Movement Trail bug v3.6.6

Using module: starfire_2.1_retro.vmod

There is a movement trail feature, which resets (disappears) when the turn tracker is moved to the initiative phase. A new movement trail is created when the counter is moved the next turn, and repeat.

This works as described if I run the module with v3.2.17.

However, if I run the module is either v3.5.8 or v3.6.6, the movement trail does not appear every other turn. So, it shows the movement trail when moved in Turn 1, resets at Initiative of Turn 2, but no movement trail shows when moving in Turn 2, when moving to Turn 3, the movement trail appears again, doesn’t show in Turn 4, etc. (Showing in odd numbered turns, not showing in even numbered turns.)

To recreate:
Start a new game online
Select setup → New scenario
Join game as which side? →
Select Board → Open Space
Finish
Click on Hourglass Icon
Hit “+” until “Turn 1, Movement Phase” appears
Click on Spaceship Icon
Drag Red “SD” counter onto map
Click on “SD” counter to select
Hit <ctrl + F> four times (moves forward four hexes) [or right-click, select Movement, then Forward]
Hit “+” until “Turn 2, Initiative Phase” appears (movement trail should disappear)
Hit “+” until “Turn 2, Movement Phase” appears
Hit <ctrl + F> four times (moves forward four hexes) [or right-click, select Movement, then Forward]
— at this step the movement trail will appear with v.3.2.17, but won’t appear with v3.5.8 or v3.6.6
Hit “+” until “Turn 3, Initiative Phase” appears (movement trail should disappear, if there is one)
Hit “+” until “Turn 3, Movement Phase” appears
Hit <ctrl + F> four times (moves forward four hexes) [or right-click, select Movement, then Forward]
— movement trail should show regardless of version used
Hit “+” until “Turn 4, Initiative Phase” appears (movement trail should disappear, if there is one)
Hit “+” until “Turn 4, Movement Phase” appears
Hit <ctrl + F> four times (moves forward four hexes) [or right-click, select Movement, then Forward]
— at this step the movement trail will appear with v.3.2.17, but won’t appear with v3.5.8 or v3.6.6
This continues on odd- and even-numbered turns, ad nauseum

What’s the earliest version of Vassal where you can reproduce the problem? Our release archive is here, so you can check releases.

Thanks, I’ll take a look. May take a bit.

This may be related to a movement trail bug I reported in December 2020, here: Movement trail bug v3.4.10.

The movement trail wasn’t working properly with v3.4.0, I reported it with v3.4.10, and a fix was instituted with v3.4.12. Starting the v3.4.12 the movement trail starts behaving as I reported with this report (shows every other turn.)

@uckelman, just wanted to make sure you saw my response above.

Thanks,
Greg

Try turning on “Use Classic Move Fixed Distance trait move batching” on the Compatibility tab of the Preferences. Does that make a difference?

I’m not seeing that option.
image

Never mind. I realized that the module has to be open, not just Vassal. Checking it out now.

Turned that option on, still behaves the same as before (trail every other turn).

Hi @gwarren25 -

This sounds similar to an error in the Commands & Colors: Ancients module (v4.1) which arose in Vassal v3.4 after some fixes and new command options were added to the Movement Trail trait. To simplify the symptoms a bit - the movement trails would flip-flop between disabled or not between turns. ie after the problem occurred, a piece that was moved would fail to show the movement trail; unless it was reenabled with a Movement Trail reset command (the first one in the trait - see below).

I fixed it by adding a further step in the module’s end turn automation, providing an additional action to reset the Movement Trail explicitly rather than just relying on the Mark When Moved trait which the module also resets. I know that the problem persists through to the current version of Vassal because I can tell if people use the old version of the module or not simply if the error happens.

On reading the documentation, the module’s previous working is in line with the documented behaviour, so maybe it is a bug or else the docs need an update. At the time, I understood the change was due to a bug-fix in Vassal that fixed other issues with trails/movement but its a while ago.

These are the traits concerned with the CCA issue. The original end turn only reset the first of these traits. I added a reset of the second as well fixing the issue that I had observed.

I wonder if this will help you at all.

@marktb1961 Thanks, that seemed to do it. It’s not my module, so it took a bit to figure out the flow of commands, but I seem to have it working now. I really appreciate the help!

Thanks,
Greg

1 Like

Very glad that it helped but I must admit I am flummoxed again by this issue; as I’ve been working on the module I mentioned again recently and at some point, with no change to that particular sequence, suddenly movement trails were being lost again. This time removing the extra Movement Trail command has fixed the problem. Very confused. Any way, hope your issue stays fixed!

Man, good luck to you. I’m glad you found something to fix it. (Again)