Problem with Bridge Map

[Edi]

Okay, some background:

I haven't got the first idea on how to use the mapping tools and am only going to be able to install them once I've downloaded the latest dev release that includes Radiant, but yesterday I encountered a map bug with the Bridge map (the one with the big railway bridge). Unfortunately I didn't have the foresight to take a screenshot, that only occurred to me later. I also have crap-all experience using the Sourceforge bug tracker to report this properly, so I figured posting here would be the safest bet.

Near the dropship, right below the cliff there is a fenced area with a car hulk, boxes, coils and other random junk scattered around that can provide cover. There is one place there that has some sort of glitch that either screws up the movement calculation algorithm or does something else. It is a corner between a big overturned industrial coil reel and a stack of boxes.

When I moved a soldier there, he got stuck. He could move into that square just fine, could turn around in it, but he could NOT move out of it again. The first time I tried to move him, the game deducted the TUs required for the move but he didn't go anywhere. Same on the second try. After that, it did not even give me the option to try to move him, everything was indicated as being inaccessible and he remained in this stuck mode until the end of combat.

If someone here who understands mapmaking has the inclination to look into this, check that section of the map and possible validation issues it may have, it would probably be helpful for the game, since the way the alien spawn points and the dropship start location are set up, that particular piece of buggy real estate is THE place to take cover on that half of the map.

If the description of this issue is sufficiently accurate, maybe it will allow either a fix into the SVN or otherwise proper reporting with the relevant technical details.

Thank you for your time.

[Mattn]

please post screenshots for map bugs

[H-Hour]

Added to tracker. I'll take a quick look at the pathfinding tonight or tomorrow to see if there is anything obvious happening there.

[Edi]

Wow, thanks for the quick response, guys!

I'll see what I can do in terms of getting a screenshot once my download finishes and I can install Destructavator's latest build with Radiant. That should be sometime tomorrow.

[dodon]

I think i know this behaviour. I encountered it the first time on the Bridgemap but I have seen it on other maps too.

My description of the bug:
A soldier is crouched on a square where he _can't_ stand. If he tries to move a long distance (uses all his TU) the soldier does not move and TU's get "lost". If the soldier moves only one square he can leave the square.

I think the bug is in the soldiermovement. If a crouched soldier moves a long distance he first stands up, walks the distance and crouches at the ende. In this special case the soldier can't stand up, so he does not  move, but the TU for getting up and crouching are spend.

[Edi]

dodon, that's exactly it! In that screenshot, both squares next to the box/crate are buggy, since I think my soldier got stuck in the one that is one down and one to the right from your soldier.

Your description of the bugged behavior also makes a lot of sense. Going from memory, I think my soldier managed to stand up in that square, but couldn't move then, but I suppose crouching him back down and then moving one square crouched would have done the trick. Though that is speculation. When I next run into this map, I'll test it.

And if you're right, since it is not limited to just this map but to certain specific set of conditions, it should actually be easier to narrow it down.

Thank you also for saving me a lot of time with tinkering around with Radiant, since I'm apparently going to have to need every dummy guide out there before I can even properly set it up...

I definitely owe you one.

[H-Hour]

r29227 makes a slight adjustment that may help the grid square shown by dodon's screenshot.

But the pathfinding info looks clean for the grid square you mention Edi. Can you try to download the latest map file, compile it and confirm the problem in that exact location?

[Edi]

I could try that sometime next week, but first I'd need to set up a compilation script on Windows, download the latest source, compile the whole thing and test things. I've been running off of Muton's and now Destructavator's installer (current version 29222).

I can take a computer apart and put it back together just fine, install all kinds of ready software and tweak things, but when it comes to the software development side and compiling from source, I get lost very quickly. Well, I'll learn.

In any case, I'll see what I can do, but I certainly won't mind help if anyone else has a better grasp of the things involved.

[H-Hour]

You won't need all that just to compile one map. You should have all the tools needed with Destructavator's build. Search for a ufo2map.exe (probably somewhere under the radiant folder). Then you can compile the .map file using it, as mentioned here. You'll run it using the Start > Run and then typing cmd, if you're old enough to remember DOS stuff.

It will create a BSP and you just make sure the file is in the right folder under your game /path/to/game/base/maps/bridge/.

[Edi]

I tried the compilation thing, didn't work, so I screwed something up and need to take another look.

However, if that second square is clean in the editor, then I'll take your word for it.

As I said, going from memory, so I might have remembered wrong on that one. I played with a friend, a hotseat game where both controlled one half of the squad and we had two soldiers around there, one of mine and one of his, healing each other. My guy got stuck, the other didn't and it may well have been that I got the squares confused.