Possible LOS bug on mapboard 71

[veron]

VASL shows this LOS as blocked (mapboard 71), shouldn't it be clear?

VASSAL 3.7.7 + VASL 6.6.7, Mac OS X 14.2.1.

 

[Robin Reeve]

What does the contextual text say?
Seems "blocked" in M6 - it shouldn't indeed...

 

[veron]

What does the contextual text say?

Sorry, what do you mean by contextual text? In the "chat window" it just says:

JP Checked LOS from J5 to N5, Range=4

 

[Robin Reeve]

Sorry, what do you mean by contextual text? In the "chat window" it just says:

The LOS tool tells in a little window on the map where the LOS is hindered/blocked.
I think you can toggle that comment on/off in the Preferences.

 

[Stewart]

VASL shows this LOS as blocked (mapboard 71), shouldn't it be clear?

VASSAL 3.7.7 + VASL 6.6.7, Mac OS X 14.2.1.

View attachment 27866

Of Course.
Don't rely fully on the LOS thread.

 

[Robin Reeve]

Here is a screenshot of the LOS tool and the contextual text.
It (wrongly) sees a problem in the L5 hex.


Note that, in a quite similar situation on the same map, the LOS tool says LOS is clear.

 

[Sparafucil3]

Here is a screenshot of the LOS tool and the contextual text.
It (wrongly) sees a problem in the L5 hex.

Note that, in a quite similar situation on the same map, the LOS tool says LOS is clear.

If I had to guess, the LOS engine is looking at pixel color to determine the LOS and there is intervening OG at the "gate" in the LOS along that wall. It is probably and edge case that is hard to solve. How would the engine decide the LOS from N5 to K4 was blocked while the LOS along the wall was open? I guess they could do a pixel count but what if I have zoomed my map up to a large scale? What if all "gates" are drawn differently? I am sure there is some trick that could be done but this seems like a tough one to manage. JMO. The VASL people/Map people would know better than me. -- jim

 

[Robin Reeve]

Don't rely fully on the LOS thread.

Indeed.
Better try master the rules than rely blindly (opportune pun) upon the LOS tool.

 

[DougRim]

Clearly a bug.

I am a bit surprised by this as I thought we had it working. However, one of the risks of changing the los code to fix a bug is that it can inadvertently create other bugs. Impossible to test every situation that uses a particular piece of code. I will list this as a bug.

@veron thanks for reporting this. Always helpful.

 

[Stewart]

The issue is likely the GAP in the wall...it might think it's 2 walls

 

[DougRim]

If I had to guess, the LOS engine is looking at pixel color to determine the LOS and there is intervening OG at the "gate" in the LOS along that wall. It is probably and edge case that is hard to solve. How would the engine decide the LOS from N5 to K4 was blocked while the LOS along the wall was open? I guess they could do a pixel count but what if I have zoomed my map up to a large scale? What if all "gates" are drawn differently? I am sure there is some trick that could be done but this seems like a tough one to manage. JMO. The VASL people/Map people would know better than me. -- jim

Jim, you were exactly right as to the cause. It was specific to hexsides with a gap in the wall/hedge. I think we have a fix for it which should appear in the next beta. @EJ1 is doing some much appreciated double-checking to make sure that I didn't solve one problem only to cause another.