After 10 updates we still have immobile NPCs?

[ferus]

Just took a mission to kill some poor fella at a settlement. Of course every single NPC is once again glued to the ground
I really thought after 8 months and 10 updates these kind of issues would be loooong gone.

Not to mention the performance of Odyssey is once again worse (at least for me).
It behaves as if I had some power hungry process running in the background - all kinds of jitters and micro stutters. Not cool.


BTW, can anyone tell me how an NPC with level 1 access can even be in a level 3 room?

 

[Ydiss]

I have to admit, there are still a few too many high profile and frequent issues like this one given the number of patches that have passed. They're definitely getting through the issues and the overal state of the expansion is still better. The overal reliability of their AI is still janky though (including missing NPCs, which is still an issue).

 

[Darth Wonko]

I'm seeing improvements in most things since 10, although I know there were a couple of new bugs they introduced. As @Ydiss said, there are still a few too many issues like this, but the expansion continues to improve.

I was hoping to wrap up some mat farming, but the SRV cargo scoop has put a stop to that. Oh, well... I'm just grinding away at my Dominator build instead.

The good news is there's always a grind somewhere to be done...

 

[Frop]

Yes. And the level 1 power plant employee is an intern who has to be escorted in and out by one of the nearby level 3 guards.

 

[metatheurgist]

BTW, can anyone tell me how an NPC with level 1 access can even be in a level 3 room?

Probably the same way I do it. I loiter around the door until someone with level 3 access lets me in.

 

[ferus]

I always look(ed) forward to play Elite but literally every single time I come along a stupid bug or a glitch that ruins the whole experience. I either have to restart the game or jump to SC and back again or abandon missions...
And the fact that this is happening 8 months after release is bad. Very bad.

I tried to be patient and gave FDev many a benefit of the doubt but this is now getting old. With every new update we get old and unresolved bugs, reoccurring bugs and of course new bugs. I know it's nothing new (it's FDev) but that doesn't make it any better. It actually makes it worse.

I don't even think reporting such things makes any difference now.
I am really tired of this and I feel I am starting to regret all the time I wasted with Odyssey. Because at this point it's nothing but a waste of time.

Let's see if something changes in a few months. I will keep checking on the game but my hopes for it are at all time low.

o7

 

[ferus]

Yes. And the level 1 power plant employee is an intern who has to be escorted in and out by one of the nearby level 3 guards.

How do they do it when all NPCs are glued to the ground and no one ever moves?

 

[Frop]

Let's see if something changes in a few months. I will keep checking on the game but my hopes for it are at all time low.

I'm already at the acceptance stage, and it's actually starting to become quite amusing seeing them stumbling around in the dark. Read the latest Update 10 Hotfix thread, they're almost literally admitting that every bug fix and update is a potential risk.

 

[ferus]

Probably the same way I do it. I loiter around the door until someone with level 3 access lets me in.

Except the NPCs don’t move at all so the target had to be spawned there.
And spawning an NPC with a level 1 access authority in a level 3 room is cheating

 

[ferus]

I'm already at the acceptance stage, and it's actually starting to become quite amusing seeing them stumbling around in the dark. Read the latest Update 10 Hotfix thread, they're almost literally admitting that every bug fix and update is a potential risk.

I don’t have as much time to play as I used to have.
So I don’t want to waste my precious moments on a broken game. And that’s why every single obstacle while playing Elite is that much worse for me.
So if Elite stays the same I cannot accept this And this is not what the players paid for but that’s for a different discussion.

If fixing the game is that big of a risk then they should consider either a complete rework or just end it once and for all.
It’s sad to see Elite becoming this huge pile of mess.

 

[Rat Catcher]

And this is not what the players paid for but that’s for a different discussion.

Indeed... Particularly with an inclusive like that.

 

[Viajero]

I have to admit, there are still a few too many high profile and frequent issues like this one given the number of patches that have passed. They're definitely getting through the issues and the overal state of the expansion is still better. The overal reliability of their AI is still janky though (including missing NPCs, which is still an issue).

I have found the missing NPCs issue when it happens to me is not really such. What really happens, at least in my case, is that the killings counter for settlement raid missions does not update quickly enough if you kill several NPCs in too quick succession, i.e. within a matter of 3-4 seconds. The workaround is to check the killing counter goes up after you kill one NPC and before you kill a new one. If you kill a second NPC too fast, before the counter is updated, then the counter will miss the first one.

Overall, I find the settlement gameplay quite a smooth experience, and serious bugs are at this point really rare.

 

[Ian Doncaster]

I have found the missing NPCs issue when it happens to me is not really such. What really happens, at least in my case, is that the killings counter for settlement raid missions does not update quickly enough if you kill several NPCs in too quick succession, i.e. within a matter of 3-4 seconds. The workaround is to check the killing counter goes up after you kill one NPC and before you kill a new one. If you kill a second NPC too fast, before the counter is updated, then the counter will miss the first one.

Overall, I find the settlement gameplay quite a smooth experience, and serious bugs are at this point really rare.

Interesting. That's not what happens for me - I've taken out multiple at once with the rocket launcher and been credited properly.

The times the NPC goes missing for me at the big extraction bases (2 EXT buildings a way from the rest) is that one of the two on the EXT side of the warehouse just disappears. Landing at night I can see their torch on the way down ... by the time I've dealt with the ones on the main concourse, one of them is just gone. https://issues.frontierstore.net/issue-detail/47181 seems a plausible explanation

If I relog, try again, and get the ones on that side quick enough, I can do the missions, but there's presumably a deep hole somewhere around there they keep falling in.

Anyway, the issue is stuck in the Confirming->Expired->someone else reports it cycle (47181 seems to be the fifth or sixth time at least) so I think we can say it's Working As Intended: sometimes your mission provider will set you up to fail on the scavenger hunt missions and that's just the Dangerous Galaxy for you. If it was a bug, Frontier would have had a procedure for it to be reported and fixed by now.

 

[bangermsuk]

i have found one npc in a FcZ that was star gazing. looking straight up to the sky why all his buddies were dieing around him.that wasn't me killing them either i was on his team. yes i did shoot him but that didn't do anything.

 

[bangermsuk]

I have found the missing NPCs issue when it happens to me is not really such. What really happens, at least in my case, is that the killings counter for settlement raid missions does not update quickly enough if you kill several NPCs in too quick succession, i.e. within a matter of 3-4 seconds. The workaround is to check the killing counter goes up after you kill one NPC and before you kill a new one. If you kill a second NPC too fast, before the counter is updated, then the counter will miss the first one.

Overall, I find the settlement gameplay quite a smooth experience, and serious bugs are at this point really rare.

we have a mass murder

 

[Ydiss]

I have found the missing NPCs issue when it happens to me is not really such. What really happens, at least in my case, is that the killings counter for settlement raid missions does not update quickly enough if you kill several NPCs in too quick succession, i.e. within a matter of 3-4 seconds. The workaround is to check the killing counter goes up after you kill one NPC and before you kill a new one. If you kill a second NPC too fast, before the counter is updated, then the counter will miss the first one.

Overall, I find the settlement gameplay quite a smooth experience, and serious bugs are at this point really rare.

Perhaps that's how it is for you, but I've documented (on video) the exact NPC that vanishes in one settlement at least. It's the same NPC (a guard by the "entrance") every time. I've completed the massacre mission at this specific settlement so many times I know all the NPC locations by heart and this is the only one that is either there (and so the mission can be finished) or is not (and so it cannot and you're left with 20/21 kills). You can actually determine if it's bugged before wasting time by visiting this spot first to check. What I don't know is if this is the same for other setttlements that bug out.

So your bug is a different bug to the one I'm talking about but I've never seen it.

I record everything to video. I'm going to check over my recording to see if this is what happened.

Edit: I just checked my video where I took on a 16 kill mission at Conteh Hydroponics Market in Groombridge 34 twice in a row. On both occasions it ended up 14/16 and no more targets to kill (and the targets I could kill were the same 14 NPCs). What you describe doesn't happen. In fact, in one sequence I kill two NPCs quickly, faster than the counter could keep up with, yet it counted both fine. I can upload this sequence to Youtube if anyone wants to see.

So, you're suggesting that settlement game play is fine yet you've highlighted another fringe bug I cannot reproduce as your evidence that it's "smooth"

I think that you perhaps just don't do this mission at these locations like I have and so don't encounter the bug? I'm 100% sure that if you did, you'd encounter the exact same bugs that I have. And they have been in the game for months and should be fixed, in my opinion. Now, anecdotally speaking (as you were), my experience has been smooth just like you.

Until I started taking this mission type.

And that's really my point.

 

[Frop]

What I don't know is if this is the same for other setttlements that bug out.

Seeing that a lot (if not all) of the settlements have pre-placed spawn positions for NPCs, this is a possibility. Since my inventory is usually maxed out, I just relog instantly when I reach a settlement for a massacre to avoid wasting time on finding that last non-existent NPC. In my experience this also gives you a higher chance to avoid the broken kill counter and disappearing objective bugs as well.

 

[Ydiss]

Seeing that a lot (if not all) of the settlements have pre-placed spawn positions for NPCs, this is a possibility. Since my inventory is usually maxed out, I just relog instantly when I reach a settlement for a massacre to avoid wasting time on finding that last non-existent NPC. In my experience this also gives you a higher chance to avoid the broken kill counter and disappearing objective bugs as well.

I tested this. It resulted in the same NPC being gone and the hydroponics settlement appears to always only have 14/16 (after two isolated attempts, both recorded on video). So perhaps it's worth a try but I don't believe it's a reliable workaround.

The best fix is for FD to actually fix it, in my opinion.

 

[Viajero]

So, you're suggesting that settlement game play is fine yet you've highlighted another fringe bug I cannot reproduce as your evidence that it's "smooth"

Yeah, in my case I have not been having any major issues, and certainly no NPC missing except in the cases that I described. Not saying it does not happen in the way you describe, just that I have not encountered it.

 

[Ydiss]

Yeah, in my case I have not been having any major issues, and certainly no NPC missing except in the cases that I described.

As I said, if you visit the settlement I highlighted, you'll see 14 NPCs there I am sure.

The mission pointing to it demands 16.

Oviously if you don't do the things that result in bugs, you won't see bugs. Most of my experience since returning has been positive. Except for this mission type. And I do still see static NPCs. Just as the OP suggests.

I think these bugs should really be eliminated by now, if I'm honest. Hopefully they will be, because they are still occuring enough that little old me found them within 2 days of returning to the game.