Wormholes in 1.73.2 and fugitive escort in 1.73.3

[Commander McLane]

Yesterday evening I noticed that the whole witchjump business was somehow messed up in 1.73.2, but now you've already beat me and released 1.73.3.

Still, for the record: In 1.73.2 the wormhole scanner stopped working (wormholes weren't targetable via R).

Second, I happened to follow a ship through its wormhole to its (unknown for me) destination. On the other side the ship I had followed wasn't there.

Third, another time I followed a trader who had four or six escorts. I entered the wormhole after the first two escorts, and on the other side found the trader with the first two escorts. The other two or four never showed up, and the group only consisted of three ships.

At least the wormhole scanner is working again in 1.73.3.

But while testing it and following someone I noticed another bug which I thought was smashed according to the 1.73 release notes: The trader (a Boa) launched from the station, followed by a fugitive Tiger as his first escort. I thought this wouldn't happen anymore. Anyway, the Tiger didn't follow its mother, but went astray. By the time the Boa wormholed out it obviously had turned into a pirate and started attacking me. It didn't belong to the Boa's group anymore.

[Eric Walch]

Second, I happened to follow a ship through its wormhole to its (unknown for me) destination. On the other side the ship I had followed wasn't there.

I also thought I found an inconsistency there. Normally ships should appear near the entry point (zero coordinate), but I also had occasions were the ship did not appear. I had a strong feeling after an entity dump that the ship I found behind the planet was the one that worm-holed out. It probably was added at the same coordinates as were it left. But that was a feeling, I found no time to verify it if I was indeed the same ship.

Third, another time I followed a trader who had four or six escorts. I entered the wormhole after the first two escorts, and on the other side found the trader with the first two escorts. The other two or four never showed up, and the group only consisted of three ships.

That should not happen. When the mother jumps it should set all escorts in a "ENTER_WORMHOLE" state:

Code: Select all

	"ENTER_WORMHOLE" =
	 {
		ENTER =
		(setDestinationToTarget,"setDesiredRangeTo: 1.0",
		"setSpeedFactorTo: 1.0", performFlyToRangeFromDestination
		);
		"PLAYER WITCHSPACE" = (enterTargetWormhole);
		"DESIRED_RANGE_ACHIEVED" = ("setStateTo: LOOK_FOR_BUSINESS");
	};

Here they fly towards the wormhole, but when the player jumps he sends to all entities: "PLAYER WITCHSPACE" on witch the command: "enterTargetWormhole" magically wormholes the escort even when he had not arrived yet. At least that should happen.

But while testing it and following someone I noticed another bug which I thought was smashed according to the 1.73 release notes: The trader (a Boa) launched from the station, followed by a fugitive Tiger as his first escort. I thought this wouldn't happen anymore. Anyway, the Tiger didn't follow its mother, but went astray. By the time the Boa wormholed out it obviously had turned into a pirate and started attacking me. It didn't belong to the Boa's group anymore.

Somehow it sounds squashed to me, as according to your findings it looks that the escort with bounty was not accepted as escort.

[JensAyton]

The wormhole scanner issue is documented in the release notes for 1.73.3.

[Eric Walch]

Third, another time I followed a trader who had four or six escorts. I entered the wormhole after the first two escorts, and on the other side found the trader with the first two escorts. The other two or four never showed up, and the group only consisted of three ships.

I tried to repeat. switched AI logging on for one of the escorts and made sure I entered the wormhole first:

Code: Select all

[ai.message.receive] AI.m:403: AI escortAI.plist for Sidewinder Special 246 in state 'ENTER_WORMHOLE' receives message 'PLAYER WITCHSPACE'
[ai.takeAction] AI.m:461: Sidewinder Special 246 to take action enterTargetWormhole

The AI got the right signals but also with me that ship did not appear on the other side.

[Eric Walch]

Third, another time I followed a trader who had four or six escorts. I entered the wormhole after the first two escorts, and on the other side found the trader with the first two escorts. The other two or four never showed up, and the group only consisted of three ships.

This was a very old bug report. I never forgot it and even spend quite some time at it but failed to fix it back than when you reported it. I knew it always worked correctly with 1.72 and older.

Today I suddenly saw the light. It was very simple, I just looked at the wrong stuff. When you would have saved the game in the new system and opened your saved game, you would have seen that your missing ships were there, with a time code of arrival in the future. When you had waited long enough, they would have arrived eventually. (Could be up to two days waiting for longer jumps)

It was just that the clock was already advanced before the handler for this ships was called. So the ships already had the new arrival time as their starting time and were instruct to wait for the duration of your last jump before they would arrive.

Before the wormhole scanner was introduced, this adjusting the time to early had no effect, but is does since 1.73

[Commander McLane]

While you mention it, I also observed a ship with six escorts creating a wormhole, but only the first two or perhaps four escorts following it. The remaining escorts just stopped dead in their tracks and idled in front of the wormhole. They never entered. I have no idea why.

[Eric Walch]

While you mention it, I also observed a ship with six escorts creating a wormhole, but only the first two or perhaps four escorts following it. The remaining escorts just stopped dead in their tracks and idled in front of the wormhole. They never entered. I have no idea why.

Could be that this is already fixed in trunk when it is the same problem I witnessed:

Up until 1.73 the launch sequence could be interrupted by ships asking for docking permission. That means the last escorts sometimes waited with launching until their mother already jumped out. But, while docked, their AI was not active yet and they never got the instruction to follow their mother.

However, after launch they still have the jumped mother as escort leader and their mother is still sending escort positions to her escorts with the wormhole position as here last position. I only witnessed escorts arriving at an already collapsed wormhole and than wait there but I assume they will even wait when the wormhole is still present.

There were several ways to fix this odd behaviour, but I now always set the flag "no_docking_while_launching" when an escorted ship is launching. This ensures the launching is no longer interrupted. Originally this flag is mend to not interrupt the launch of a squadron vipers.