Originally Posted by Front Runner
I just discovered a BIGGY. I'm not sure if this has ever been isolated or reported before.
It happened like this. I was starting up SH4 FOTRSUv80 RS2 this morning and I loaded up the save game that I saved last night. As sometimes happens, the RADIO is already playing when the scene opens in the control room. Other than that, nothing seems out of whack. Normally, I would either back out to the Main Menu, or back out to Windows and try again.
This time, I decided to try, as I sometimes do, loading an earlier save. I did, and when the scene opened in the control room the RADIO was NOT playing. OK, good, now I'll load up the save game where I left off last night.
One save game was made right at SUNSET. The other save game was a NOON save game. I am playing at a combination of 1x and 512x time compression.
NOW, here is the discovery. When I loaded up the NOON save game and it opened to the Control Room scene and the RADIO was off, I immediately loaded up the SUNSET save game and when it loaded, I started playing from the MAP (F5) and set TC at 512x. Shortly thereafter I get a RADAR CONTACT. So I order a Crash Dive and then go to external view. That is when I noticed that it was broad daylight! I mean like NOON broad daylight.
OK, when I had loaded up the SUNSET save game (the second time), and it started, I neglected to notice that, one, the lighting in the control room was daytime, and, the lighting on the MAP was also daytime.
What I had inadvertently discovered is the source of the very whacked out Base Time differentials. Propbeanie, I remember you mentioning this before that you also noticed some Base Time shifts when loading and/or reloading previous save games.
Had I continued to play, Base Time would've lost ALL meaning because, by loading the NOON save game, then upon opening the control room scene and immediately loading the SUNSET save, (and not noticing that Base Time vs Celestial Sphere was WAY out of whack,) then ALL of my subsequent save games would've been based on the whacked out Base Time vs Celestial Sphere.
I was able to repeat this several times and every single time, the error occurred. I have the save games that I used in case you are interested in trying, but I think you can test this yourselves by,
1. Starting SH4 and loading a save game that you know was made near SUNSET or at NIGHT. Notice that the CONTROL ROOM lights are red. (Night)
Note your Base Time. (Mine was 2036 which was correct according to my Lat. Long position referenced to my Midway Base.)
2. When the (Step 1) CONTROL ROOM scene opens, before you do anything else, load a save game that you know was made near NOON or during DAYLIGHT hours. Notice that the CONTROL ROOM lights are white. (Daylight) Note your Base Time. (Mine was 1215 which was NOON at my Midway Base.)
I don't care what my local noon is/was. That Base Time is where I make my save games when playing. For example, I make saves at SR, SS, NOON, MR, MS, and MIDNIGHT.
3. When the (Step 2) CONTROL ROOM scene opens, before you do anything else, load the save game from Step 1. When the CONTROL ROOM scene opens, the CONTROL ROOM lights are still white. (Daylight) Note your Base Time. (Mine was 2036 just as it was in Step 1.)
4. Go to external view and see the sun high in the sky even though your Base Time is indicating sunset or night time (for you.)
Now, I tried to correct the error by backing out to the MAIN menu and again loading my Sunset Save. Nope, that didn't get ride of the Celestial Sphere displacement caused by the above steps.
Then, I closed SH4 to Windows. I did not restart the computer nor did I log out of being the current user. I restarted SH4 and reloaded my SUNSET save and all was right with the world. My Base Time was correct and my Celestial Sphere was in sync with my save game.
I hope that you have all been able to follow this. If you have, then you can begin to see the implications and how it absolutely affects game play.
If I had continued on my Patrol without restarting SH4, my combined Celestial Sphere displacement caused by Steps 1 -4 above, and, the typical (and CORRECT) Base Time displacement from Midway, would've made it completely and utterly impossible to calculate Base Time and know whether it is DAY or NIGHT for the ENEMY. Nor would I be able to predict SR, SS, MR, or MS.
I was able to duplicate this error several times before I decided to post my observations.
Propbeanie, this explains your observations. I don't believe this is a FOTRSUv80 RS2 issue. I believe that it is a VANILLA Game issue. I'll try to verify this soon.
All because of the RADIO playing on LOAD game, which happens from time to time.
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