bugfix(veterancy): Disable audiovisual cues for ejected veteran pilots

[Caball009]

The ejection of veteran pilots is accompanied with audiovisual promotion cues. This is not obvious because the position (and matrix) of the pilot objects is not set yet when it goes through the veterancy level change, so they take place around coordinates 0, 0, 0:

gen_zh_pilot_promotion.mp4

This PR disables the audiovisual cues / feedback.

• Related to When USA Aircraft dies, there can be up to 3 unit voices playing at the same time #226

TODO:

• Replicate in Generals.

[greptile-apps]

Greptile Summary

This PR fixes a bug where ejected veteran pilots triggered promotion audiovisual cues at world origin (0, 0, 0) because the object's matrix hadn't been set yet at the time of the veterancy level change. The fix passes FALSE to the provideFeedback parameter of setVeterancyLevel in both the Generals and Zero Hour ObjectCreationList.cpp files.

The implementation is correct and consistent with the existing function signature (Bool provideFeedback = TRUE). Note that the PR description includes an unchecked TODO "Replicate in Generals", but the fix is already present in Generals/Code/GameEngine/Source/GameLogic/Object/ObjectCreationList.cpp — the checkbox appears to have been left unchecked accidentally.

Confidence Score: 5/5

Safe to merge — minimal, targeted change with no logic risk.

Both changed files receive the same two-line fix that is fully covered by the existing optional provideFeedback parameter. No logic branches are affected; gameplay behaviour is unchanged beyond suppressing the misplaced audiovisual cue. The fix is symmetric across Generals and Zero Hour.

No files require special attention.

Important Files Changed

Filename	Overview
GeneralsMD/Code/GameEngine/Source/GameLogic/Object/ObjectCreationList.cpp	Passes FALSE to setVeterancyLevel to suppress audiovisual cues when a pilot object's position has not yet been initialized; comment is clear and date-compliant.
Generals/Code/GameEngine/Source/GameLogic/Object/ObjectCreationList.cpp	Identical fix applied to the Generals (vanilla) variant; parity with the Zero Hour file is maintained.

Sequence Diagram

sequenceDiagram
    participant OCL as ObjectCreationList
    participant Obj as New Pilot Object
    participant ET as ExperienceTracker
    participant AV as AudioVisual System

    OCL->>Obj: create pilot object
    note over Obj: position/matrix NOT set yet (0,0,0)
    OCL->>ET: setVeterancyLevel(v, FALSE)
    ET->>ET: update m_currentLevel
    note over ET: provideFeedback=FALSE → skip feedback
    ET--xAV: onVeterancyLevelChanged skipped
    note over AV: no cue spawned at wrong position
    OCL->>Obj: set position/matrix (later)

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_{Reviews (3): Last reviewed commit: "Replicated in Generals." | Re-trigger Greptile}

[xezon]

Makes sense. Are there maybe more code paths that need this fix?

[Skyaero42]

Shouldn't we move it to the moment the position is set, so that the audiovisual cue is there?

[Caball009]

Shouldn't we move it to the moment the position is set, so that the audiovisual cue is there?

My first attempt was moving the code below to L1233, but the GR1 replay started to mismatch.

GeneralsGameCode/GeneralsMD/Code/GameEngine/Source/GameLogic/Object/ObjectCreationList.cpp

Lines 1008 to 1018 in ffac8f9

	if (m_inheritsVeterancy && sourceObj && obj->getExperienceTracker()->isTrainable())
	{
	DEBUG_LOG(("Object %s inherits veterancy level %d from %s",
	obj->getTemplate()->getName().str(), sourceObj->getVeterancyLevel(), sourceObj->getTemplate()->getName().str()));
	VeterancyLevel v = sourceObj->getVeterancyLevel();
	obj->getExperienceTracker()->setVeterancyLevel(v);
	//In order to make things easier for the designers, we are going to transfer the unit name
	//to the ejected thing... so the designer can control the pilot with the scripts.
	TheScriptEngine->transferObjectName( sourceObj->getName(), obj );
	}

Second attempt was adding the code below before the call to setVeterancyLevel:

if (mtx)
	obj->setTransformMatrix(mtx);
else
	obj->setOrientation(orientation);

obj->setPosition(&chunkPos);

I think GR1 replay didn't mismatch with this code, but that's no guarantee for other replays. It also feels inefficient because the position / orientation is set later on as well.

Perhaps we can go with attempt 1 but behind a non-retail compatibility macro.

Edit: I don't feel very strongly either way, because the promotion for ejected pilots is undesirable anyway, so the position doesn't need to be set. For me it's more important not to introduce new issues.

[githubawn]

Adding the cue seems to be against #226

For the player, the "unit" already have had a promotion. It got it in the vehicle.

[Caball009]

Are there maybe more code paths that need this fix?

What do you mean?

[xezon]

What do you mean?

Are there more calls to setVeterancyLevel in the code base that need to suppress feedback?

[Skyaero42]

Adding the cue seems to be against #226

For the player, the "unit" already have had a promotion. It got it in the vehicle.

This is a good point and I agree that the number of queues is too much.

[Caball009]

Are there more calls to setVeterancyLevel in the code base that need to suppress feedback?

There a couple of places where it might be desirable to surpress feedback, but I'm not sure:

GeneralsGameCode/GeneralsMD/Code/GameEngine/Source/GameLogic/Object/Update/HijackerUpdate.cpp

Line 100 in efabb08

jackerExp->setVeterancyLevel( highestLevel );

GeneralsGameCode/GeneralsMD/Code/GameEngine/Source/GameLogic/Object/Collide/CrateCollide/ConvertToCarBombCrateCollide.cpp

Line 147 in efabb08

exp->setVeterancyLevel(obj->getExperienceTracker()->getVeterancyLevel());

I'm not sure it needs to be included in this PR, though.

[Caball009]

Replicated in Generals.