[X] My Assistant

[Different Turret]

If I may give a suggestion on how to continue to report this - try and keep track of what's happening in the battle from the start up until the point where you get the bug, instead of just grab a screenshot after it happens - I know it may be hard to predict when the bug will happen, but knowing what leads up to it can help a lot more than the screenshots you have there. That way, if there's a pattern to the bug, the mods can spot it.

Do you remember what the last action was before the Pokémon got knocked out? Was it a specific move, or does it trigger with any move?

Did you move first, or did the other Pokémon move first?

How many Pokémon did you have left when the bug kicked in? One? Two? Varying amounts? All of them?

That kind of info may not seem very relevant but it could help cross out a bunch of possible causes for the bug and help narrow it down. Basically, try to keep track of everything you did in a battle up to the point where the bug kicked in. The key to figuring it out could be in that.

[PkmHunter]

I think I did briefly explain it somewhere previously in this thread and to other players who have messaged me. But I will now explain it again with more details, after having experienced a few dozens more.

Basically the Bug happens when the NPC's Pokemon was killed, then switched back in the battle due to battle looped back. It happens regardless how many Pokemon the player or the NPC has left in their party. The battle loops back a few turns when you OHKO a NPC's Pokemon, the NPC then switches out to another Pokemon but after you defeat that Pokemon, it switches back to the dead Pokemon that you've already fainted. Let's say, my Shaymin OHKO's a Vaporeon, NPC then switches to Phione but the image loops back to Vaporeon. If I don't pay attention to that and keep attacking the looped-back Vaporeon thinking that it was laggy that my previous attacks on Vamporeon didn't work, I actually kills Phione accidentally and the NPC has to switch another Pokemon in, which, in this case, is the real Phione. And since Phione is dead, it can't attack when being switched in. So that's one way it normally happens.

Ironically sometimes even when you refresh the page after seeing the looping back, the bug still kicks in and the refresh triggers the bug. I know one certain circumstance that it will happen 100% everytime. Let's say my Scizor uses Metal Claw on Klinklang but Cypress 1 switches to Reuniclus which is then damaged by Metal Claw. For obvious reason, I use Leech Life to hit SE Reuniclus and it faints. Cypress 1 then switches back to Klinklang -- and this is when the NPC bug ignites -- and if either I continue to use Metal Claw on Klinklang or switches to other Pokemon or even refresh the page as there will be some flashing back, Cypress 1 will switch her dead Reuniclus in and here we are, stuck again forever, unless forfeited. It looks a bit hopeless when you get into that situation actually. It is similar to Cypress 2 and 3 but Cypress 1 has been a big headache for me, causing 22 losses by forfeit up until now.

Below are some screenshoot of the loop-backs which illustrate what I've just presented. Please pay attention to the Battle Dialogue.

So my advice to reduce the chance the bug happens is to limit your OHKO to any NPC's Pokemon. It's better if you could 2HKO or sacrifice some Pokemon to be safe, under the condition that you're winning.

That's all I know. Hope this helps. If anything is unclear, feel free to message me, reply might come in a bit delay since I'm still sorting out Internet issue.


P.S: Thank you all again for looking at this!

[PkmHunter]

PLEASE LET ME KNOW IF ANYTHING I CAN DO TO HELP YOU GUYS FIX THIS....

44th, 45th and 46th.

[PkmHunter]

PLEASE LET ME KNOW IF ANYTHING I CAN DO TO HELP YOU GUYS FIX THIS....

44th, 45th and 46th.

[PkmHunter]

2nd bug in 2 days, helping the number of bugs go up to the stunning 47, 35.8% of my losses.

[PkmHunter]

I thought Firefox was safe but it just gives me my 48th loss x.x, 3rd one in 3 days

[Different Turret]

Okay so after battling a couple of times myself, I did run into some unusual situations - nothing that stops the NPC from making a turn, but things buggy and similar enough that they might help pinpoint the problem.

In some battles, I noticed sometimes a turn just gets completely undone, and then overwritten by what happened in the current turn. This always happens when I accidentally click something twice - most often because the site's lagging, and I have no means to tell whether something didn't go through because the click didn't register (happens sometimes) or because it hasn't finished loading yet.

What I think may be the problem (speaking as someone who has had problems with similar things happening) is that on occasion the safety catch (that asks you to wait until an action is finished) doesn't trigger because you click as the results are being processed or some such. Something like this

Turn 1
> Player chooses Vine Whip
>> Turn data fetched
>> Processing results for Vine Whip (Turn 1)

Turn 2
> Player clicks Vine Whip again, before Turn 1 results finish processing
>> Turn data fetched (gets Turn 1 data, since Turn 1 hasn't finished processing yet)
(Turn 1) >> Outputting results for Vine Whip; NPC switches in Pokémon; Vine Whip hits; opponent's Pokémon faints (player sees result of first Vine Whip)
(Turn 1) >> Update Pokémon/turn data
>> Processing results for Vine Whip (Turn 2); NPC switches in Pokémon which was just knocked out by the first Vine Whip
>> Bug happens

I've run into a variation of the bug where the fainted Pokémon was actually brought back, so I assume the order in which things were done in my case was shuffled a bit. In my case, I used a Cacturne, which got KO'd - I switched in a Torterra. In the next turn, Cacturne was back in my stock, with the health it had prior to being KO'd, and Torterra took the damage from switching in during this turn - makes it seem like the calculations for that turn were made with the previous turn's data, meaning the turn data was fetched before it was updated.

(this is all speculation on my part, forgive me if it's completely unhelpful.)

tl;dr fixing this may be difficult, but I think the bug would happen less often if there was some kind of indication that an action you selected is loading. That would keep people from clicking out of not knowing if the click went through, at least, so any bugs would result from someone's impatience instead.

This post has been edited by Different Turret: Nov 18 2011, 03:23 PM

[Yamper]

Not sure it's the same NPC Bug, but earlier today, I chose to battle Joey.

>starts up NPC battles
>Clicks on Joey
>Clicks on ???
>Clicks on Cypress #3
>Clicks on Cypress #2
>Clicks on Cypress #1

>Chooses Pokémon for Joey (the usual 3 I use)
>Waiting for your opponent.

Joey's pokémon hadn't even loaded :|

[Tadpole]

Joey's pokémon hadn't even loaded :|

Same thing just happened to me except it was with Cypress 1.

[PkmHunter]

Okay so after battling a couple of times myself, I did run into some unusual situations - nothing that stops the NPC from making a turn, but things buggy and similar enough that they might help pinpoint the problem.

In some battles, I noticed sometimes a turn just gets completely undone, and then overwritten by what happened in the current turn. This always happens when I accidentally click something twice - most often because the site's lagging, and I have no means to tell whether something didn't go through because the click didn't register (happens sometimes) or because it hasn't finished loading yet.

What I think may be the problem (speaking as someone who has had problems with similar things happening) is that on occasion the safety catch (that asks you to wait until an action is finished) doesn't trigger because you click as the results are being processed or some such. Something like this

Turn 1
> Player chooses Vine Whip
>> Turn data fetched
>> Processing results for Vine Whip (Turn 1)

Turn 2
> Player clicks Vine Whip again, before Turn 1 results finish processing
>> Turn data fetched (gets Turn 1 data, since Turn 1 hasn't finished processing yet)
(Turn 1) >> Outputting results for Vine Whip; NPC switches in Pokémon; Vine Whip hits; opponent's Pokémon faints (player sees result of first Vine Whip)
(Turn 1) >> Update Pokémon/turn data
>> Processing results for Vine Whip (Turn 2); NPC switches in Pokémon which was just knocked out by the first Vine Whip
>> Bug happens

I've run into a variation of the bug where the fainted Pokémon was actually brought back, so I assume the order in which things were done in my case was shuffled a bit. In my case, I used a Cacturne, which got KO'd - I switched in a Torterra. In the next turn, Cacturne was back in my stock, with the health it had prior to being KO'd, and Torterra took the damage from switching in during this turn - makes it seem like the calculations for that turn were made with the previous turn's data, meaning the turn data was fetched before it was updated.

(this is all speculation on my part, forgive me if it's completely unhelpful.)

tl;dr fixing this may be difficult, but I think the bug would happen less often if there was some kind of indication that an action you selected is loading. That would keep people from clicking out of not knowing if the click went through, at least, so any bugs would result from someone's impatience instead.

That's probably a brief case of the bug since it was somehow triggered by some certain moves i.e. if I hit Reuniclus with Metal Claw when it's switched in and continued to proceed with Leech Life, I'd most likely get the bugs. So I'd have to switch to other Pokemon to prevent that. But I agree with your assumptions.

Not sure it's the same NPC Bug, but earlier today, I chose to battle Joey.

>starts up NPC battles
>Clicks on Joey
>Clicks on ???
>Clicks on Cypress #3
>Clicks on Cypress #2
>Clicks on Cypress #1

>Chooses Pokémon for Joey (the usual 3 I use)
>Waiting for your opponent.

Joey's pokémon hadn't even loaded :|

I got this one several times also and had to cancel the battle since NPC ain't putting up Pokemon. Probably next time I'll try to clean the cache and relog....

[Different Turret]

My guess for why it seems linked to some moves is that it's just a side effect of the NPC's priority behavior. I noticed it gives priority to switching in when

- The current active Pokémon can't do much/any damage to your Pokémon.
- The current active Pokémon would take too much damage from your Pokémon or be KO'd by its current move (may not happen if its HP is too low and it'd be KO'd by anything anyway).
- The NPC has another Pokémon which resists or can greatly damage your Pokémon.

Or any combination thereof.

Now as an example, say the NPC switched in Reuniclus because you used Metal Claw. You go on to KO it with Leech Life, so the NPC switches Klinklang in. If the bug doesn't trigger, the battle proceeds as normal, even if you use Metal Claw.

If it does trigger, however (that is, the turn where Reuniclus got KO'd isn't registered properly), using Metal Claw will make the NPC try to switch Reuniclus in, just like it did before the bug triggered. However, Reuniclus is now KO'd, so the battle freezes.

Basically, I think the reason why it seems linked to certain moves is the fact that the NPC AI seems to act based on the knowledge of which move you're using - so if using Metal Claw in a specific situation makes the NPC bring out Reuniclus, if the bug triggers, using Metal Claw will make it bring out the KO'd Reuniclus.

I know it's not ideal, but I suggest trying to avoid double clicking the moves whenever possible, even if it seems your click didn't go through. If you click and a move doesn't seem to be loading, try refreshing the page. I've only ever run into problems whenever the clicks I made didn't seem to register and I clicked again.

[Werewolfdude]

Sooooo.... basically just don't click twice really fast?

[Different Turret]

Yeah, don't click twice. If stuff doesn't seem to be loading, try to reload the page.

It's easy to get carried away clicking, especially when setting up swords dance/nasty plot or iron defense/amnesia, and sometimes when you click nothing happens, so you try and click again... and sometimes that triggers the bug, at least in my experience. So avoid clicking again if the first click didn't have any effect, and reload the whole page instead.

I've been doing that and so far haven't had any more problems, though if I do have any I'll post here again...

[PkmHunter]

OMG, Joey this time .... now it's the 49th.

My guess for why it seems linked to some moves is that it's just a side effect of the NPC's priority behavior. I noticed it gives priority to switching in when

- The current active Pokémon can't do much/any damage to your Pokémon.
- The current active Pokémon would take too much damage from your Pokémon or be KO'd by its current move (may not happen if its HP is too low and it'd be KO'd by anything anyway).
- The NPC has another Pokémon which resists or can greatly damage your Pokémon.

Or any combination thereof.

Basically, I think the reason why it seems linked to certain moves is the fact that the NPC AI seems to act based on the knowledge of which move you're using - so if using Metal Claw in a specific situation makes the NPC bring out Reuniclus, if the bug triggers, using Metal Claw will make it bring out the KO'd Reuniclus.

Completely agreed. If you battle a few more with NPCs, you'll realize it also knows when you attacks or use supporting moves. It'd switch when you attack and stay if you Sword Dance/Nasty Plot. It also knows which moves hit your Pokemon harder lol.

Now as an example, say the NPC switched in Reuniclus because you used Metal Claw. You go on to KO it with Leech Life, so the NPC switches Klinklang in. If the bug doesn't trigger, the battle proceeds as normal, even if you use Metal Claw.

If it does trigger, however (that is, the turn where Reuniclus got KO'd isn't registered properly), using Metal Claw will make the NPC try to switch Reuniclus in, just like it did before the bug triggered. However, Reuniclus is now KO'd, so the battle freezes.

Well if you want to test it out, please try. I just don't want to see the bug anymore, 49 are already too many... x.x

I know it's not ideal, but I suggest trying to avoid double clicking the moves whenever possible, even if it seems your click didn't go through. If you click and a move doesn't seem to be loading, try refreshing the page. I've only ever run into problems whenever the clicks I made didn't seem to register and I clicked again.

It's partly true. Sometimes, like you analysed in previous posts, the moves didn't process but the Pokemon/Images are switched out/in which makes you think it's already loaded. So like you mentioned previously, it would be better to have some sort of indications when the move is completely loaded.

[Different Turret]

Ran into another variation of the bug, but a stranger one this time.

Was battling Cypress #2. A turn rewinded (I had used Rest with Umbreon and proceeded to use a different move; Umbreon got knocked out because the Rest turn rewinded). I tried to switch and got an error saying an action had already been chosen. Refreshing changed it to this (I'm told I cannot swap right now, even though the window is prompting me to swap):

Had to cancel a different battle so that forfeiting wouldn't make me lose as many battles.

This post has been edited by Different Turret: Nov 27 2011, 06:21 PM

[PkmHunter]

O_O

Wow... That's basically the reverse version of the NPC we've been talking about and there it goes, refresh ignited the bug. Nothing much I can say about it as it's my first time seeing this too... But I think this is a bit weird because Manetric would attack your Umbreon after it used Rest on the 2nd turn, when you couldn't make a move. So if it rewinded, it would have returned to the turn after you used Rest (before the turn you couldn't move). My only guess is that Manetric got lucky to get max damage on its Volt Tackle to finish Umbreon before it could use Rest. And the data wasn't fully loaded before you proceeded with different moves so the bug occurred.

P.S: FYI, if you haven't put your team in another battle, forfeiting doesn't count that battle towards your loss.

[Different Turret]

It could just be that the turn where I had to wait didn't happen at all, and that it rewinded when I clicked "proceed..." after using Rest. I don't remember precisely what happened, but yeah, it's weird.

Oh, is that so? Thanks for the info!

[PkmHunter]

Another tips: it usually takes 7 seconds for the data to completely load, after then you're safe to proceed to your next moves. I'm not really sure it would work depending on your connections, it may be faster or slower.

[JP45]

What? I have never gotten this bug before and ive battled about 10 NPCs... Also can't believe that the mods havent seen this yet :\

[Different Turret]

Trust me, they have. BB's likely just not figured out how to fix this yet.

It's a rare bug. I've battled over 500 NPCs and have yet to encounter the exact same bug as the OP, though as you can see I've seen my share of different ones.