Bounty Hunter Archive
Thread: How to avoid losing a Bounty Mark during your Investigation
We still need to fix these issues, THEN we can go back to the normal xp.
Till then... 0 is zero, and you cannot get your darn hour back from the white marks.
OK, well as this is turning into a bit of an advice thread I suppose I'll chime in with my problem.
I just finished running about 8k across Tatooine tracking my mark, I first thought he was headed to Anchorhead but then it turns out he was headed to Wayfar! Argh. So I make the trek only to find him spawned inside the cantina there and unattackable to me. I tried attacking with my pet and pulling some of the low level mobs nearby and then using lightning cone but no luck. Is lightning cone a real cone from the game's perspective or is it just AOE? I couldn't get closer than 17 m on the outside when I fire the cone and that didn't draw aggro nor could I do it by pulling my mob into the cantina with me. What a waste of120 minutes.
I'm beginning to think my enthusiasm around the increased payouts and XP was way too premature. 
Grom
2/4/4/4
Good story and very common...
As I had mentioned...a closenumber 2 worst place to pop a mark is anywhere near Jabbas Palace and that includes most, if not all, the city of Wayfar.
Number 1 place is anywhere near the badge spawns on Tat.
Not much you can do here but move on.
Trust me... this xp gain is NOTHING compared to the heartache you will find as you go up. Keep at it.
Problem: Marks are waypoints. That’s it. If you get nothing else from this whole write up… this is it. Until the system renders and draws them, they do not exist in the game.
I do not think you are correct with this statement. I have seen other peoples marks marching across the desert on Tatooine. They are white to me and always are marching to a city. So I think they exist in the game long before you get to within 256m.
/bump
/bump
this is awesome and I am sure thiswillsave me alot of time.
Thank you
BH 2/4/4/4
That is true, but not because they are always drawn in, it is because they are drawn for generic BH mission TEFs so at times, you will see them, but never "running" toward cities. You will see them when they have been rendered.
Again, I cannot say more than what I have already seen, and it is much more of the concept statement than anything else, since I would not someone to believe that this mark is actually running around the planet in straight lines not even worrying about the other creatures there.
I have tested it though... I have sent my friend out to the spot the droid said he was at and thje droid was on tracking, so it reported a spot 1200m form me exactly north of my position and my friend was there at that spot and saw nothing.
**shrugs** I only report what I see, and again... if any of this post helps even one person (obviously, not such a fine expert hunter like yourself) then it would have served its purpose, as I have gained NOTHING from typing it but the hope that even one bounty mission may be saved, and hence not waste someone's hour. 
Yet another satisfied customer. But they will not sticky this... and that is fine...because it does not promote discussion, but mearly a workaround for bug issues that have plagued this profession since day 1.
But alas... it is here for all to see and perhaps even help those who may see it.
As always, be safe.
Thanks,
Trick
3/4/4/4
grommond wrote:
Just want to point out I'm doing pretty well thanks to the suggestions here. Used a camp to clear a tree on a mark that was stuck inside. I have run into a problem with Dantooine in particular where marks will be close to their destination by the time I get there, I wait my 4 minutes before launching the seeker and find out that they are already at the town for their destination. I shuttle over there at first opportunity and the WP is sitting at that spot right by where the starport lands under the awning, but no mark. I run around outside town looking for him and no luck. I launch another seeker and it still says he is at that spot. Note that the mark did move to that spot from where the original probe had him. Any ideas?
Thanks,
Trick
3/4/4/4
Actually, this is common on some planets where marks start their runs at close ranges to cities.
See, this is a bug, and I have yet to find a solution for it and always had to cancel. Maybe someone else has, but what I think is happening, this specific bug is different from the regular "no mark at waypoint" bug because the mark SHOULD have left the planet when he reaches the starport.
In some cases, he does leave the planet... but in most, he will not leave the planet and the waypoint will stop because you are in the area. The bug is that the mak is just not leaving the planet even though the system says he has, so it will not relay the info to your droids.
This also happens sometimes on Talus if he is at Narmle if you get there too late.
This issue needs a seperate /bug report, as I have done, because of what is going on.
Sorry I cannot be of more help.
1) The wayfar cantina thing, and one or two other spots I have come across in cities repeatedly, is definately a programming error. I have confirmed on MANY occations, including 1 or 2 I delibrately stuck out there, that the ending "stuck in wall" coordinates are ALWAYS THE SAME! I think this may indicate the root of the problem: Invalid "legal" spawn coordinates in cities. Not just the cantina in wayfar, but a few others, incl one of the cities on Naboo, have a similar invalid point I was gauranteed to find my mark stuck in if I interrupted their travel there.
2) Would anyone object at all to having all the Investigate 1+ marks be RED dots instead of yellow? This would certianly solve the majority of my bugged missions, as just being near my "stuck-in-wall" mark would force them to aggro and run for me! I have been very successful in avoiding detection on other types of red-dot NPCs and still getting off my first few shots without immediate detection.
I personally find the challange of creeping up on one of these both more rewarding and more realistic when approaching a target that should know you are comming, according to the text in the mission. Just a thought. I figure this way, we have offset a bug fix with a means of making the missions a bit more challanging, shutting down the cries from MBHs not to fix.