Getting "Softlocked" in PVP

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Skibbles
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Getting "Softlocked" in PVP

Post by Skibbles » Fri Jan 27, 2023 8:19 pm

I'm not sure where to talk about this, but Mechanics seems good enough. I'm not sure if it's quite a bug, and I can't reliably replicate it either.

Example Situation:

You're in PVP. Things are moving fast; you're attacking, running, using a consumable, back to attacking, etc. Then, for some reason, your character passes a round. Another round. Three rounds of just sitting there, swaying in the combat stance animation, but simply not responding to wand usage commands or attacks or anything. The character won't move or pursue the enemy you were just fighting. By the time you realize you're softlocked you're already three rounds behind and have been getting absolutely creamed.

Does anyone know why this happens?

It isn't crowd control abilities, as far as I can tell, since this has happened to me when fighting a kensai without any such powers before. Plus I like to believe I've played this old game long enough to know when I'm properly CC'd.

It's rare, but not rare enough.

From my conversations with some long time NWN players they think it might be tied to having so many APR's that the engine just can't handle it.

My experience with being softlocked has only ever happened on a dual wielding ranger, probably while hasted/blinding speed, so having 7 attacks per round.

Any ideas, anyone? I'm hoping I'm not alone here in this weird experience. It's not exactly a feel good moment to throw a fight because of engine goofyness.

Irongron wrote: [...] the super-secret Arelith development roadmap is a post apocalyptic wasteland populated with competing tribes of hand-bombard wielding techno-giants, and strewn with the bones of long dead elves.

So we're very much on track.

Wrips
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Re: Getting "Softlocked" in PVP

Post by Wrips » Fri Jan 27, 2023 8:43 pm

I suspect it's some kind of initiative bug as clearing the queue immediately seems to fix it. It also happens during PvE, which I've experienced a few times with standard 4 APR builds. Unless there's another reason for it happening specifically during PvP, of course.


With Darkness and Silence
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Re: Getting "Softlocked" in PVP

Post by With Darkness and Silence » Sun Jan 29, 2023 12:39 pm

I've always thought this was a serious desync issue.


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dominantdrowess
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Re: Getting "Softlocked" in PVP

Post by dominantdrowess » Wed Feb 01, 2023 1:07 pm

This is a long-lived bug related to initiative from pre-EE. Basically if you roll really bad on initiative with a lot of people around, you can end up not getting an attack because it guesstimates how long before you get to attack and won't start your round until after everyone who rolled higher goes first. You gotta drop your action key and attack again.


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Skibbles
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Re: Getting "Softlocked" in PVP

Post by Skibbles » Wed Feb 01, 2023 11:36 pm

One for desync and two for initiative shenanigans, interesting, thank you. I'll try to find the right logs and go over them to see if I can spot anything like that.

So are non-hostile bystanders in the area part of a hidden initiative check?

Irongron wrote: [...] the super-secret Arelith development roadmap is a post apocalyptic wasteland populated with competing tribes of hand-bombard wielding techno-giants, and strewn with the bones of long dead elves.

So we're very much on track.

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