[6.0 Beta 5] Raleigh not collecting Protectyon crates - Fix in a future build.

[kmunoz]

I don't know if this is a bug or not, and I don't know if it's new to 6.0. I've never seen it before.

I have a ship doing a repeat order for Collect Drops. In the region where the ship is operating, some of the as yet uncollected drops are showing up as belonging to the player faction. They are not the drops currently being collected (i.e., the ship is not going there next) as far as I can tell.

See screenshots; save game provided below (saved between screenshots). In both screenshots I'm hovering the mouse over the drop.

https://i.imgur.com/MGmBeGs.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/5eTwLEu.jpg

Save: https://www.dropbox.com/s/qo35fypz1pc0r ... ml.gz?dl=0

[Alan Phipps]

It isn't a feature or effect new to this beta. IMO it may indicate that a player ship at one time intended to collect it, even if that situation has since changed.

I think I have also seen something else similar and before the beta where a player cargodrone has been destroyed and *might* have left a floating player coloured ware container.

Perhaps the issue is that the faction colour of a failed drop collection/recovery doesn't seem to time out.

[kmunoz]

It isn't a feature or effect new to this beta. IMO it may indicate that a player ship at one time intended to collect it, even if that situation has since changed.

I think I have also seen something else similar and before the beta where a player cargodrone has been destroyed and *might* have left a floating player coloured ware container.

Perhaps the issue is that the faction colour of a failed drop collection/recovery doesn't seem to time out.

That could be it.

To add detail to the situation in the game, I have only three ships: my Eclipse and two Callistos. The Callistos aren't near one another; they're the ones doing the Collect Drops. Nothing else apart from satellites exists in the universe that belongs to me, so it's not a stray player cargo drone container or anything.

[Scoob]

I noticed the coloured containers and, while new to 6.0, they are just reflecting an existing mechanic I think.

From what I can tell, anything green or white can freely be collected by the player. However, anything amber is a "stolen" ware, for example, the player or a pirate has caused those items to be ejected. Collecting these items will see the original owner go hostile. This is present in 5.10 HF3 but without the colour coding. If a Pirate forces a station to eject wares, then the player picks them up, the station goes HOSTILE vs. the player...which is odd, considering the actual pirate likely got away clean. I learnt NOT to collect any wares that have evidently been ejected from a station.

Note: this can clearly be seen in person. So, using the loot magnet to drag in ejected wares. Sometimes player-owned ships OOS will get away with collecting the cargo...but sometimes not.

[kmunoz]

Upon further testing, it does appear that in *most* cases, a green drop (in the conditions of my original report) means that the collecting ship is heading toward that item and is about to collect it. However, I did have one test (before my post) where the collecting ship was going in a different direction, toward something else. I will keep an eye on it and keep watching my drop collectors to see if this issue resurfaces.

[Tranxalive]

First off, I'm going to be honest, I highly doubt this is a Beta issue, but I could be wrong, and it's not really a technical issue so I decided to put it here. Either way, I'm just trying to bring this to your attention. Now, to the issue at hand:

Sector: "Unknown" Sector.
Ship: Sonra Vanguard (Stolen from Argon Federation, via Boarding)
Location: Right next to the anomaly.

Ships being ordered: 40 Raleigh (Condensate)
Orders issued: Collect Drops, and Collect Drop
Containers in question: Protectyon of varying amounts.

Description:
I've known about this issue for the duration of the Beta, but now it's completely interfering with my game. Previously I would just order the ships to grab the "unmarked" containers, but now there aren't any containers that are "unmarked", if I issue the Collect Drops command, they just refuse to pick up anything and fly back to my ship, it's the same situation with the Collect Drop command, only they take significantly less time before deciding to fly back. Fortunately I can just pilot each transporter and make them pick up a container, but that'll be a huge pain. Oh, the things I do for credits...

So, most of the info I gave is probably irrelevant, but it's good to have lots of data right? Also, sorry if there's already a post complaining about this, there's just a lot of forum posts.

Also, since I'm here, and I apologize for getting massively off topic, but maybe someone can let me know about something. So earlier, at around the time of Beta 2 for 6.0, I decided to join the DevNet, because I love the X-Series a lot, and I want to help improve it, and then a few days after I signed the NDA and emailed a .pdf of it to the email address listed in the DevNet. I understand that you (Egosoft) will send me a copy of the document with your signature, as well as a key to upgrade my DevNet level to 5, after which I'll hopefully be able to do some Beta (Alpha? ) Testing. I just want to know if the NDA with your signature is sent. Although, I do understand that transit times can take a while, I just want to know if I should continue expecting it. Again, I'm sorry for talking about this in this location, but I don't really know where to ask, or who to ask. (I guess I could've tried PMing CBJ, but I don't think I'm allowed to do that. )

Feel free to remove this bit of irrelevance after notifying someone, unless you're the someone who should be notified, in which case, "Hello!" I'm pretty sure I shouldn't be talking about this on any of these forums anyways.

[CBJ]

I guess I could've tried PMing CBJ, but I don't think I'm allowed to do that.

Why on earth wouldn't you be allowed to do that? Please do, and give me your details, so I can see whether it's been received. Please note, though, that me looking into it is no guarantee that it will be accepted!

[Alan Phipps]

Regarding the floating loot collection issue. I thought that a floating ware container only went green when a player ship was tasked to collect it and then all other player ships would look for others as that one was already taken care of. Now if the game was already at that stage and the collecting ships were destroyed or ordered to do something else (repeat orders on collection might perhaps count as new orders in that respect), then those containers just stayed green and uncollected until they timed out. Thread link. Just theory as I don't know how 6.00 does things differently.

[Tranxalive]

Interesting… I didn’t know that it marked those containers during the order to pick up a container. (Though admittedly I don’t really hover over the containers)

In my case the ships successfully collect the container, however they usually don’t have anywhere near the required storage space to pick up all of the contents, so the container remains, but it’s still marked as if it was going to be collected.

I wonder if it’s possible to remove that status after a ship successfully obtains some of the cargo, or maybe a new “container status” for when not all of the cargo is collected, though I doubt that’d be necessary. Maybe a timer to check and see if a ship actually is going to collect it, but that might use up extra CPU power.

[Venetrix2]

Has been an issue since at least Beta 4.

I have a Raleigh assigned on Repeat Orders to collect Protectyon crates and deliver them to a station I built in Leap of Faith. Problem is, it's not collecting the crates. I've tried turning off Repeat Orders and manually ordering it to collect individual crates, but it's not doing that either (the order just disappears immediately with no failure notification), so I think the bug is somewhere in the item collection side of things rather than something specific to Repeat Orders.

Link to save file:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1c_sO3U ... sp=sharing

[Tranxalive]

Yes, I’m completely familiar with this issue, and the pain of this bug. (I’ve done the same things, including the station.) However, it’s not just limited to Protectyon crates. It happens with everything.

It happens because a transporter goes to collect a crate, when it collects it, or gets in a close enough proximity, the container is “marked” by that ship. It’ll then be green on the map, and green when you get close enough to it. Because the ship doesn’t have enough space to collect all of it, the container isn’t fully collected, but it still remains marked.

Because the container is marked to be collected by another ship, other ships won’t touch it even if that ship has already collected it, and the container will remain green until it is naturally destroyed, which for Protectyon crates is a very long time. Unfortunately, this will also cause the Eye of the Beholder (I think that’s its name. ) to not release any more crates.

Fortunately, there are some (painful) workarounds. You could simply teleport to each ship that you need to have Protectyon, and pilot them yourself and grab a container, though I’m sure you know that’ll take a long time.

Another one is to order the ships to Fly and Wait at the same spot next to the station, and fly a transporter yourself. Then once everything is in place, get creative with the Container Magnet, and just try to make as many crates go through as many ships as you can in one pull, before you inevitably get your ship’s cargo hold filled. Then just switch to another, and do the same thing, but make sure to order the filled ships back to the desired location. It’s actually really fun!

The final workaround I have is probably the easiest, and fastest, (at least in terms of personal involvement anyways) all you have to do is take a transporter, and “break down” the crates by collecting Protectyon from the larger ones, and then just dropping them, and ordering a ship to pick up the crate.

Hopefully this bug will be fixed in the future, but if not, at least there’re workarounds.

[j.harshaw]

Fixed. Thanks for the report and the save. Should be in a future update.

[Venetrix2]

Another one is to order the ships to Fly and Wait at the same spot next to the station, and fly a transporter yourself. Then once everything is in place, get creative with the Container Magnet, and just try to make as many crates go through as many ships as you can in one pull, before you inevitably get your ship’s cargo hold filled. Then just switch to another, and do the same thing, but make sure to order the filled ships back to the desired location. It’s actually really fun!

That actually does sound like a laugh - I might give that a go before this gets patched!

[Fleabum]

Bug Name: [6.0 Beta 495649] Order Bug - Collect Drops
Summary: Collect Drops order is not working correctly

Submit Date: 19/03/23
Reporter: Fleabum

Platform: Steam / PC
Operating System: Windows 10

Description
When ships are asked to collect cargo and the command is changed, they leave the cargo green and no AI ships will ever collect it.

Steps to reproduce
Assign ship to Collect Drops via right click menu close to unclaimed cargo
Wait till the ship assigns a piece of cargo so it changes to green
Change the ship orders, by either removing, moving or issuing a new Collect Drops command at a slightly different location
A different piece of cargo will change to green as it is assigned to the collecting ship
Attempt to pick up the 1st green assigned cargo and the AI than ignores the cargo

Expected result
Cargo should be collected

Actual result
Cargo is ignored

Screenshots
A ship was assigned to Collect Drops then the command removed/changed, this left the cargo green. The following screenshots then show a ship assigned to fly close to the cargo marked as green, collect drops then go mine (picture 1). As you can see from the shots, the Collect order just disappears (picture 2 & 3) with the ship not collecting the cargo.
https://imgur.com/a/4bnYsFg

Notes / Workaround
Manual collection of the drop is the only way I have found.

Guess to the cause of the bug would be :-
I believe Collect Drops script has been changed in version 6 so that the cargo to be collected is 'assigned' (recoloured green - player owned) to the collecting ship so a different collecting ship does not try to collect the same piece of cargo as well (something that used to happen prior to version 6). When the collecting ships Collect Drops order is changed/removed/moved then the collecting ship assigns another piece of cargo as green, but does not mark the old green cargo back to blue and available for collection.

Guess at a possible fix :-
I would check the code that changes cargo to green when it is assigned to a collecting ship. I would think that the code should be releasing its claim on the cargo and it assigned back to blue (therefor available to be collected by other ships) when the Collect Drops order is being changed.

If you need any more info please just let me know. Thanks Devs.

Regards
Flea

[Alan Phipps]

While an issue, I don't think this is new to beta 6, nor even necessarily to the betas.

[Fleabum]

Sounds like it might be related. I did do a search for Collect drops before I posted, but nothing was listed, and my bug is specifically with the collect drops command.

I never noticed before 6.0 Beta testing that NPC item cargo changing colour to the player when you tell your ships to pick it up. Also previous to 6.0 beta tests, multiple ships would 'fight' for the same cargo, the AI does not do this anymore, so some sort of change must have been done. But it is a bug that needs looking at from a gameplay perspective... having containers your ships refuse to pick up is just immersion breaking...

Regards
Flea

[j.harshaw]

Merged, all the same issue.

There was a remaining case: if ships had earlier collected one cargo container with the same order, it would retain ownership of the last cargo container claimed when the order is cancelled. This is now fixed. Should be in a future update. Thanks for the reports.