Hey man, I did some testing and digging to see if I can find out if the smuggle population works, but I've encountered some weird inconsistencies which left me baffled.

I started digging into the mod files, to see if I can specifically find the code for the operation and I can't see absolutely anything, that refers to this specific operation...
Which makes zero sense, because I have the operation available, but there is no "Smuggle Population" text in any of the localisation files.

Weird, but I figured maybe there is something behind it, that I'm simply missing. So I used debugtooltip to see what event is called when the operation finishes it's last stage. When hoovering over the "We have done what we can" option I saw that it should start event called bio.915

But the problem is, that there is no such event inside the mod... There is no text referring to the operation itself either.

I removed the mod completely from my disc, unsubscribed from steam and then subscribed again.

Everything is exactly the same. I still can't locate neither the event nor the operation inside the files, even though the operation is still available in game.

I'm searching for any text related to this operation via VSCode search, and it doesn't find a single thing... I've never seen anything like it. It's like the operation doesn't exist in the mod at all, and yet I can clearly access it in game and conduct till the end, just without any result...

I feel like I'm going crazy lol

Originally posted by alankraskow:

Hey man, I did some testing and digging to see if I can find out if the smuggle population works, but I've encountered some weird inconsistencies which left me baffled.

I started digging into the mod files, to see if I can specifically find the code for the operation and I can't see absolutely anything, that refers to this specific operation...
Which makes zero sense, because I have the operation available, but there is no "Smuggle Population" text in any of the localisation files.

Weird, but I figured maybe there is something behind it, that I'm simply missing. So I used debugtooltip to see what event is called when the operation finishes it's last stage. When hoovering over the "We have done what we can" option I saw that it should start event called bio.915

But the problem is, that there is no such event inside the mod... There is no text referring to the operation itself either.

I removed the mod completely from my disc, unsubscribed from steam and then subscribed again.

Everything is exactly the same. I still can't locate neither the event nor the operation inside the files, even though the operation is still available in game.

Hey @alankraskow, thanks for digging into this so thoroughly and for your detailed report!

What you're describing definitely sounds strange at first but good news: you're not going crazy. :D
The "Smuggle Population" operation you're referring to is part of vanilla Stellaris, not my mod.
That's why you won't find any references to it (like events or localization) in the mod files it's not included.

I just ran another test on my end using only my mod (Stellaris v4.0.21), and the operation worked as expected.
The event triggered properly at the end.
I also checked and , nothing suggests that my mod affects this operation.

A few things to keep in mind:

• All of my operations use custom namespaces, unique event IDs, and isolated logic
  
• No vanilla operations are overwritten
  
• No global vanilla triggers, scopes, or mechanics are modified

If the vanilla operation is bugged or behaves inconsistently, possible reasons could be:

• A vanilla bug
  
• Operation conditions not being met (e.g. no valid POP type)
  
• Mods that touch espionage mechanics, population systems, or event scripting (even indirectly) might be silently overriding the vanilla behavior. Some mods may also overwrite the bio event namespace, causing failures.
  
• A save file conflict

Suggestion:
Try a clean test run with only my mod + vanilla active and see if the issue still occurs.
If anything weird pops up again, feel free to share it here. I’m actively monitoring the thread.

Hey, I made some more testing yesterday, but was late and forgot to get back to you. The operation itself works fine, it's just that the amount of pops is so random, sometimes it adds mere 3 pops. And if you have those species in your empire, it's very easy to miss. I was lucky to get 100 at one point and saw the number jump up as soon as I clicked it. So the thing works fine, it's just very random and hard to notice, as it doesn't tell you where the pops land.

Also, thank you for explaining this to me, cuz I really thought I was losing my mind hahaha

@Chrisrous the event log doesnt show for any mission i have only this mod instaled the version is 4.0,21

Originally posted by negev:

@Chrisrous the event log doesnt show for any mission i have only this mod instaled the version is 4.0,21

Thanks for the info.
Just to clarify: when you say “event log,” did you mean the Situation Log on your side?

If so, that might be the reason:
For most of these operations, especially the ones that trigger situations (like Shifting Allegiance or Smuggle Predators), the visible effects happen in the target empire.
That means the situation appears for the AI or target player, not in your own log since you're the one initiating the covert action.

If you were expecting a result or outcome you didn’t see at all, let me know which operation you tried and I’ll check to make sure everything's working as intended.

Also: if you suspect something went wrong technically, you can take a look at the error.log in your Documents/Paradox Interactive/Stellaris/logs folder it often lists missing events or script issues.

Originally posted by Chrisrous:

Originally posted by negev:

@Chrisrous the event log doesnt show for any mission i have only this mod instaled the version is 4.0,21

Thanks for the info.
Just to clarify: when you say “event log,” did you mean the Situation Log on your side?

If so, that might be the reason:
For most of these operations, especially the ones that trigger situations (like Shifting Allegiance or Smuggle Predators), the visible effects happen in the target empire.
That means the situation appears for the AI or target player, not in your own log since you're the one initiating the covert action.

If you were expecting a result or outcome you didn’t see at all, let me know which operation you tried and I’ll check to make sure everything's working as intended.

Also: if you suspect something went wrong technically, you can take a look at the error.log in your Documents/Paradox Interactive/Stellaris/logs folder it often lists missing events or script issues.

sorry iam retarded and embarrassed i didnt read the description right but anyway i hope you continue to work on this mod i really like it

Originally posted by negev:

Originally posted by Chrisrous:

Thanks for the info.
Just to clarify: when you say “event log,” did you mean the Situation Log on your side?

If so, that might be the reason:
For most of these operations, especially the ones that trigger situations (like Shifting Allegiance or Smuggle Predators), the visible effects happen in the target empire.
That means the situation appears for the AI or target player, not in your own log since you're the one initiating the covert action.

If you were expecting a result or outcome you didn’t see at all, let me know which operation you tried and I’ll check to make sure everything's working as intended.

Also: if you suspect something went wrong technically, you can take a look at the error.log in your Documents/Paradox Interactive/Stellaris/logs folder it often lists missing events or script issues.

sorry iam retarded and embarrassed i didnt read the description right but anyway i hope you continue to work on this mod i really like it

No problem at all.
Thanks a lot for the nice words. I’m definitely going to keep working on the mod.
If anything’s unclear or you’ve got ideas, feel free to post in the discussions. Always glad to hear from people playing it.

As requested, more info on the 'weakening' message from the general comments:

The weakening message specifically says, 'intel is weakening' and indicates which espionage group is being affected. It's as if the player hasn't done any operations or allowed the intel 'power rating bar' to slack somehow.

Unfortunately it keeps happening to spy crews while they are on ops. (Specifically the gather intel op which threw the error last night during play.) I'll try and screen cap this and report as a bug the next time it pops up.
If you are on discord, I'll shove the grab there. (Next day or two.)

As 'fyi', I am not running any 'incompatible' mods, having verified the civics/ethics classic -pirate update) wasn't stepping on or being stepped on by this mod. (That mod does a LOT of stuff, so it was a concern...initially. Heh.)

The operations, and choices all seem to be in place, and DO WORK (muhahhahah!).
The other visually interesting thing is that going to that espionage screen shows all of the normal stuff, so I'm thinking this might be a false indicator message.

Originally posted by DaViper:

As requested, more info on the 'weakening' message from the general comments:

The weakening message specifically says, 'intel is weakening' and indicates which espionage group is being affected. It's as if the player hasn't done any operations or allowed the intel 'power rating bar' to slack somehow.

Unfortunately it keeps happening to spy crews while they are on ops. (Specifically the gather intel op which threw the error last night during play.) I'll try and screen cap this and report as a bug the next time it pops up.
If you are on discord, I'll shove the grab there. (Next day or two.)

As 'fyi', I am not running any 'incompatible' mods, having verified the civics/ethics classic -pirate update) wasn't stepping on or being stepped on by this mod. (That mod does a LOT of stuff, so it was a concern...initially. Heh.)

The operations, and choices all seem to be in place, and DO WORK (muhahhahah!).
The other visually interesting thing is that going to that espionage screen shows all of the normal stuff, so I'm thinking this might be a false indicator message.

Thanks for the extra details, that really helps.

If it happens again, could you grab a screenshot with debug tooltips enabled so I can see the event name?

• Open console (~ or Shift+~)
  
• Type: debugtooltip and press Enter
  
• Hover the notification to show the event ID (e.g. event_xxx.yyy)

That should confirm whether it’s just a vanilla intel decay warning or something tied to one of the mod’s operations.
You can post it here or in the Discord #bug-reports[discord.gg] channel.

When it pops up I will. Right after I figure out why solar storms on 'easy mode' is eating all my ships. Sumtin changed.

hey I have had a bug with the newest eliminate key figure operation. When all the distinct operation stages are complete and the last stage happens or more like the operation fires, it instantly shows an info screen of the outcome and additionally you also get info alert that another operation stage has succeeded. clicking away the popup notification and then looking at the espionage outcome alert, that screen doesn't have a button to approve or anything and it just kind of stays there when you close the screen.

Now you can click that away with right click and it eventually shows up which is not that annoying but still I also had a crash to desktop 3 distinct times (multiple times when it occurred and in total about 10 times on 3 occasions). the message not going away when viewing it is 100% reproduction rate and the CTD about only in 20%.

I am using other espionage mods that also sometimes had CTD issues but not currently, but idk if it is possible they override each other or something. the mods are Improved assets, diplomacy and espionage, espionage rebalance and expanded espionage and diplomacy.

I really love the mod and want to really thank you for all that you did

Originally posted by Elim Garak:

hey I have had a bug with the newest eliminate key figure operation. When all the distinct operation stages are complete and the last stage happens or more like the operation fires, it instantly shows an info screen of the outcome and additionally you also get info alert that another operation stage has succeeded. clicking away the popup notification and then looking at the espionage outcome alert, that screen doesn't have a button to approve or anything and it just kind of stays there when you close the screen.

Now you can click that away with right click and it eventually shows up which is not that annoying but still I also had a crash to desktop 3 distinct times (multiple times when it occurred and in total about 10 times on 3 occasions). the message not going away when viewing it is 100% reproduction rate and the CTD about only in 20%.

I am using other espionage mods that also sometimes had CTD issues but not currently, but idk if it is possible they override each other or something. the mods are Improved assets, diplomacy and espionage, espionage rebalance and expanded espionage and diplomacy.

I really love the mod and want to really thank you for all that you did

Thanks a lot for the detailed write-up and for the kind words!

I’ve just uploaded an update that should fix exactly what you’re describing with Eliminate Key Figure.
That extra notification alert was caused by how some helper events were set up.
The crash risk from that bug should be gone

Please update to the latest build and see if it behaves better on your end. If you still run into CTDs, test it once with only this mod active. I can’t debug other mods, but this will show if the issue is really fixed or if another mod is causing conflicts.

And thanks again for taking the time to report this it really helps me improve the mod.

yes it works like a chram now. Tried it 4 times not a single error, thanks a lot. Again, I love the mod and have a nice day (: