[User error] Hard to Reproduce Bug: Scripts Don't Always Work

[SPZ1]

I'm having an issue in my project where a couple scripts only seem to work about 75% of the time. It seems to have manifested after I updated another script to change the sky every second. The idea here is that the player gets into a boat and takes a ride into a bayou. The same script also manages the boat going out of the bayou and to where the player was originally at. Sometimes the player doesn't get out of the boat either (also a glitch). Keep in mind that this was working correctly without any change to the script. To see it try "puke 2" at the console a few times.

Link to my project example file: https://ufile.io/lf4kf5bj

[Graf Zahl]

I'll make it short: No script source,no help. Also you are always very quick to blame the engine for problems you experience where it is very likely to be a script problem on your side.

[Player701]

Wow, that is a huge one (400+ MB). And indeed, there are no uncompiled scripts in there, which is a must for debugging. If possible, please provide a minimal example - a small map (without all those models, graphics etc.) containing just the area needed to reproduce the issue, as well as the problematic script(s) in both compiled and source forms.

[SPZ1]

I PM'd the scripts in question. I didn't post them earlier because the project is unreleased and it's inner workings are supposed to be a secret.

[Player701]

There is no bug here. You have a duplicate player 1 start (thing 18) in your map without any arguments set, which generates a voodoo doll. This voodoo doll also gets the same TID as the player (42) and interferes with the operation of Thing_Move as a result. If I do not move and keep calling the script, the real player is always picked by Thing_Move first, and everything works normally. But if I move even a little, the order of iteration appears to change; it doesn't matter why it does (this is likely unspecified behavior), but as a result, Thing_Move fails to move the original player and moves the voodoo doll instead, which causes all kinds of problems afterwards.

As soon as I removed the offending player start thing, everything started working fine for me, regardless of how much I moved around and how many times I called the script. Please verify that the issue is resolved for you too when you do the same.

[SPZ1]

Yes this is exactly the problem

[Rachael]

Alright - with your tendency to blame the engine way too often for your own errors I am temporarily blocking your access to the bugs forum. Please start your topics in this forum here - Scripting - from now on - until you get into the habit of actually *asking* if it's a real engine bug first.

If you do actually manage to find an engine bug we can move your thread from that forum to the bug forum and deal with it from there.