SMACX bug reporting thread - Page 3

Misotu · January 17, 2000, 16:45

BugID: Nanoreplicator information
Submitter: Misotu, misotu@birdmail.com
Version: SMAC, Alien Crossfire
Category: UI
Status: Demonstrated
Priority: 4
Description: Info on the Nanoreplicator could do with updating for consistency. Under "nanoreplicator" in the manual and on-screen help, it simply says that this facility increases mineral production. But under "ecology" in the on-screen help it shows that nanoreplicators reduce ecological damage as much as centauri preserves and temple of planet. However, in the Ecological Risks section of the manual, it does not mention building nanoreplicators as a method of reducing ecodamage.

So ... I'm confused. And so is the documentation :-)

BustaMike · January 17, 2000, 18:20

Here's a really weird one for you guys. I'm not sure why I even decided to load the build scenario, but it sure is screwed up. It starts you as the spartans and you have to build a former, terraform, and capture an alien artifact. The problem comes with what the colony pods and former units look like. First of all I loaded SMAC not X. That's important because the colony pods had the following build description: Colony,30-1-1. Even better, in the build screen the pod looked like a string infantry (string laser is not in SMAC, only X) and when I actually built it all it was was a walking gun with no infantry. The former unit was a psi infantry: psi,1,1, but it still terraformed fine. Also when I built it the picture was for mind worms. You know, the little tank with worms in it for the first worms you breed. Finally, when I tried to add the colony pod to the bases size by pressing B it wanted confirmation of the obliterate base (like the military unit) but from the right click menu it said B added to base size and I successfully executed that option. This is by far the strangest bug I have ever seen. I could send someone a copy of my build SC but I'm pretty sure this bug won't work without SMACX.

BugID: #??, Build SC problem
Submitter: BustaMike, wordtoyourmother@hotmail.com
Version: SMAC (with X installed)
Category: scenario
Status: Pending
Priority: 4
Save before: N/A (not available)
Save after:

Wombat · January 17, 2000, 21:27

Faction choice bug.

The two alien factions are supposed to always be in the game together, but my first game in SMAX 2.0 are decided to be the caretakers, and set the other 6 to random, and the Usurpers were not one of the resulting factions.

Wombat · January 17, 2000, 21:33

Planet buster/Flechette bug.

In the same game I mentioned above, I was Planet busted by the Hive twice in one turn. In each case I first got the message that the flechette had successfully intercepted the PB, but then immediately got the message that it had failed with the 5,4,3,2,1 countdown and the cities were each destroyed. I don't know which message was displayed by mistake, but it's very irritating. It's even worse if it means flechettes can never properly stop PB's.

Theben · January 17, 2000, 22:04

Category: Rules
Priority: 4
Status: Confirmed (in alphax.txt)
Planetary Economics available before Environmental Eco- i.e. Hybrid forests are available before tree farms. SMACX only; SMAC rules unaffected.

Category: Unit design
Priority: 4 or 5
Status: Pending
Sea units with res/pulse 3 (8?) armor have special abilities of "+50% vs. speeders/PSI" reduced to "0" cost. Impact skimships are cheaper with special armor than with plasma steel.

Category: AI
Priority: 3
Status: One time
AI transferred air units to me while in air; next turn when I took control of them they had already crashed.

Category: Movement
Priority: ?
Status: One time
Sea former had finished terraforming on that turn; clicked on it to change orders. Gave new order to "build fungus". Confirmed, then started new orders. Clicked on it again; unit now was active with "1" move. Unable to repeat with further attempts. NOT related to Marine CC.

All of the above with SMACX patch.

p.s.-Merchant exchange doesn't affect fungus squares: I never thought of this as a bug. It makes sense, actually.

p.p.s.-In SMAC ver. 4.0, I was sneak attacked by an ally who had surrendered to me! Has this ever happened to anyone else? Is it a bug? One time observation.

Fistleaf · January 18, 2000, 06:40

BugID: Air-Drop with Cloudbase Academy
Submitter: Fistleaf
Version: SMACX
Category: Combat
Status: Easily confirmed with scenario editor
Priority: 2
Save before: n/a

If you have the Cloudbase Academy, all enemy bases are considered to have "air defenses".
Your drop units cannot airdrop anywhere near an enemy city even if there are no aerospace complex in the city and no air units nearby.
With Cloudbase Academy, the strategy of chopper attack followed by airdrop no longer works.

BugID: Transport Armour
Submitter: Fistleaf
Version: SMACX
Category: Unit Design
Status: Pending
Priority: 2
Save before: n/a

Unarmoured transports cost the same as when Resonance 3 armoured. However, Synthmetal and Plasma Armour costs more than unarmoured transports.

In response to Theben,
Planetary economics was changed from level 6 tech to a level 4 tech in SMACX.
In SMAC V4, I was attacked by my submitted Yang. But he posed no threat to me and I made him submit again. (Beware letting your submitted faction become too strong.)

Bblue · January 18, 2000, 07:49

I hope I don't mess things up too bad for zsozso while he's away living it up in the Caribbean

I have just added 11 new entries to the 'offical' bug list (I can't believe we all forgot to mention #0150 City_Trading until now) To the people who said they have saves available please go ahead and email them to zsozso with a brief discription and a note for which bug they are refering to. I would also like to suggest that as all of us are playing SMAC/X if you would take the time to save games (when possible) when you have a bug occur and then send them to zsozso, so that we can get good examples and a demonstrated status to alot of the bugs on the list, your help would be greatly appreciated

Theben: reguarding the Hybrid Forest thing.. It apparently isn't a bug seems that it is like that by design (note: not saying it is a good design.. but

) Also the one time former thing, since it wasn't repeatable I left it off for now.. Has anyone else out there seen this?

Fistleaf: Did SMACXv2.0 not catch that 'half' of the Cloudbase Academy bug? (The readme mentioned about dropping into your OWN bases..) Just want to make absolutley sure it is in v2.0 before I post it.

PS. I also have had a surrendered faction declare vendetta on me when I didn't do anything to deserve it (like PB).. wondering.. what ARE the limits of a surrenedered faction anyone have any insight?

Aredhran · January 18, 2000, 08:06

Confirmation: The Cloudbase academy / Air-drop bug did not occur in the last SMACX2 game I played.

Oleg Leschov · January 18, 2000, 10:11

Some corrections to a buglist..

#0033 -- I have checked this with non-patched Alien Crossfire, it seems to be fixed.

#0034 -- Now, when menu is active, there's no scroll, but bug still appears when preferences dialog is active, select unit dialog (pressing 'a' when viewing pieces), perhaps some others.
This, too, is checked with non-patched AX.

Theben · January 18, 2000, 11:22

Yeah, I noticed the move from b6 tech to b4 tech for "planetary econ", but I'm guessing it is due to poor design (trying to fit in the new techs) rather than truly intentional.

Another bug: Had market crash even though I had Planetary Economic Grid.

January 18, 2000, 11:57

I don't think I saw it on the official list (but I may have just missed it), but I have one:

Version: Both AX and AC4
Description: After the game has been completed, the game replay only shows the landforms which existed at the end of the game. If you are a raise/lower madman, or if you like to grow the seas, this means that the game replay shows a significantly different world than the one you were playing on in the early going.

Additionally, the game replay does not denote territory which is on the seas.

Not a high priority, but it'd sure be nice...

-Warp

Lord Maxwell · January 18, 2000, 17:38

Bug with attacking spore launchers.

In multiplay, when a rover attacks a spore launcher and wins it often gets replace by four-eight worms spread around the place where the now evaporated rover was. (They materialize either at the turn after, or later in the same turn while I look elsewhere.)

A save after is available.

Vi Vicdi · January 19, 2000, 00:33

Proposed name: SE_Browse_Income_Report

Browsing SE settings reports a different energy income when you come back to your original setting. It seems to be tied to efficiency changes.

If you are set to Wealth, select Knowledge (without actually applying it, just select it), then select Wealth again, the reported income will be different for the second "Wealth" than the first.

Vi Vicdi · January 19, 2000, 00:42

Proposed name: Mass_Scrap_Shutout

If you mass-scrap a series of buildings you will not be allowed to scrap a building at a base that did not have the type of building scrapped en masse.

Example: You build Citizen's Defense. You scrap all Perimeter Defenses, using the provided "Scrap All" menu selection. But 3 bases didn't have Perimeter Defenses ... even so you can't scrap anything at those 3 bases; you erroneously get the "only 1 scrap per turn allowed" error message.

Aredhran · January 19, 2000, 06:05

I confirm that "Mass Scrap" bug Vi vicdi mentioned above.

Bblue · January 19, 2000, 06:06

Four more entries added to the list.

Theben: the energy crash with Energy Grid is bug#10 (yep.. it is a long list

)

Oleg: zsozso will enter those updates upon his return, Thanks for helping us confirm the status of these. If anyone else finds things that have been fixed or is incorrectly listed/described please by all means leave us a message

Wombat: It's all your fault!! I posted that PB_Fletchette bug and less then an hour later I had a similiar experience!! Had two pop-upscreens but luckly both of them said they stopped the PB and my base didn't become a huge hole Whew

so at least they stop some PBs, but do they check twice when they should only check once? I'm going to post a thread to see if anyone else has info on this.

Keep up the bughunting
[This message has been edited by Bblue (edited January 19, 2000).]

Fistleaf · January 19, 2000, 10:23

Cloudbase Academy/Air-drop bug:
I used QuickStart and activated scenario editor. Only the 1st air-drop works correctly. Subsequent air-drops cannot be made near enemy bases.

Aredhran · January 20, 2000, 04:39

Fistleaf, what do you mean "only the first drop works" ? I have not had any problems with this since I installed the 2.0 patch.

Bblue · January 20, 2000, 07:33

The Mass_Scrap and the Flechette_PB bugs are now both confirmed.

Fistleaf: I just finished a game where the airdops worked fine, so I went to editor and tried recreating your Cloudbase bug, I tried everything multiple drops, single drops, outside the base, into the base,etc.. and couldn't get the reported bug to appear. Are you sure that the v2.0 patch took? or can you email me a save of the scenerio situation you created so that I can recreate it and narrow down what is happening? or can anyone else confirm Fistleaf's experience?

Sorta a bug/ bug question.. In the interludes for when you transend what is suppose to appear in this line?

"Some, like the prankster $SHIMODA9 and the demon $NAME5 are semi-dominant and often hover near the plane of Your Thought"

I think $SHIMODA9 is your scientist but $NAME5 seems to be anything? from your faction name, an opponents faction name, or sometimes blank? I'm pretty sure it is suppose to be an enemy faction name. Is that what ya'll think? If so, what happens when you transend from a peaceful world, worst diplomatic tie is Treaty (Yes I have done it... once) hehehe talk about an obscure bug

just seeing if I can confirm it.
[This message has been edited by Bblue (edited January 20, 2000).]

gnome · January 20, 2000, 18:01

When I transcended as Yang one game, the final interlude said, "..and the demon Pact Brother"...

Theben · January 20, 2000, 22:00

I can also confirm the "mass scrap" bug.

As for bug #10, I had mistaken it for something else. A "power surge" sounds different than an "energy crash". I also didn't realize you could lose mines from a crash.

More bugs (I have read the entire list, but I may have missed these. My disclaimer

):

1) In the military report, the computer lists units as "lost" that in some cases I have never built, or not as many as listed as lost.

2) RE: Lost air units from ally transfer- 1st case I reported was SMAC4. This is SMACX2. Ally transferred units in air; next turn all air units had full 2 turns of movement (and survived, mostly. See below). That turn ally transferred one more air unit; this one crashed before I could access it (as SMAC4 example).
3) Moreover, the Ally transferred *19* air units to me, to a newly conquered size 2 city. 13 had to be disbanded before I could take control.

4) Ally transferred air units to me in a city. Pop up asked if I wanted to change all new air units production (in same turn) to allied (inferior) type + newer reactor; responded no. During city change production but BEFORE my turn had actually started I entered the unit workshop and the AI had created the allied + new reactor unit type, upgraded this type to my preferred version (no actual units were upgraded or costs incurred). When my movement turn started, all newly transferred units had been upgraded to my preferred air unit type, apparently for free.

5) Not a bug, but those pods that you wander around and create instant trees, solar collectors, mines, or farms: would it be so bad if we could actually build something like that during the game? I mean it's old earth technology! Why can't we re-create it somewhere around mid-game? Maybe load it onto a crawler or transport and "detonate" it at the desired location? It would save a LOT of time when building up cities!

6) Also not a true bug, but the cost of empath "special option" should be reduced to 1. The AI puts it on pratically every unit even though it only works agianst PSI units. Either that or fix the AI so it doesn't use them all the time.
[This message has been edited by Theben (edited January 21, 2000).]

Theben · January 20, 2000, 22:40

RE: res/pulse armor 3 and com jammers/trance-

Looking at the alphax.txt I noticed that the r/p 3 armor has a cost of "5", so that would explain why the com j/trance was "0" with impact guns. Also the cost of unarmored sea transports is lower than armored ones, so maybe this isn't a bug at all.

Oh, and before I forget, someone at Firaxis needs to get rid of that slime-covered phallic-like "rock" on the caretaker picture... poor taste, guys.
[This message has been edited by Theben (edited January 21, 2000).]

Bblue · January 21, 2000, 07:45

I've added a few more bugs/enhancements and am looking for some more information reguarding this one by Theben:

Quote:

In the military report, the computer lists units as "lost" that in some cases I have never built, or not as many as listed as lost.

There are alot of problem with the F7(?) screen numbers and want to include as much as possible before I post it. The only thing reguarding it so far on the bug list is that it has a limit of 255 (see #0057 Unit_List).

I believe I have seen an indepth thread somewhere about this screen and I can seem to find it

I think it mentioned that the unit slot# are not reset to 0 for the F7 screen. (ie. slot#12 was laser infanty which you had 6 lost, when that slot gets remade as say String Dreadnaughts it will list 6 loses when you haven't even built one(first part of Thebens post).
Also, if I remember correctly, it mentioned that independant units are not taken into acount on the F7 screen (resulting in the second part of Theben's post) Can anyone confirm any of this.. or have I been hallucinating agian

korn469 · January 23, 2000, 05:40

i came across a strange bug tonight...i created some custom factions in SMAC, and i was conducting diplomacy with the customized Morgan Faction and i asked him to sign a pact, he said he would but needed -100 energy before he would sign...i had 54 energy and he had 88

after we signed the pact he went to -12 energy and i stayed at 54 i have a save

korn469

Bblue · January 23, 2000, 08:00

Just updated the list some, probably my last time for awhile since zsozso will be back tommorow. This week has really helped my post count

If in your posts you mentioned you had saves for the bugs you found please go ahead and email them to zsozso so that he can get them linked into the list. The more bugs we get saves for the better chance I IMHO think people will take this list seriously. I would also like to stress that if you run across a bug (even one that you didn't report) while playing give at a quick save so we can fill out this list.

Thanks all for the help.. and now.. back to zsozso

[This message has been edited by Bblue (edited January 23, 2000).]

Paul · January 23, 2000, 11:00

One request for a future patch: now that I'm playing the Apolyton SMAC tournament I often get new turns for more than one PBEM game. When I finish one game and choose "save and exit" the game quits to the desktop and I have to load the game again. I wonder if it would be possible to have an option to get back to the "load PBEM game" screen when I have played one game and have an other game to play.

Bblue · January 23, 2000, 11:56

Paul: I don't know very much about multiplayer SMAC, but could the reason that the program is closing down be that the games are Ironman?

zsozso · January 24, 2000, 01:47

Many Thanks to Bblue for keeping the bug list updated last week!

I just added Paul's request as #0172, Multiple_PBEM. BTW, it is not only for Ironman setting, it is a simple feature of the "Save and Exit" button, which actually says it in its name, so no surprise there

But it would be nice to have a "Save and back to Main Menu" button too!

Zsozso

Fistleaf · January 24, 2000, 03:24

BugID:Spore Launchers attacking each other.
I actually saw it happening because one of my units was nearby. Can't repeat it because I play Ironman.

Oleg Leschov · January 26, 2000, 01:55

I'll state here some more views on improving AC, I hope somebody will find these interesting.

BugID: Text_Scroll
Catagory: UI.
Priority: 4, minor
Status: pending

The window that appears when new technology is discovered.
In the bottom of it there is a text window with the description and citates.
This window may have a scrollbar which is supposed to scroll a text that doesn't fit in window. The problem is that it scrolls very strangely -- at least I haven't seen this kind of "scroll" elsewhere

When scrolling, every line of text still visible must remain constant. Obviously, but this is not so there.

BugID: Always_Recenter_Active_Unit
Version: Both AX and AC4
Catagory: UI.
Priority: 5
Status: pending

Don't recenter screen on active unit every time when exiting base screen
or anything else. Just do it only when 'center' command issued.
I like how it behave in civ2.

BugID: Minimum_Hurry_Cost
Version: Both AX and AC4
Category: Base.
Priority: 5
Status: pending

Concerning hurrying of production.

You may just pay whole cost, if you have it. This guarantees that in the beginning of the next turn that thing will be completed. But if the base does produce any minerals for next turn and if we suppose that there will not be drone riots then is is absolutely unneccessary to pay a whole cost. Even more -- if it's not a drone riot then paying whole cost is just a waste of money.

So what do I do: I am paying (C/A)*(A-B) credits where B is mineral production of base, A is cost in minerals to complete a thing, C is a cost in credits to complete thing; C/A is a cost of one mineral, A-B is mineral cost without mineral production per turn.

That is, suggestion --- make an additional option to hurry production -- calculate minimum amount of credits required to complete a thing in N turns with current minerals production.