Adventure mode - not beeing able to act

[Zwergenfestung]

I currently discover my generated world in adventure mode to get to know the mode and its features better. But every few steps I id do get the following pop-up message:

"You haven't been able to act for a while. You can continue waiting, or save/quit from the settings menu."
"a Continue waiting"

How is this message meant? What does it actually refer to? Does it have anything at all to do with the game and the character or does it refer to the game's system? The message is not meaningful enough for me. I can continue playing normally, but having to click away the message every few seconds is quite annoying. I already searched the internet for this, but it seems that there are no discussions about this yet.

Every helping hint is welcome. :)

[LeadPoison]

Having same issue. I think it might have something to do with being carrying too much weight, but I'm not sure.

[Zwergenfestung]

I thought this too becasue I carry a bit too much pretty often, but sometimes it's only over a short period of time and then gone. Saving in between has nothing to do with it.

I'm not sure, but I have the feeling I see this message more often when I play with the camera zoom out a bit. But maybe that's just a silly coincidence.

If only the message were a little easier to interpret...

[megareader5000]

Originally posted by Zwergenfestung:

If only the message were a little easier to interpret...

I understand it's difficult for a non-native english speaker to understand, but that's not a flaw with the message itself and shouldn't be treated as such, as a native speaker likely won't have trouble with it

[Zwergenfestung]

Originally posted by megareader5000:

I understand it's difficult for a non-native english speaker to understand, but that's not a flaw with the message itself and shouldn't be treated as such, as a native speaker likely won't have trouble with it

It's not that I can't understand written or spoken English. 90% of my work as a software developer is done in English. But from my own work, I know how to write proper (error) messages that users can understand without having to discuss them and without leaving room for interpretation.

So, yes, I think there is indeed a problem with this message. If it means that there is a problem with the weight I'm carrying with me, then it should be a clear part of this message box and not tell me I should save or quit the game. It's as simple as that.

[Nautilus]

Ok I had this same message, but I was riding on a horse. The horse would run around on its own for a while and then the message would pop up, and then when I click off it the horse starts running again. I wasn't in combat so I don't know why the horse would have spooked.

I wasn't able do anything the whole time except ride the horse wherever it went until it somehow fixed itself.

[Lucidess]

It sounds like the general purpose message telling you that, your character is in a situation. Better figure out that situation. (but really there is probably a good answer to all of this that will make complete sense, trust me bro)

[Zwergenfestung]

I currently believe that the message has to do with the fact that your movement is not taking place at your desired speed (x ticks per tile), or that you need significantly longer for some steps (above a threshold value) - for whatever reason.

In a turn-based game, you won't notice that you're moving slower if you don't have a comparison speed (other people walking around, for example). Maybe it's just a phase of exhaustion that goes away on its own. Nevertheless, this message could contain exactly this explanation.

[megareader5000]

Originally posted by Zwergenfestung:

Originally posted by megareader5000:

I understand it's difficult for a non-native english speaker to understand, but that's not a flaw with the message itself and shouldn't be treated as such, as a native speaker likely won't have trouble with it

It's not that I can't understand written or spoken English. 90% of my work as a software developer is done in English. But from my own work, I know how to write proper (error) messages that users can understand without having to discuss them and without leaving room for interpretation.

So, yes, I think there is indeed a problem with this message. If it means that there is a problem with the weight I'm carrying with me, then it should be a clear part of this message box and not tell me I should save or quit the game. It's as simple as that.

Yes, but it's fairly clearly not that

[Yung Money]

I get this issue when I start a new adventure mode campaign. It usually resolves after turning the game off and rebooting it.

[Spooky Bunyip]

I believe it means that many game ticks have happened without your character performing a meaningful action (moving, singing, etc)

Are you crawling on the ground and need to stand up? I've had it where, when I'm crawling, my character is so slow that it triggers that.

[Erei]

If your character is very slow/stuck this will happen. For example, getting stuck into web will make your character unable to move for a while. Or carrying heavy weight (you are very slow). Or crawling. Sometimes performing, as it can take a while between each passages.
Basically, everything that make you "not doing anything" for some time.

From that, it's easy to avoid. Don't crawl, don't carry heavy weight (get horses, donkey, elephant and use them as beast of burden).

[LeadPoison]

Originally posted by Erei:

If your character is very slow/stuck this will happen. For example, getting stuck into web will make your character unable to move for a while. Or carrying heavy weight (you are very slow). Or crawling. Sometimes performing, as it can take a while between each passages.
Basically, everything that make you "not doing anything" for some time.

From that, it's easy to avoid. Don't crawl, don't carry heavy weight (get horses, donkey, elephant and use them as beast of burden).

Seems like there could be a better way to handle it than a message box popping up every time you take a step.

[Nautilus]

Originally posted by LeadPoison:

Originally posted by Erei:

If your character is very slow/stuck this will happen. For example, getting stuck into web will make your character unable to move for a while. Or carrying heavy weight (you are very slow). Or crawling. Sometimes performing, as it can take a while between each passages.
Basically, everything that make you "not doing anything" for some time.

From that, it's easy to avoid. Don't crawl, don't carry heavy weight (get horses, donkey, elephant and use them as beast of burden).

Seems like there could be a better way to handle it than a message box popping up every time you take a step.

Yeah it's usually not the games actual performance that makes highly populated areas unplayable in adventure mode, it's the absurd message spam

[Erei]

Originally posted by LeadPoison:

Seems like there could be a better way to handle it than a message box popping up every time you take a step.

I mean, the message is there just to check if you are stuck. That's what it does, and it's doing his job. For overuncombrance you have warning (bottom left over the bag icon and in the inventory screen). For crawling you also have icons (the brown triangle under your character).
And the message/alert give you an opportunity to quit if you are stuck in a loop, or if you'll die anyway. Because, yes, in DF you can take ages to die, with no hope to survive. Maybe a giant is beating you with a sock, which will take forever to kill you, but since your spine is broken there is nothing you can do.

Originally posted by Nautilus:

Yeah it's usually not the games actual performance that makes highly populated areas unplayable in adventure mode, it's the absurd message spam

If you are moving slowly for some reason, time passes a lot faster around you. Essentially, to move one square it takes many turn more than the NPCs so it ends up with message spam. To move that one square it took several minute because you are overloaded as hell.
Essentially, you see the world like a sloth.

Message spam is a thing but if you are moving at normal pace it's not an issue. It's only one if you are very slow or doing performance (as those take a while).

[Zwergenfestung]

Originally posted by Nautilus:

Yeah it's usually not the games actual performance that makes highly populated areas unplayable in adventure mode, it's the absurd message spam

Absolutely! A warning sign somewhere on the edge of the screen or some kind of symbol on the character, like when you crawl, would be more than enough.

The message spam is extremely annoying. Fortunately, you can customise the messages you see, but you might miss something.

But with all your messages, one could at least understand the meaning of this popup. 🤗 It just needs to be made more user friendly.