Bounty Hunter 23 (Source)

SO… after spending WAY TOO MUCH time with the investigation line (remember, insane person here that went through the entire inv. line without skipping), I think I finally mapped every single path line for a bounty mark and have mapped out where and when a bounty will fail, either by you losing the TEF, the mark disappearing into thin air, the mark warping into the next galaxy, marks getting stuck in walls, the waypoint for the mark not moving, etc… Most of the follow is referenced to moving marks, but most will apply to stationary ones as well.

I have diagrams. I have notes. I have diagrams and notes from every planet out there (yes even Endor and Lok, LOL). I have filled so many /bug reports it almost isn’t funny.

But I can now say with 100% certainty where and when all these things will happen. I am still trying to write up a detailed list to send to the DEVs… but for now… this is just a sample of what I have and hope it may help someone, someday (as to not make it too long):

1) Rendered drawing of player placed buildings.

Problem: This alone is the number 1 reason why you would lose a TEF to a mark (i.e. they go white on radar and are unattackable). As will be referenced in number 5 below… a bounty mark waypoint is just that… a waypoint. The system will not render (i.e. graphically draw for you to see) the mark until you are 108m away from it. This is exact. The issue here… player placed buildings get low priority getting rendered into the system for you to view it. At some point during the hunt, the system gets “scrambled” to the point where it has to both draw player placed buildings AND draw the mark, assuming he is near the draw points. The mark (person) gets higher priority, so it draws him “invisible”. THEN the system draws in the buildings. Now the system will redraw the mark again and the mark will lose its set of variables, including the TEF which you would have had had there been no buildings to draw.

Solution: The TEF system should not keep variables on the mark. It should keep a separate variable for the BH once the mission is chosen.

Work around: This is especially important in starter planets with tons of player structures, but even one will do it. In fact, I have traced locations, like for example anywhere in a ring around Coronet or Moenia, for example, there are others, where anywhere between 900m out and 2200m out… the structures will cause the TEF to go south. SO… do not try to pin down a bounty mark anywhere near a player structure, say 200m (houses in particular) that is within that range above to a large city. As I will mention below… giving the mark room to run by you running away can sometimes lower your stress factor .

2) Chasing marks far outside of cities and why they vanish or lose their TEF.

Problem: Same as number 1 above except that instead of player structures, the system renders random spawns and / or timed ones. Yes… there are timed spawns for things in specific land areas in this game. Not just draws them in, but draws them out (this is part of the same bug that causes animal and NPC mobs to vanish too). SO… you are, say for example, 3000m away from a city and no where near a player placed anything, you track your mark and even use Ranger Tracking if you have it, and locate a waypoint right near you. You run there… but there is nothing there but the waypoint. Sometimes, though much rarer, the mark is there but has gone “white” and unattackable. This happens in 5 locations I have specifically identified more often than anywhere else and accounts for 99% of every time this bug happens. Again… this is because the system is redrawing specific location spawns nearby, and not just the TEF, but the entire area sometimes goes poof on you, taking your mark with it. I say 5 locations because there are a total of 68 different paths I have mapped out that a mark can take adding up all travels on every planet and pretty much think I have all of them down (in terms of moving marks).

Solution: Again, the TEF should keep a separate variable for the BH once the mission is chosen and not put it on the mark. Also, spawn redraws should not affect NPCs that are not supposed to be part of the area spawn to begin with.

Work around: DO NOT chase marks into the following 5 areas. Let them run past it if at all possible: a) Anywhere N or NE of Mos Eisley beginning at 700m away, up until 1000m away from Mos Taike or Mos Espa AND anywhere within 2000m of Jabba’s Palace (this includes just outside, and rarer times the whole city, of Wayfar). b) Anywhere N, NE, or E of Coronet City from 700m away from the city to 4500m away (especially going E of Coronet toward the Battleground 4000m to the East.) c) Anywhere E or Se of Tyrena from 700m away to about 2000m. In fact… anywhere between Tyrena and Coronet will have a 90% chance of something going wrong with the mark. d) Any other city on Corellia or Talus within a range of any repeating spawns of range 700m to 2000m. Also, the entire island city in the FAR SW (forget name) on Corellia. This is random here and I have yet to figure out why marks poof and we lose out TEF inside this city every so often. e) ANY outpost on Endor within the range of 700m to 1500m to that outpost. (More on this below…

3) Marks not running to cities.

Problem: On most planets, bounty marks run to cities (simulating them trying to reach a ship of some kind to get away). Lok and Endor are unique. There are 7 different paths that a mark can take running through Endor, only 2 actually have them running to outposts. On Lok, the 5 paths never go anywhere near the lone outpost. More often than not you WILL run into the wilderness and give chase in hostile territory on these planets.

Solution: None. Unless they make it easier, I guess.

Work around: One of 2 options… a) Abort all Endor and Lok missions. b) For those of you who find this unacceptable or love a challenge… for Endor… head to nearest outpost and try to cut off the mark ahead of his run path using the formula that the waypoint is always moving AND that it moves at 182m per minute exactly, but watch the areas right around the outposts… they may respawn and may take away your TEF. On Lok, just run SOUTH about 3500 to 4000m from Nym’s stronghold. That’s it. Silly huh? The mark runs back and forth on Lok in 5 different ways, but ALWAYS, given enough time… will end up crossing the point of 4000m south of Nym’s. SO… run there, and then send up droids (no matter what else the waypoint is telling you) and take a chance from there getting ahead of him as stated above like Endor.

4) Droids not reporting any bounty mark movement.

Problem: You track a mark to a planet. After you start filling in the Investigation line, the marks move. SO… you send a droid up to find out which way the mark is heading and the droid reports the same location. You do it again, same waypoint. Now... you know the waypoints move, and always at 182m per minute (UNLESS the mark is already in a city, waiting… then he may still be there or waiting for a ship and goes to another planet). You may actually think the mark took a break and run to the non-moving waypoint only to find nothing there. Even Ranger Track shows nothing.

Solution: This is a known bug with seeker droids AND in combo with what area the mark was initially placed at. Remember also… the mark does not get put into “play” as a waypoint until the first droid (be it seeker or probe) finds him. This is somehow wrong… the mark waypoint should be put into the system as soon as the mission is accepted, but it isn’t.

Work around: IF you send up a droid and your investigation is at the level were the mark should move, after the first droid “hit”… the mark is moving. No matter what the droids are telling you. You have 2 choices: a) Run to the waypoint if it is close to you and then send up a droid, or send up a probe droid even if you are on the same planet. This will “knock” the system back into place and give you the right waypoint direction. b) Take a shuttle to any other city on that planet. Taking shuttles also seems to “knock” the system into place and makes the waypoint move again. NOTE: This does not happen on Lok, and if it happens, will happen more often on Tatooine, Corellia, or Endor. On these planets, especially Tatooine, this will happen when the mark starts his waypoint run in a city (Wayfar on Tatooine is a great example, do not get caught running to Warfar when all the while the Mark is running toward Mos Espa ).

5) How the mark waypoints work and how to prevent marks from getting into walls or getting stuck in the middle of an ocean.

Problem: Marks are waypoints. That’s it. If you get nothing else from this whole write up… this is it. Until the system renders and draws them, they do not exist in the game. Once you understand this… you understand the need to be very careful about where you “pop” your mark. Remember… the waypoint must be 108m away from you to draw. Your radar distance has nothing to do with this. Also, the waypoint stops moving when you reach the 500m threshold. Once you are closer than 500m to the mark (waypoint), the waypoint stops moving. NO MATTER what else you do, even if you run away after getting, say 498m to the waypoint, the waypoint will not restart moving. This is key… See, the system will stop the waypoint at 499m and then draw it once you get within 108m of the mark. That is all the system will do. Period. The rest is based on location… IF you stopped the waypoint in the middle of the ocean or inside a wall, then when you get near the mark, the system will draw him in that exact spot.

Solution: Make the waypoints “smarter” by actually being conscious of what is around them when they render. Of course, we know this will be tough because the system does not seem to care about many physical object and things in the game (like shooting through mountains ???).

Work around: NEVER stop a waypoint from moving (unless you can’t help it) by getting within 500m of the waypoint if you know it is going to cause a drawing issue. Most graphic cards can draw up to 500m away, so you should be able to tell that 500m ahead of you is a LARGE lake and that you will not be able to shot anything that far away in it (cause you cannot start shooting while swimming). Also, if you someone end up with a mark inside a wall… you are stuck unless you have a melee pet that can agro the mark into moving (you can do this by sending the pet into the attack and then calling him back to you).

That’s it for now… believe it or not… this is the condensed version . IF anyone sees anything else not covered... post it here if you like.

Jana