[A17] Colonists won't take food to a table and eat on the floor instead

[tukkek]

This is something me and others on the Steam forums have noticed. For me it seemed to become a bit better (not fixed though) when I deconstructed my big table and placed two smaller tables there instead. I also changed chair positioning but they were facing the right direction both before and after anyways.

Obviously this is bad beucase it gives you a penalty for happiness, not to consider breaking the immersion since they can't be bothered to go 20 squares away to eat their meals.

Steam has been talking about it for a while now:

http://steamcommunity.com/app/294100/discussions/0/143388408895629990/
http://steamcommunity.com/app/294100/discussions/0/144512526678951787/
http://steamcommunity.com/app/294100/discussions/0/154644349169724298/
http://steamcommunity.com/app/294100/discussions/0/154644349171215536/
http://steamcommunity.com/app/294100/discussions/0/135509314046799776/
http://steamcommunity.com/app/294100/discussions/0/135509823660645479/
http://steamcommunity.com/app/294100/discussions/0/144513670981002484/
http://steamcommunity.com/app/294100/discussions/0/135509823670586007/

[ItsEddy]

I'll recommend you to use a simple mod: TableDiner, simply increase the range for searching table
https://ludeon.com/forums/index.php?topic=33372.0

[Calahan]

Thank you for the ... report.

I won't call this a bug because I'm (personally) not convinced this is a bug. That's because I've seen this issue being talked about on several occasions for the last few alphas now, but to date nobody has produced a single vanilla save game (AFAIK) that reliably reproduces the issue. I've tried directly replying in threads to those talking about experiencing the bug. I've posted general "if anyone can reproduce this bug" type posts in threads where it's being mentioned. But so far nothing. Nada. Zip. Not a single person has posted a single vanilla save file that reliably reproduce this error.

And yet people continue to mention they've encountered this issue on a regular basis, but yet can't seem to provide a save file that reproduces it. Which leads me to think there are likely explainable reasons why Pawns are not eating at tables, such as distance from the table (as you mention), and these reports are possibly just cases of players who are just not aware of these reasons, and so might think they are encountering a bug rather than a WAD mechanic. As there has to be a distance limit, for example, as otherwise you could have scenarios where Pawns will trek for many hours across the map (in the snow) just to eat a meal in their inventory (and then players would just complain about that and start calling that "a bug"). Or there could simply be a bug in a popular mod that's causing this, as I can't recall anyone mentioning this bug in relation to a vanilla game. But in that case this'll obviously be a mod issue rather than a vanilla bug.


Although I'm not saying there isn't a vanilla bug here, as there might very well be. But if there is, then I just find it hard to believe that so far nobody has provided a vanilla save game demonstrating it, especially when so many players seem to be encountering it. Although players do like posting screenshots of their kitchen and dining room setup when they encounter this issue, not that a screenshot is any use what-so-ever for this type of bug (as there are several possible factors involved that can only be determined and ruled out from an actual save game).

And I've just read through all those Steam threads linked above, but sadly it's just more of the same. Talk, talk, screenshots, and talk. But not a single vanilla save file. Not one.


So if you can provide a vanilla save where this issue can be reliably reproduced then please please post it. Ideally the save file should be ether from just before the Pawn in question is about to look for food, or just before the Pawn picks up the food*, and then decides not to eat at a free table spot. Or the Pawn can be hungry and drafted and then looks for food once undrafted (and proceeds not to eat at a free table spot).

I don't post on Steam myself, but the above request is an open invite to anyone on Steam or Reddit or wherever or on these forums right now reading this post. If you encounter this bug while playing a vanilla game, and you can reproduce it, then please post the save game. If there is a bug here, then it's unlikely to be directly** fixed without a save file. As the general rule of thumb is the devs can not fix a bug if they can't reproduce it.


* I'm pretty sure the Pawn looks for a table after he picks up his food, but can't remember for certain off the top of my head, so hedging my bets by mentioning both scenarios.

** It might get fixed indirectly due to changes to the game and / or fixes to other bugs.

[Thraxon]

From what i noticed, pawn tend to ignore tables when:

They have a suitable food in their inventory ( best or egal quality than near the table )
And they are distant from the table about 50 title ( the number is approximation )

They will just eat their inventory food on the spot. 

[Calahan]

From what i noticed, pawn tend to ignore tables when:

They have a suitable food in their inventory ( best or egal quality than near the table )
And they are distant from the table about 50 title ( the number is approximation )

They will just eat their inventory food on the spot.

As I mentioned above, there is certainly a distance / tile limit involved above which Pawns will consider the table too far away and eat the meal where they are (although I'm not sure the precise number is in relation to this distance, but it's likely visible in the game files somewhere). But this limit is WAD and not a bug.

There's obviously scope for this limit to be increased or decreased depending on player feedback, but there is a big difference between a bug and a game mechanic that is working as designed. Which is exactly why a vanilla save game(s) is required to determine if these incidents are actually bugs,, or just simply the game mechanics working as designed, but the player(s) not fully understanding how they work (and thinking it's bugged due to not understanding).

[Thraxon]

But this limit is different when pawn pick the food in the inventory than when picking in the freezer or pasta( i am not very sure of this)

This is not normal to me because the distance when in inventory is very short.
I noticed this multiples times when sometime pawns at the edge of the screen eat on the ground instead of walk 8 sec to get to the table.
Normaly at the same distance, AI goes to pick in the freezer and then go at the table.

I may be wrong, but i can't remember and be sure, but when it happend, when colonist is eating the inventory meal on the ground, you draft -undraft and he pick the food and goes to the table?

[Calahan]

^ If you can provide a vanilla save game that reproduces any of these incidents and/or inconsistencies (between inventory and freezer meals) then please upload it to GoogleDrive or Zippyshare etc (assuming the save will be too big to attach when compressed). That way I (and others) can take a look and see what's happening.

But until a save file appears then I'm not sure where any discussion is going because such discussion has been had here on these forums before, on Steam, and elsewhere I'm sure, but with no end result (in relation to confirming any sort of bug).

[tukkek]

Hi Calahan, I haven't played RW in a while since I usually only do it when I have the time and feel like doing a single binge afternoon but I'll definitely come up with a vanilla save for you when I see this next. I have no mods installed so I'm a 100% sure this is a vanilla issue (it also didn't seem to appear before A17).

I fully understand your concerns, as I'm a game developer myself but this is definitely a bug. My colonists take their food from the freezer which is a couple buildings away from my kitchen (where the table and stove are). My only building in-between is quite small (maybe 5x5 squares) and the freezer and kitchen rooms themselves are pretty small too (normal, I guess), with distances short in-between them all.

The reason why this keeps popping up in the forum here, on Steam, etc is because, most likely than not the distance that has been set to lookup for a table is way too small (my guess on why this is happening anyway, if not a technical bug somewhere else that affects the lookup logic). I'd easily expect the lookup distance to be 3 times larger than what I'm currently seeing not work, as to encompass my small base.

I know my words don't mean much by themselves but I'll definitely upload a save here next time I have the chance to. All of the buildings I mentioned fit into a single screen with a very zoomed in camera and the number of people complaining about this should make clear that something is amiss and it's not like people are expecting their colonists to walk half way across the map to eat their dinner lol

[ison]

This bug is already fixed for A18. The funny part is that it was very difficult to reproduce without analyzing the code line by line. It's because the bug was that if you're not looking at the pawn at the moment - he's outside of the camera view - then his rotation is not updated properly so he gets the "ate without a table" thought. This means that it was impossible to reproduce if you were looking at the pawn.

So the "ate without a table" bug is now most likely fixed.

Thanks for reporting.