Polymorph (135) from a non-default shape into a large shape blocks movement: Seems to leave invisible collision circles on the ground

[Guest Alphonse Brown]

Hi!

I noticed a detail not listed with the Polymorph (135) bug, at least in BG2:EE. Tested with the level 9 Shapechange spell, when you switch from a shape that's not the real form and into a shape with a big circle (Iron Golem or Earth Elemental), you can't move anymore, apparently because you're stuck inside what seems to be a collision circle.

Teleporting out with CTRL+J allows normal movement again, but the collision circle or whatever it is is still in the original spot, invisible, and other characters will walk around it. It doesn't seem to leave a trace in savegames or to survive a save and reload.

It's possible to leave multiple such "collision circles" all over the place and have characters walk funnily around them.

 

Note: The Mustard Jelly shape from the level 4 spell Polymorph Self doesn't seem to trigger the bug. It's got a bigger circle than normal but not as big as Iron Golem or Earth Elemental

[Guest Alphonse Brown]

It might be the collision circle of the previous shape that remains around, so we're not stuck inside something, but something is stuck inside of us, which is not exactly a more desirable situation. (Going from Mustard Jelly to Iron Golem leaves no room for movement at all, unlike going from a normal size to Iron Golem where you can move by a step or so.)

[Guest Alphonse Brown]

But then why are invisible collision circles being left behind only when going from non-default shape to large shape, I don't know. If anyone spends time to outline this bug accurately, I'd be curious to know how they could narrow it down

[argent77]

I can't reproduce this behavior. Polymorphing between shapes with different personal space sizes didn't hinder movement in my test.

The Enhanced Editions provide some nice diagnostic features that might help. Add these lines to the baldur.lua:

SetPrivateProfileString('Game Options','Render Search Map','1')
SetPrivateProfileString('Game Options','Render Dynamic Search Map','1')

The first line enables rendering of the static search map while pressing the SHIFT key. The second line enables rendering dynamic map tiles such as personal space of creatures, even that of invisible creatures, while pressing the CTRL key.

[Galactygon]

This is a known issue, at least when polymorphing is applied via equipped effects as they are in BG1/2:EE.

This can be repro'd by:

1. casting Shapechange
2. shapechanging into a Mind Flayer
3. shapechanging into an Earth Elemental

[argent77]

I still can't reproduce this issue in my BG2:EE 2.6 installation. Is there anything else involved?

Edit: I could repro after removing my current baldur.lua and having it recreated from scratch by the game. It looks like this issue depends on specific game options.

Edited May 17, 2021 by argent77

[argent77]

1 hour ago, argent77 said:

I still can't reproduce this issue in my BG2:EE 2.6 installation. Is there anything else involved?

Edit: I could repro after removing my current baldur.lua and having it recreated from scratch by the game. It looks like this issue depends on specific game options.

It looks like the gameplay option "Auto-Pause: Spell Cast" prevents this issue.

[kjeron]

3 hours ago, argent77 said:

It looks like the gameplay option "Auto-Pause: Spell Cast" prevents this issue.

It's not really auto-pause, but any pause that occurs at the same time as applying the effects will allow movement.

Apparently there is at least one positive side-effect of this bug.

[temnix]

This is probably the same problem that I had when switching out of BIRD_INSIDE. That was for a spell. When the spell expired or I turned it off and the caster returned to the usual animation, he would be stuck on terrain. There were just two ways off the spot: use Teleport field, but it had to have a real range, not 0, and did not work when 0 was rolled for the random range, and switch to NULL_ANIMATION. After this switch the character could work normally, but no other animation worked for this, and the shortest length of the switch was 1 second. The character was gone for a noticeable period of time. Even if I decreased the duration to a few ticks, the switch lasted no less than a second. So it's the one or the other.

[Guest Alphonse Brown]

On 5/17/2021 at 8:09 PM, argent77 said:

The Enhanced Editions provide some nice diagnostic features that might help. Add these lines to the baldur.lua:

SetPrivateProfileString('Game Options','Render Search Map','1')
SetPrivateProfileString('Game Options','Render Dynamic Search Map','1')

The first line enables rendering of the static search map while pressing the SHIFT key. The second line enables rendering dynamic map tiles such as personal space of creatures, even that of invisible creatures, while pressing the CTRL key.

Neat debug trick. The dynamic search map does acquire a red "circle" mark. It appears only when the character tries to move after they polymorphed into big. Pressing SHIFT shows it doesn't affect the static search map so it doesn't survive save & reload.

Auto-pause on spell cast "works around" it and also around all (or maybe only most, didn't check very hard) of the bug that's already listed in IESDP's Polymorph entry.

 

@kjeron I didn't know about the auto-pause on spell cast bug. It's a pretty annoying one, though it works around this particular issue we're discussing. Is it triggered often in realistic gameplay conditions? At a glance, any spell that applies instantly would be affected, which includes even some long range spells like Contagion...

I wonder why Beamdog didn't fix this in 2.6 since it seems pretty big and has been known for a while.

[Guest Alphonse Brown]

43 minutes ago, Guest Alphonse Brown said:

Is it triggered often in realistic gameplay conditions?

(This should be read more like, does it have noteworthy consequences for many spells when it does trigger?)

[argent77]

38 minutes ago, Guest Alphonse Brown said:

(This should be read more like, does it have noteworthy consequences for many spells when it does trigger?)

It can have consequences for spells which use probability ranges to apply certain effects. I have recently described such a consequence in this comment for a spell provided by one of my kit mods.

[Galactygon]

1 hour ago, Guest Alphonse Brown said:

I wonder why Beamdog didn't fix this in 2.6 since it seems pretty big and has been known for a while.

We didn't get to it in 2.6. It's high on our to-do list for 2.7.

[Guest Alphonse Brown]

2 hours ago, Galactygon said:

We didn't get to it in 2.6. It's high on our to-do list for 2.7.

Neat, good to know

I guess that, as a bug that works around at least two other bugs, it might need to be shipped only together with fixes for these other bugs.

4 hours ago, argent77 said:

I have recently described such a consequence in this comment for a spell provided by one of my kit mods.

Heh, that consequence was pretty noteworthy.