PCS Dissapearing

[RADIALTHRONE1]

Last night i gave three of my soldiers PCS items; one being the "Hacker" PCS; one being the "Hyper-Reactive Pupils"; and the last being the one that makes it so you bleed out on first critical wound.
The soldiers with "HRP" and "Bleed Out" were on an infiltration together, and "Hacker" was on a separate one. I saved on the geoscape and quit for the night. Today I loaded in and boosted the "HRP"/"BO" mission with intel, then did the mission. After just finishing, I went to put them into another mission and noticed "Bleed Out" and "Hacker" (who is still infiltrating on a separate mission) no longer have the PCS i equipped on them.
Strange part is that the soldier that I gave "Hyper-Reactive Pupils" still has his equipped.

Any idea why this happened?

[johnnylump]

This is something one of our testers has also observed but we've been unable to find a consistent trigger for it.

Do you have the Hidden Potential option turned on?

[RADIALTHRONE1]

This is something one of our testers has also observed but we've been unable to find a consistent trigger for it.

Do you have the Hidden Potential option turned on?

No I don't.
Have to go to work, when I get back I'll see if I have a save file before they dissapeared for testing

[Tiger's Eye]

Today I noted with several of my soldiers that they were missing weapon camos and even PCS's I equipped them one or two missions ago. I can't say it 100% but I think all the things that are missing I selected/attached in the squad load out screen be´fore the infiltration and not in the armory. That might have something to do with it.

[RADIALTHRONE1]

Unfortunately the only saves i have are after they disappeared.

[Amineri]

This is something one of our testers has also observed but we've been unable to find a consistent trigger for it.

Do you have the Hidden Potential option turned on?

No I don't.
Have to go to work, when I get back I'll see if I have a save file before they dissapeared for testing

Our theory about HiddenPotential seems bad then. Which sort of makes sense, since there are some reports of this happening even in base XCOM 2 with no mods at all. So mysterious ...

[UzielTD]

Scroll to bottom for what causes it and what you can do to prevent it from happening.

This exact same thing has happened to me, as well. PCS's equipped have disappeared, although not on all soldiers. I've equipped them in the Armory and they still disappear. I don't have Hidden Potential turned on and its happened across multiple campaigns and difficulty levels. I honestly can't recall that ever happening in the base game but its possible I didn't notice or don't remember. It seems to happen after you send the soldier(s) on a mission to infiltrate and not as a cause of anything within the mission itself.

I ran a little test and gave some soldiers PCS's (one had already lost one and another had never even been equipped with one) and tried infiltrating and they kept them, but then I saved and loaded the game and they were gone despite the fact that I hadn't done absolutely anything besides save and load the game. I then did another test which was identical (same soldiers, same PCS's, same base load state) except for the fact that they were not infiltrating. This time, one had lost the PCS, but the other one had kept it.

Conclusion: Seems like something upon loading is causing PCS's to disappear either randomly, or for some reason I'm not aware of. I don't think the type of PCS that is disappearing is a factor as I've had Hyper Reactive pupils disappear the first time I noticed this problem and again when I was doing the Save/Load with infiltration test but not when I did the Save/Load without infiltration test. The OP also didn't have that particular PCS disappear on him either, which leads me to believe that the type of PCS doesn't matter.

The following is a list of my current active mods on this campaign, for anyone having this problem to compare with their own:


Warden/Predator Armor Conventional Addition
Evac All
Capnbubs Accessories Pack
Custom Face Paints
Tech Armor
Military Camouflage Patterns
Ink And Paint
Mass Effect's Jack Appearance Pack
Ravenmores Digital Camo Pack
Alloyed Armor Plate Vest
Full Character Customization From Start
True retroactive AWC
Expanded Callsigns and Nicknames
Lipstick Pack (Facepaint)
Mass Effect Armor & Camo Pack
Overwatch All/Others
ADVENT Armour
[LW2 Comp] XCom 2 International Voices Pack
Free the Hood
More Maps Pack
Perfect Information
World Expansion Project: ADVENT
Deadpool Voicepack
Garrus Vakarian Voicepack
Tali Zorah VoicePack
Halo: ODST Helmet
More hair colors
Gotcha (Flank Preview Evolved)
Mafia Tattoos
Jack Voicepack
MGSV BDU Soldier Customization Pack
Noble Two Voice Pack
Halo Reach Helmets
Show Enemies on Mission Planning
Noble One Voice Pack
Noble Five Voice Pack
Noble Four Voice Pack
Japanese Voice Pack
XCOM EU/EW Ports: Helmets
Cost Based Ability Colors
WA'sCustomGear
Maps by Vozati
Destroyer's Female Hair Pack
Expanded Mission Names
Use My Class
ME3 Tali Squadmate
ME3 Jack Squadmate
ME3 Garrus Squadmate
Numeric Health Display
Long War 2
Mordin Solus Voice Pack
Liara T'Soni Voice Pack
Miranda Lawson Voice Pack
Kasumi Goto Voice Pack
ME3 Miranda Squadmate
ME3 Wrex Squadmate
ME3 Liara Squadmate
ME3 Kasumi Squadmate
ME3 Mordin Squadmate
Wrex VoicePack
Flag Pack
Squad Emblems
SquadMate-Soldier 76
Zaeed Voice Pack (Galw1n's Edition)
Overwatch - Soldier:76 Voice Pack
Urdnot Grunt Voice Pack
Overwatch - Widowmaker Voice Pack
StarCraft2 Voice Mod Part1
StarCraft2 Voice Mod Part2
Overwatch - Tracer Voice Pack
Overwatch - Mercy Voice Pack
Overwatch - D.Va Voice Pack
Overwatch - Hanzo Voice Pack
Overwatch Tracer Squadmate
Starcraft II Kerrigan Squadmate
Genji's Blades (Overwatch)
ME3 Grunt Squadmate
Overwatch - Genji Squadmate
[Overwatch] Genji Voice Pack
Starcraft II Nova Squadmate
LW2 Tactical Suppressors
True Concealment for LW2
Geralt of Rivia voicepack
Cirilla Voicepack
Character Pool VIPs
Ashley Williams Voice Pack
Mod Config Menu
Make Heals Persist
Enhanced Recruitment List
Bestiary
Avenger Events
Avenger Events: LW2 Pack
LW2: Better Squad Icon Selector
MtM's LW2 Squad Icon Pack
LW2: Requested Squad Icons
Mission Award Variety

The last 10 mods on the list (besides Mission Award Variety) were not present the first time I noticed this issue (in another campaign) so I doubt they are the culprit. Most of my mods are cosmetic or QoL since I removed any I thought might interfere or change how long war plays if they were not specifically designed for LW2 like True Concealment for LW2, or Tech Armor which is basically simply an additional item that can be built in the Proving Grounds. As of right now, I'm starting to suspect True Retroactive AWC (assuming its a mod or a mod onflict causing this problem) as I know LW2 changes how the AWC works and since PCSs basically act as an equipped perk there might be some funky interaction going on here. Don't ask me why its even in my load order... (I keep forgetting to remove it for some damn reason). Xcom 2 Mod Launcher doesn't detect any conflict between them, although it also thinks that Long War 2 conflicts with... itself. So, I'll take that with a grain of salt. I will see if removing True Retroactive AWC from my load order does anything and update this post with any information I can gleam by doing some basic tests.

Update: Removing True Retroactive AWC from my load order does not seem to affect the outcome of any test I perform. Equipping or equipping modded weapons has no effect. Loading the same save over and over again causes the exact same PCS, on the exact same character to be lost. Loading a different save (even if the only difference is that it just has a different name) seems to cause the PCS's to be lost or not lost at random. One time both characters lost theirs, another they both kept them, another one lost it and the other didn't. Once I established a base save state from which to give my characters PCSs and then load the result, I could no longer repeat the bug from that same base save state.

Probable Cause: Going back to the original save I was using, I found I could no longer repeat the bug there either... until I did a very specific combination of actions. The only way I have been able to reliably reproduce and predict the bug is by being pulled to the mission "abort or proceed" screen, choosing abort and THEN equipping the PCS, then saving, then loading that save. I'm operating under the assumption that saving at any point after you abort and give someone a PCS and then loading that save may potentially cause the issue; doing the mission instead of aborting and then giving someone a PCS and then save/loading may also cause the issue (if the root cause is a squad returning to the Avenger or something,) but I didn't test it.

Update 2: After having done a mission, the bug presented itself right after returning to the Avenger. So, now I'm thinking this might have to do with the status flag of a squad or even a single soldier shifting from infiltrating to active and is not necessarily caused by the abort command but rather what that does to the status of a soldier.

I confirmed this as much as I could by eliminating the following causes:

Merely going to the world map screen or scanning and then saving/loading do NOT seem to cause the issue. Merely going to the abort screen and refusing to make a choice and simply returning to the Avenger, then saving/loading do NOT seem to cause the issue. Equipping a PCS, THEN aborting a mission, then saving/loading do NOT seem to cause the issue (I wouldn't do it though, just to be on the safe side).

SOLUTION: Get this dam bug fixed yo ;P. In the mean time, saving then loading that save immediately before AND after equipping any PCS's should prevent this particular glitch from rearing its ugly head. I've confirmed that this works by save/loading before and after giving a character a PCS and then forcing the glitch to happen again afterwards on a second character. The first character retained his PCS and the second one lost it. In fact, you probably only need to save/load right before equipping a PCS to reset whatever is causing the bug to manifest, but better safe than sorry. Unfortunately, I don't think there's any way to get back PCS's you've already lost in a particular save.

[mattprice516]

Interesting. I'll try your workaround. In the meantime, here's what I've observed in my own testing (both from reading people talking about this bug on Steam - it's been around for quite a while - and from my own playtime):

Main observation/comment: Bug only appears to manifest on certain soldiers, but for those soldiers it WILL manifest consistently. At least as far as I can tell. This was the case in my last campaign in which I tracked every soldier who ever got a PCS - out of 26 soldiers I observed, only 4 of them ever had a PCS eaten. Of those 4, 2 had multiple eaten in the time I observed them.

If a +stat PCS is eaten, the stats will actually stay permanently, making this a bit of a minor exploit in some cases (you can put another +stat PCS that'll then get eaten, and another, until you have a soldier with ridiculous stats).

If an ability PCS is eaten, it's just gone.

My recommendation based on my own experience: it may be a good idea to try testing solutions with the same soldier to test if it'll actually work, because it's possible you got a false positive in the test from the first soldier being a non-cursed soldier and the second soldier being a cursed soldier. Could also be that both theories are true (only happens for certain soldiers, and the trigger is not saving after giving them a PCS or something like that).

[johnnylump]

@UzielTD

Big thanks for your research. We'll dig in. I'll note Matt above has dug into this for us as well.

[UzielTD]

Interesting. I'll try your workaround. In the meantime, here's what I've observed in my own testing (both from reading people talking about this bug on Steam - it's been around for quite a while - and from my own playtime):

Main observation/comment: Bug only appears to manifest on certain soldiers, but for those soldiers it WILL manifest consistently. At least as far as I can tell. This was the case in my last campaign in which I tracked every soldier who ever got a PCS - out of 26 soldiers I observed, only 4 of them ever had a PCS eaten. Of those 4, 2 had multiple eaten in the time I observed them.

If a +stat PCS is eaten, the stats will actually stay permanently, making this a bit of a minor exploit in some cases (you can put another +stat PCS that'll then get eaten, and another, until you have a soldier with ridiculous stats).

If an ability PCS is eaten, it's just gone.

My recommendation based on my own experience: it may be a good idea to try testing solutions with the same soldier to test if it'll actually work, because it's possible you got a false positive in the test from the first soldier being a non-cursed soldier and the second soldier being a cursed soldier. Could also be that both theories are true (only happens for certain soldiers, and the trigger is not saving after giving them a PCS or something like that).

I didn't mention it specifically, but though I could only do it two at a time (since I only had two PCS's) I did test it on multiple different soldiers (about 6-7), as well as on a single soldier over and over and as far as I can tell ANY soldier can manifest the glitch if the conditions are right. Once I had figured out how to force it to happen, every soldier I tested it with lost their PCS and no soldier (including the ones that certainly manifested the glitch) lost it once I implemented the solution. I realize that 6 or 7 soldiers isn't a large sample size though, so it is still possible that I simply got unlucky and that those soldiers I picked to test if the glitch happened are the ones that "manifest" it, and others wouldn't have. My initial observations that some randomly lost it and some didn't I think may have simply been wrong. Because save/loading before giving a PCS to a soldier seems to "protect" them from the glitch, its possible I was unknowingly protecting some soldiers and not others, which caused the glitch to manifest seemingly at random. It may also be possible (I can't say as to how likely) that while this may in fact be a vanilla bug, it's interaction with Long War could cause it to manifest differently. Honestly, I have no clue how to check for that except to cause it to manifest in Vanilla too and repeat the same tests.

BTW, the trigger to "protect" the soldier I think may be specifically loading a save JUST prior to or after the glitch may potentially manifest (within that save). Just NOT saving won't, I think, do anything.

@johnnylump: No need to thank me, bro. I noticed this on an earlier campaign and purposely made a save the next time I acquired a couple of PCS's to see if it happened again (which it did) and when I came on here to look for a solution and noticed there wasn't one I just decided to find one for myself, if I could. Might as well put what I found out on here and see if it'll help someone else. right? I've been a fan of LW since EU and I known that I can never go back to vanilla so this is really just self interest at play here .

[Amineri]

I tried to replicate this using the conditions you describe above, both with a campaign I'd been playing (where I'd not ever seen the issue before), and one supplied by a tester (Matt Price) in which he had seen disappearing PCSs on specific soldiers.

I did the following :

1) Start infiltration
2) Let infiltration proceed to "Must Launch or Abort"
3) Abort infiltration
4) Navigate to Armory screen, equip PCS to soldier
5) Save game
6) Exit to Main Menu
7) Load save created in step 5

So, this test was done with our internal build (basically 1.1). Doing these steps, the PCS equipped to the soldier in step 4 was still present. If I did something incorrectly in that sequence, let me know .

[mattprice516]

snip

Huh... interesting. This is such a bizarre bug. O_o

[UzielTD]

@Amineri: That's exactly what I did and I consistently triggered the bug over and over again. The only difference I can see is that my infiltration was already in progress and already very close to finishing in the save that I used to repeat and test the bug. So basically I started at step 2. Perhaps that makes a difference? Or maybe you've fixed it in 1.1?

I don't know, this thing is like the Bermuda Triangle of bugs... you know never when a PCS is going to disappear in it, never to be seen again.

[johnnylump]

Let us know if you are still seeing it in 1.1; maybe we accidentally fixed it.

Also, feel free to drop your save here and we can try to repro with that and your steps above: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BxWKB ... S10azEweU0

[Poobah]

Registered to report this bug, glad to see that it's known. Afraid I can't really report any specific steps that caused it for me as I've been playing like crazy and occasionally noticing PCS disappearing here and there. Fairly certain I'm running the latest version that's up on steam.

Thanks for an otherwise amazing mod guys, keep up the good work. Hundreds of hours in the original Long War, probably gonna be hundreds more in LW2

[UzielTD]

Yes, I noticed it again in 1.1. Its definitively not fixed yet but unfortunately I had already saved over it plenty of times by the time I realized. If I notice it again I'll see if I can upload the save.

[3dahs]

PLEASE post:
1) Longwar Version 1.1
2) PC
3) About 30 mods. Almost all uniforms, facepaint, voice mods. A few that aren't, like Beastiary, Stabalize me, GeoscApps, LAByrinth, Use my Class, Upgrade reminder. Please inform me where I can copy from a notepad my list of mods and I'll give you a full list.

4) I installed a PCS ADV. Hacking +9 on my character and it has disappeared. This is the second time this has happened. The first time with a different PCS I could have sworn I had installed. Now I'm sure, I checked my steam and checked one of my archived videos on twitch and I found the part where I had installed it.

I'm constantly upgrading this character with AWC updates and Officer updates so it may be something with that? I'll check my videos and see if I can find the exact moment it disappeared. The first time I thought it disappeared because I believe I installed a PCS: Defense while he was in the infirmary (wounded). Is it possible my character is bugged? Is there anyway to reset him?

5) Sure can send you a save if you need. Just let me know.

[johnnylump]

Yes, we desperately want a save where this is consistently reproducible.

Merging with existing thread on the topic.

Please upload here: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BxWKB ... S10azEweU0

[3dahs]

I tried sending in my save file but it says this folder is readonly.

Through your guys tests, is this happening with all characters? Even randomly generated ones? Or have you noticed it only happening on custom character created ones? Just a thought.

[johnnylump]

Durn it, fixed the link. Try again please.

Our tester who has paid the most attention to it says it's happening only on certain characters while others seem immune but he's noticed no common features between them.

[3dahs]

Ok just sent it in. Not sure how much it will help because it has my mods on it and I only play Ironman, so I only have 1 save

Anyway, Hope it helps GL to you guys. I'll keep in touch if I find anything.

[3dahs]

Just thought of something random but what if it has something to do with a glitch or bug with the continent bonus that allows you to switch PCS out? Just a random thought

[johnnylump]

Can you give me some instructions on what to do from this save to cause the PCS to disappear?

[3dahs]

Well I know the character Jaime 'Double J' Padilla is cursed and also Kam "The Skam" Ayeni. Load a pcs in him and play a mission or two. It will disappear. I'm really not sure what causes it. I'm trying UzielTD recommendation, in a new playthrough, saving/exiting to menu then loading game and inserting PCS and then saving/exiting to menu and loading game again. Everything is good so far. I'll let you know if I run into any problems.

[saroscycler]

This is a vanilla problem, just like that bug which gives Turkish soldiers American names.