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Has anyone had any weird ground-weapon-related problems at Vastam Peaks on New Romulus this week?
pomonagrange
Member Posts: 112 Arc User
I've already sent an in-game bug report to Cryptic, but thought I ought to post it here as well.
What usually happens (and does at Staging Area) is the ground weapons (the pulsewave assault rifle, in my case) in the power tray automatically light up when there's an enemy in range. Then I can decide whether to attack them or not.
This is *not* what happened to me at Vastam Peaks yesterday. Instead, I would be standing there, ground weapons *not* lit-up, two Tal Shiar in front of me. I try to shoot them or hit them with my rifle ... nothing on-screen that says I'm doing any damage at all ... but the Tal Shiar react as if I'm attacking them, and they fall and die. Then later, without warning, my ground weapons light up like usual and I can use my rifle again. The lighting-up and going-dark are entirely random; it doesn't matter which enemy I'm ready to attack (Tal Shiar or giant scorpion) or which area of Vastam Peaks I'm in.
I figured, if it's going to happen at Vastam Peaks, then I'm certainly not going to go to Hwael Ruins and try to fight the Tholians there. I could just imagine being face-to-face with a Tholian Commander ... and my rifle doesn't shoot. But maybe the Tholian will react as I'm attacking it, and just fall down and die anyway. Like a silent movie version of Star Trek combat.
This bug hasn't happened to me before at Vastam Peaks (or anywhere on New Romulus that has enemies to shoot). Ever.
Btw, the computer isn't the problem. It isn't the graphics card (graphics look fine - no stuttering, no stretched-out images, or any other problem). It doesn't seem to be the internet connection. Because I can't see any lag or rubber-banding ... though when the enemy fell and died without any sign that my attacks had hurt them, it did make me wonder, "Is it just lag? Will I hear the sound of the attack *after* the enemy falls and dies? No. No sound. This is weird. Well, when in doubt, report it to Cryptic. Hopefully it won't be too difficult to track down which bit or bits of code are causing the problem."
What usually happens (and does at Staging Area) is the ground weapons (the pulsewave assault rifle, in my case) in the power tray automatically light up when there's an enemy in range. Then I can decide whether to attack them or not.
This is *not* what happened to me at Vastam Peaks yesterday. Instead, I would be standing there, ground weapons *not* lit-up, two Tal Shiar in front of me. I try to shoot them or hit them with my rifle ... nothing on-screen that says I'm doing any damage at all ... but the Tal Shiar react as if I'm attacking them, and they fall and die. Then later, without warning, my ground weapons light up like usual and I can use my rifle again. The lighting-up and going-dark are entirely random; it doesn't matter which enemy I'm ready to attack (Tal Shiar or giant scorpion) or which area of Vastam Peaks I'm in.
I figured, if it's going to happen at Vastam Peaks, then I'm certainly not going to go to Hwael Ruins and try to fight the Tholians there. I could just imagine being face-to-face with a Tholian Commander ... and my rifle doesn't shoot. But maybe the Tholian will react as I'm attacking it, and just fall down and die anyway. Like a silent movie version of Star Trek combat.
This bug hasn't happened to me before at Vastam Peaks (or anywhere on New Romulus that has enemies to shoot). Ever.
Btw, the computer isn't the problem. It isn't the graphics card (graphics look fine - no stuttering, no stretched-out images, or any other problem). It doesn't seem to be the internet connection. Because I can't see any lag or rubber-banding ... though when the enemy fell and died without any sign that my attacks had hurt them, it did make me wonder, "Is it just lag? Will I hear the sound of the attack *after* the enemy falls and dies? No. No sound. This is weird. Well, when in doubt, report it to Cryptic. Hopefully it won't be too difficult to track down which bit or bits of code are causing the problem."
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Answers
My character Tsin'xing
“Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.” -- Benjamin Franklin
Maybe I wasn't clear with my initial explanation. Let me try again:
When a Tal Shiar is standing just a few feet away from me with nothing in between us but empty air, what, pray tell, is blocking my character's line-of-sight? The invisible man from H.G. Wells' book? I click on the power tray buttons to fire my rifle ... but the buttons are dark, so nothing happens. But the Tal Shiar staggers as if I've shot them (or hit them with the butt of my rifle), falls on the ground, and dies. Then, without warning,when I am maybe twenty or thirty feet away from that location and again with nothing between mean and a pair of Tal Shiar within my rifle's range, the buttons are mysteriously lit up again. But go to a different location in Vastam Peaks, maybe a hundred feet away, again within rifle's range of Tal Shiar, the power tray buttons for my rifle are dark again.
However, when I transport back to Staging Area and I'm standing a few feet away from a suspicious Romulan (and they don't say "I'll keep an eye out for anything strange" but instead mention the Tal Shiar or that D'Tan is a fool), the buttons on my power tray (for my rifle) are lit up and I can fire my rifle at the Romulan. They're hit multiple times (depending on how often I fire my rifle), fall down and die.
If empty air blocks line-of-sight (and only at Vastam Peaks - I haven't tried anywhere else except Staging Area), then something is even *more* wrong than the bug I reported.
Need to fix my typo in the above sentence: "mean" was supposed to be "me".
:::::whispering::::: it's the hirogen...they got stealth. I know, still not helping.
Did you take a friend up there with you to check it out?
I will head out there...I want something to play with my new kit modules on.
“Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.” -- Benjamin Franklin
Wrong location for Hirogen on New Romulus. They're in the Mountain Pass part of Vastam Peaks, as well as both in and near Paehhos Crater.
Have not gone back to Vastam Peaks with or without a friend to double-check what I experienced. But if anyone wants to go up there and test it out with me, just send me an in-game message at: @pomonagrange#3097. If I'm on when they are, and I'll switch to one of my KDF-allied Romulans and meet them at Vastam Peaks' transporter (not Mountain Pass' transporter). Or two other players can test it themselves and report back in this forum thread. I'm curious to see if I was imagining what I experienced, but I don't think I was imagining it.
Btw, I didn't try using the kit modules. I was just trying to use my pulsewave assault rifle (both firing it and using the rifle itself to bop the Romulans).
I just hope it's not one of those very rare unpredictable software bugs, and I'm the only one who experienced it. If that's the case, I'll just sound crazy ... which I'm not. Weird, yes, strange, sometimes, eccentric, sometimes, eclectic, yes. But crazy? I don't think so.
I was shooting at Romulans, Scorpions, Hirogen, Tholians....I think that was it. That is pretty much everything.
Romulans were inactive until they started targeting me. They were throwing grenades, setting off Drones, mines....etc.. The Scorpions were chasing me and my BOFFs once it saw us....even when we ran.
It all looked normal to me.
My guns were firing...my BOFF's gun was firing. I could see the weapons firing. I could see everything get mowed down as they got hit. All my Kit Modules were firing off. I had no problems targeting at all. One time I had my rifle disappear...but hitting "H" a couple of times and the program got with it.
“Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.” -- Benjamin Franklin
Thank you for checking. Bugs in software this complicated are unpredictable (and sometimes not reproducible).
Fog in Mountain Pass part of Vastam Peaks? Now that I *know* I saw last time I took a character there. Maybe it's something new that the programmers added but didn't say anything about in the weekly patch notes?
P.S.: On another topic: Beware the sudden switching of action buttons on Nimbus. You could be clicking on two or more "take item" buttons and a moment before you click on the last one it switches to "beam back to Paradise City" and the "take item" button is somewhere else in the HUD. (It's happened to me often enough over the years that I've decided it isn't worth reporting to Cryptic. I doubt it's an important enough bug.) There's no way to stop the beam-back unless you start walking away from where you accidentally clicked on the beam-back button. Which can be a pain if you've gone all the way to, say, the prison or the stronghold, and then have to start for them all over again from Paradise City. It happened to me a few minutes ago, and I decided that's enough STO for the night. I'll go back to Nimbus tomorrow. Maybe I'll feel less frustrated about it by then.
And sometimes you just get that perfect storm of little glitches.
My character Tsin'xing
I'm more than willing to team up with you folks at Vastam Peaks to show you what happens to my characters (or at least my KDF-allied Romulans). Maybe it doesn't happen to Fed or KDF characters.
Nimbus-button-wise: I don't hit the "F" button to beam back. I click on the "Beam back to Paradise City" button. And sometimes it's not intentional; I'm trying to click on the "Take items" button, but it switches from where I placed the button (near the bottom right area of the screen) to the middle of the screen, and the button in the bottom right area reads "Beam back to Paradise City". It's been this way ever since I first took a character to Nimbus back in 2012 or 2013. I've reported it; the bug still exists. So I gave up reporting it until now.
My character Tsin'xing
Btw, I did a test of Vastam Peaks today. Two things happened.
One: Out of five combats, the first, third, and fifth worked fine. Rifle shot, no problems. Second and fourth, can't fire rifle, enemy staggers, falls, and dies.
Two: After the first combat (which I got killed and respawned at the forward tent -- not Avran's where the transporter is) ... my character suddenly looked as if she had been covered head-to-toe with either flour or clay. When I transported back to Staging Area, she still looked the same way. When I transported back to Vastam Peaks, I tried to stand there and let the Tal Shiar shoot my character until she died and had to respawn (difficult to do when your boff is shooting the Tal Shiar). Anyway, it took two tries (in two different areas) and my character respawned ... and still looked like she was covered in flour or clay. So ... I transported back to Staging Area ... took care of things there ... beamed up to my ship, then beamed back down ... and my character looked normal again (no "flour" or "clay" covering them). Btw, the "flour"/"clay" appearance only happened to the main character, not to the boff as well.
As if that wasn't enough, another bug happened today after I beamed up from Nukara. Usually a character beams up to their ship, and it's near Nukara. Today, I beamed up to my ship ... and looked at the map. My ship was in the middle of the vertical boundary line separating Japori and Azure Sectors. No, I didn't click on "transwarp"; the software did it all on its own. I reported that bug to Cryptic. Hope they can find it and fix it.
I tell ya ... I think I'm getting good at bumping into software bugs. Even if almost no one else experiences them. Over the last 6 or so years I've wanted STO to be more random (less choreographed) ... I got my wish ... but the results aren't quite what I expected. I guess the saying is true, "Be careful what you wish for, you might get it."
Before I continue reading.....let me just say: interestingly enough, the character I used last night was Tyra...my KDF Rom (transwarp to New Rom, you know). So, it couldn't be that.
You died on New Rom??? From what? Romulans??? Can you see the Drones and mines thingies...that look like green stuff radiating out from it???
“Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.” -- Benjamin Franklin
“Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.” -- Benjamin Franklin
Is THAT the flour/clay appearance that you are seeing?? That white/gray....but only on your character???? While my whole screen goes gray.
Upon respawn....everything went back to "normal".... https://i.imgur.com/ZTLmZx5.jpg
Did not respawn at Arven's tent where the New Rom Transporter is....but at a different tent, not very far away from from Arven's. It is within sight. I can see Arven's tent just by walking out from behind the boulder the second tent is positioned. I assume this is the "Forward Tent" you are talking about.
+++++++++++++++++++++++
There is a button on the UI where you can turn your BOFF into passive mode. They won't fire their weapon but still apply heals and buffs.
Look for the button lit up with Yellow in my pics, that is the one to click on.
If you have a group of BOFFs and want to control all at the same time (2 different buttons on top of the list, different icons on each)....
To put them in Passive mode click this button: https://i.imgur.com/tHTJsMT.jpg
To put back in Active mode: https://i.imgur.com/qrhFp7Y.jpg
If you want to control an individual BOFF...use the buttons next to their faces (notice it is the same button, icons will switch when clicked):
To put them in a Passive mode: https://i.imgur.com/gwDP15E.jpg
To put back in Active mode: https://imgur.com/RzO9ez5
If you forget which button is which...just hoover your mouse cursor over the buttons and you can read the pop up. Which I have to do all the time....but if you can remember it, it goes faster. LOL!
“Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.” -- Benjamin Franklin
Also, see the long grass in the pic? that may be what was blocking your line of sight. Yes, you can walk through it, it can still block line of sight.
My character Tsin'xing
I wasn't trying too hard (and in the context of the bug problem, it doesn't really matter to me; I'd rather die a hundred times on New Romulus and get the bug fixed, than not die at all). And the second time it happened, I deliberately wanted to see how my character would look after respawning.
Btw, I remember being on New Romulus after it went live (but with different characters and a different account). Yes, I've seen the drones, and the strange devices that beam in Tal Shiar. I'm not blind.
The point I'm making is: Why is the bug at Vastam Peaks only happening to *my* characters and no one else's? If, as you said, it's not because the characters are Romulan, then why is it happening to me at all? That's what doesn't make sense. And btw, the next time I went to Vastam Peaks, the mysterious bug didn't happen. I wish I had a way of capturing the bugs on video, because then maybe someone would believe me.
I know about the button to put boffs in passive mode. I've used it before ... not usually on New Romulus. Usually in the episode where there's a Reman working with the Hirogen (I don't remember the episode's name or the moon it takes place on). It's the part where you're trying to block a video camera on the side of a building from seeing what you're doing at a computer console. I don't remember if I put stood the boffs in front of it, in passive mode, or what.
The reason I *didn't* put my boff in passive mode at Vastam Peaks is I forgot to. I was concentrating on trying to get the Tal Shiar to kill my character, to see what my character would look like after re-spawning. As Mark said, apparently the "flour-look" only happens after you get hit by a thalaron drone (or whatever it was). And the "flour-look" stays as long as you stay on New Romulus and you don't beam back up to your ship and back down to New Romulus again. So if you thought the Borg looked like robotic zombies, the "flour-look" looks like a cross between a ghost and zombie to me. The latter would be a cool appearance on, say, Halloween.
Btw, I may be a little rusty after a year away from STO (Fall 2017 to Fall 2018), but I first played STO in Fall 2012. So alot of what you're telling me I likely knew before Fall 2017. I'm just having to re-learn it since last Fall. (The year-long break helped. I was reaching burn-out by Fall 2017.)
Wow...I never seen that clay look......though seen plenty of those Thalaron Drone things. And those mine things.
So, probably has something to do with graphics settings. And I don't have a graphics card that can run Lighting 2.0, either....so I am still using Lighting 1.0. I am not having problems with not seeing weapons fire...but I see fog all over Vastam Peaks. And it gets foggier the further I get up the hills.
It wouldn't have mattered if you had your BOFF on passive...it took forever for the Romulan Scientist and cohorts to take me out, I should have just removed my armor and shields. LOL!
Well...since it is graphics stuff, and I don't have anything that runs on high settings at all.... I will leave you guys to figure this one out.
“Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.” -- Benjamin Franklin
easy rule of thumb: if you can see it on screen, it can block lines of sight. It's not a cover shooter game, the devs don't intentionally program things to block line of sight. The game has 3-d geometry programmed in and it uses a somewhat asymmetrical hit-scan system to determine if two characters can see each other. I'm not sure exactly how the hit-scan thing works but it's not as simple as checking center of model to center of model.
My character Tsin'xing
My character Tsin'xing