Mazes - Phenomenon #2

[Kenito]

Okay...where to begin. Some of you may remember my first "Phenomenon" thread - where my units would curve off their designated path slightly (If anyone wishes to read it, it's here.)?

The first two diagrams are a tad out of align. Since posting undoes excessive spaces ( ), I had to use lowercase a's to align them. Pay no heed to the a's.

Now, in one level, I have reskinned villagers (hippies) patrolling, and they form a sort of comb pattern, like this:

X - - - O
aaaaaaO - - - X
X - - - O
aaaaaaO - - - X

X's being where the hippies begin, the dashes designating the path they take, and the O's being their patrol destination. All goes fine. They all patrol in a nice synchronization, so that you are to run by them as soon as they turn around and patrol to their start points. However, after the first few rounds of patrolling, something odd happens. The "Hippies" come out of sync, and it looks something like this (as they are patrolling, not as they begin):

- X - - O
aaaaaaO X - - -
- - - - X
aaaaaaX - - - -

I don't get how this happens. The villagers have a collision size of 0 (since even a size of 0.01 messes up synchronization a noticeable bit when they kill you). They are ground units (for as air units, even with the smallest height and height minimum, sometimes it can appear as if they are really high up in the air).

They do not begin patrolling. It is only after hitting a switch that destroys a barrier, leading to their path, do they begin patrolling. At first, I thought that they were somehow lagged by the "Revive if you have remaining chances" trigger, but a quick runthrough of that trigger, along with viewing it ingame, shows that such a trigger yields no lag. Simply watching them patrol after a while causes them to naturally get out of sync.

How on earth could they be doing this? I arranged their respective regions and startpoints so that they are VERY aligned, so it cannot simply be due to an offset in position. I've no doodads or pathing blockers that could cause this. It probably has to do with collision (yet they have 0), or movement speed.

I have a similar obstacle, but the path is horizontal, and the units therefore patrol vertically:

X O X
| | |
| | |
O X O

Naturally, when the middle "Hippie" turns around to patrol back to his starting point, the two outer ones do the same. After a while though, the middle one (again, no obstructions in his path) messes up, and soon all three of them are patrolling up and down at the same time.
---
This has me as baffled as the demolisher problem. I even checked out some other peoples' mazes. Their units use 0 collision and a movement type of "foot", yet they have no problems with keeping patrols in line.

 

[R3velati0n]

Hmmmm i've never seen this problem before lol
i had the same problem with a unit curving around its path though

 

[iNsaNe]

Your middle hippie patrol region msut haev a trigger that causes the other 2 to patrol to their own region

 

[Cs_Cara]

This happens alot with me. They are just alligned perfectly, facing the region where they will patrol to, and simply everything is messed.

This probably isnt going to help, but try changing their Movement - Turn Speed(something like this) to 0.

 

[Pineapple]

What about turn rate? that might mess them up. maybe one on them curves so he falls behind? Im not sure just guestamations.

 

[Kenito]

Yes...the default turn rate for these units is 0.60. A while before starting this thread, I tried lowering it to 0.1, which actually makes it take longer for them to turn.

...that or I accidentally entered 1.00, instead of 0.10. I do think turn rate may be related, come to think of it. Watching the patrols shows that one of them starts turning a tad too early/late, and that escalates into complete desync.

 

[Pineapple]

Well, it sounds to me like you map is a lemon . Ill keep trying to help with ideas about a solution. Try different turn rates and find the best one.

 

[Shades-X]

Just as a test... redo the tigger except instead of using a patrol action make 2 triggers... that will order the unit back to its starting position... I realize this is a long shot and most likely won't help but I believe with the information you have given you are in desperate messures. So try this and see what happens I know I am curious!

 

[LedZepplin]

Could it be since they were ordered a similar instruction that they formed a formation or group amongst themselves. Could that happen?

 

[Kenito]

It's possible. However, I don't think units actually put themselves in groups and formation with a "Unit Group" command. And even if they did, I didn't use that. I used the repetetive patrol functions, instead of something simple like "Pick every unit in [Units of type [Hippie]] and order [picked unit] to [Patrol to [position of [picked unit] with offset [400]]"

 

[bobohead]

Using patrol order is rather risky...

I suggest this

Events
A unit enters Region A

Condition
Entering unit equal to "Hippies"

Action
Order entering unit to move to center of Region B

This might be alot of work but its fool proof

 

[Kenito]

...that slowly desyncs, too! I can't believe this.

 

[w00t22]

umm add locsut means no collsion and it works best for a maze and add perment immolation to the units to kill units

 

[Kenito]

I only use immo for my wanderers. In fact, many people seem to stick to the collision trigger instead of immolation. As for locust, I don't like using that, since many of my units are humorously-named, and I want the challenge of people having to avoid clicking on them. Still, I'll try locust-ing the hippies.

 

[Kenito]

Mini B to the U to the M to the P.

I tried locusting them, again, they desync.

Cara - Hmm, do you use WEU, or do you know of any other significant things you do in your maze? Perhaps there is something we've in common (like a common trigger or custom thing), that messes ours up. Because I've already looked at a ton of mazes - they don't desync, and they order units to patrol the exact same way I do.

 

[Kenito]

-=B U M P=-

Yes, I can't believe I'm actually bumping, but it's that big of a problem. I've even considered starting over (and I've gotten quite far in the maze)...because this is crazy. I've tinkered with turn rates, collision sizes, speeds, and more. None of your ideas worked, either. I don't know how, though, because I have some raiders that patrol in the exact same combing manner, and they're just fine. I've even changed all the movement and collision settings on the hippies to match that of the raiders. Still no dice...

 

[seph ir oth]

Not every game is perfect...

My guess is that since you have all the variables right (every unit has the same distance to travel, every unit is the exact same), it's the computer's ability to make every trigger happen that's the problem. For example, if it's making 17 different units patrol in different areas, there might be some lag time between each patrol (maybe just by milliseconds, due to the computer handling random things such as animation movements). The time will vary, screwing up its nice, neat order.

That pathing one previously solved is a mystery to me, probably just a pathing glitch by Blizzard...

My advice is that you should try to make it activate only if they are on that level. If you've done that, well, I think that's all you can really do...