Project Jerkstop: The Final Solution

Houston, we have jerkstop!

I had not experienced jerkstop or had my party's characters stuck in combat stances at all. My party consists of 1 player-made rogue PC, 2 player-made fighter PCs, the NPCs Elmo, Fruella, Ronald, Kella, Spugnoir, and Kella's animal companion Polar Bear. All of the characters in my party are level 12, except for Ronald who is level 11 (but he has enough XP to level up). I have never used the console in my playthrough. I recently did item crafting while on the Verbobonc exterior map. The only item crafting that I have done in my playthrough is to change the Holy Greataxe +1 to a Holy Axiomatic Greataxe +3. My party then immediately went to the Temple of Elemental Evil and did the combat for the 'Monster Mash' quest. All of my characters were still under the effect of the spell Protection from Evil, and 1 of my fighters was still under the effect of the spell Enlarge Person when my party travelled on the world map to South Hommlet. The instant that my party reached Hommlet, I heard a sound effect that I think was the sound of all of those spells being dismissed. Then my party appeared on the Hommlet exterior map. As soon as my party started running around, all of my party's characters kept experiencing jerkstop. I have attached a game save. I tested the game save by quitting the game, then running the game again, and loading the game save - I've immediately experienced jerkstop when attempting to run my party around Hommlet using this game save.

Note: The following game save has 2 other corruptions associated with it:
1. Elmo's hovertext always appears at the very top of the screen.
2. Spugnoir has a permanent Spell Object in his inventory that gives him the permanent affliction of Hezrou Stench (which counts down from 100 rounds, and then resets and repeats this indefinitely). Spugnoir got this Spell Object when my party fought the Balor Guardian (the Balor Guardian summoned a Hezrou during the combat).

The following game save was created while playing 7.2.0 NC (with the 7.2.1 patch applied):

Here are some screenshots showing my party's characters experiencing jerkstop while attempting to run around on the Hommlet exterior map in between the Inn of the Welcome Wench and Brother Smyth:

 

I'll look into this.

 

I use Box.com. It's free and gives you up to 1GB of file storage space.

 

I'm running a 7.2 game as well, 4 evil rogues. Progress is slow as I am used to having a diverse group of 6 normally.

Anyway, I thought I mentioned earlier about the last time I had jerkstop, it was when I had enlarge person spell on a party member and then entered the Hommlet map from the world map.... That might be something worth checking into.

 

The incomplete movement after a movement command is given IS jerkstop.

Erratic movement during movement would have to be something else. I've never had that (yet).

 

Find out for yourself. Load the first game save attached below, then immediately travel on the world map to either South Hommlet, North Hommlet, or East Hommlet and you WILL ALWAYS hear the sound. I should point out that the volume of the sound varies, so if it was quiet the first time that you heard it, reload the game save, travel to Hommlet again, and the sound will probably be louder this time.
I tested this game save extensively by going to the 3 different destinations in Hommlet from the Temple of Elemental Evil exterior map. I found that going to South Hommlet would ALWAYS result in jerkstop. I found that going to East Hommlet NEVER results in jerkstop when running around East Hommlet. I found that travelling to North Hommlet resulted in jerkstop on one test (but the jerkstop was only triggered when running around North Hommlet by also scrolling the screen AT THE SAME TIME!). I then travelled from North Hommlet to South Hommlet using the world map and it resulted in the WORST jerkstop that I have EVER experienced!!! You can experience this crippling jerkstop for your self by loading the second game save attached below. This means that my game save outside the Temple of Elemental Evil is corrupt (because it ALWAYS results in jerkstop when I travel to South Hommlet) so I am going to have to go back to an earlier game save in order to try to avoid getting jerkstop in Hommlet.
I wonder whether that sound (when arriving on the Hommlet exterior map) is causing jerkstop?

I loaded a game save when my party was back at Verbobonc (i.e before I did the 'Monster Mash' combat) but AFTER I had done the item crafting (i.e. the item that I crafted is present), then immediately travelled on the world map to South Hommlet, where I did NOT experience jerkstop. Therefore, item crafting does not cause jerkstop. I have plenty of old game saves if you want to examine any of them, or if you want me to conduct any more tests.

Note: I don't think that the file slot0363360.gsi is necessary but I included it in the sound when arriving at Hommlet.rar archive just in case because the file was created at the same time that the game save was.

 

First, there is no jerkstop. Then after some time (level 4ish for me), I leave the Welcome Wench and the party appears in the usual location frozen in combat poses. No movement is possible. No movement commands can be given. This situation can be escaped by Worldmap movement to another location and returning. This is when I know I have a problem.

Somewhat later, a NEW phenomena, which I named "Jerkstop" years ago, starts occasionally occurring. At first, a movement command can be issued, the blue discs appear at the destination, and the party starts moving. Then the movement abruptly stops after a moderate distance while the destination blue discs disappear. The party's movement has prematurely terminated. A new command can be issued, only to have the same result.

I can escape this problem temporarily if I can enter a building or worldmap out, and then return. Then, at first at least, I can move normally.

The phenomena is usually locallized in certain areas of Homlett: near the WW intersection, the Guard Captain / Woodcutter area and the initial appearrance area in the south, but not always.

When Jerkstop is occurring, the movement is normal and smooth, then prematurely terminates. The avatar postures are normal throughout. It reminds me of the vanilla problem at the Moathouse when the Giant Frog combat is not triggering while you are moving from the arrival spot. Movement just stops, but no combat.

As it gets worse, the movement distances get shorter, to immobility, and the occurrence is more frequent. The game is now unplayable (usually around levels 8/10).

There are no additional components to this problem as far as I know. It may be appearing in this form in other places. I've never had it in Nulb. I've never been able to get the WotGS to trigger. I have definitely had movement problems (node lag) in other places, but not in the same time frame as Jerkstop.

As I was trying to say in the post above, different movement problems, such as erratic movement (of a different sort) in a component of the mod that did not exist when Jerkstop first appeared, should not be lumped in with this. Of course, it MIGHT have the same cause, and it should be addressed.

My concern was your phrase "no herky-jerky starts and stops kind". It seemed to imply there was a third kind of phenomena.

Just because someone mentions the word Jerkstop in another context doesn't mean it is occurring.

 

When WotGS first came out, I would do the dialog option, but the "random encounter" was always empty. I've never been able to play the game far enough in the later versions to get to it.

In the 7.2 version, I've played the game up to the lower/earlier level of onset, and I haven't seen any sign of it. Perhaps you should delay implementing the next fix and wait for the complaints to roll in. Remember, it took years for everyone to recognise that there was a problem.

Since the new phenomena associated with the same kinds of areas was not present originally, lets be cautious about giving it the same name. I've never had jerkstop anywhere but Hommlett, and I'm under the impression that there are different phenomena reported in other areas using the same label. Of course, I've never played long enough to trigger jerkstop in Nulb, so it may be TOTALLY appropriate to to refer to all of these things by the same label.

 

7.2.1NC jerk stop report

Sorry for the bad news...

Running 7.2.0NC plus the patch "Co8 v7.2.1 Patch.rar"

Just started happening. My party of 4 is level 12 (no NPCs). I've cleared the Arena and the first half of temple level 4 (no nodes or central greeting area).

I noticed Jerkstop in Hommlet after completing the Arena and picking up the moathouse respawn quest (I traveled to the south road via the signboard to talk to Kent and noticed it then).

I have a before and after save if that helps at all.

I have crafted items (weapons, belts).

-Fred

 

Re: 7.2.1NC jerk stop report

Could you describe what happens when you get it?

 

Re: 7.2.1NC jerk stop report

Yes. I target a place for my party to move to (blue circles on the ground), the party starts moving and almost immediately stops. Other NPC's on the screen continue to move with a briefly jerky motion.

I have a lot of saves up to this point.

It's interesting that only Hommlet has this problem for me. Other areas are fine (haven't gotten to the nodes yet).