#Bug Report: Entertainment walkers disappear after road break and rebuild

1 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)

final grotto
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Description
There is a reproducible bug affecting entertainment walkers (actors, gladiators, charioteers, and animal keepers).

In Caesar 3, these walkers always move from their schools toward their destination buildings (e.g., Actors → Theater, Gladiators → Amphitheater, Animal trainers → Colosseum). Their route is deterministic — they always follow the road until they reach their assigned building.

However, if even a single road tile is deleted and then rebuilt anywhere along that route, the entertainment walkers will disappear exactly at the tile that was broken, and they will never again reach their destination, even after the road is restored.

All other walker types (engineers, prefects, market buyers, etc.) recover after a few spawn cycles — but entertainment walkers do not.

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Steps to reproduce
1. Build a forced walker path similar to the diagram below (see illustration).
The design uses a “T-shaped” forced route, with entertainment schools at the bottom and destination buildings at the end of the main path.
2. Wait for entertainment walkers to spawn (actors, gladiators, animal keepers).
3. Confirm that they correctly travel from their schools to the Theater/Amphitheater/Colosseum.
4. Delete one single road tile anywhere along the route.
5. Rebuild the same tile immediately.
6. Observe that from now on, entertainment walkers will vanish at the point where the road was broken, never reaching their destination.

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Expected behavior
After rebuilding the road, entertainment walkers should resume traveling to their destination buildings normally after a few spawn cycles.

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Actual behavior
• Walkers vanish exactly at the tile that was broken and rebuilt.
• Even rebuilding the entertainment buildings (schools and destinations) does not fix the issue.
• The bug persists after saving and reloading.
• Other walker types behave normally after road

alpine wing
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It's recommended to attach a save file and specify game version 🙂

cerulean zinc
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fascinating, I think you just managed to narrow down a bug I found a few weeks ago and couldn't figure out what it even was

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I'll look into it

final grotto
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In the evening I’ll send two saves: the first one with everything working, and the second one where the entertainers disappear after modifying the loop.

cerulean zinc
final grotto
# cerulean zinc please do, I'm struggling to replicate this I'm afraid, and if you have it narro...

Yes, absolutely… It’s already happened to me twice, on two different maps in the peaceful career. But I also remember that in the past, with the original game, the same thing used to happen.

Basically, to explain it better: if I build a road, say 100 tiles long, and at tile 1 I place the theater, amphitheater, and all other entertainment venues, while at tile 100 I place all the training schools for entertainers, the walkers coming from the entertainment schools should always reach their destinations at tile 1.

When I build everything for the first time, it all works perfectly and consistently. However, as soon as I break the road — even by just one tile, to make a small change or for any other reason — the walkers in question reach the point where the modification was made and then disappear, never reaching their destinations anymore.

Anyway, I’ll send the two saves this evening.

cerulean zinc
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send the saves later, we'll figure it out 😉

final grotto
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Hi, it’s impossible for me send a file

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Discord won’t let me attach files.

timber spade
# final grotto Discord won’t let me attach files.

That is part of our spam/scam protection. You need to have been active for a while before we let you attach files directly in a post. See point 6 in the FAQ in the id:guide for more info.
In the meantime you are more than welcome to upload it to a filesharing service and post a link to it here instead

final grotto
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https://app.filemail.com/d/xrwkuijtromgsnb

In the file “Luca bug report 1”, the entertainment workers function normally.

In file 2, after changing the path, the Walkers disappear.

One hypothesis could be that the path is too long; however, in the second file, even if the path is shortened, the Walkers still disappear — even after rebuilding all the entertainment buildings and their corresponding schools.

bleak harbor
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in save 2, the walkers disappear, but not all of them on the same tile. however, they all disappear after walking the same number of tiles. the interval corresponds to the interval between their road access/exit tiles

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I introduced a variation in the "loop" (that is not a loop as it is a long destination walk and not forced per se) without changing the length and no bug happenend.

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Then I made the loop longer ahead of disappearance point and only got the disappearance point moved backwards, accordingly to the new length.
Then I shortened the loop ahead of disappearance point, walkers kept disappearing, and only got the disappearance point moved forward, accordingly to the new length.

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finally, I restored the original loop and made it longer and shorter, but ahead of the point of disappearance. The walkers kept disappearing in the same spots they used to in the original file number 2.

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I also added a FW mars temple, and although the loop is too long and coverage gets lost, the priest does complete the loop.

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My conclusion is that your loop exceeds the maximum walking distance for a destination entertainment walker from a school, and nothing else.
My advice is that you find a creative solution to shorten your FW loop(s).

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If a bug, I have not been able to replicate it with your file.

final grotto
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It’s really strange, because more than once I’ve created loops where everything worked fine. Then I got attacked, and they destroyed the aqueduct that passed over the road, breaking the road as well. After rebuilding the road exactly as it was before, the walkers started disappearing as if the destination was too far — yet before it was exactly the same and everything worked... It’s something odd; I don’t know if it’s a bug or not, but it’s definitely very strange.

In another map, I created an initial loop where everything worked perfectly. Then I realized I didn’t have enough building space and extended the loop a bit. The walkers started disappearing. So I immediately went back to the original loop that used to work, but the walkers never went back to functioning — they kept disappearing. This always and only happens with walkers that leave entertainment schools to reach their fixed destinations.

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my augustus version is 4.0.0.978-c494280c4 mac version

bleak harbor
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it takes a really long time for a walker to do all that loop. Are you sure you waited long enough?

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Walkers that spawned already will stick to the initial path even if the road was deleted, and they will disappear where initially planned when they appeared

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but if the aqueduct got destroyed maybe it would block the path and make them disappear there instead

final grotto
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I did a couple of tests, and it seems that Walkers can reach about 230 tiles. After that number, they disappear if the loop is modified in any way... I think I’ve figured it out — it’s probably a set limit. Strange that it only happens with entertainment Walkers... it would be nice to keep testing...

bleak harbor
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Charioteers have a higher limit, so I think they rather expire after some time (x ticks). What difference is there between their disappearance after 230 tiles and their disappearance after you modify the road?

final grotto
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With forced walkers, the market vendors practically have no limit... same for the librarians and the temple priests. I only found a limit for the entertainers.

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The strange thing is that if I create a really long looped road and then build the entertainment buildings, the Walkers move along it without any problems. They only start disappearing after I make a change — for example, breaking and rebuilding a road tile. In that case, even if I restore the original layout, the Walkers will still disappear, as if they’ve forgotten the road. The only way to fix it is to shorten the loop and go back below 230 tiles.

bleak harbor
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I see, so the issue is only when the loop is more than 230 tiles?

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Sometimes when you alter your FW loop you lose a few walkers which causes temporary devolutions. Also, sometimes, it seems that some walkers are missed even without modifications and just get skipped (priests, librarians...)

final grotto
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I started noticing this problem ever since I began using forced walkers with long loops. When I used to build 9x9 blocks, I had never noticed this issue. However, I do remember having a similar problem many years ago. In maps like Valencia or Massilia, this issue is particularly noticeable…

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In any case, if the loop is shorter than 230 tiles, there shouldn’t be any problems. What I don’t understand, though, is why — if I build a road longer than 230 tiles and then place the entertainment buildings — everything works fine, but the moment I touch the road, everything stops working (I’m still only talking about entertainment). I just can’t figure that out.

bleak harbor
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my actors from the colony only walk 214 tiles.

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and my actor colony only gets 16 actors at a time

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if I break the longer-than-230-tile road and rebuild (x marks the spot) they resume walking all the same

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trees and statues grossly mark start and finish point of actors, the 2 plaza tiles mark exactly 230 walking tiles in between them