Units stop responding to commands (Loud Mod)

[Blade]

I play against 10 AI 1v10. I just recently starting having issues with this but about 30-40 minutes into every match my units just stop responding and stop where they are. I usually have over a thousand units and structures by this time because I rush an early economy and tech level then start pumping out enormous groups of tech 3's and experimentals to defend and wipe out all 10 of them at the same time with multiple armies. Once they stop responding though they won't move anywhere. I highlight them and click a new location for them to move to and they just stay where they are no matter how many times I click somewhere with the "move" command.

Sometimes it recovers a little bit but once it does it keeps happening where they'll finally start moving but then stop again. It's not just a couple units, it's every single one so once this happens I have to surrender to the AI or just close the game. Does anyone who uses the loud mod know what's going on? I know the creator of the LOUD mod used to frequent these forums because they helped me out a few times a couple years ago, I'm hoping they still do.

[loudman2]

The answer is pretty simple - unit count. 10 AI will absolutely flood the machine in pretty quick order, and depending on the map, you're probably suffering from massive numbers of unit collisions. This will, eventually, lead to the conditions you're describing.

I can't confirm that, but if you connect to our Discord, and drag a replay file onto our #replays channel, I can happily diagnose it for you. You can find the link, to connect to our Discord, on the launcher screen.

[XistenZ]

I notice the same behaviour in any match. After a while, as soon as you tell a unit (or group) to move, they immediately stop and their next action is put in some kind of low-priority processing queue. You can see it at work when moving a "large" group, the units will start moving one at a time in a conga line

[loudman2]

When you see 'conga' action - you're seeing the formation code fail - as the group you've selected is likely simply too large for the formation you've selected. There are limits to how many units the formation code can handle, and then, when it fails, it will hand control over to the game engine, which results in the 'conga line' behaviour that you mention.

The 'low priority' processing queue is indeed a reality - the game can only process so many orders in a given tick, which is why, when unit counts are very high, you see this kind of response. LOUD dramatically improves, but does not eliminate, that particular side effect.

[Blade]

Originally posted by loudman2:

The answer is pretty simple - unit count. 10 AI will absolutely flood the machine in pretty quick order, and depending on the map, you're probably suffering from massive numbers of unit collisions. This will, eventually, lead to the conditions you're describing.

I can't confirm that, but if you connect to our Discord, and drag a replay file onto our #replays channel, I can happily diagnose it for you. You can find the link, to connect to our Discord, on the launcher screen.

Thank you! :) That makes perfect sense. I had a gut feeling it had something to do with hitting some kind of hardware limit or maximum. I may try to just avoiding using formations late game when there are so many units on the map and dead ones in the memory. Is that something that's still improving over time as the Loud mod updates or is there just only so much you can do to improve that?

I have a lot of social anxiety and it may seem dumb but it's just as bad online, at least in the form of instant messages, which is why I tend to avoid discord servers. But I do have a video because I was already recording when it happened so I'll see if I can remember my discord login and drop the video there. It really does sound like it's exactly what you said though.

One other quick question though, against 10 AI what do you recommend I set the unit cap to in order to potentially avoid this?

[loudman2]

We've essentially eliminated most of the major memory issues that plagued the original game, what's left is merely 'normal' - but yes, there's only so much we can do.

I hear you about 'online' anything - and I'll be honest, we've got what is likely the most reserved and congenial Discord you can have, so have no fear of instant messaging where that is concerned.

With respect to 10 AI - my advice is simply this - don't. Just because a map has 10 start locations on it, don't assume that you have ANY need to fill them all. The performance overhead of 10 AI is pretty serious, and honestly, most map makers tend to put far too many start locations just because they can - not because they make any sense. Then end result is often an overly crowded mess, with little to no room for actual tactical play, let alone any strategic element.

LOUD was built, from the ground up, as a suitable human opponent, and he adapts quickly to cover a lot of ground, if available. Often, if you fill a map up, you'll actually experience a worse game, as the teamed AI's will often end up competing for the same resources, resulting in a less than ideal result. We suggest 2 v 2, or 3 v 3 configurations - with 3v3 and 4v4 being ideal for 40k maps.

[The_Mav]

I have the same problem happening over the last few days only. I have nothing like the number of players - just me and 2 AIs on mostly 40 x 40 maps. I have no other Mods activated except the Loud Units - makes no difference - units just freeze randomly - even a few minutes after the start of the game. I've been playing fine about 3 days ago, but I swear after the auto update to the latest version all the issues started. It's now unplayable.

When all was fine 3 days ago I was playing on larger maps - no issues, managed to complete to the end of the games, but now I can't get to run 30 minutes - certain unit (commander) freezing withing 5 minutes, but other engineers fine. Earlier the construction menu disappeared in another game before the same thing started happening.

All seems to have gone toes up after this latest update. Can you confirm that If I reinstall the MOD (third time so far, along with the actual game) that it WILL NOT auto update? I want to be able to test it with the previous version, as that seemed fine.

I can't see it being overstretched at this stage as this is happening within a few minutes of starting the game - or sometimes 10 or 30 mins in. Losing the will to live with it.

[loudman2]

I can assure you that there's nothing in any update we've made in the last two years that could be responsible for the kind of things you're seeing. I'd be happy to diagnose your issues if you can provide your game log file and/or a game replay - which we've made it incredibly simple to do, via our Discord.

On the surface, this sounds a lot like an issue introduced by Windows, when they turn on surround sound (which floods the game log causing slowdown, stuttering and eventually crashes) or, their latest unadvertised feature, where they've started pushing user files (which SCFA uses for several things) onto OneDrive, which causes all manner of odd things, and also results in performance and stability issues.

I can help solve these things - directly, via our Discord, the link to which, is available thru our launcher.

LOUD is self-contained, and rarely requires re-installation - but, it does run on top of your original game. If your original game is impacted in the same fashion, then LOUD will be as well.