Some POI placement issues with Very Large planets?

Discussion in 'Planets & Playfields' started by VulcanTourist, Mar 31, 2022.

  1. VulcanTourist

    VulcanTourist Lieutenant

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    I'm having an issue with modified playfields, specifically starter (and perhaps only) planets. What is occurring is that the game completes generation of planet(s) and then tries to place POIs, but fails for a significant number of them, apparently including some crucial ones. Then two exceptions are generated and the game hangs, never showing the expected percentage progress for POI placement.

    I've modified the vanilla starter planets to allow selecting the largest (Very Large) size, as well as some other elements, BUT I haven't touched the POI elements at all. Choosing the Very Large planet size seems to play a significant role in whether this POI failure and game hang occurs, as if the larger planet size actually hampers the random placement of POIs (which is counterintuitive). A log file excerpt of one of these failures:

    When the game hangs I am still able to open the console, which is how I was able to gain an initial understanding of what was happening.

    How can I troubleshoot this further to understand what specifically is causing the placement failures? I am not expert with this aspect of the game, which is why I deliberately avoided making any modifications to POIs or their placement rules.
     

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  2. ravien_ff

    ravien_ff Rear Admiral

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    The issue is something else. A null reference exception means something got messed up in the yaml files. It's normal for not all poi to be placed.
     
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  3. VulcanTourist

    VulcanTourist Lieutenant

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    Normally I'd agree with you, but there's more context that points to missing POIs being the cause of those null references. This is what it looks like when the game does succeed in starting (getting to landfall):

    Do you see what's present here that isn't when the null references occur and the game hangs?
     
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  4. VulcanTourist

    VulcanTourist Lieutenant

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    The cause was a single line in some of the static starter playfield files:

    It should have been commented, but it wasn't because earlier I had restored the PV block and enabled the PVs. The PVs had stopped working for some reason that I couldn't understand, but when I reverted it back to vanilla I overlooked these lines that initiate the process. It was looking for the block that would define the PV, but it was commented and invisible.
     
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