GWX2.0 - Strange issues (not sure if GWX related)
 

On my last patrol the I met some strange game behaviors. I'm not sure if they are bugs, but can't remember seeing any of these before. Info below, hope it helps the devs. :)

0. Happened to me twice or thrice, that orders during battle are not more clickable. You can actually click on the icons, but nothing happenes, like you never clicked. Never got it if not fighting. Last time happened to me 3 minutes after sinking a ship, when submerged and hunted. Very frustrating and quite dangerous. :) Key shortcuts work however.

1. BdU reported an enemy task force twice, I met it and sunk the flag ship. Nine more ships (destroyers, maybe frigates too) went further after some DC'ing. Some time later BdU reported the task force again, but this time it was not "enemy task force...", but nine separate "enemy warship" reports in the very same second. Looks like sinking one ship changed the task force into seperate records in data base (April 14 '40, Wesserubung, NW of Norway, VIIB, 2nd Flotilla Wilhelmshaven). Screenshots:

http://img249.imageshack.us/img249/3742/03um9.png

http://img249.imageshack.us/img249/493/01jh0.png http://img185.imageshack.us/img185/5883/02ys3.png

2. My gramophone started playing WITHOUT ORDER about half an hour after escorts stopped DC'ing and went their way and I was slowly surfacing. I usually have the gramophone on, but always switch it of when hunting/hunted and I'm sure I didn't switch it on again this time. It started playing the only track in "Gramophone" folder that is SH3 related, sounds like some victory or battle music. I got my "music" option off.

My config:
Windows XP Pro SP 2, Polish version
SH3 + GWX 2.0 + SH3Commander latest version.
Mods:
- GWX - Captain's America Officer Icons,
- GWX - Lite Harbour Traffic,
- Nav Map Bearing Tool (only TGA files),
- GWX 2.0 - no RING RING mod by Melendir.

Well, for your first issue, I have no idea what you are talking about.

For your second issue, it looks to me like you've encountered a spawning point or you have close to within visual range, at which point a single convoy/task force map contact splits into separate individual contacts.

1st issue seems like hardware-lag to me....what's your PC like, apart from the OS?

I meant the small white order icons above the officers in left-bottom corner of the screen. You can see those on the first screenshot I posted. So - sometimes when hunting or being hunted they (the icons) stop working, clicking on them causes no reaction at all.

You can see my sub icon on the first screen, it's much beyond the visual range from the task force. But of course we established visual contact before, when I sank one of these ships. But this happened at least a few hours before the strange reports came.

If it's a feature, not a buggy, it's a new one. In GWX it happened to me a few times to receive a convoy report from BdU some time AFTER encountering the very convoy. But then the BdU report was still about convoy, not about numerous single enemy ships.

As to the "spawn point" I don't understand what you mean :), but I'm sure that is not the starting location of that task force. The long line on the screen marks the path of that task force, and the X mark marks the location of one of the ships being sunk.

The PC is more than poor, absolutely not sufficient for smooth GWX playing. But when the bug occurs, all the other icons work well: the officers, the nav. tools, the dials, the TDC and so on. As well as keyboard shortcuts.

Re the Taskforce: I suspect that after you sunk one ship from the convoy, the number of ships dropped below the game limits where it designates what's a convoy and what's not. That maybe why they are now shown as individual reports/ships.

For example, the game may say:

10 to 15 ships = Small Convoy
15 to 25 ships = Medium Convoy
25+ Ships = Large Convoy

These are examples only. So if you reduce the number to 9 in the original convoy, the game displays them a single contacts.

Roger dodger von_Mumit.

I've never experienced any situation where the orders icons failed to function. Not sure what to say there.

You still may have encountered a convoy/task force spawning point. (If a convoy's lead ship is a warship, the radio contact you recieve may be labeled as a 'task force.'

Otherwise, all I can say is that with PC specs far below recommended, all sorts of game wierdness once fully loaded, can be expected.

During testing, one of the crew who's specs are below recommended reported a number of issues relating to the player interface... though the same issues were absent elsewhere amongst other testers.

What you are seeing may be a manifestation of the same.

[Edit.. Sorry for cross post danlisa. Your points are valid also.]

It sounds like your boat is... HAUNTED !!!:o

Seriously.. it does sound like a lag issue.

Thanks for answers. Hope it served the cause at least a little bit. :)

I can confirm your first issue (0), on GWX 1.3 btw, I think it happens when you right click for example the sonar man and give order for example to follow the closest ship when he refuses to do so because he has no contact although the target is maybe 1000 meters away... I think when you give orders from any of the stations you can man yourself, even to other stations through the icons on the bottom left, you get this. When it stops I usually get a whole lot of messages in the text window of all the orders I have given, I don't know how I got it to work again like it should tho, but i got it to work through trying several things, of which I obviously don't know which fixed the issue.

Issue number 2 happens all the time, don't think it's a bug, if you occupy the time of some escort long enough they'll also show up as a taskforce


Issue number 3, never had this happen, but I only rarely listen to the grammophone.

That explanations sounds quite reasonable. It happens to me only when hunting/hunted, i.e. when I man the stations personally. I don't do it in other circumstances (only hydrophones), so the bug didn't show when not hunting/hunted. :)

Will look at the radio reports for those DDs
Can sometimes happen the game reports them where they were after you have seen them
They spawn just outseide Scapa so thats not an issue