MED: Tunnels

[Oscarmike247]

I cannot seem to figure out why my tunnel sections are not working. When you're in any given section of the tunnel, all other sections disappear. You know the usual tunnel bug.

I've set up many tunnels before, and yes you run into this sometimes, but usually there is something not aligned correctly or an interior object causing something weird. This time, I cannot figure out why they're not working. They work initially, then without moving them, placing objects in them or editing ANYTHING about them, they will suddenly stop working. and once they stop, they don't start working again.

worth noting:
-There are no objects or AI in the tunnel.
-The tunnel is very small, just one entrance, a hallway and a small room with end caps blocking the other 3 doorways.
-This is in stock JO:E. No mods.

What I've tried:
-Made sure the tunnels are perfectly aligned using a 1m grid snap, their z values are all the exact same, no rotation.

-I also placed the sections by inserting, not copying, as I read somewhere that copying can cause issues.

-I tried moving the tunnel so the entrance is more underground. Hell, I even started over with a different tunnel entrance on a flat terrain.

-I tried editing the objects in the .mis file using notepad to set up the blink box groups. Which seemed to work at first, then as before, after re loading the game a few times, it stops working. I checked the .mis file in notepad to be sure all of my "blink_group_a 1" were still there and didn't get overwritten by the med.

Is there something I'm missing?? It's just strange that when I place them initially they work fine, but if I close the map/game and load back into it, some of them start disappearing, then eventually they will all stop working.

Thanks for any help.

[jabo1SFH]

the drug lab pieces?


i know one of the endcap items for the drug lab tunnels causes other pieces to disappear. if you have more than one it gets worse.


i try to avoid those if i use the drug lab tunnel items for this reason (which has been very rare for me).


there are not many workarounds for this other than blocking an area with a non-tunnel piece.


you also have to be careful when aligning those particular pieces since the boards for the doorways are slanted and you could misalign pieces even with the snap feature. i always line up my pieces one at a time on any tunnel item i use. yes, it can be tedious but i prefer it that way.

[Oscarmike247]

Originally Posted by jabo1SFH

the drug lab pieces?


i know one of the endcap items for the drug lab tunnels causes other pieces to disappear. if you have more than one it gets worse.


i try to avoid those if i use the drug lab tunnel items for this reason (which has been very rare for me).


there are not many workarounds for this other than blocking an area with a non-tunnel piece.


you also have to be careful when aligning those particular pieces since the boards for the doorways are slanted and you could misalign pieces even with the snap feature. i always line up my pieces one at a time on any tunnel item i use. yes, it can be tedious but i prefer it that way.

I do have 3 end caps blocking the other 3 doorways of the tunnel room section. maybe that is causing the issue. It's just weird that I built this tunnel at the start of my map and it has always worked fine, then out of nowhere it it stops working. I will try only using maybe 1 end cap, then create another set of hallways that just loop back around. or like you said, block it with a non tunnel section.

Thanks for the info, I didn't know about the end cap issue.

I've some wacky stuff with these same tunnel sections before, including using the hallways for vertical shafts with ladders and even slanted hallways. yeah it's buggy at first, but once you get them all positioned right and working, they usually stay that way. This issue just seems to randomly pop up. It's really rustling my jimmies. lol

[Oscarmike247]

I eliminated the end caps and it seems to work now. the funny thing is that it only works on the first load of the map. It's a singe player map, if you restart the map, the issue starts again. :/ I might end up scrapping the tunnels in this map. Maybe it has something to do with being close to the object limit or something.

[jabo1SFH]

Originally Posted by Oscarmike247

I eliminated the end caps and it seems to work now. the funny thing is that it only works on the first load of the map. It's a singe player map, if you restart the map, the issue starts again. :/ I might end up scrapping the tunnels in this map. Maybe it has something to do with being close to the object limit or something.

yeah, that could have an impact. what is your vertex data showing in the save file?

[~BLÃÐE~]

I have added a zip called Tunnels it is the DFReload page on Tunnels i had put away. Hope it helps

[Baldo_the_Don]

I've seen this happen in a bunch of building items in various NL game mods where interior architecture doesn't render after a mission restart or loading a save. If it's like the Druglord's Villa, adding decorations like rugs or tables fixes it. If it's like the bunkers in the TIOCoop mod, then just don't restart or load saves.

If I had to guess, and I do have to, I've no idea what I'm talking about here, it seems some item information is only loaded when starting the mission, and is purged somehow when restarting, or not even saved in a mission save.

And I can't really remember, but I think I found that quitting to main menu, then reloading a save made the buildings stop glitching. I'm not sure if this will work for tunnels.

It's a question of first remembering which of a dozen mods I saw this in, then finding a mission that is easy to replicate the issue in, then FAFO, and man, I'm tired right now.

[~BLÃÐE~]

This is one of the reasons i stopped working on Nova stuff, items disappearing. Every time i made a map, you turn sideways and loose most of the screen items in the rendering setup.

Try putting the the tunnel into another map or delete some items to see if it makes a difference.

[Oscarmike247]

Thanks for everyone's replies on this. So I deleted the tunnel sections and started over again, this time placing some objects inside, and now it seems to work. It doesn't happen now if I restart the map which is good. The only time it seems to happen is if I ALT+TAB out of the game, which I think that is a DirectX issue. If you alt+tab too many many times, eventually everything will stop rendering.

[Oscarmike247]

Originally Posted by ~BLÃÐE~

I have added a zip called Tunnels it is the DFReload page on Tunnels i had put away. Hope it helps

This honestly doesn't help much with the current issue, but this is very cool to have. Thanks!

[Oscarmike247]

Does anyone know exactly how ploop or gloop works?

I noticed this in another map from GenElec.

gloop
MarkVDelta
ssn2ssn(item,71504)
ssnatt(item,600)
end

This map was made in NILE, which I do not use. Is it taking the actual name of the group and applying an SSN action to each item of the group?? I tried this in the MED, but I'm either not doing it correctly or it doesn't work.

[jabo1SFH]

Originally Posted by Oscarmike247

Does anyone know exactly how ploop or gloop works?

I noticed this in another map from GenElec.

gloop
MarkVDelta
ssn2ssn(item,71504)
ssnatt(item,600)
end

This map was made in NILE, which I do not use. Is it taking the actual name of the group and applying an SSN action to each item of the group?? I tried this in the MED, but I'm either not doing it correctly or it doesn't work.

its more for nile to assign groups similar to how we set a specific amount of ai to a particular group in the med.

not sure if thats what you are asking. med users can use gloop and ploop, but med scripting does it more efficiently.

[Oscarmike247]

Originally Posted by jabo1SFH

its more for nile to assign groups similar to how we set a specific amount of ai to a particular group in the med.

not sure if thats what you are asking. med users can use gloop and ploop, but med scripting does it more efficiently.

too many tabs open. I meant to post this in the WAC thread. haha