Problem with "A Grand Experiment" quest

[Goffik]

It's been a long while since I last played properly. I went with a custom start, though other than disabling highways I didn't change any options. I left the various plot options at default.

At some point I get an invitation from ALI to go and watch a gate be reactivated in Heretic's End. When I get there the player HQ appears out of nowhere. (That's new to me, since last time I played you had to do a mission to get it, and it appeared in Grand Exchange.) The ALI mission says to talk to Boso Ta before exploring the new sectors, but he just gives the old station/research related dialogue without saying anything about Boron space, and the mission does not advance.

I decided to get the HQ missions out the way to see if that would get things moving. I got as far as "A Grand Experiment" but ran into problems. The research to teleport the HQ is complete, and the objective is to deploy a nav beacon in a safe area... but it doesn't say where. The mission briefing says, and I quote:

However, this particular experiment will be limited to this current sector: null

I've tried placing beacons in Heretic's End as well as the three Grand Exchange sectors, but none of them completed the objective. So now I'm stuck... I can't complete the mission, Boso Ta won't talk to me any further, and it appears I'm now locked out of the Boron related plot lines too.

Anyone know a solution? At this stage I'd be happy to just force-complete the quest by cheating or editing saves if I have to. I'm really not that interested in the old plots anyway given that I've finished them multiple times over the years.

[db48x]

You need to report the bug over on the bug report forum. Don't forget to attach a save.

Normally, however, to do the Boron quest you just fly up to the fleet at the north gate in Heretic’s End (after talking to Boso Ta) and a cutscene begins. The quest continues from there.

[RainerPrem]

Interestingly, I started a new game after deactivating all DLCs apart from Cradle of Humanity.

I used the "Project Genesis" start. After some time I got the ALI message about the new gate in HE. I didn't react, but I couldn't load the game unless activating the other DLCs. I didn't check if "Kingdom End" would have been enough.

[Nanook]

Well, you do have to have the Kingdom End DLC active, since that introduces the Boron, and the whole Boron quest is about the Boron. And since the quest involves talking to the Terrans, the CoH DLC is also needed, and probably Split Vendetta as well. Oh, and you also get a mission to Tidebreak, so you will also need TOA. So yeah, I believe you need all the DLC active.

[Goffik]

Normally, however, to do the Boron quest you just fly up to the fleet at the north gate in Heretic’s End (after talking to Boso Ta) and a cutscene begins. The quest continues from there.

That's not the order of how my game played out. I got the invite from ALI having never talked to Boso Ta. I entered Heretic's End and the HQ appeared out of nowhere... I had not initiated any HQ related missions. I ignored it so still had no conversations with Boso. I flew up to the ALI fleet and the cutscene did indeed start. The gate opened but then I'm told to speak to Boso before exploring into the new sectors. I ignored that too and went in anyway. I got another cutscene or two, including the Boron appearing at the opposite gate. I explored the Boron sectors, did a mission to help deliver loads of cargo to their new shipyard, and that was it. No more Boron related plot, and Boso won't talk to me about whatever it is he wants to talk to me about relating to the rediscovery of his species. (The mission is called "Into the Unknown".)

I have all DLC other than Timelines, and all are activated.

[Nanook]

Try flying to Kingdom End 1 and landing on the queen's ship. It should be near the center of the sector and have a yellow NPC symbol on it. Once you dock, exit your ship and proceed via the various doors to the queen's chamber. You should get a message somewhere along the way, along with a yellow quest arrow. If nothing happens, then you've probably broken the quest by ignoring the earlier directions.

[Goffik]

Try flying to Kingdom End 1 and landing on the queen's ship.

I can't since there is no Kingdom End available to me. The gate from Sanctuary of Darkness to Towering Wave (had to look up it's location on a map, having never done the Boron content before) is inactive. I'm guessing it gets activated as part of the plot line which I am currently unable to proceed with due to this issue.

If nothing happens, then you've probably broken the quest by ignoring the earlier directions.

I don't think I personally broke anything. It's an open-world sandbox which means the player can go where they like and do what they like. If it breaks because they don't do things in a specific order, then that's a bug.

(As an aside, I didn't even want the player HQ in my game at all and had intended not to start the mission which used to grant it to you. That's the main reason I ignored Boso Ta to begin with... I wanted nothing to do with him or the HQ. I was somewhat miffed when it just appeared and was given to me scot free, and I'm even more miffed that it has now broken my game.)

[Nanook]

If you've encountered a bug, and assuming you have no external mods installed, then you should report it in the Tech Support forum where the devs may be able to help you sort it out. You'll need to supply the info requested in the sticky at the top of that forum. Good luck.

[db48x]

I don't think I personally broke anything. It's an open-world sandbox which means the player can go where they like and do what they like. If it breaks because they don't do things in a specific order, then that's a bug.

Yes, you need to make a bug report. Don't forget to attach your save file.

(As an aside, I didn't even want the player HQ in my game at all and had intended not to start the mission which used to grant it to you. That's the main reason I ignored Boso Ta to begin with... I wanted nothing to do with him or the HQ. I was somewhat miffed when it just appeared and was given to me scot free, and I'm even more miffed that it has now broken my game.)

I don’t know how much you know about the game, but the PHQ is central to almost all of the DLC storylines, as well as all of the end–game content. You can still do the original mission to get the PHQ (or something similar to it) if you do the Project Genesis start.

[Goffik]

If you've encountered a bug, and assuming you have no external mods installed...

And if I do have mods installed, like the majority of people who play this game? Does that discount me from official support? The mods I use have nothing to do with plot lines, the PHQ, or allowing me to do anything you normally can't. They're mainly QoL features and fixes. I saw the line in the tech support sticky that requests I reproduce the issue in a vanilla game, but there is no way I'm starting from scratch just to see if this happens again. My 150+ hour game is already buggered by this issue as it is, since I apparently can't even get access to all sectors now.

I don’t know how much you know about the game, but the PHQ is central to almost all of the DLC storylines, as well as all of the end–game content.

I knew it was central to the original game start, but not that it was required for all the DLC content and custom starts. Truth be told, I generally avoid plots in the X series as I find the missions rather boring for the most part, and the voice acting is horrendous across the board. I mainly bought the DLCs for the new races, ships and sectors, not their story content. (It's why I won't buy Timelines.) I haven't touched the plot content from any DLC until now, and am only doing so in this run because I apparently have to in order to unlock Boron space properly. And now I can't. Fun times.

[db48x]

If you've encountered a bug, and assuming you have no external mods installed...

And if I do have mods installed, like the majority of people who play this game? Does that discount me from official support? The mods I use have nothing to do with plot lines, the PHQ, or allowing me to do anything you normally can't. They're mainly QoL features and fixes. I saw the line in the tech support sticky that requests I reproduce the issue in a vanilla game, but there is no way I'm starting from scratch just to see if this happens again. My 150+ hour game is already buggered by this issue as it is, since I apparently can't even get access to all sectors now.

Any mod could have broken it. Some are less likely to break things, but you might be surprised just how much could be broken by even a fairly simple mod.

In any case, you won’t have to play for 150 hours to reproduce this problem. You can just do the missions, and skip your empire development and exploration.

You could just do the Young Gun start, zip up to Heretic’s End, ignore Boso Ta again, meet up with the Alliance of the Word, find the Provinces Adrift, ignore the Shipyard quest because that takes ages and is a side–quest anyway. Presumably you met the administrator on his ship and convinced him to allow you and the Alliance to research the inactive gates in the area, though you didn’t specifically mention it. The exploration of Sanctuary of Darkness is next after that, but you didn’t say exactly what is broken (in fact your original description made it sound like you couldn’t even get to the Provinces Adrift!).

What happens when you fly through the Sanctuary of Darkness gate? Did Nila Ti warn you about the environmental effects? Did you find the inactive gate in that sector?

Anyway, you can get to that point in an hour, I’m sure.

I don’t know how much you know about the game, but the PHQ is central to almost all of the DLC storylines, as well as all of the end–game content.

I knew it was central to the original game start, but not that it was required for all the DLC content and custom starts. Truth be told, I generally avoid plots in the X series as I find the missions rather boring for the most part, and the voice acting is horrendous across the board. I mainly bought the DLCs for the new races, ships and sectors, not their story content. (It's why I won't buy Timelines.) I haven't touched the plot content from any DLC until now, and am only doing so in this run because I apparently have to in order to unlock Boron space properly. And now I can't. Fun times.

One of the best things about the story missions in X4 is that they let you choose who is at war with whom. You could end the Paranid civil war and bring peace to the region. Or you could sabotage the peace talks. Or you could end the civil war but make them go to war with everyone; once they are united they are twice as big as any other faction. The Split already ended their civil war (the Free Families lost), but you can influence their new government if you want. You could free the Argon slaves or enslave even more Argon, etc. Of course most players end up in a position to steam roll the AI factions if they wish, so maybe that is superfluous for you.

And if you’ve never researched teleportation, then I can’t fathom how much waiting you must do. And of course you've never terraformed any of the planets, so I guess you just put up with SCA piracy for ever. And you must train your pilots some other way.

[Nanook]

If you've encountered a bug, and assuming you have no external mods installed...

And if I do have mods installed, like the majority of people who play this game? Does that discount me from official support? The mods I use have nothing to do with plot lines, the PHQ, or allowing me to do anything you normally can't. They're mainly QoL features and fixes. I saw the line in the tech support sticky that requests I reproduce the issue in a vanilla game, but there is no way I'm starting from scratch just to see if this happens again. My 150+ hour game is already buggered by this issue as it is, since I apparently can't even get access to all sectors now....

The devs are not being punitive about having mods in your game. It's a time thing. Your save won't work without those mods installed, so the devs would have to install your exact mods on their computer along with any other bits those mods might require, and then remove those mods when finished testing. Since most modded game issues are a result of those mods, that's a big waste of their time. That's time taken away from fixing non-mod bugs as well as development time. It's simply a much more efficient use of the devs time to be able to see the potential bug in an unmodded game.

A suggestion: post your savegame on the Scripting and Modding Forum along with a list of all the mods you use, and maybe some other player(s) using some or all of those mods could test out your save or provide insight on what mods might be causing the issue.

[Nanook]

The ALI mission says to talk to Boso Ta before exploring the new sectors, but he just gives the old station/research related dialogue without saying anything about Boron space, and the mission does not advance.

Ok, I started a new game in Hatikvah's Choice I as essentially a modified Young Gun. After flying through the gate to Morningstar, I get the ALI invitation. I then proceed to Heretic's End, where the HQ and Boso Ta warp in. Ignoring Boso Ta and going to the deactivated gate, Numanckaret and the fleet invite me to enter Watchful Gaze with them, which I do. I then explore the sector as requested, eventually finding the wrecked Boron ship and the recording inside. During all this, Boso Ta is active and engaging in conversation with the fleet. Eventually, Nila Ti appears and we follow her to Barren Shores.

At no time did the ALI representative, Numanckaret, tell me to interact with Boso Ta, which I still hadn't done. So something is definitely wrong with your game. Have you tried verifying the game files with Steam?