MP Human player becomes AI

[Nexii]

Has anyone seen this bug in Multiplayer hotseat games?  At times I have seen Human-controlled factions converting to being AI controlled.  I haven't been able to pin down the trigger (yet) or if it's just some random occurrence.  Will include saves of before/after once I figure out the year at which a faction converted (Gaians in my game).  For now just wondering if anyone else has seen this before.

[Yitzi]

Never seen it before (admittedly, I've never played MP before), but it probably wouldn't be too hard to figure out and fix if it can be reproduced.

[JarlWolf]

It's SKYNET, and its starting with Alpha Centauri! 

[Geo]

Makes sense. Earth is after all too crowded already (well, perhaps not Siberia? ).

[Nexii]

Saves attached (may have some load/save irreg since I was trying to pin down the years)

I think it's both Gaia and Morgan that switch from Human to AI

[Nexii]

It's SKYNET, and its starting with Alpha Centauri! 

Haha.  It would be amusing if this was a random side effect of Cybernetic SE.  But unfortunately that doesn't seem to be so

[Yitzi]

Thanks.  I'll put it on my list, though after 2.5.

[JarlWolf]

Thanks.  I'll put it on my list, though after 2.5.

 

That's a scary thought... 

[Yitzi]

Thanks.  I'll put it on my list, though after 2.5.

 

That's a scary thought... 

Why?

[JarlWolf]

That you're secretly robot trying to take over Alpha Centauri 

Just a joke.

[Yitzi]

Well, I've examined it and have determined that:

1. The bug occurred before the savegame in question.  For example, in the "new 2211" game you posted (with Morgan's turn active), the list of human players is "everyone except Morgan", and sure enough Morgan is turned over to the AI the following turn.  (Even that turn, I believe he will follow AI rules for drone calculations and the like, which may help track down exactly what causes it to happen.)
2. I cannot replicate the bug, at least not without more explicit instructions.  When I load the "new 2211" and just keep ending the turn, Morgan gets dropped (since he's already recorded as an AI player), but nobody else gets switched over to the AI.

[Nexii]

Alright.  I wasn't always saving every year so in this case I didn't have year 2210.  Since the scenario editor can't be used in MP games, at the least it should show that this bug exists. 

I've seen this in other MP games also, though I haven't pinned down the trigger.  Most times the bug will occur within 100-150 turns.  So if I play more and save every year I should be able to get another example save on the turn prior.  I don't think this is a recent thing because I've seen it in many patches back also.

I saw the same oddities on the last human turn, that is the AI advantages like reduced mineral costs.  Governors light up (production isn't actually altered).  Units also appear strange on the 'last human turn' in that they won't blink and you have to often manually go through the unit rotation.

[Yitzi]

Alright.  I wasn't always saving every year so in this case I didn't have year 2210.  Since the scenario editor can't be used in MP games, at the least it should show that this bug exists. 

I've seen this in other MP games also, though I haven't pinned down the trigger.  Most times the bug will occur within 100-150 turns.  So if I play more and save every year I should be able to get another example save on the turn prior.  I don't think this is a recent thing because I've seen it in many patches back also.

I saw the same oddities on the last human turn, that is the AI advantages like reduced mineral costs.  Governors light up (production isn't actually altered).  Units also appear strange on the 'last human turn' in that they won't blink and you have to often manually go through the unit rotation.

All those things are symptoms of the fact that it's already switched in the record.  However, an example save on the turn prior won't do it, as I had one of those (2211 was the "turn prior" for the Gaians, though not for Morgan), and the bug didn't happen for me.  It may be that it was because I was just ending the turn for everybody, so whatever would have caused it wasn't done.  Or maybe it's connected to save/load, which I didn't do.

On the plus side, it's an easy problem to fix in a particular game with a debugger, and the AI advantages let you know when it's happened so it can be fixed, so it doesn't have to ruin any games.

[Nexii]

Ok I was able to figure this one out.  It is related to save/loading.  If you select 'Quit' and 'Save' before exiting the game, the current human player turns to AI flag.  Then on the following turn they will be AI controlled.  The 'Save' to quit option seems to be the one to use and is a workaround.

[Yitzi]

Ok, I'll see if I can do something about that...does the problem happen even with non-password-protected games?