A Trace of Metal bug, can't progress (Spoilers)

[Aelwain]

The latest hotfix got me excited with the mentions of A Taste of Metal, but then I realized that the mission I had a problem with since the update's launch day is called A "TRACE" of Metal, so I'll just bring it up myself.

The mission worked relatively fine at first. I got the distress call, came back, found my settlement under attack, beat the attackers, got the anomalous broadcast and went to talk to Tethys on my administrative terminal, where I was told to "search the battlefield for clues about the attack." I went and did that by popping a bunch of those infinitely-respawning glowing monster energy cans and cracked open the Salvaged Glass until I got the Sentinel chart. The mission didn't update, but I didn't think much of it and just followed the signal to the nest. I went and did everything I could apparently do there — shut down the Sentinels + got the lore and Multi-Tool — but the mission STILL didn't update. It still told me to "search the battlefield for clues about the attack." Confused, I went back to my settlement, only for it to get attacked the same way it was when I first came back. I beat the attacking Sentinels again, but Tethys didn't contact me this time and my settlement was still spawning infinite monster energy cans and that's basically where I am now. I've done two more hives since but nothing changed. My settlement gets attacked every time I come back and the mission just isn't updating from there.

In case it's worth mentioning: while the mission tracker on the bottom-right tells me to "search the battlefield for clues about the attack," the log entry tells me to answer the anomalous broadcast at the administrative terminal, which I'm pretty sure I already did. Seems like a conflict that could screw things up, but I'm no game dev.

[Luvmuchine]

I have the same bug but I haven't been able to progress past the monster energy cans. They're always empty so they aren't helping me.

[Javier Escuella]

I have the same bug on xbox series s, waiting for a solution to the problem

[Dershem]

I can't actually enter my settlement admin building since the attack.

[Aelwain]

Just posting to say that I found out what the issue was.

I got the necessary loot (the "Undamaged Drone Shell," I think) and stored it away in one of my storage inventories (using the Freighter's teleportation tech, of course) BEFORE talking to Tethys on my administrative terminal. The monster energy cans were respawning infinitely because apparently the game didn't register that I already had it and was fruitlessly trying to give it to me again.

I fixed it by simply putting the drone shell back into my exosuit's inventory.

[WildPhoenixVT]

Originally posted by Aelwain:

Just posting to say that I found out what the issue was.

I got the necessary loot (the "Undamaged Drone Shell," I think) and stored it away in one of my storage inventories (using the Freighter's teleportation tech, of course) BEFORE talking to Tethys on my administrative terminal. The monster energy cans were respawning infinitely because apparently the game didn't register that I already had it and was fruitlessly trying to give it to me again.

I fixed it by simply putting the drone shell back into my exosuit's inventory.

Thank you! Omg, I can't believe it was that simple. I've been dealing with this "bug" for over a month now and it was driving me crazy! Finally my settlement is bearable to visit again. Thank you!

[Zep Tepi]

Just make sure you have done the Anomaly welcome quest where you meet everyone before talking to Tethys (actually Polo within that quest) or it will get hung up there too.

[JuggaloZiz]

I have gotten the distress call and returned to my settlement. Last night, I fought these things for about an hour and only got my level up to about two. they would not stop coming and the 0/8 counter would only drop a few before re setting. I must have destroyed hundreds. I came back tonight to see if it had changed, no such luck. There is no restart mission option and I am not sure what to do.

[ChubGator_69]

I'm stuck at the part where you have to actually go to Tethys. The tool tip in the log tells me to summon the anomaly using 'x', but I don't have the option to. I attempted to use two of those anomaly finders, but they only resulted in a secret listening station I couldn't figure out how to interact with and an outlaw observation station. Does anybody know how to progress to meeting Tethys?

[gNg]

A Trace of Metal bugs out if you haven't discovered the Anomaly and met all the characters there before you start it. That's The Anomaly, not just any anomaly and you gain the ability to go there in the early stages of the main quest. If you can't summon it on the X menu, then I assume you haven't got that far yet?

[Chonk]

Originally posted by JuggaloZiz:

I have gotten the distress call and returned to my settlement. Last night, I fought these things for about an hour and only got my level up to about two. they would not stop coming and the 0/8 counter would only drop a few before re setting. I must have destroyed hundreds. I came back tonight to see if it had changed, no such luck. There is no restart mission option and I am not sure what to do.

Did you fix this?

[nikita00611]

I got the Solution! I used Save editor, to fix this quest!
1. Open Save Editor (https://github.com/goatfungus/NMSSaveEditor/raw/master/NMSSaveEditor.exe)
2. Open the right save file!
3. On top right corner open "Edit" --> Edit Raw JSON
4. open the dropdown Manu BaseContext --> click on PlayerStateData
5. On the right half, press "CTRL + F" to search "^SENTINELS_5"
6. "^SENTINELS_5" Is the mission "A Trace of Metal"
7. under the "Mission":"^SENTINELS_5", you should see "Progress":xx,
8. It progresses in steps of six, so: "Progress":6, "Progress":12, "Progress":18, "Progress":24, "Progress":30...
9. if you change to "Progress":30, you will need to put the "Radiant Brain" inside your inventory or else you destroy this mission!
Hope it will help anybody!