Enemy Position LOS bug

[alwaysdime]

I have been noticing a bug in many screnarios in Middle East and Vietnam where if you click on an enemy position, either spotted or unspotted the LOS is not correct. In ME it seems to just highlight 2 hex's in all directions and in Vietnam it shows no sight outside of that hex. For single player you now know if enemy units are in a hex or not.

I have 2.31 02 install buts this has been around since the first beta in 2.30

This screen shot is the scenario Last Bastion from ME.

I also think there is bug with the version. You can see it shows 1.31.02 from Jul 22 2024 but should be 2.31.02.

[Jason Petho]

Yes, the version id slipped in for Vietnam into Middle East, sorry about that.

Good catch on the bug though!

[Crossroads]

Hello alwaysdime, thanks for the report, and sorry about the version number gaffe in the about dialog.

I was not immidiately able to reproduce the LOS bug you are seeing and what your screenshot reports as well.

I am testing with Teaching Set A05 - 1982, and with all Optional Rules = ON, with all Optional Rules = ON but Enhanced Spotting, and with all Optional Rules = ON but Enhanced FOW, Enhanced Spotting.

What optional rules are you using? Do you happen to have a save file available?

[alwaysdime]

Here is a save but I should note it happens before I even do a first save. I have fiddled with testing different optional rules but it doesn't seem to matter.

Optional Rules
Adaptive AI
Indirect Fire By The Map
Command Control
Variable Visibility

I see this issue in all scenarios I try in both games.

NOTE: I had to change the file extension to up load it here so you'll have to rename it.

[Crossroads]

Here is a save but I should note it happens before I even do a first save. I have fiddled with testing different optional rules but it doesn't seem to matter.

Optional Rules
Adaptive AI
Indirect Fire By The Map
Command Control
Variable Visibility

I see this issue in all scenarios I try in both games.

NOTE: I had to change the file extension to up load it here so you'll have to rename it.

Thank you for taking the time to provide a save file!

As for fixing this, well, 'the worst bugs are the ones that don't work properly.' I'm not seeing the same result you're getting. Hmm... I need to try this scenario from the beginning to see if I can replicate the issue that way.

losbug.jpg (554.48 KiB) Viewed 478 times

[Crossroads]

I have been noticing a bug in many screnarios in Middle East and Vietnam where if you click on an enemy position, either spotted or unspotted the LOS is not correct. In ME it seems to just highlight 2 hex's in all directions and in Vietnam it shows no sight outside of that hex. For single player you now know if enemy units are in a hex or not.

Wait, this is what I have, too. I see what you mean, elsewhere the empty hex shows visible hexes from it, while a hex containing enemy units does not do that. The bug works!

[Crossroads]

Wait, this is what I have, too. I see what you mean, elsewhere the empty hex shows visible hexes from it, while a hex containing enemy units does not do that. The bug works!

And now I get the randomness as well, sometimes it is two hexes, sometimes not. And of course, with Extreme Fog-of-War selected, this is not an issue as it is not allowed to check visibilities from a hex you don't have feet on the ground at. LOS is notoriously complex in game code as I found out fixing the PBEM Night turn replay bug. I hope to have this fixed for the 2.40.00 release, of course.

Meanwhile, as a workaround, either do not click at hexes you don't have units at, or select Enhanced FOW.

I do like basic FOW as well as it shows the unit details of spotted units, always.

Thanks again for your time reporting this!

[Crossroads]

Here is a save but I should note it happens before I even do a first save. I have fiddled with testing different optional rules but it doesn't seem to matter.

Optional Rules
Adaptive AI
Indirect Fire By The Map
Command Control
Variable Visibility

I see this issue in all scenarios I try in both games.

NOTE: I had to change the file extension to up load it here so you'll have to rename it.

Hello alwaysdime, I'd like to return to your bug report with Middle East 3.00

I upgraded the Scenario Setup phase in placing all the Optional Rule and Fog of War setting logic within the new Setup New Scenario dialog. I did that quite early in the 3.00 coding phase.

What I have now is that when I manually edit your save file to work with 3.00, the bug "works", but once I set a new fresh scneario with 3.00, I don't see the bug.

Could you please try it again yourself as well, if you have the 3.00 Public Beta installed?

What I currently see is this. There is an enemy unit in that hex. But am I missing something here per the situation you had?

I have the same optional rules set as what you have. The scenario is the Teaching Set 1982.

regularFOW_LOS_bug_ME300.jpg (361.92 KiB) Viewed 309 times

Edit: hmm, Enhanced Assaults seems to be set ON even if I did not choose that. I will need to look into that. But that is a different issue. Or so one would think. Investigating.

[Crossroads]

Here is a save but I should note it happens before I even do a first save. I have fiddled with testing different optional rules but it doesn't seem to matter.

Optional Rules
Adaptive AI
Indirect Fire By The Map
Command Control
Variable Visibility

I see this issue in all scenarios I try in both games.

NOTE: I had to change the file extension to up load it here so you'll have to rename it.

--snip--

Edit: hmm, Enhanced Assaults seems to be set ON even if I did not choose that. I will need to look into that. But that is a different issue. Or so one would think. Investigating.

Enhanced Assault selection fixed. Still seeing this working properly. If possible could you test this out as well? Maybe there was a legacy issue with the previous Choose Dialog + Optional Rule dialog combo.

regularFOW_LOS_bug_ME301.jpg (432.5 KiB) Viewed 302 times

[Crossroads]

Well, bug confirmed with 3.00.0x as well. With Last Bastion, it only shows a one hex radious if enemy present, but with Teach 82, it worked properly

Back to the drawing board...

regularFOW_LOS_bug_ME301_LastBastion.jpg (347.55 KiB) Viewed 295 times

[Crossroads]

Well, bug confirmed with 3.00.0x as well. With Last Bastion, it only shows a one hex radious if enemy present, but with Teach 82, it worked properly

No, it did not. Having reinstalled Middle East 2.01 to my disk, I can confirm under regural FOW clicking at random map hexes always properly displays the line-of-sight within visibility range from that hex, be it empty, or be there an unspotted enemy unit (the bug here).

The bug seems to display itself in random manner, the clue is that the LOS radius is shown wrong, be it a perfect radius - through hills and forests - or as reported, a zero or one hex visibility.

I can also confirm this bug first appeared in Vietnam 1.00, and has been around since.

Back to the drawing board...

This part is true, though. I now have the Middle East 2.01 and Vietnam 1.00 source code baselines in front of me. Now to figure out what broke this in between. That is three years of Jungle warfare specific code changes in between the baselines.

Enhanced spotting is not it, it is clearly a thing of its own. Something else. Unfortunately, concealment and LOS is probably the most complex thing under the hood.

[Crossroads]

Ha, caught the bugger. It was an erroneous airlevel check that borked things. This will again be WAD for 3.00.01.

regularFOW_ME301_LastBastion.jpg (434.16 KiB) Viewed 255 times