Contact report bug

[MDF]

I've noticed that the loader will button up (presumably) in reaction to an ENY sighting, but without calling out a contact report. It took me a while to realize this was happening. At first, I thought the sound was the ammo storage door being opened, or some other periodic crew process that SB models in minute detail. Then i occurred to me that I had an uneasy feeling every time I heard this sound, and I didn't understand why. After a while, I realized that this reflexive uneasiness was due to the fact that my vehicle would typically be engaged shortly after this sound played. This was puzzling -- why would the two things be correlated? And only after yet more time did I realize that the sound was not the ammo storage door, but the loader's hatch being closed. Somehow, he realized there was an enemy contact, but no one had ever called it out!

Could this be caused by an absent sound file? It's not that a contact report is being "stepped on" by some other contemporaneous crew command/report audio, because it frequently happens when no such other sound files are playing.

Also, I came to notice this problem during repeated play of a mission in which only the player's single vehicle could possibly have LOS. Sometimes, the contact is displayed on the map, but sometimes not. Since the gunner does not call out "contact" in these instances, and the only crew member who appears to react is the loader (who closes his hatch), is it the loader who is (abstractly) unbuttoned and sights the enemy, but does not report?

Edited March 30, 2014 by MDF

[Ssnake]

That's an interesting observation. We'll have to investigate this before I can give a meaningful answer.

[MDF]

That's an interesting observation. We'll have to investigate this before I can give a meaningful answer.

You can test it with the "Tanks! Again" mission I uploaded to the website (it was during testing of that mission that I noticed the issue). Just plot a route generally to the NNE of the starting position and you will essentially replicate my conditions. Also, I'm certain this occurred both in "offline session" mode and in the editor "test" mode. I'm pretty sure the issue occurs when using a variety of Leo2s as well as the M1A1(HA) and SEP.

[Rotareneg]

Are you certain they aren't buttoning up after being fired at? I've only been able to get the crew to do that when there's an enemy firing at them, just seeing enemy vehicles hasn't been enough.

[MDF]

Are you certain they aren't buttoning up after being fired at? I've only been able to get the crew to do that when there's an enemy firing at them, just seeing enemy vehicles hasn't been enough.

I suppose it could be, bit I don't hear any incoming rounds or impacts (I'm not sure the "whoosh" sound for near misses even plays when the player is in the TC position, inside turret with TC hatch open). And this phenomenon occurs at least sometimes when there is no enemy displayed on the map. But in any event, it would be nice if the loader could alert the rest of us to the threat!

On a possibly related note, there have been a number of occasions that I have looked at the map and seen enemy contacts without any prior audible contact report from my crew. This may or may not occur in connection with the load hatch-closing thing -- not sure. But I have learned that it makes sense to just look at the F5 view every so often to see if one of these SPOTREPs has mysteriously appeared. (And they are accurate reports, not ghosts).

Similarly, sometimes at the beginning of this "Tanks! Again" mission, before the player's tank has even spawned and the only on-map Blue vehicle is a *blind* refueler way off in the corner, the player will get an audio/text contact report from "Battalion HQ." A bit odd, since there is no such entity in play except for the possibility of the 1/1/A vehicle which will not spawn unless the player actually selects it via a trigger.

[kaburke61]

Are you certain they aren't buttoning up after being fired at? I've only been able to get the crew to do that when there's an enemy firing at them, just seeing enemy vehicles hasn't been enough.

I've seen something similar to this too (when playing the new Tanks! scenario)

also.

It begged the question, when I am TC, why does an enemy appear on the map screen without anybody calling enemy out. I assume if my gunner/driver/loader? see's a target they would call it. lf me, in my TC position "sees" it (the computer thinks I can?) does that place the enemy unit on the map? I try not to do it, but you can "cheat" by looking at the map to find the enemy sometimes, even though nobody in the tank has called it. And obviously I'm talking about scenarios where you are the only unit on the field, or where the others could not be supplying the info.

[MDF]

I've seen something similar to this too (when playing the new Tanks! scenario)

also.

It begged the question, when I am TC, why does an enemy appear on the map screen without anybody calling enemy out. I assume if my gunner/driver/loader? see's a target they would call it. lf me, in my TC position "sees" it (the computer thinks I can?) does that place the enemy unit on the map? I try not to do it, but you can "cheat" by looking at the map to find the enemy sometimes, even though nobody in the tank has called it. And obviously I'm talking about scenarios where you are the only unit on the field, or where the others could not be supplying the info.

Have you seen it in other missions besides the Tanks one? (I hope to God the answer is "yes" and that my mission is not buggered somehow!)

[Gibsonm]

On a possibly related note, there have been a number of occasions that I have looked at the map and seen enemy contacts without any prior audible contact report from my crew. This may or may not occur in connection with the load hatch-closing thing -- not sure. But I have learned that it makes sense to just look at the F5 view every so often to see if one of these SPOTREPs has mysteriously appeared. (And they are accurate reports, not ghosts).

Check the rolling text.

Often these contacts are predicated with text about messages from BHQ, etc. (i.e. feeds from other call signs / higher).

[Volcano]

Sorry for the late reply. The "issue" here is the conscious decision of not having a commander voice play if the human occupies the commander position. There are a few rare exceptions to this, but it has been a design decision followed from the beginning. The question is whether the contact is reported in text at the bottom status bar -- it should (hopefully) at least be doing that.

Other than that, it would certainly be nice to have contact reports (voice files) generated by the loader, but this is a major task to accomplish.