Spring RTS Engine

Some units don't exit the factory and block further production. Some others exit the factory on the opposite side of their rally point and then just cluster there!

Even more mysteriously, some units stop right at the exit of their factory, even if they exited in the right direction and the way is perfectly clear. It happens more when the rally point is not directed toward the factory exit (as on the following screenshot), but before taking the screenshot I tried different configuration of rally points (including shift-clicking a path for the units) and they always got stuck like that:



I noticed this especially when there are a lot of units on the map (500 just counting my own), but in this case that factory had the problem as early as I built it, if I can remember. I have the replay available (game against 3 AAI) if someone wants to get into a deeper analysis.

simple solution: make it go straight out of the factory, then to the waypoint

sometimes they get stuck anyway because they rotate.

That has happened to me a lot, of late. I believe the issue must be somewhere in the altered engine code or AA, though for the life of me I have no idea where it might be in either. Generally the first unit built will get struck in a vehicle factory, even if I never set a point to rally too. Haven't had the time to test other mods.

but it happens even with the way free?

Yes, it does. And on terrain the units can traverse easily.

Happens on XTA too, v7 and v8.

neddiedrow wrote:That has happened to me a lot, of late. I believe the issue must be somewhere in the altered engine code or AA, though for the life of me I have no idea where it might be in either. Generally the first unit built will get struck in a vehicle factory, even if I never set a point to rally too. Haven't had the time to test other mods.

This was XTA v7. This time they weren't stuck in the factory (which happened sometimes in TA). They all came out correctly, but stopped right where I encircled them in the screenshot instead of following whatever rally point I was giving them. It's surprising because usually units make it out pretty well of rather crowded situations.

If units stop IN the factory, after a while the factory should start reclaiming them lol .

P3374H wrote:simple solution: make it go straight out of the factory, then to the waypoint

Of course I tried, but they still get stuck in exactly the same way, even if I make sure to clear the way completely.

It's a really annoying bug.

If a unit walking out of the factory has to turn at all it will not follow the full rally point queue.

This is usually influenced by the unit type itself, certain unit types are more likely to slightly bump the walls on their way out and have the queues wiped.

I always found hammers and thuds in XTA to be prone to this on somemaps, but it changes from time to time.

The problem is greatlyt exaccerbated (how do you spell that?) by rotating the factory; i've pretty much stopped doing that because of the risk of having to reclaim the lab and rebuild it.
In XTA (v7 havent tested v8) Core adv klab has real problems. Unless you set a rally point facing directly away from the lab, units will form a circle around it. Assuming the lab is facing south, when a unit tries to take up position north-west of the lab it will walk into the lab itself, and actually embed itself into the lab, where it needs to be reclaimed. The problem is fixable with 1 click, but its pretty annoying if you forget it.

pintle wrote:actually embed itself into the lab, where it needs to be reclaimed. The problem is fixable with 1 click, but its pretty annoying if you forget it.

I've found I can walk stuck units out of trouble with FPS mode. It seems a lot more able to walk out of walls.

does need fixing, but the temp fix is to ALWAYS set your FIRST waypoint (which you can do by pressing M then SHIFT to assign multiple move waypoints) as directly out of the factory, about half the factory's size again, then off to where-ever.

Pathfinding is kinda crappy in spring, frankly, and needs fixing...

BlackLiger wrote: Pathfinding is kinda crappy in spring, frankly, and needs fixing...

+1

I may interject with two points...
1. Sometimes the direct waypoint out does not work. In those cases, FPS the unit, and reset the waypoint, as you may be a pixel off.
2. The OSRTS engine is going to have a more progressive pathfinding system from waht I have read so... heads up on that!

e: outdated

One of the peet peeves with TA was the rotating units as they were built. Doesn't it make more sense they were stationary and pointed towards the exits when complete?

Perhaps the original authors of TA used it to ensure less cheating by instant build cheats, having them face the wrong way if not timed correctly. Or perhaps they just liked the eyecandy. Either way, its unnecessary to retain in Spring.

If you're sprayign nanites onto a frame to fill it up wouldnt it make sense to spray it so its evenly distributed? Its similair to any other mechanical spraying mechanism or even microwaves ovens.....

MadRat wrote:One of the peet peeves with TA was the rotating units as they were built. Doesn't it make more sense they were stationary and pointed towards the exits when complete?

Perhaps the original authors of TA used it to ensure less cheating by instant build cheats, having them face the wrong way if not timed correctly. Or perhaps they just liked the eyecandy. Either way, its unnecessary to retain in Spring.

that's a mod thing, XTA has it, AA doesn't

rotating units isnt the sole cause, its just one of the many possible situations that make a unit more likely to bump into something else.

Issue a factory a command to move directly to the right or left through the factory wall and the unit will attempt to walk through the factory wall before walking around, thus resulting in it loosing its initial queue. Rotating units in factories is just another way for it to bump into something.

LordMatt wrote:

BlackLiger wrote: Pathfinding is VERY crappy in spring, frankly, and needs fixing...

+1

Fixed.