Soldier sometimes looses actions in dedicated MP (Linux)

[chris77 11]

There is a problem in a dedicated MP mission that puzzles me. I have a static, stand-alone soldier with his init set up like this:

this allowDamage false; 
this disableAI "MOVE"; 
this disableAI "FSM"; 
this enableSimulation false; 
this addAction ["<t color='FFFF00'>Some action</t>", ""];

His only purpose is to stand there, unmovable and indestructible and provide an action to players.

When I test the mission in editor it is fine and non-dedicated MP as well.

However if the mission is run on a dedicated Linux server after the mission is running for a few hours this solder loses the action. For everybody on the server. Even players who join later do not get the action. Rejoining does not help either.

From what I read about locality the following should happen:

Player joins the server, map initializes client-side. Since this is defined in the unit's init string in the mission file it is executed on each and every client once when it loads the map.

Thus every player should have this action attached locally to this soldier. Soldier locality is server because soldier is not in the same group as the player. That should not be an issue because for addAction the arguments are global meaning the soldier doesn't have to be local to the client for addAction to work.

I am probably understanding something wrong, but I have no idea what it is and I have run out of options to try. Any experienced mission designer have an idea for me?

[jshock 513]

Quoted from the addAction page on the wiki:

Adds an entry to the action menu of an object (scroll wheel menu). The action can only be activated when in proximity to the object (eg: building). Adding an action to the player obviously makes that action available to the player at all times.

This command has local effect. Created action is only available on the computer where command was executed. To make action available to all players, command must be executed on all connected clients.

Note: addAction will be ignored on dedicated server, probably because no UI.

[das attorney 858]

I don't think that's an issue JShock - if you put code in the initline, then it is ran for all machines, including JIP.

It sounds like it could be a bug with Linux server files.

All I could suggest is moving the action to initPlayerLocal.sqf. Then it should be executed on every connecting player. Ex:

// give your unmovable and indestructible dude a name (here we use ROCK_1)
// make sure this code is in initPlayerLocal.sqf  !!

ROCK_1 addAction ["<t color='FFFF00'>Some action</t>", ""];

If it still bugs out after a few hours, then I'd suggest reporting on feedback tracker as "lost action" or similar & you can tell them you tried to add the action in different ways.

Hope that helps you Chris

[chris77 11]

Thank you for the advice, Attorney and JShock. I have made more discoveries:

While the action disappears from the soldier, it stays on a crate I placed nearby with the same init.

Also the mission I am editing is an Alive mission. Alive has a module (Alive Profile System) that despawns infantry after you reach a certain distance.

Documentation is somewhat sparse but I discovered that you can change the modules behaviour. Currently it is set to "Only profile synced units" so it should not profile my static NPCs but appearantly still does.

When respawning them again it seems like it does not reproduce the init string of the unit.

I think this might be an Alive issue instead of a Linux server issue.

For now I am naming the static NPCs, hopefully the profile module will leave them alone now.

Edited September 20, 2014 by Chris77