The Foundry has returned: What you need to know

duncanidaho11

Greetings,

It's been a long road...getting from there to here. The Foundry is back! Missions are live, the editor is online, and here's what you need to know about the most joyous time of the year.

1. The Foundry works. However, there is a new bug that superficially affects mission preview in the editor. Details are spoiler tagged below (authors should read, players will be fine):
   First, you may see an error pop up after a map-load that states "You must load the map on a PC client before running on a console." This was part of what Cryptic was trying to fix over downtime. However, it no longer crashes the game. Click okay and you *should* be fine. Second, the mini-map backdrop no longer displays correctly while in preview mode. This might be a symptom of the aforementioned error message. It will not prevent you from playing the mission but it might make navigation more difficult while testing. The minimap is not affected in published missions. Cryptic might still be working on a fix (we've only just reported these issues.) But as they only hit the editor superficially we should be okay for a Foundry relaunch.
2. TEST YOUR MISSIONS, verify that they've all been republished successfully, and keep an eye on reviews for any new technical problems. This will help us screen for critical Foundry bugs.
3. Report any issues you encounter to the Foundry bug forums.
4. If everything checks out, the Foundry Roundtable will be starting our 26th Century Challenge very soon. We'll talk about this on this weekend's show.

New content (spied from tribble): the full line-up Tzenkethi ships.

And with that, I'd also like to give a super special thanks to the devs (and most especially Zero) for getting the Foundry back on its feet. We really appreciate all the work you've done, it means a lot to a small community like ours, and we'll be sure to make the absolute most out of this relaunch.

Thanks again and let's get to some Foundrying!

spiritborn

nice I have so much stuff I wanted to do but couldn't, just a quick question, does the minimap mean the map at corner of your screen or the big map you get when you press "m" in this case?

duncanidaho11

spiritborn wrote: »

nice I have so much stuff I wanted to do but couldn't, just a quick question, does the minimap mean the map at corner of your screen or the big map you get when you press "m" in this case?

Both. Objectives and other items will display (so mechanically it works) but the background layer won't successfully display.



PS. these are also confirmed for live editor.

ashstorm1

At last!

Thank you, Devs. It's been a long process, but i'm glad you made it !

chasequinnell

Yes! I have been wanting to play foundry for quite some time. Glad it's back.

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spiritborn

I've yet to play any missions but the editor seems to work just fine apart from the previously mentioned map/preview mode bug and those are more annoying then anything else. I've started to build the andorian city I had been planning during the downtime.

duncanidaho11

mattjohnsonva wrote: »

Ok, ran four long and detailed missions with 5 members on each. Everything is working as it did before, the only issue is the game splits the team on almost every map transition forcing a restart. This seems to be worse when the game is busy, on days like today with the Winter event starting.

Good to know the teaming bug is still active. We're still trying to troubleshoot that on the Foundry Roundtable (Cryptic needs more information about when its occuring) so we'll keep at that one once we get back to busy as fully usual (and maybe start a thread for community testing a later date when we can focus on it.)

duncanidaho11

I want to update this thread with a new (but probably symptomatic) Foundry editor bug and how to troubleshoot.

Trigger: loading map preview mode in the editor.

Issue: using mouse to rotate the camera has limits it shouldn't have. Cursor visible on screen, stops with camera edge. When returning to the editor the issue will persist. Rotating objects with the mouse in the main editor window or object preview can be slow, constricted.

Solution: Change your active program window (or alt+tab). Hitting the "windows" button once (then click back in to STO) is also sufficient. Once your back in STO, mouse camera/object rotation should work just fine.

Note: I play with STO windowed-maximized.

I think it could be the result of STO popping up an error message (ie. loading preview) when it typically doesn't (mouse interface needs to be set back in after a momentary hiccup knocks it out in some way.) Fixing the error message pop-up might therefore fix this bug.

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nrobbiec

I need help. This bug has made the Foundry mission preview entirely unplayable. I've clicked ok on that load error message but then anything space based doesn't work. Missions or sector space, the ship is immobile and often in a state of freefall. Ground maps are only partially working, the map is slow to load but then only objective assets are loading. Nothing else on the map is spawning at all. And there are no map transitions when all objectives on a map are completed the mission will not progress by itself.

spiritborn

nrobbiec wrote: »

I need help. This bug has made the Foundry mission preview entirely unplayable. I've clicked ok on that load error message but then anything space based doesn't work. Missions or sector space, the ship is immobile and often in a state of freefall. Ground maps are only partially working, the map is slow to load but then only objective assets are loading. Nothing else on the map is spawning at all. And there are no map transitions when all objectives on a map are completed the mission will not progress by itself.

actually those sound like old bugs, the immobile ships in freefall should be possible to fix with restart of the preview and map transitions have been bugged for quite a while. As for asset loading issue I've not encountered that one myself at all.

nrobbiec

spiritborn wrote: »

nrobbiec wrote: »

I need help. This bug has made the Foundry mission preview entirely unplayable. I've clicked ok on that load error message but then anything space based doesn't work. Missions or sector space, the ship is immobile and often in a state of freefall. Ground maps are only partially working, the map is slow to load but then only objective assets are loading. Nothing else on the map is spawning at all. And there are no map transitions when all objectives on a map are completed the mission will not progress by itself.

actually those sound like old bugs, the immobile ships in freefall should be possible to fix with restart of the preview and map transitions have been bugged for quite a while. As for asset loading issue I've not encountered that one myself at all.

Unfortunately nothing has fixed it. I've tried resetting the map, reloading the map from the editor, exiting the editor and even closing the game altogether. No change.

duncanidaho11

Change maps. If the problem persists then there's something up with the project. If it doesn't, then somethings up with the map. Either way, what you can try is copying the map or project (using the import tool in the archive, bottom of the project select window). If that doesn't do it, then you know that something on that map is causing the problem. In that case, start playing around with assets (delete, don't save, test, undo if no effect). If that doesn't do it, start playing around with spawn setup. If that doesn't do it, take a look at objectives and the preceding map.

Whenever I've had the issue, I've just restarted the editor/game. That's always fixed it. Since that's not working for you, you need to troubleshoot the issue out. We don't know the trigger, or how you've setup that map (full details, including screenshots, would be helpful), so do what you can to work through the issue (map, project, assets, spawns). Take it one step at a time.


PS. There is a bug in the mission progression system that prevents asset state transitions from triggering in certain circumstances. We think it could be tied to a bug with the story system where if you remove an objective, sometimes the editor (for preview) doesn't tie everything back together properly. I've found that adding a cheap pop-up dialog (just "test" with an arbitrary character selected) to the story tab just before or after the problem trigger clears the issue while testing. When I'm ready to move on or publish, I just remove the quick-fix pop-up. Published missions are unaffected by the bug.

This is another point to "include as many details as possible." For "my map build isn't working," screenshots and a bit of a walkthrough on what you have can be very helpful. If the assets that aren't spawning are all tied to mission objective triggers, that's probably your issue. Add blank dialogs or other placeholder objectives just before or after to troubleshoot. That said, for now take this separately from your problem with the editor setting ground physics in space for the map preview. Focus on individual issues and troubleshoot accordingly. When that's fixed, move on to assets.

nrobbiec

duncanidaho11 wrote: »

Change maps. If the problem persists then there's something up with the project. If it doesn't, then somethings up with the map. Either way, what you can try is copying the map or project (using the import tool in the archive, bottom of the project select window). If that doesn't do it, then you know that something on that map is causing the problem. In that case, start playing around with assets (delete, don't save, test, undo if no effect). If that doesn't do it, start playing around with spawn setup.

Whenever I've had the issue, I've just restarted the editor/game. That's always fixed it. Since that's not working for you, you need to troubleshoot the issue out. We don't know the trigger, or how you've setup that map (full details, including screenshots, would be helpful), so do what you can to work through the issue (map, project, assets, spawns). Take it one step at a time.


PS. There is a bug in the mission progression system that prevents some object state transitions from triggering in certain circumstances (we think it could be tied to a bug with the story system, where if you make changes sometimes the game doesn't tie everything back up together properly).

If the assets that aren't spawning are all tied to mission objective triggers, that's probably your issue. That said, take this separately from your problem with the editor setting ground physics in space for the map preview. Focus on individual issues and troubleshoot accordingly.

I'll boot the game back up and see what I can find, I'll get some screenshots. The assets that aren't loading aren't related to objectives, they're background optional dialogue characters. The objective one loads the others don't.

This worked fine before the foundry last went down and the only changes I've made since it came up have been filling in dialogue boxes which are on a different map I've not tried playing yet.

duncanidaho11

nrobbiec wrote: »

I'll boot the game back up and see what I can find, I'll get some screenshots. The assets that aren't loading aren't related to objectives, they're background optional dialogue characters. The objective one loads the others don't.

This worked fine before the foundry last went down and the only changes I've made since it came up have been filling in dialogue boxes which are on a different map I've not tried playing yet.

When you get a chance, double check those characters state transitions and coordinates (particularly their Y). Could be that some data changed with the base map or project during downtime. In the past, I've had a few slight tweaks (where characters moved slightly, in a couple cases significant enough to require fixing.)

If that doesn't do it, I'd try adding more to see what happens. If they don't spawn in either, try a different map. If that works, then duplicate the problem map and see if the issue persists. If it does, could be a problem with the base map (is it a custom build or Cryptic default?)

nrobbiec

Ok so what I've found is one asset (the one used to complete an objective) had set itself to appear immediately which for some reason prevented any others from spawning when they should. So I've just set all the assets on the map to appear immediately. Unfortunately that means I can't block off the rest of the empty map but that's an issue I can most certainly live with.

wolfkhan

I tried editing a mission and all I got was a message saying it was updating the foundry u waited and it just logged me out after a whike

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duncanidaho11

nrobbiec wrote: »

Ok so what I've found is one asset (the one used to complete an objective) had set itself to appear immediately which for some reason prevented any others from spawning when they should. So I've just set all the assets on the map to appear immediately. Unfortunately that means I can't block off the rest of the empty map but that's an issue I can most certainly live with.

Keep in mind that if you're having issues with assets not spawning with objective triggers, the issue will only affect mission preview. See. troubleshooting steps I listed earlier for how to work around this while building (add an arbitrary pop-up dialog before the problem objective, remove when done). Published missions will not be affected.

nrobbiec

duncanidaho11 wrote: »

nrobbiec wrote: »

Ok so what I've found is one asset (the one used to complete an objective) had set itself to appear immediately which for some reason prevented any others from spawning when they should. So I've just set all the assets on the map to appear immediately. Unfortunately that means I can't block off the rest of the empty map but that's an issue I can most certainly live with.

Keep in mind that if you're having issues with assets not spawning with objective triggers, the issue will only affect mission preview. See. troubleshooting steps I listed earlier for how to work around this while building (add an arbitrary pop-up dialog before the problem objective, remove when done). Published missions will not be affected.

Okidoke. That's a plus at least. Alas, for the project I was working on, I needed footage from the mission preview as it had to be my Foundry character and not one of my actuals. I'm happy to say I got the footage necessary from the mission (long story short it celebrates my 800th YT video) but thank you though if I hadn't have investigated the assets I wouldn't have found a solution.

meta2012

how do you add interactive dialog to a NPC that isnt important to the story, like say a backround NPC that dosn't need to be talked to to compleat the mission?

spiritborn

meta2012#3684 wrote: »

how do you add interactive dialog to a NPC that isnt important to the story, like say a backround NPC that dosn't need to be talked to to compleat the mission?

depends on what kind of dialogue you mean, if you backround "chatter" then there's a way to add that thru making those NPCs "legacy contacts" though it only 1 line that loops.

If you want a longer optional dialogue that isn't needed for the objectives there's the "has default prompt" option that allows you to add this and that behaves exactly like objective dialogue boxes except it doesn't advance any objectives.

You can also put a pop-dialogue box into the map if you want optional that addresses the player but isn't activated by interacting with a specific NPC.

meta2012

spiritborn wrote: »

meta2012#3684 wrote: »

how do you add interactive dialog to a NPC that isnt important to the story, like say a backround NPC that dosn't need to be talked to to compleat the mission?

depends on what kind of dialogue you mean, if you backround "chatter" then there's a way to add that thru making those NPCs "legacy contacts" though it only 1 line that loops.

If you want a longer optional dialogue that isn't needed for the objectives there's the "has default prompt" option that allows you to add this and that behaves exactly like objective dialogue boxes except it doesn't advance any objectives.

You can also put a pop-dialogue box into the map if you want optional that addresses the player but isn't activated by interacting with a specific NPC.

wheres the "has default prompt" thingy?

meta2012

meta2012#3684 wrote: »

spiritborn wrote: »

meta2012#3684 wrote: »

how do you add interactive dialog to a NPC that isnt important to the story, like say a backround NPC that dosn't need to be talked to to compleat the mission?

depends on what kind of dialogue you mean, if you backround "chatter" then there's a way to add that thru making those NPCs "legacy contacts" though it only 1 line that loops.

If you want a longer optional dialogue that isn't needed for the objectives there's the "has default prompt" option that allows you to add this and that behaves exactly like objective dialogue boxes except it doesn't advance any objectives.

You can also put a pop-dialogue box into the map if you want optional that addresses the player but isn't activated by interacting with a specific NPC.

wheres the "has default prompt" thingy?

never mind, i found it

thelunarboy

I have a mission that is somewhere near 40% complete and wanted to check the map transitions. I'm having an epic fail with that. The mission starts in sector space but instead of saying "go to X", it is showing the objective of the first custom map. When I reach the transition point, the right dialogue comes up... but I'm bounced back to Sol sector and caught in a loop. On top of this, my boffs and Captain seem to be randomly spawning at points on the sector space map.

This is especially annoying as my Foundry character is stuck at cadet and is flying a painfully slow Miranda. Can I rank my Foundry character up by completing one of my existing missions and then continuing on? For some reason, ESD is not open to my Foundry character.

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thelunarboy

mattjohnsonva wrote: »

BTW, it would be better to start a new post about this problem, this thread is all about the current state of the foundry since it was re-enabled.

Sorry.

My main issue was the initial one and that's something I'm sure I've only experienced since reboot (although it's been a while since I last published a mission), so I thought I wasn't off topic.

duncanidaho11

Foundry update: reviewing is back online (has been for a few days but I figure I might as well update the thread.) I've been putting a lot of work into the Foundry lately and I can confirm that there are no new bugs, that we haven't discussed so far. There are also no new fixes to outstanding bugs (see link below). So, business as usual. Now get building/playing!

https://www.arcgames.com/en/forums/startrekonline/#/discussion/1127422/master-foundry-bug-list/p7

Foundry Roundtable's next challenge, the 26th Century project, will begin after Christmas festivities. We'll have a prompt, guidelines, and resources for everyone once we get started.

spiritborn

I'm guessing you're not gonna have livestream on the 23rd for obvious reasons.

duncanidaho11

Yeah, it's a busy time so we'll be picking things up the weekend after (hopefully).