[Logged] Opening Missions leaves a permanent green stain

[c3k]

Okay, newb error?

I started the first surface warfare tutorial. The HMS Sutherland starts on an ASW patrol mission. I open the mission...and the mission area gets highlighted in green.

No matter what I do, the green NEVER GOES AWAY.

1. Closed the Mission Editor window. No change.
2. Removed the HMS Sutherland from the mission. No change.
3. After removal, closed the mission editor. No change.

4. Deleted the mission in the editor. Finally got rid of the green.

I don't WANT to delete the mission. I just don't want to see the green.

What am I doing wrong?

Thanks,
Ken

[c3k]

Another pix, after removing the ship from the mission...

[c3k]

And, the savegame:

[DWReese]

The game will highlight (or designate) or depict the area that is current listed as what is involved with that mission. Since you have clicked off of the ASW mission, the ASW Mission area is still highlighted. Click somewhere else and it will go away.

[michaelm75au]

Isn't there an option under preferences to turn this off?

[DWReese]

Yes, there is.

Go to Map Settings; slide down to Mission area/Course and select Do Not Show.

That will do it. But, doing it that way will eliminate the courses for some of your units that you might prefer to see. Every situation is different, so do what's best for your enjoyment.

[c3k]

ORIGINAL: DWReese

The game will highlight (or designate) or depict the area that is current listed as what is involved with that mission. Since you have clicked off of the ASW mission, the ASW Mission area is still highlighted. Click somewhere else and it will go away.

Thanks. I bolded part of your response.

I have tried that. I've clicked EVERYWHERE I could think of.
I clicked inside the Mission Editor window (to un-highlight the ASW Patrol mission title). No change.
I then closed the Mission Editor (after un-highlighting the ASW Patrol mission title). No change.
I clicked on open ocean. No change.
I selected the HMS Sutherland. No change.
I selected a transiting junk. No change.
I right-clicked on open ocean. No change.

Once I open the Mission Editor, and the highlight appears, there is NO WAY to get rid of the highlight, other than to DELETE the mission.

This seems to be broken.

Try opening the attached (post 3) savegame and see if you can get different behavior. Or if you can verify what I'm seeing.

Thanks,
Ken

[DWReese]

If you followed the follow-up instructions that I wrote to michaelm75au, the it should work. I just tried your scenario and by turning that to DO NOT SHOW, it removed the green box. So, I don't know what to tell you.

Why it wouldn't go away otherwise might have to do with the fact that you only have one mission listed, therefore there was nothing else to display.

I don't see that there is anything wrong.

[c3k]

Thanks for looking.

To clarify, you found that once you opened the Mission Editor, there was NO WAY to turn off the green highlighting, other than to disable ALL HIGHLIGHTING in Game Options Menu?

And, if that's true, you don't think anything's wrong?

[DWReese]

Ken,

I'm just a game player like you. I don't speak with any authority whatsoever.

Through experience, you can see that the game is designed to primarily be played using missions.

The only mission that you have in your scenario is that single mission. As soon as you click on it, the area turns green, as it should. If you had another mission, and you switched to that mission, then the green area would go away, and the new area would be highlighted. So, that seems to work just fine.

If the green area is bothering you, then you have the power to use the DO NOT SHOW option, which makes it go away.

So, the bottom line is, if you want it to go away, then use the DO NOT SHOW option.

Perhaps I'm asleep at the wheel, but I don't understand what you think is "broken" about that.

Doug

[c3k]

The broken part is that...if I do as you say, there is ALWAYS a green area highlighted once I look at a mission editor.

Your "solution" is to turn off all area highlighting. That is masking the problem. Now, I could also go into my monitor's user menu and zero out my greens. That would make this highlight invisible. But that, too, would just be masking the problem.

The problem is in the game code. (Okay, "sub optimal interface".) Once I de-select that mission, that area should no longer be highlighted.

So, sure, there's a way to blind the game...in this scenario...to the issue. But the bigger issue is that the mission area should not remain highlighted if the player is done looking at it.

It's a UI thing: if I select the mission, sure, highlight the area.
Once I'm done looking, let me de-select the mission and STOP the highlight.
(Not highlight the NEXT mission's area.)

[DWReese]

I understand the issue that you describe, but I just don't view this as being a critical concern, at least not to me.

There are more than a couple of other real concerns such as weapons that aren't firing, or planes that won't stay grouped together, that the devs could address before they start trying to find extra ways to make a green box go away. I'm not saying this to diminish your concerns. I just believe that the devs are still grappling with legit game-playing issues. Yours, in my opinion, appears to be more cosmetic in nature.

I'm not trying to say that your concern isn't important. Obviously, it is a real concern to you, and that makes it an important personal issue. I just don't personally see that this issue is actually a real biggie, at least not to me.

But, that's why they have different kinds of cake at the grocery store. Every person is entitled to their own opinion as to which type is best.

Good luck with your effort.

[Zanthra]

I usually just go back to the mission editor and select a support mission like an AEW or Tanker mission to hide mission highlighting. You could even make a single waypoint support mission that would add no UI overlay (I expect a mission with 0 waypoints would work as well). Only the last mission you look at is highlighted, so a blank mission that you can select is effectively an option to deselect a mission.

[Randomizer]

When there are a lot of missions I create a single reference point patrol named AA_Clear Map, so named so it is always at the top of the mission list. Naming it Z_Clear Map also works so as to place it at the bottom of the mission list. Before leaving the Mission window, selecting that mission clears the map and it soon becomes habit. Otherwise it's like Zanthra writes. However, these are probably too complex and sensible work-arounds for some and having the developers spend development time to fix a problem that doesn't really exist would certainly prove a popular solution for many around here.

There are many occasions where retaining the so-called "green smear" on the map is useful for a time so that option had better be gotten rid-of because somebody cannot cope with its presence.

-C

[serjames]

That's a good idea Randomizer. I too just click on a support track mission. that doesn't have a box.

Perhaps what could be done would be for a simple check box in the mission window "hide Shade Areas" - that would be a couple of less clicks than are currently needed to get to the options interface. Learning from the "changes here affect something un-foreseen down the line issue" this will cause problems for new players. In that there will likely be loads of "how do I see mission area" markers requests or "my missions don't show up any more" lol

[c3k]

ORIGINAL: Randomizer

When there are a lot of missions I create a single reference point patrol named AA_Clear Map, so named so it is always at the top of the mission list. Naming it Z_Clear Map also works so as to place it at the bottom of the mission list. Before leaving the Mission window, selecting that mission clears the map and it soon becomes habit. Otherwise it's like Zanthra writes. However, these are probably too complex and sensible work-arounds for some and having the developers spend development time to fix a problem that doesn't really exist would certainly prove a popular solution for many around here.

There are many occasions where retaining the so-called "green smear" on the map is useful for a time so that option had better be gotten rid-of because somebody cannot cope with its presence.

-C

That's a good workaround until/unless this highlighting thing gets tweaked.

Thanks