TNT barrel in the beginner area

[Kitson]

i was fooling around (and tried to kill the giant argan but was defeated again) and decided to make Kit "sleep" to regain health. ( mm_lbase, on position 1559x592, platform 0 ) Then i got back up, and walked to Christina, and the barrel was still next to her. I accepted the quest and then went to attack the barrel. However, i clicked on the one next to her, and i walked to where it should have been, and began attacking the air in Christina's direction.

http://myu.icyworlds.net:4901/user/Kitson/screenshots/#show=screenshot.1466.3a4e1fd6

the markers were there too. And then, my poison slash damaged the barrel, and it suddenly jumped to where it should be. And then it blew up. I also believe that the barrel shouldn't be attack-able, but that much i do not know. I hope that this is helpful.


On a second hand, i tried to replicate this event again, though the barrel was appearing where it should be instead of where we would find it at first, which was next to Christina. Then i attacked it again (i dunno why) and i damaged it again, but i had not accepted the quest, and then it suddenly said that i had accepted the quest "Breakthrough" even though i never had.

[Tobias]

That seems to be an error with the positioning code. I'll check that, it seems simple enough to be reproducible. That you were sleeping isn't relevant, however the position you slept in is very important. The only question that remains is whether you walked into viewing range just as the barrel was moving, or when it did already come to a stop at the far end.

Essentially what happened is that the client somehow displayed the barrel at the wrong place. Either the server sent it wrong information (bug in the server), or it interpreted it incorrectly (bug in the client).
In either case, when you click it, the server does force your character to walk into attack range, before attacking it. So essentially, that's why you were attacking "thin air" - for the server, you were right next to the barrel, so it told the client you were attacking it, which displays just that (since the server tells you what you are attacking, the client makes you face wherever the barrel is, which is why you turned to Chrissy).
Skill casts actually send a position-refresh to the client (since for many skills, it is important where the caster is), so that's why it jumped to the correct position.


The other two observations are correct, but intended: Elemental attacks will damage the barrel and make it blow up - so if you use a fire glove, you will ignite the barrel. Poison has a similar reaction. The barrel is only immune against neutral attacks, which is all that beginning characters have (so they can't find a way around it).


When the barrel blows up, any character on the map automatically accepts the quest for it, even if they don't have it. This is important of more than one player is on the map (players /inviting each other), where only one of them ignites the barrel. Since not having the quest would cause them to get stuck later on (when they need the quest from Aina), each player automatically gets it as they escape.

[Kitson]

Yeah, that does seem to be what happened. Though I'd like to clarify that when my character started attacking, it wasn't attacking thin air. The direction he was facing as well as where the attack markers were appearing was next to Christina, where the TNT barrel was showing up.  But other than that, yes, that is what happened.

[Tobias]

I know ;P The server sends something like
"You attack this barrel with a melee swing."

and the client displays that (ie. the attack marks, and the melee animation). Since most attacks doesn't change the position of any character, no positions are sent either, which is why the barrel didn't update. The client does make you face into whatever direction your target is, but that's about it.

When you start casting a skill, however, you stop. This sends a position update of the position you stopped at, which is why the barrel updated once it started the "Detonate" cast.



Anyway, I am having troubles reproducing this. Do you remember at what point you started walking towards Chrissy? ie. was she just done with her speech, was she just about to charge the barrel, or did she just charge it, or was she long done?

[Kitson]

Either she had just finished talking, but my best guess is that she had been long done with her speech. Sorry if it's not much help, tho that's all i can remember.

[Tobias]

Well, in either case it's some help, since I get an idea how long to wait.
Maybe we get lucky, and it'll happen again. :3