City of Heroes: Live Forum Archive

Allies STILL cannot fly in AE missions

AngryRedHerring

By AngryRedHerring,
Posted on: 2009-08-07 13:27 in ALL ACCESS Gameplay Technical Issues Bugs

 

Posted

I've gone back and forth with support a couple of times on this issue, but no sign of getting it fixed so far. They must be busy with customizing every single power in the game or something.

It does break my heart, though, because one of the ways I created the chaos of "Invasion on Earth BX1132!" was by having lots of flying enemies and allies-- shots flying everywhere, mayhem in the skies, cats and dogs living together, mass hysteria.

Since the first patch to I14, though, allies do not fly-- at least allies set to follow. I've tested this with both Flight and Reflections/Effects. Allies in patrols will fly just fine, but... well, I've copied the reports I made to support below, starting with my original in-game petition back in mid-May:

Quote:
Allies in MA missions have not been flying for me since the last patch. The best I can do is make them fly for a second if I'm flying when I rescue them or return to them, but then they immediately turn off fly.
More detail provided in the email exchange:

Quote:
Yes, it is a mission architect arc, and it is mine. The arc # is 98943, "Invasion on Earth BX1132", and the allies are in the 3rd mission, on the Carnival Commercial Outdoor map-- but this is NOT an arc-specific issue. Ever since the last patch, allies with Fly... don't.

The best I could get them to do was to fly for a second when I rescued them or re-established contact with them, but only if I was flying myself-- they would come up in the air to meet me, then they would IMMEDIATELY turn off Fly. Flying into the air while they are following you, however, just leaves them behind on the ground.

Again, this is not a problem caused by my arc-- allies flew fine before the last patch, and now they do not. It is also not a problem with those specific characters: the same characters show up in patrols in the same mission, and the patrols fly just fine.

Something in the last patch borked flying allies, and I'm not the first one to bring this up; I've seen several references to this exact same problem on the forums, but as yet no acknowledgment from the powers that be that this is an actual issue. I know you guys suggest posting things like this on the forums, but so far that has done no good. Without any acknowledgment on the forums, the only thing I could think to do was to issue a support ticket; if this ain't a bug, well, I don't know what is.

Thanks for your time,
Dave Harlan
I was told this was being reported as an official bug, and I went on my merry way. Later, I went back to working on my sequel to BX1132, and again ran into problems with allies with Flight.

This time, however, Flight was bugged while I was working on the mission, as opposed to me discovering it in an already-published mission-- now I had a lot more room to play around with the bug without mangling my published arc. While doing so, I noticed a behavior common to both arcs, and common to both patrol allies with fly and follow allies with fly; the best I could come up with to call it was the 'hop-step'.

Quote:
Well, flying allies still do not fly in AE missions (since the first patch to I14). But I have noticed a behavior that may help in resolving this.

Playing and replaying the affected (third) mission in my arc# 98943, I noticed that sometimes the allies-who-are-supposed-to-be-able-to-fly would walk with a little 'hop-step'; it's like they start to jump, then immediately stop. It makes them walk even slower than the normal walk animation. This effect of them starting to fly, then immediately stopping, is very similar to the effect I noted in an earlier email:

"The best I could get them to do was to fly for a second when I rescued them or re-established contact with them, but only if I was flying myself-- they would come up in the air to meet me, then they would IMMEDIATELY turn off Fly. Flying into the air while they are following you, however, just leaves them behind on the ground."

I'm working on a sequel to that arc (currently unpublished), and in the first mission I have a detail with an ally boss who, upon rescue, runs to the nearest door (I know there are easier ways to do this, but I was experimenting with allied bosses). The ally boss is capable of flight; which, of course, this being an AE mission, means he doesn't fly at all. I started working on this mission *just* before the patch to I14 that borked ally flight-- and in those first couple of tests he flew to the door. Ever *since* the first patch to I14, he no longer flies. Instead, he does the little hop-step-- ALL THE WAY TO THE FREAKIN' DOOR. To quote Mike Nelson, "John Goodman on Hume Cronyn's back could outrun this guy".

I got frustrated and back-burnered the mission. As changes were made to AE, I would go back and tweak my missions to make sure they worked, and it was during this tweaking that I noticed the allied bosses in mission 3 of my arc# 98943 doing the same little hop-step. The allies behaving in this manner are in patrols. The allies set to follow in the mission, however, do *not* do the 'hop-step'.

These are the common elements of the two NPCs that get stuck in 'hop-step':
1. They both have flight, but cannot use it.
2. They are both bosses set to ally.
3. Their 'hop-step' occurs at a point when they should be activating flight.
4. They are both allies that are FOLLOWING AI PATHING, NOT FOLLOWING A CHARACTER.

As best as I can tell, the 'hop-step' occurs as a result of repeatedly attempting to activate flight, then immediately turning it off. It's very quick: Fly-Off-Fly-Off-Fly-Off-Fly-Off. While flying allies set to follow will run after you, albeit remaining earthbound, flying allies with AI paths get stuck in this 'hop-step' loop.

OK. That's all I have for now.

...Can you tell that I really really *really *want my AE allies to be able to fly again?

Thanks very much,
Dave Harlan
Now, while ally patrols can fly if necessary, sometimes they walk along and then start the hop-step, as though they're trying to turn on fly and can't. It does not shut down the ability to fly, though, it just that they cannot dependably use it.

Allies on follow, however, do not do the hop-step at all-- they follow at a normal running pace, but if you outdistance them, they do not activate fly to keep up (like they used to at I14 launch). And if you fly, they just stay put (no 'hop-step').

So that's as much as I've figured out; Allies that follow AI pathing can fly, it just doesn't always work, and they often get stuck in the hop-step. Allies that follow Player Characters cannot fly at all, but they run just fine.

I know there are others out there who have encountered these issues; does anyone have any observations on this behavior that I have not noted? Anybody have any ideas why this has been happening since the first patch to I14? Anybody notice that this is driving me completely insane?

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Check... and Mate (poster) - Arc ID# 15095 (comments)
Invasion on Earth BX1132! (poster 1) - (poster 2) - Arc ID# 98943 (comments)
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