Unconfirmed Bug Ships disappear in wharf

[Carl]

Okay, here´s my report:
If I try to use a wharf, I mostly loose a ship. Last time it was during a repair of one of my ships, that another one got lost, also this happens if I try to upgrade or using the berthing option. It happens very often, since I have three ships. The one, that disappears is the second one, a pinacle.

One time I did not loose the pinacle, instead it was changed into a cutter, another time it was changed into a fast brig, the same ship I use from start on.

I am playing the last build with the january fixes. But I started before I installed the fix.

I hope, this helps. I wanted, I can attach some logs.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

One time I did not loose the pinacle, instead it was changed into a cutter, another time it was changed into a fast brig, the same ship I use from start on.

Have you got any clue at what time it happens? Is there any specific sequence of events that triggers it?

You say it is always the same ship that keeps changing, right? Not any of the others?
I wonder if the captain in charge of that ship is "corrupted" in any way.

 

[Grey Roger]

Is this the pinnace which you got from the pirate captain after you fell overboard in a storm and washed ashore on Bonaire? Otherwise, where did you get the pinnace?

And if it is the pirate pinnace from Bonaire, who have you put in command of it?

 

[Carl]

Yes, it is the pinnace you get after the storm at Bonnaire, captain in charge is one of my not quest related officers. Is this ship buggy?
If so, then it is a bit annoying but no real problem. I only want to make some money with her, so I´ll do this first and will sell her later then.

 

[Grey Roger]

Yes, there is a bug here. Personally I sell the pinnace straight away anyway. At the very least I'll have the frigate which was carrying the idol at Bridgetown, and which I captured in order to get the idol. This late in the game, I've probably also acquired whichever ship I want as a permanent command, generally a flushdeck frigate, and I've probably done "Strange Things Going On" and got the black frigate from there as well.

If you want to keep the pinnace, put someone else in command of her. This must be a quest officer - Artois Voysey, for example. The bug only affects generic officers from taverns or street encounters.

@Pieter Boelen: this is the piece of code which is responsible, part way down case "Story_BlazeLeavesDanielleRoom":

       if (GetNotCaptivePassengersQuantity(pchar) > 0) {
         cidx = GetNotCaptivePassenger(pchar, GetNotCaptivePassengersQuantity(pchar) - 1);
         if (cidx != -1) {
           if (GetCompanionQuantity(PChar) < 3) {
             ExchangeCharacterShip(GetCharacter(cidx), characterFromID("Ship Storage"));
             SetCompanionIndex(PChar, -1, cidx);
             ExchangeCharacterShip(PChar, GetCharacter(cidx));
           } else {
             ExchangeCharacterShip(Pchar, characterFromID("Ship Storage"));
           }
         } else {
           ExchangeCharacterShip(Pchar, characterFromID("Ship Storage"));
         }
       }

You may remember me having the same problem while developing "Ardent", when the player's fleet has to make its own way to another port and the player rejoins it later. The solution there was 'LAi_StoreFantom', so I tried adding this after the 'if (GetCompanionQuantity(PChar) < 3) {' condition:

             LAi_StoreFantom(GetCharacter(cidx));

It didn't seem to work, though. Even with that in place, if I left the pinnace under the command of the generic officer, sailed to another port and talked to the shipyard owner, the pinnace disappeared.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

If the character used is a generic Captain ID, that Captain may be cleared.
There is a character attribute that can be added to the captain to avoid him being erased.
Can't remember what it's called; search for "ClearCharacter" in the game files.

 

[Grey Roger]

The attribute is "StoredFellow", which is set by 'LAi_StoreFantom' and checked by 'bAllies'. But 'bAllies' also checks 'IsCompanion(chr)'. Where my storyline came unstuck was that when the officer went off with your fleet, he wasn't a companion any more, and that's why the "StoredFellow" attribute saved him. It doesn't seem to be helping the commander assigned to the pinnace, who in any case is a companion, so he should be detected by 'bAllies' anyway.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

The attribute is "StoredFellow", which is set by 'LAi_StoreFantom' and checked by 'bAllies'. But 'bAllies' also checks 'IsCompanion(chr)'. Where my storyline came unstuck was that when the officer went off with your fleet, he wasn't a companion any more, and that's why the "StoredFellow" attribute saved him.

That's indeed exactly what I meant.

It doesn't seem to be helping the commander assigned to the pinnace, who in any case is a companion, so he should be detected by 'bAllies' anyway.

Can you use console on his character ID to see what 'bAllies' actually returns for him?
I wonder if something is going wrong there, so he's part of your fleet but the game somehow doesn't quite understand that.

 

[Grey Roger]

Both before and after the ship disappears, 'bAllies' is true for the officer.

And now it gets weird. You thought a disappearing ship was weird? Watch this.

After the tavern scene, I go to the San Juan shipyard, talk to the owner, and the pinnace disappears - or rather, it becomes a null ship. It can't be seen on the ship screen but it shows up as a blank space in the screen to transfer between ships, I can select that blank space (still commanded by the officer) as the other side of the transfer, I can swap ships, and now I have no ship.

Try again. Go to San Juan shipyard, put Jaoquin de Masse in charge of the pinnace, talk to the shipyard owner, everything is fine, the pinnace is still there. In fact, even if I put another generic officer from a street encounter onto the pinnace, I can talk to the shipyard owner and the pinnace is still there.

Before I fell overboard and swam to Bonaire, I stole a certain gold idol, along with the frigate which was carrying it, and I got the frigate back along with my own ship and crew after the tavern scene. I take the dodgy officer out of the pinnace, put that officer onto the frigate, put someone else onto the pinnace, talk to the shipyard owner, and it's the frigate which turns into a null ship. So whatever is going wrong, it's the officer, not the pinnace. It means I can sell that pinnace if I like, or give it to someone else, and meanwhile that officer had better not be assigned to command another ship ever again.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

So it is the OFFICER, not the SHIP that is the problem then?

What kind of officer is this?
Maybe do a DumpAttributes on that officer and also on an officer that IS OK?
Perhaps there is a specific difference in their character attributes that is the cause of the issue?