Possible link to the last-mob-standing bug

[PoptartsNinja]

So, I was running a mission with a group of friends, we clear an Oranbega map--nothing unusual, standard kill all, last spawn doesn't appear but we find it anyway because it's a small map. But after we cleared it, I noticed something I've never seen before:

 

All of the pain/healing/endurance crystals lit up on the map as if they were the last surviving enemy spawn.

 

I couldn't get a screenshot with the hover text appearing, but those are all crystal spawns.

 

I think the reason the last enemy spawn sometimes doesn't show up is because the process may be mis-identifying items, glowies, or active map objects (like the CoT crystals) as enemies and counting them towards the tracker. I think the only reason why the crystals showed up is because this mission had the CoT prison room, and I know for a fact the prison doors show up on the map when the last spawn remains--which they did (I'm in the prison room in that image).

 

It might be worth a private (or even public test server) test with the "last enemy" bumped up from last spawn to last 3-5 spawns to see what shows up and if any weird extras like glowies, crystals, destructable objects, etc. can get removed from the tracker somehow?

Edited April 29 by PoptartsNinja

[Hyperstrike]

Anything that helps devs quash this infuriating behavior is worth every last second of troubleshooting, AND THEN SOME!

[Rudra]

I don't think that is the cause of the problem. It needs to be fixed just the same, but the crystals and cell doors show up at the same time as the last spawn even on small maps for me so far, that is, when the show last spawn feature works. And if they don't all show up at once? Then even after clearing the last spawn they still remain off the map in my experience.

[PoptartsNinja]

That isn't a behavior from live, though. The crystals never showed up back then, which is why I thought something may have changed.

 

One other behavior I've noticed: I've run AE missions for SG mates on a specific large outdoor map, and on that map there are some spawns that do not appear until you reach certain physical trigger spots and other spawns that don't appear until you've cleared a certain amount of enemies off the map (about 50%). Mobs not spawning due to entity limits is understandable, but I've never been certain we've actually been beating every spawn because sometimes those spawn locations just never trigger. My other suspicion is there may be some bugged spawns that do not appear properly or are looking for a trigger that doesn't exist; but still count towards the last mob standing tracker total.

 

So if you have a mission that consistently doesn't track the last enemy standing, and upped the "spawns remaining" counter by a known amount (say 3 or 5) and suddenly it works; and the last 1, 2, or 3 spawns become visible; then it might be possible to discover this bug's root cause, be it a mission calling for 40 spawns on a map with only 39 spawn points; or whatever else). Bugged spawn locations might be the culprit; other map entities might be counting towards the tracker when they shouldn't be; or it could just flat out be a typo in the mission definitions causing the tracker to look for more spawns than actually exist.

 

 

I need to remake that mission with forced objective spawns (bosses and hostages) and objective tracking so I can check to see if they're actually spawning in or if they start on the tracker and it's just some bugged spawn locations; but until I actually test that all I know for sure is that the bugged spawn locations are consistently in the same place.

Edited April 29 by PoptartsNinja

[Frozen Burn]

1 hour ago, PoptartsNinja said:

That isn't a behavior from live, though. The crystals never showed up back then, which is why I thought something may have changed.

 

I have always seen the crystals show up once you get the truly last single mob left on the map.  This has always been the case for whenever the system was implemented - whether it was back on live, or Homecoming... I can't remember when the system was implemented.  But the crystals and prison doors have always shown with 1 foe left.  This also happens with 5th Column / Council maps where there is a jail - those doors will appear on the map as well.

[RikOz]

1 hour ago, PoptartsNinja said:

One other behavior I've noticed: I've run AE missions for SG mates on a specific large outdoor map, and on that map there are some spawns that do not appear until you reach certain physical trigger spots (and other spawns that don't appear until you've cleared a certain amount of enemies off the map (about 50%).

I've definitely seen this happen on that outdoor "woodland park" map. I'll completely clear out that first side trail into the woods, then finish the rest of the map, only to have it fail to complete because I haven't "defeated all". I'll go back to the beginning and find more mobs wandering out of that trail that I already cleared.