Mek-sha concert stage + personnel

[microstyles]

I recently picked up a Mek-sha concert stage intending to put performers on it. I just read in these forums a post from April saying this was not possible however.

I've seen personnel on top of other decos, is this a limitation of this stage in particular? I have only seen one of these stages looking around at other strongholds, and they had performers in front of it (not on top).

I haven't added the deco to legacy yet and I might not if I can't put people on it.

Edited October 19, 2022 by microstyles

[Nee-Elder]

On 10/19/2022 at 7:36 AM, microstyles said:

 I just read in these forums <snip> saying this want possible however.

 is this a limitation of this stage in particular?

It's a  Z-axis  'collision' type issue , due to a buggy & out-dated  game engine from nearly 15 years ago.

The FIRST time you place a 'performer'  onto/under a raised  'platform' , it will actually  display properly.  But it's just a mirage for the owner (client side) , hence why the next time (or if another player looks)  it shows as being glitched (server side) .

Here are some other related threads about it, for your reading pleasure:

• https://forums.swtor.com/topic/893150-placing-npc-on-mek-sha-concert-stage/
• https://forums.swtor.com/topic/893801-taking-to-the-stage/
• https://forums.swtor.com/topic/913691-secondary-hook-system/
• https://forums.swtor.com/topic/882315-deco-concert-stage-collision-issue/

Edited November 21, 2022 by Nee-Elder

[microstyles]

Thank you for the response, that was very helpful. Seems I should probably do a forum search next time. 

Based on your response though, it sounds like I should not be able to see other players' personnel on top of decos. However, I have seen in other's strongholds a band on the night life stage and dancers on tables. I don't believe I observed any clipping though I can check again when I'm off work. Did I misunderstand?

Edit: hmm I did some googling and getting personnel on decos sounds possible but very finicky. I may do some testing with other decos later to get a feel for it.

Edited October 19, 2022 by microstyles

[Nee-Elder]

22 minutes ago, microstyles said:

 it sounds like I should not be able to see other players personell on top of decos. However, I have seen in other's strongholds a band on the night life stage and dancers on tables. I don't believe I observed any clipping though I can check again when I'm off work. Did I misunderstand?

 getting personell on decos sounds possible but very finicky.

That's the perfect word ^  for it yep.

And actually i should've clarified a nuance:  IF  you are already within another player's  SH  'phase'  ( or vice versa)  at the time of DECO dropping & placing in real time,  the Z-axis clipping  display shouldn't occur.   It'll appear normal on-stage.  However, once you phase-out and come back  (or even logout in same spot and relog back in fast ) , it'll  bug again because the server refreshed.

I'm guessing it's one of those  minor non-gamebreaking type bugs  (with 'hooks' code + server/client lag)  that just simply isn't a high priority to fix (or overhaul refactor)  for BioWare developers.

[microstyles]

So after reading about what has worked for others and experimenting, here are my findings:

If you place and position a non-personnel deco over a nearby hook, then place a personnel on that other hook, the personnel will (often but not always) stack on the object. This effect persisted even if I left the stronghold, switched characters, or logged out. If you make any positional or rotational adjustments to the personnel, it will fall through. 

Some things I wasn't able to verify:

1) The criteria whether something will stack or not. I could not get Felusia to stand on the basic civilian table, where my prefab droids would every time. I'm confident there is some kind of height limit on the object you're stacking into, but that alone couldn't explain all the discrepancies I observed. As far as I could tell, stacking a specific personnel on a specific object behaved consistently. It either worked between those two or it didn't. Some personnel and objects just wouldn't stack though, and I have no idea why. 

2) Whether others will see my my decos the same as I do. I have seen many personnel on top of decos in other people's strongholds so I assume others could see mine too, but I haven't verified.

3) Whether this works specifically for the mek-sha concert stage. I looked through a ton of strongholds to try and find one set up but wasn't able to find one. From my memory, I think it exceeds my observed height limit. Given that and everything else I've observed I decided to resell the stage and wait to get the night life stage or something else. Unfortunately it looks like I just missed the night life event so I may be waiting a while.

[Draconerus]

I too bought this stage and am having issues getting the entertainers to stack on it. I know it is a small thing but Bioware should fix this. What is the point of a stage that doesn't work?

 

[Nee-Elder]

1 hour ago, Draconerus said:

I too bought this stage and am having issues getting the entertainers to stack on it.

i'm the one who directed you to this more established thread and more related section, so i'm going to presume you read my earlier reply.

1 hour ago, Draconerus said:

 I know it is a small thing but BioWare should fix this.

Except it isn't a "small thing" though.   As i & others already explained above ^^ , fixing "this"  would require  either a massive rewrite of  collision CODE  and/or a complete replacement of SWTOR game-engine.  Neither of which is gonna happen anytime soon. ( if ever )

1 hour ago, Draconerus said:

 What is the point of a stage that doesn't work?

Well, it does work  client-side.   So BioWare probably didn't notice a problem during ART-Department creation & design phase.

Seems to be a server-side issue  and  if you read the entire thread here you'll see there are indeed other options.

[microstyles]

3 hours ago, Nee-Elder said:

Well, it does work  client-side.   So BioWare probably didn't notice a problem during ART-Department creation & design phase.

I'm not so sure about this. I've visited many strongholds where personnel are visibly on top of other decos, so the effect can persist. I've also placed personnel on my own decos and they stay there forever, regardless of logout/server update/whatever. 

Regarding this stage in particular, I never actually tested it because I was concerned it wouldn't work. I based this decision on:

• My inability to stack personnel on other decos of similar height
• The one other stronghold I saw the stage in had performers in front of it
• The absence of this stage from people's strongholds (I saw plenty of the night-life stage, almost always with personnel in to of it)

[Nee-Elder]

18 minutes ago, microstyles said:

I'm not so sure about this. I've visited many strongholds where personnel are visibly on top of other decos, so the effect can persist.

That's a fair point and it does  sometimes seem inconsistant.

So perhaps it is indeed a  Z-axis/collision  issue with only this particular Mek-Sha stage version.

 ./shrug , we're all just pretty much speculating here unless/until  BioWare fixes it someday.

[JediQuaker]

On 11/21/2022 at 1:23 PM, Nee-Elder said:

Except it isn't a "small thing" though.   As i & others already explained above ^^ , fixing "this"  would require  either a massive rewrite of  collision CODE  and/or a complete replacement of SWTOR game-engine.  Neither of which is gonna happen anytime soon. ( if ever )

Well, technically, in this case, they could "solve the problem"** by redesigning the deco to put the "stage" at ground level so there would be no need for Z-axis. 🤔

 

** while possibly creating new problems and complaints, but oh well.