Missions get duplicated when returning to mission-giver

[jkraybill]

Describe the bug

I'm not sure exactly how to reproduce this, but I'm finding that it's common for mission-givers to "forget" the mission I've been given when I return after a long absence.

The dialogue state appears reset to where it was before I got my current mission from them. I can get the dialogue state back to getting the mission, but then I get a carbon copy of the mission, and when I complete the mission, the duplicated version remains in my "Active Missions" tab.

In the above screenshot,

• I received the "Missing Caravan" quest, then completed it a long time later (weeks or months), during which period I had received several other quests. When I returned to the merchant, the dialogue state acted like I didn't have a mission. I had to re-request the mission, at which point it became duplicated in my "Active Missions" list. After I completed it, one copy of it remained in "Active Missions".
• Same thing happened with the Dino Dave quest "Bring a roll of duct tape". Here I have the follow-up mission, "Bring 10 medium-sized boxes", but a duplicate copy of the earlier mission is still in the list.
• Same with "Find an Electric Motor" for Jenny Forcette and "Gather bones..." for Brigitte LaCroix.

Steps To Reproduce

It seems pretty common, but in all cases there was a lot of physical distance and time between when I got the quest and when I completed it. I have not spent time trying to get to a base repro but if I need to, let me know.

Expected behavior

• quest-givers should not forget that they gave you a mission.
• dialogue state should not reset when you return to complete a mission.

As a failsafe,

• you should never have a duplicate copy of the same mission in your list.
• completed missions that can't be done more than once should not appear in your list when complete.

Screenshots

Here's the screenshot of my "Completed Missions" tab from the same game, as you can see there are several duplicates of missions in "Active Missions":

Versions and configuration

• OS: Windows
  • OS Version: 10.0 1903
• Game Version: 0.D-12430-g142295b [64-bit]
• Graphics Version: Tiles
• Mods loaded: [
  Dark Days Ahead [dda],
  Disable NPC Needs [no_npc_food],
  Beta National Guard Camp [national_guard_camp],
  More Locations [more_locations],
  Fuji's More Buildings [FujiStruct],
  More City Locations [cityside],
  Urban Development [Urban_Development],
  No Fungal Monsters [No_Fungi]
  ]

[jkraybill]

Just a little more info on this as I've been trying to find a base repro scenario in debug mode.

I thought maybe this was related to #37255, but the fact that I got it with Brigitte LaCroix tells me it's not a mission-chaining issue.

I have not successfully repro'd this in debug mode UNLESS I actually spawn a duplicate of the NPC (e.g. spawning two different religious cemeteries, get the mission from Brigitte 1, and then talk to Brigitte 2, I can get a duplicate).

I went back and checked my game where this was encountered. I do have two separate refugee centers, but I have never visited one of them (it's not even fully revealed on the OM). I could not find a second religious cemetery (not sure if that's possible).

But I wonder if, since there is a duplication scenario where duplicated NPC's don't have awareness of the other NPC's mission states, there is some scenario where, either due to save/load, or to OM generation, there's a situation where an NPC's state gets treated as if it is a different NPC than the one that already gave the mission?

I've looked through the code but it's pretty mind-bending to me.

[jkraybill]

A little more info - that particular game was the third character I played in a single world, which could be related?

[CountAlex]

A little more info - that particular game was the third character I played in a single world, which could be related?

I think I've seen statements that playing another character in same world creates a lot of troubles with NPCs and quests so it's likely the case. Can't say much about what causes that but probably quests/NPCs tracking code wasn't made to track new PCs and such.

[I-am-Erk]

Does this bug reproduce if there are not multiple characters in the world? Running quests with multiple characters isn't really intended.

[I-am-Erk]

From discord, sounds like it applies with single characters.

[jkraybill]

Per request from @KorGgenT here's my save file with duplicated missions, character "Stitch"":

https://www.dropbox.com/transfer/AAAAAIG_NWUlAODKsY5aSSLbCIosEhSJ1Bol2GFpXpiJGjs2zjqzGi8

[ghost]

Tried reproducing this and could not.
I tried finding a clone of the refugee centre in a differnet location, talking to the clones there, after taking missions, then going back to original centre, missions were not reset.

Tried debug passing a lot of time, no repro.

Tried taking and completing lots of other missions in the intervening time, no repro.

jkraybill and arc confirm that its not due to playing a new character in same world as old one, so I'm kinda at a loss right now as to what could be causing it.

New ideas are here needed :(

[jkraybill]

So, I just hit this again, with quite an old mission from before my original bug report. I returned to Jenny Forcette with the 60L tank and she had forgotten that I had the mission. The mission was not active when I spoke to her, but after speaking to her to get the mission again, when I hit "M", both versions of the mission (the original unfulfilled mission, and the newly received duplicate) were both marked "active".

Here's the save file right after getting the duplicated mission, in case it helps.

https://www.dropbox.com/transfer/AAAAAKlKX5KDaqdXCfde3KCXNLwkAfcvMrxHRlp5kYHH2lxKtIWsUT8

[bouchacha]

I'm also encountering this bug. Most commonly I've noticed it happening when NPCs "forget" they gave you a quest. So if you ask for a mission, it just gets duplicated on your list. For example, I got "Kill Zombie Mom" three different times.

- OS: Windows
    - OS Version: 10.0 1909
- Game Version: 0.E-5859-g8e8260f [64-bit]
- Graphics Version: Tiles
- Game Language: System language []
- Mods loaded: [
    Dark Days Ahead [dda],
    Disable NPC Needs [no_npc_food],
    Graphical Overmap [Graphical_Overmap],
    Stats Through Skills [StatsThroughSkills]
]