Fixed Solar & Battery calc is broken when away from playfield [00171]

Discussion in 'Fixed (Read Only)' started by Longcut, Jun 25, 2022.

  1. Longcut

    Longcut Lieutenant

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    For more information see here Bug Report Template

    Build:1.8.2 3846
    Mode: Survival
    Mode: Singleplayer

    SERVER NAME:N/A
    SEED-ID:770595

    If applicable:
    MODIFIED PLAYFIELDS:

    Reproducibility: Always
    Severity: Minor

    Type: Solar Calculations

    Summary: When returning to a playfield, solar and battery calculations are not consistent with time spent in the playfield

    Description: I have a base with 14 solar panels on Akua. I was in Akua for several consecutive gamedays completing tasks for Talon, gathering resources for building an SV, etc. Battery and power gen on the panels was consistently positive - meaning even with the occasional rain or fog, I always have a charge on the batteries and never burned fuel.

    Once I got an SV and now having a CV I spend more time off Akua. Whenever I return, the battery is always at 0 if my base is at night. It's almost 0 if I return and it's in the day at my base.

    Steps to Reproduce:
    1) Build a base with good solar power
    2) Stay on planet (in the same playfield) and the solar calcs are consistent.
    3) Leave the playfield for some time and return to find the battery is flat (0).



    Screenshots, Crash Logs, any other Relevant Information or Download links:

    I've added screenshots of my solar calculations after having returned to the base from my last trip.
     
    #1
  2. Longcut

    Longcut Lieutenant

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    Some updates:

    * It seems to be affected by the length of time I'm away from my base on Akua. Longer durations are sure to cause the charge to zap to zero.
    * I've build a space base in the Crown sector and am getting a steady 2.99 kPU solar input. The solar capacitors were charging and keeping their charge so it seemed. Unfortunately, they also zapped to zero on my last return to base. I was away for a longer duration that had me want to check my ground base if it's the same kind of deal.
     
    #2
  3. tarlain

    tarlain Ensign

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    I've been having this same issue as well. The base ran fine while I was around all the time. As soon as I go offworld, I come back to a base with no power.
     
    #3
  4. Germanicus

    Germanicus Rear Admiral

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    The most important question to such an issue - for me - is how much was the consumption or what devices have been kept running while away?
    I say this because I NEVER run dry in my 7000+ hours in the game. Therefore I try to understand...
     
    #4
  5. TwitchyJ

    TwitchyJ Commander

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    It is just a bug with the calculations. It can happen regardless of the consumption at the time.

    They were finally given a way to reproduce it back in March.
    Before then every single similar thread was always marked as "unable to reproduce".
    Now they all get marked as "filed/tracking"so it must have finally been reproducible.

    This is where they finally started marking them as filed/tracking. Hopefully it gets fixed soon. It is a major issue and I hope they are treating it as high priority.
    https://empyriononline.com/threads/...urs-this-will-wipe-all-base-fuel-00053.99558/

    Side note, not sure why these threads aren't getting combined anymore (by the devs) as it is the same issue. It all has to do with the away calculations.
    There is at least 4 similar reports all marked as filed/tracking now and not combined.
     
    #5
  6. Germanicus

    Germanicus Rear Admiral

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    All clear @TwitchyJ ...

    Yet still.. I left my Base on Skillon for about 2 Days to gather Resources in the Asteroid Field - thats meant with leaving the Playfield, yes?
    [​IMG]

    After returning to Skillon - I forgot to collect something - I checked my Base for the above mentioned Issue. Look for yourself ->

    [​IMG]

    Do you understand now why I asked what left running?
     
    #6
  7. ravien_ff

    ravien_ff Rear Admiral

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    In my experience as long as your solar output is greater than your power consumption at the moment you leave the playfield, it will be fine.
    But if, for any reason, your consumption is anything higher than your current solar output, your base risks losing much more power than you'd expect for the time.
    This isn't limited to solar power either. The calculations aren't accurate for many things, crafting, fuel consumption, crop growth, etc.

    Are you on a server? Out of playfield calculations will have little effect in SP where time is only calculated while you are in the game. On a server it's running 24/7.
     
    #7
  8. TwitchyJ

    TwitchyJ Commander

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    It's why this issue has plagued this game for so long, it never mattered what was left on and what wasn't, it always seemed random with no way to reliably reproduce. It struck when it wanted to strike and that was really it.

    Even in SP, just the other day I had my solar base crafting some fuel packs and was about to go to use a bed to sleep.
    I checked the power consumption for more than 30 seconds before I decided I was safe to go to sleep.
    With the constructor running, I had over 30 hours of solar power saved up.

    30 real life hours of fuel with the constructors running..... I used a bed once. ONCE.
    8 in game hours, not real life hours, 8 in game hours wiped out 30 real life hours of fuel in one keystroke. My base was completely empty of fuel.
    Edit Oh, it also spoiled all food I had in my fridges even though in that amount of time, had I not been asleep and stayed awake with the food in my pocket, it wouldn't have had enough time to spoil.

    I've had the exact same scenario play out, in single player, without even having solar components on the base.
    I've had it happen on vessels. I've had it happen when running a repair job and leaving the playfield. I've had this bug strike over 30 times in the years I've been playing this game with no rhyme or reason on why it happens.
    It just happens.

    Consider yourself lucky if you've never had it happen to you.
    And yes, the majority of the times I've witnessed this bug has been in multiplayer servers. But I've had it happen probably close to 10 times in single player too.
     
    #8
    Last edited: Jul 25, 2022
  9. Germanicus

    Germanicus Rear Admiral

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    And yet still my question stays with the OP while he seems to play a SP and not on a Server.

    I never left anything running over night while taking a nap. Confession: I never tried...:NewRollingEyes:
    Besides of Growing Lights, Lights, Fridge and Ventilator of corse
     
    #9
  10. Scoob

    Scoob Rear Admiral

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    I've left a base with ample solar - several Capacitors, all full, max number of Large Solar Panels - in a low power state with all but the essentials (fridges, no grow lights, no O2) turned off. Additionally, average Solar output is way above the now-minimal power draw of the base. Despite this I have still returned to a base with drained Capacitors and no power. Base quickly become operational with excess power soon after my arrival.

    I did theorise that the current charge level upon leaving the area was used to calculate the overall drain while I was away and NOT the more obvious average draw. Average draw appears to get reset upon reload (single player) so perhaps that's why it's not used. However, despite explicitly leaving when Solar power generation was high - waaay above power draw - I've still returned to a dead base on more than one occasion.

    It seems that short jaunts away, such as up into orbit and back, see things working ok, but that might be largely down to the shear amount of energy storage I build. Longer trips away though, say warping to another planet, are almost guaranteed to drain any stored Solar.

    As a result of this fairly consistent behaviour - for me at least, in Single Player - I always build a generator for backup and a full fuel tank. Sometimes though, even this is drained, suggesting something is going very wrong.

    Do I have evidence of all this? Nope. But it happens often enough for me to know it's an issue.
     
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  11. The Big Brzezinski

    The Big Brzezinski Captain

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    Only reliable practical solution I've found for keeping the solar power from running out is separate power grids. Food production and storage goes on one BA, constructors and resource processing goes on another.

    Thinking about it now, I wonder if the battery calculation is being thrown off by constructors or other high-drain devices. Maybe they're not remembering their offline/idle states fast enough, so the game thinks they were running the whole time, and that's why putting them on a separate BA solved the problem for me. It's wild theory, but wilder things have happened. I'd have to know more about how structures get reconstituted when they come back into simulation.
     
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  12. Scoob

    Scoob Rear Admiral

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    I've actually decommissioned bases in the past when I've moved on with a CV "Mobile Base". I'd basically removed all constructors, fridges and the like and just leave the bare bones, so, walls, windows, doors, solar. I've returned, possibly many days later and the base is out of power entirely, despite there being no devices that consume any significant power. Basically, the only power consuming devices are doors I've left in place.

    So, even when a Base draws way way below what Solar can generate over a given period, something still goes wrong and the base is drained. While solar has improved a lot over the years since its introduction, there are still these weird total power drain problems. I suspect it's just a bug and a value is being calculated wrong when the player returns to the area.
     
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  13. Garaman

    Garaman Captain

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    In my experience, mainly on MP. the only two numbers you care about are A) your current power draw on the main control panel page, and B) the current solar panel power output listed on the stats page. As long as B > A you can log out or leave the playfield and it will run entirely off of the solar power, even though you would expect a day/night cycle produce less overall power (that whole "using the average makes more sense" thing).

    If B < A, you're exposing yourself to all sorts of miscalculation bugs like what was reported in the bug report TwitchyJ linked. Basically offline fuel consumption appears vastly accelerated, and it always seems to calculate the fuel burn before any other calc, so if you "ran out" of fuel it thinks you had no power to run the fridge, heat, or constructors while you were away so everything dies and production stops.

    Note that this can work to your favor too. Log out with solar generating more power than you are consuming and you can return to fully-charged batteries.

    I also believe that this calculation is updated whenever the base is loaded into the game, so if a faction mate flies by your base at night it will use the bad night numbers when it unloads. Ran into this all the time when a factionmate and I had bases on opposite sides of a planet and would teleport between them. One of us would always get screwed when we logged off.
     
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  14. Longcut

    Longcut Lieutenant

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    The Fridge and the grow light were left running. All constructors and food processors were turned off. Furnace was turned off. Literally, the base was idle.
     
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  15. Longcut

    Longcut Lieutenant

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    What is your question, exactly?
     
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  16. Germanicus

    Germanicus Rear Admiral

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    You answered it above. Thank You. I only like to understand. :NewWink:
    The second line was only because of the 'interference' by others:NewRollingEyes:
     
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