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Targeting but not shooting

Coelacanth

Coelacanth

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Joined
Nov 29, 2005
Posts
2,167
Location
Alberta, Canada
Avatar Name
Coelacanth Coelacanth Maryka
So, I return to the game before Christmas to do some hunting. Something just isn't working the way it used to, maybe it's a known bug, but I wasn't able to search it here among all the other auto-aim and hitboxes-messed-up threads.

Previously, I would equip whatever gun I wanted to hunt with, then I'd target the mob. If I pressed the same key that targeted the mob, I would advance to the selected gun's range and the gun would fire automatically at the mob. When back-stepping, the gun would continue auto-aiming at the mob while I shot at it.

This appears to be broken now. When I target a mob, I will advance towards the mob but the gun won't fire automatically; I need to manually fire it.

It's irritating. I assume it's a bug, or maybe something changed and there's a different way to do what I've been doing for the past few years.

If it's a known new bug, sorry if I missed finding info about it. :)
 
are you using the auto tool?

The way I hunt is usually have go to target option on, use select next quick key, then use auto tool quick key, then have loot key quick key after mob is dead or alternatively have loot pill active and skip the looting part and just do select next and it'll target next mob without turning off the auto tool option.

I'm not sure if there's been any change in recent days though since lately I've been whipping, and with that I use mouse on the mob health bar so that I don't overkill before the attempt tame.
 
I may have to change up how I do things. I always hunt in FPV and once I had a mob in the crosshairs, I just had to press my key bound to "Operate" and it would target the mob. That still works. What USED to happen is, if I pressed the key bound to "Operate" a second time after the mob was selected, I would approach the mob until I was in whatever maximum range my weapon had, and the gun would fire. The mob would stay targeted even if I switched between scope zoom mode or not, 3rd-person view or not.

I would prefer doing everything from my keyboard, not have to click tiles on the screen, which seems counter-intuitive for anyone who's a FPV shooter.
 
you can always bind actions to any unused key on your keyboard
 
I already have a custom keyboard configuration, but this isn't a key-binding issue. It's something that broke or changed quite recently with how targeting and auto-aim-and-fire functions. We all have a muscle memory for things we do thousands or even millions of times, and when suddenly it doesn't work the same way, that indicates something either got bugged, glitched or changed. :)
 
if i experience "select next target"-hotkey not to work as intended, then i usually notice i still had the wrong item equipped. like the fap. if there is no other player in range, then just nothing happens.
 
I’ve had it stop working out of nowhere before.

I’ve also bound it to my windows key and accidentally had windows lock on... lol
 
My gut says this has a lot to do with the lag.
 
Eli said:
My gut says this has a lot to do with the lag.
Click to expand...

Nope, it has nothing to do with lag. I did another test last night.

With a gun in hand, I targeted a mob in the crosshairs. I pressed my usual button (bound key to "Operate" function) which PREVIOUSLY would make my avatar approach the mob and auto-fire when the gun's maximum range was reached. This doesn't happen anymore. Instead, my avatar walked right up to the mob, presumably to "operate" the mob, as if it were a trade terminal. :dunce:

So, something broke this past functionality.

Why does this irritate me? Because the way things are now, I'm always guessing my various weapons' maximum range for my first shots, because the previous bound key no longer automatically makes me approach and fire at a given weapon's range limit. Furthermore, if a mob moves a bit just as I'm about to fire, without the mob being targeted, the shot may do nothing. I'm not concerned about a loss of ammo as no ammo is wasted on a shot on a mob that's lost its target hit-box, but it loses time, the mob can close in and decay my armor and hit me.

Please fix the targeting and auto-aim-and-fire, MA.
 
Coelacanth said:
I already have a custom keyboard configuration, but this isn't a key-binding issue. It's something that broke or changed quite recently with how targeting and auto-aim-and-fire functions. We all have a muscle memory for things we do thousands or even millions of times, and when suddenly it doesn't work the same way, that indicates something either got bugged, glitched or changed. :)
Click to expand...

Or....you are maybe experiencing the Mandala effect.
 
Coelacanth said:
With a gun in hand, I targeted a mob in the crosshairs. I pressed my usual button (bound key to "Operate" function) which PREVIOUSLY would make my avatar approach the mob and auto-fire when the gun's maximum range was reached. This doesn't happen anymore. Instead, my avatar walked right up to the mob, presumably to "operate" the mob, as if it were a trade terminal. :dunce:
Click to expand...

This sounds to me as if it could be the problem described here:
https://www.planetcalypsoforum.com/forums/showthread.php?291725-Rework-the-hitbox-system-please
https://www.planetcalypsoforum.com/...possible-frustrating-to-hunt-with-new-hit-box

But this persists and angers players since like forever. There have been improvements to it in an update somewhat over a year ago iirc, but it was not fundamentally solved. Did you perhaps hunt mobs you didn't before? If so it's possible you just escaped it for the longest time because whether the problem occurs and how bad it is very much depends on the species.
 
Aloisius said:
Or....you are maybe experiencing the Mandala effect.
Click to expand...

Hardly (I believe you were aiming for "Mandela Effect"; but your aim was not working, either). Perhaps it's something as simple as the target mob function acting like the loot function, as the avatar approaches the living mob just as if you were trying to loot it...instead of SHOOT it.
 
San said:
This sounds to me as if it could be the problem described here:
https://www.planetcalypsoforum.com/forums/showthread.php?291725-Rework-the-hitbox-system-please
https://www.planetcalypsoforum.com/...possible-frustrating-to-hunt-with-new-hit-box

But this persists and angers players since like forever. There have been improvements to it in an update somewhat over a year ago iirc, but it was not fundamentally solved. Did you perhaps hunt mobs you didn't before? If so it's possible you just escaped it for the longest time because whether the problem occurs and how bad it is very much depends on the species.
Click to expand...

Perhaps, but this was working fine up to sometime in early 2017. I get bored and go offline for months at a stretch, but maintain the account activity every so often with a login...and before every Halloween, I return and do some intensive hunting. The target-and-approach-but-not-shoot bug currently happens on every mob, not just the ones I usually hunt.

I suppose anybody could confirm this by equipping a ranged weapon, targeting a mob, and doing the "Operate" action. If you're in a building and use this on a TT or storage terminal, you'll approach and "open" it. If you're hunting and do this on a dead mob, you'll approach and loot it. But on a living mob, up until early this year, the "Operate" function would approach your avatar to the maximum range of your equipped weapon and fire the first "tagger" shot. Now, your avatar approaches the deadly mob to give it a friendly hug instead.
 
I had this exact issue a few months ago. I have 3 different layouts or whatever you call them. You know, the little icon at the top of the screen where you can click and change from layout 1, 2, 3, etc?

When I was on layout 2 or 3 the auto target would not work. When I switched back to layout 1 it worked. There must be a default icon on my layout 1 for this action that is not on layout 2 or 3.
 
Thanks for the tip, henry. I'll have to check that out; I only have 2 layouts (F1, F2) but almost never use the second one. My main one has all the key-bindings I use 95% of the time, but you never know...all my bindings are working otherwise, so I'm pretty sure I'm on my F1 layout.
 
Aloisius said:
Or....you are maybe experiencing the Mandala effect.
Click to expand...

José Mandala died unexpectedly at the age of 46 already in 2003. He left two wives, five children, and a chipmunk named Geronimo. :eek:
 
Coelacanth said:
I suppose anybody could confirm this by equipping a ranged weapon, targeting a mob, and doing the "Operate" action. If you're in a building and use this on a TT or storage terminal, you'll approach and "open" it. If you're hunting and do this on a dead mob, you'll approach and loot it. But on a living mob, up until early this year, the "Operate" function would approach your avatar to the maximum range of your equipped weapon and fire the first "tagger" shot. Now, your avatar approaches the deadly mob to give it a friendly hug instead.
Click to expand...

Ahah, the plot thickens. There are two different actions, "Operate" and "Use tool". I'm not aware whether they changed something about them recently, if so it sounds like there possibly were overlaps before which got removed. "Use tool" or "auto-use tool" is what you want for shooting your weapon or whatever your avatar has equipped, while "operate" works on things outside of yourself. Together with the option setting "Move to target when interacting", "use tool" can have the effect you describe if the mob has this hitbox problem. Happens to me all the time, I get dragged right into it usually until it aggroes and the change of geometry allows for releasing the first shot. If you use "operate" on mobs instead, the system might think you really just want to cuddle it.
 
"Operate" was just my terminology for the function in pretty much every FPS game where you use it to interact with something; open a door or treasure chest or similar. Maybe I meant "Use Tool"; I'll have to confirm this weekend, I wasn't able to login yesterday. Do both "Operate" and "Use Tool" exist as separate actions?

Whatever the case may be, I previously always had the same key bound to whatever action makes you approach and open a storage or trade terminal, this never changed. When hunting, pressing this key made me approach a targeted mob to the range limit of whatever weapon I was holding, and pressing it again made it fire at the mob. Now, pressing it once just makes me approach the mob, so something evidently changed.

I'll have to check what action is bound to my key that I use and call "operate". :scratch2:

Thanks for giving me something to investigate, anyway. :)
 
So that begs the next question: What happens if you have a mob targeted, but it's out of range, and you press the "Use tool" action? Will your equipped weapon fire even if the mob is beyond the range limit?

I'll have to do more investigation tonight. Whatever action I have bound to that key on my keyboard no longer works the way it used to, and I haven't changed my config for many years. The end-result is the same, something was either changed or broken. :)
 
Coelacanth said:
So that begs the next question: What happens if you have a mob targeted, but it's out of range, and you press the "Use tool" action? Will your equipped weapon fire even if the mob is beyond the range limit?
Click to expand...

If you have the option "Move to target when interacting" deactivated, then yes (but it doesn't consume ammo/decay anymore if no valid target can be hit, except in pvp areas). If you have the option activated, your avatar gets pulled into range first (with the caveat mentioned, that there are problems with a number of mobs).
 
Thanks San, I'm intrigued now. I'll reply later with my findings.
 
I have an update to report.

Last night, things were back to working the way they were before. Targeting and auto-firing the first shot is fixed. I changed nothing on my end, so MA either viewed this thread, or received bug reports, and fixed the bug.

Happy hunting, everyone!
 
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