with sequential firing at dead targets.

Chris_McElligottPark

Jul 8, 2019 2:53 pm

administrator   ~0052102

That makes sense for ships that are firing sequentially even if they don't have salvos. A lot of ships that are single-ship firing have a time delay before their shots appear. So those shots come into existence not knowing where they are coming from or where they are going, potentially. They presumably should just remove themselves, I guess. It's a part of a second delay that is important for the ship offsets to look right in terms of how they draw.

BadgerBadger

Jul 22, 2019 1:56 pm

manager   ~0052294

Last edited: Jul 22, 2019 2:28 pm

The immediatey cause is actually slightly different. When a Shot object is created it is set in ShotDisplayStyle.HiddenWhileWaitingForDataToDoLerp mode; this says "We don't have information from the Sim to display this shot yet, so retry next Visual Step to see if we have a valid target". The valid target is found in the TryWiringUpShotToTarget() function.

If enough time passes then we give up on finding a valid target and use the ShotDisplayStyle TrueLocationByTimeout, which has the comment
        /// <summary>
        /// Typically we were waiting for some data that is typically asynchronously updated (a visualship entry for the target may not yet exist, etc),
        /// and since that data was not forthcoming after a certain point, we're just going with the true location.
        /// </summary>

Unfortunately, hitting this case basically means the shot uses its default location (The bottom left of the screen) and just flies there quickly. You can observe this by going to the DoShotMovement() function and in the switch on this.ShotDisplay, set all the cases to this.ShouldRenderThisFrame = false except for TrueLocationByTimeout.

The most obvious fix is to make the TrueLocationByTimeout case say this.ShouldRenderThisFrame = false, which indeed makes the problem go away. However, it's worth noting that in large battles a lot of shots seem to wind up unable to find targets in time, so they never get displayed, which isn't great (it makes battles much less interesting to look at if half the shots never appear).

Of course, if the shot's target winds up being dead before it even can appear, that would account for how the target never is found (and thus we get the timeout)

BadgerBadger

Jul 22, 2019 2:28 pm

manager   ~0052295

Fixed

Issue History

Date Modified Username Field Change
Apr 25, 2019 10:05 am Apthorpe New Issue
Apr 25, 2019 10:05 am Apthorpe File Added: flashing.jpg
Apr 25, 2019 10:05 am Apthorpe File Added: flashing.save
Apr 25, 2019 10:05 am Apthorpe File Added: flashing.savemet
Apr 25, 2019 11:47 am BadgerBadger Note Added: 0051401
Apr 25, 2019 1:18 pm BadgerBadger Relationship added related to 0021124
Apr 27, 2019 7:51 pm BadgerBadger File Added: perfomance.save
Apr 27, 2019 7:51 pm BadgerBadger Note Added: 0051435
Jul 8, 2019 10:58 am Chris_McElligottPark Relationship added related to 0020748
Jul 8, 2019 10:59 am Chris_McElligottPark Note Added: 0052081
Jul 8, 2019 2:51 pm ptarth Note Added: 0052101
Jul 8, 2019 2:53 pm Chris_McElligottPark Note Added: 0052102
Jul 22, 2019 1:56 pm BadgerBadger Note Added: 0052294
Jul 22, 2019 2:18 pm BadgerBadger Note Edited: 0052294
Jul 22, 2019 2:28 pm BadgerBadger Note Edited: 0052294
Jul 22, 2019 2:28 pm BadgerBadger Assigned To => BadgerBadger
Jul 22, 2019 2:28 pm BadgerBadger Status new => resolved
Jul 22, 2019 2:28 pm BadgerBadger Resolution open => fixed
Jul 22, 2019 2:28 pm BadgerBadger Fixed in Version => 0.877 The Strikecraft Goldilocks Zone
Jul 22, 2019 2:28 pm BadgerBadger Note Added: 0052295
Jul 31, 2019 3:41 pm Chris_McElligottPark Relationship added related to 0021428