Situation Update

[PandaBear]

Aures start another pilot profile and start IMG rave quest again please. Maybe you can pin point this for Vice. I only asking you to do this since you know what to look for. Maybe 2-3 race test if it help.
I cam not zoom in outpost 3 from port Rivoch. Whatever that station name near to poet Rivoch. The 1 with sx-3,1,-3 I belive since I not hone to look it up

[Vice]

Panda, that'd likely just be the SY difference, where SY=1 so you'd need to move up vertically one sector before you could zoom in on that station. Any SY offsets would results in zooming in on blank sectors, although you could still see them if you zoom out far enough since the sensor range still allow for different SY positions.

Still testing to duplicate Aures.

[Aures]

Tried starting a new profile and doing pretty much what I did before. Nav map worked as expected after I finished the race.

Thanks Vice. Maybe it is something esoteric and system dependent. 64 bit Win 7 with a Phenom II X4, 4 gig ddr 3 memory and a radeon HD 4890 with 2 gigs memory. Pretty standard except for extra gig of memory on the graphics card and that I custom built the whole thing.

I will dl some capture software and try to get footage of it after I get some sleep.

[Marvin]

0) Start game, start a new profile: Done.

Do the first contract: Done.

Get to the next station for the quest. All done without exiting the game or doing anything else except for a esc menu quicksave: Done.

1) Started IMG race contract. Before the contract my destination was set to the station where you get the contract: Done.

Once you take the contract your destination automatically sets to the contract location. I was definitely in top view mode for this entire process until I explicitly say otherwise (open questions, how zoomed in was my nav map? What text overlay state was active? Probably x1, definitely not x8. Text was on in some form, either all or stations selected): Done. Range: 1X. Text not on so as to have a better view of objects and waypoints.

2) Completed the race successfully: Done.

My destination at this point was in my current sector since it does not change after you start the contract: Confirmed.

3) Used the zoom buttons on the nav map to zoom out so I could see the next destination. (I am pretty sure I zoomed out but not so sure about how far): Done. Turned text on and selected "Planets" to highlight Erato. Zoomed out to 5X to find Erato.

4) Right clicked on appropriate sector for next IMG contract: Done, right-clicking on the trade station oribiting Erato. No problem.

Nothing showed up in the nav map: CND (could not duplicate).

Tried at 8X, after re-setting waypoint using "Set Loc" button. Still I could not duplicate the problem. Then re-set again and tried right-clicking while in Rear View. That does give me a blank screen ... and destination coordinates remain the same as my current position.

[Vice]

If anyone can catch a screenshot of the nav console when it becomes blank, please post it. I'd be interested to see if the zoomed in sector is getting displaced somehow (although it wouldn't explain the missing nav marker).

[Marvin]

When the target is in the same horizontal plane:

1. Start in Sapphire, at 0,0,0.
2. Open Navigation Console.
3. Use Top View.
4. Left-click on trade station in New Hope.
5. Switch to Rear View.
6. Right-click on trade station.

• The map will automatically zoom in and the Destination Position will read correctly, but the map will be blank.

When the target is horizontally above or below:

1. Start in Sapphire, at 0,0,0.
2. Open Navigation Console.
3. Use Top View.
4. Left-click on StarPort 3.
5. Switch to Rear View.

• If you now right-click, SY will still (incorrectly) read 0 and the map will zoom in on a blank area.
• If, instead, you left-click, SY will properly read 1 but the map will not zoom in. If you then right-click (to zoom in) while still in Rear View, the map will again zoom in on a blank area ... only, this time, the Destination Position will read correctly (-1,1,-2).

[Vice]

Both of those examples sound like expected behavior. Those zoom operations will retrieve a blank sector (you can confirm this with the target sector coordinates displayed on the lower left side of the console, which show where the mouse is pointing). It's the intermittent disappearance of the nav map data (post quest objectives?) that seems to be the issue and I haven't been able to duplicate. The target values may help provide clues as to what may be happening. Also, when it does happen, does the 3D radar nav indicator also disappear like the HUD nav indicator or does it remain visible? If so, then it may provide an additional clue.

[Marvin]

I've spent most of my time in MP, where the nav map can do strange things ... usually not displaying a label or, today, not displaying the cities on Sapphire (even though I'd already entered the planet's atmosphere). I attributed that one to the fact somebody had deployed a sensor beacon which overlapped the planet.

The reason I made the two tests above was to confirm how right-clicking can almost always cause a miss-plot unless done only when in the Front View. And, while making the tests, realized how easily it is to forget which view you're in ... a possible reason for complaints about right-clicking into blank sectors.

[Vice]

Ah yes, placing a sensor station in range of planet cities does remove them from the map. That is a transparency bug which I've fixed for the next update. Thanks.

[Aures]

Originally posted by Vice
Also, when it does happen, does the 3D radar nav indicator also disappear like the HUD nav indicator or does it remain visible? If so, then it may provide an additional clue.

The 3D radar nav indicator (referred to as the HUD map in my previous posts, what you call the HUD nav I called the nav screen, sorry for the confusion) in my posts still works as expected.

I mailed you a couple of screens. Unfortunately you can't definitively tell there is an issue from them but if you believe what I say about what I did to get them and the behaviour I experienced it is definitely not right.

Ok, off to get some capture software. As this might be related to contracts it is as good an excuse as any to raise my Pearl rep from fair to good.

EDIT: No luck so far doing contracts in Pearl. I have done half a dozen or so so it is not definitive, but I might try starting a new profile and doing the first half dozen IMG quests again. I have never produced this issue while consciously attempting to so there might be something in my normal play I am not aware of. I will try to play like a normally would and see if I stumble across it.

[Edited on 10-11-2010 by Aures]

[Aures]

Ok I captured some footage of it. The frame rate is atrocious and it is half a gig for 5 minutes of footage but it is something.

Couldn't produce it on purpose. It happened to me after a multiplayer spy contract. I have flown more missions in the last 24 hours than in any 24 hour period before and it only happened once that I noticed.

[Aures]

Got some more footage of the issue. I should get something much better than my current setup to capture some decent stuff. Right now I could be doing anything between the frames I am capturing.

For anyone who still thinks I might not be using the nav map properly, here is something I can do when experiencing this issue that is not normally possible. If I right click on a sector and then left click to set my destination the destination does not show up. If I jump to the desintation I jump to the sector I thought I was right clicking on. So, I can't possibly be right clicking on the wrong sector or have the wrong SY plane selected. If I was then I would jump to the sector and SY plane I had actually selected rather than to the sector I was trying to view.

[49rTbird]

I thought it was "Left click then Right click" to set position.

[Aures]

Sorry no idea what you mean thetiebers beyond being able to set your destination to an object (such as a gate or station) by right clicking it.

Right clicking on a sector when at greater than x1 zoom will zoom into that sector. Left clicking at any time on the nav map will set your destination to the position you clicked. "Left click then right click" on the nav map will set your destination and zoom you into a sector if the zoom is greater than 1x. If you are already at x1 zoom left clicking will set your destination, righting clicking after that will either set your destination to the object you clicked on or do nothing if the mouse is not over an object.

[Vice]

It almost sounds like either the zoom offset gets thrown off or (more likely) the nav map object itself is somehow being hidden by a trigger (when it gets hidden, so does the nav marker). Could be a console mode toggle of some kind, maybe a click zone for one of the other options is (either partially or fully) activated. Could be the likely case since you can apparently correct it by just closing and opening the console or switching the view.

[Aures]

Closing the nav console has no effect, only thing I have found corrects it is switching to rear view and then back (or presumably exiting and reloading etc). It does sound a lot like the suppression of nav map objects you are supposed to get in some circumstances is being incorrectly invoked.