Bug Fixes: Immortal Zombies and New Games

If only software bugs were this easy to kill.

I've been away from modding for a few weeks. Work has been very busy as I was away at a conference, representing my company at a job fair, and then giving presentations on new technology. :)

I finally got back to looking at this mod and figured attempting to tackle a couple bugs would be a good way to start. After perusing the comment threads and reviewing my notes I decided to look into the immoral zombies and issues starting a new game.

I liken the below "fixes" to spraying a can of raid on some bugs. You think you hit them but they scurry away into a hole. Hopefully they are going to find a comfortable place to curl up and die and the best you can do is hope they don't surface again.

Bug 1: Immortal Zombies?

Apparently some zombies just won't die when "Headshots Only" is enabled. I have to assume this is because deferred kill is being set but never unset. I think the video in this link speaks for itself ...

 XBox game clip - courtesy of Dxrk Element

That poor, poor zombie. I've actually encountered this bug myself and I'm not 100% certain how I did it. I wish I saved the game actually because I had a zombie that simply wouldn't die no matter how much I shot him in the head. Maybe it is just a game engine bug?

Anyway, one thing I did with the latest 1.06 bug fix release was add an additional check for a zombie's head condition in the onInit script. I figure this way every time the script attaches to nearby zombies (every 5-10 seconds or so) it will double check if the head is destroyed, end deferred kill, and actually kill the zombie.

I'm not 100% sure this will fix the issue and it is difficult to test it so I'm just pushing it and relying on the community to report back on this one.

Bug 2: New Game Infinite Loading Screen

I'm a little more confident in this fix as I am easily able to test a new game. It didn't work before and worked the first time quickly after my changes.

Basically, I got fancy in a prior release and added a popup that describes the changes in the current version of the mod the first time you load your game after updating. Trying to create this message right away when a new game starts is a bad idea and apparently causes the game to hang.

I moved the message to the code block where I add the holotape (after you acquire the pipboy) for now and that seemed to do the trick. I need to verify the message still appears as my PC save game appears corrupt based on the errors I'm seeing in the log. I have a feeling that message not appearing won't upset too many people though as you can see the changes in the mod description anyway.

Update 10/17/2016: I received reports of the game hanging on loading screens during fast travel.One in particular was very detailed and thought they could hit 'A' and hear a menu closing. As a result, I have completed removed the popup since it isn't important and the changes are listed in the mod description anyway.