...No seriously, iv'e reloaded like 10 different times because THE Companion VS tank. TANK WINS! Companions seem to be constently running intSTUPID IDIOT SOMEHOW RUNS AND STUCKS ITSELF ONTO MY CARS. And tank. And chaingunner AI army of death taht dies from 3 spitters because their AI is stupid. And my ironclad boats which are bootleg tanks but LOOOOONG.

Hello,

I'm having trouble assessing what the problem is here.
Do you have any other mods installed that clash with this mod, or is the tank the problem?

If you wish to have this issue resolved, I will gladly look into it, but emotions or irrational feedback won't help me much, since I have no idea what happened on your end.

I have tried running into companions themselves with vehicles multiple times in the past, even without it being a goal, but collision boxes for companions have been removed in one of the previous patches:
Version: 2.5.31
Date: 2026-09-29
Bugfixes:
- Fixed a player in mech armor getting stuck in the air when a
companion was right underneath them.
when user ReiSakisaka helped me to locate a collision bug. From what I understand from your brief report, collision shouldn't be possible.

Please describe the issue step by step to be reproduced, or in a detailed general manner.

Hello,

I'm having trouble assessing what the problem is here.
Do you have any other mods installed that clash with this mod, or is the tank the problem?

If you wish to have this issue resolved, I will gladly look into it, but emotions or irrational feedback won't help me much, since I have no idea what happened on your end.

I have tried running into companions themselves with vehicles multiple times in the past, even without it being a goal, but collision boxes for companions have been removed in one of the previous patches:
Version: 2.5.31
Date: 2026-09-29
Bugfixes:
- Fixed a player in mech armor getting stuck in the air when a
companion was right underneath them.
when user ReiSakisaka helped me to locate a collision bug. From what I understand from your brief report, collision shouldn't be possible.

Please describe the issue step by step to be reproduced, or in a detailed general manner.

Well, the TLDR is that the drone just explodes when they run into vehicles via collision......i legitmently dont know what else to say for steps to be reproduced. But if there's something that might be conflicting, it might actually be autodrive, which is self explainatory...the mod i mean. There might be a chance that it's autodrive connection to the drone might be changing it's internal name or driver to a point that it's getting a new collision box. Though i do run like...500 mods. It might be something i or you have to bring to the autodrive (Fixed!) dev. https://mods.factorio.com/mod/autodrive-fixed?from=search. Ill ask him whenever i get home tonight. If you want (for whatever reasoN) i could also give you my mods and save......just uh. Have 6GBs ready if you want it.

Running 500 (I’ll take it as a hyperbole) mods will raise a lot of flags on internal variables and entity handling.

Running such a wide scope of troubleshooting is outside of my current capacity, so I’ll have to push it to AI to troubleshoot, but even then it will require a lot of my own resources - time, relaunching RCON multiple times and some of the tests require human presence and interference in game due to game.player entity pointers.

I’ll try to narrow it down with a brief explanation of how this mod works, in the context of what could be a problem:

1) When a global research modifier happens (only the tech of this mod such as Lean Burn etc - affecting all companions) or a companion-specific research modifier happens, all relevant companions swap themselves out, literally. This is a limitation from the game engine side. It could be this precise millisecond that destroys the drones.
This, to me, is unlikely - Factorio is deterministic. This swap is immune to “race condition” bugs, so I would argue some other mod hooks into something like on_entity_died / on_object_destroyed and completely terminates the Companion during such a swap.
Companion swaps also happen when you place a freshly crafted Companion on the ground with some Companion Tech Tree already researched. The fresh companion automatically quickly ‘upgrades’ itself to the latest variant.
So, once again, I don’t think autodrive is the issue here, although it makes itself look like one. No other mod, except companion forks (which are all automatically flagged as incompatible in my own mod check in the compatibility list), can call my variables or internal names directly, and Factorio would sooner crash with a script error. What can happen is a mod that touches all spider-vehicles in general (for example overriding their collision in the data stage), and that is the thing I’d look for.

2) Companions, albeit looking like drones, are actually spidertrons. This is due to internal Factorio handling - only spidertron-like entities (with such entity class) can execute player commands such as: ‘follow’, ‘move here/there’ etc. Spidertron in itself doesn’t have a proper collision box except for its own boundary. It effectively never takes the “impact” damage type, unlike a Tank, for example, which has a proper collision and takes ‘impact’ damage whenever it crashes into something. Spidertron doesn’t; it never crashes into anything because of how the legs behave. Companion has only one leg (I think, can’t recall correctly, because I have been experimenting with the counts in the past).

These are my two ideas that currently sparked in my head. In the mid-term future, I’ll try to do some general sweeping for companion behaviour, but I can’t guarantee cross-mod compatibility, especially with such large numbers of them. With each mod, the game’s stability decreases. At this point, it’s basically open heart surgery. I’m too busy with my work, real life and currently I’m working on multiplayer fixes and bugs for this mod which is nerve-racking in itself.

Theory aside, I'll launch my standard DevOps routine on you, you don't need to participate, but if you don't, then it drastically decreases the chances of this bug going away. It's up to you, because troubleshooting is, after all, an incredibly time-consuming process when it comes to large numbers of possibilities in your case.

Quick questions:
Which version of Companion Drones are you running? The collision fix landed in 2.5.31, so an older version could explain this on its own.
Which vehicle is it, a vanilla tank or a modded one? And was it driven by you, or by autodrive at that moment?
What exactly happens to the companion? Does it explode with an animation, or just vanish? Any destroyed-entity alert in a pop-up, chat or a window?
Does it also happen with a freshly placed companion with no research (requires no companion research done, such as Lean Burn), or only with upgraded ones (requires at least one tech like Lean Burn).

Log file:
After it happens, please send me factorio-current.log before you close or restart the game (Windows OS: Win+R, then %appdata%\Factorio). Script errors from other mods would show up there, and you don’t need to enable anything.

One short test:
Disable autodrive-fixed, load the same save, and try the same situation. If it stops, autodrive is involved (but not confirmed). If not, it’s ruled out, which is just as useful.
A short video or screenshot of the moment would help too but isn't necessary.

Only if none of that helps and you have A LOT of spare time on your hands:
Bisecting the mod list. It’s the most reliable method, but also tedious, so I’d only go there last. In practice, it's simple: Divide the mod list into two halves, enable one, disable the other half. If the bug happens again, keep halving the active mods until you find your culprit.

However, I am still happy with this report and that you reported it; it's food for thought. I'll keep it open in my roster.
Thank you <3

Running 500 (I’ll take it as a hyperbole) mods will raise a lot of flags on internal variables and entity handling.

Hahahahaha....it's actually around 540. I made a joke of it being 420 one time because funny weed joke but when I did a active count it was 499. So uh....yeah. if you don't believe me the prolification dev is uh. He has actual proof. He also is getting the same cursed data that you are in the scope of "does this work with that?".

Running such a wide scope of troubleshooting is outside of my current capacity, so I’ll have to push it to AI to troubleshoot, but even then it will require a lot of my own resources - time, relaunching RCON multiple times and some of the tests require human presence and interference in game due to game.player entity pointers.

Hahahahaha....I'm sorry. At least you actually have an alternative. And your request. I'll explain further below.

I’ll try to narrow it down with a brief explanation of how this mod works, in the context of what could be a problem:

1) When a global research modifier happens (only the tech of this mod such as Lean Burn etc - affecting all companions) or a companion-specific research modifier happens, all relevant companions swap themselves out, literally. This is a limitation from the game engine side. It could be this precise millisecond that destroys the drones.
This, to me, is unlikely - Factorio is deterministic. This swap is immune to “race condition” bugs, so I would argue some other mod hooks into something like on_entity_died / on_object_destroyed and completely terminates the Companion during such a swap.
Companion swaps also happen when you place a freshly crafted Companion on the ground with some Companion Tech Tree already researched. The fresh companion automatically quickly ‘upgrades’ itself to the latest variant.
So, once again, I don’t think autodrive is the issue here, although it makes itself look like one. No other mod, except companion forks (which are all automatically flagged as incompatible in my own mod check in the compatibility list), can call my variables or internal names directly, and Factorio would sooner crash with a script error. What can happen is a mod that touches all spider-vehicles in general (for example overriding their collision in the data stage), and that is the thing I’d look for.

2) Companions, albeit looking like drones, are actually spidertrons. This is due to internal Factorio handling - only spidertron-like entities (with such entity class) can execute player commands such as: ‘follow’, ‘move here/there’ etc. Spidertron in itself doesn’t have a proper collision box except for its own boundary. It effectively never takes the “impact” damage type, unlike a Tank, for example, which has a proper collision and takes ‘impact’ damage whenever it crashes into something. Spidertron doesn’t; it never crashes into anything because of how the legs behave. Companion has only one leg (I think, can’t recall correctly, because I have been experimenting with the counts in the past).

These are my two ideas that currently sparked in my head. In the mid-term future, I’ll try to do some general sweeping for companion behaviour, but I can’t guarantee cross-mod compatibility, especially with such large numbers of them. With each mod, the game’s stability decreases. At this point, it’s basically open heart surgery. I’m too busy with my work, real life and currently I’m working on multiplayer fixes and bugs for this mod which is nerve-racking in itself.

Hahahaha....so remember when I said I had over 500 mods and then showed proof of it? That does include spidertron AI improvements. I'll still run the tests though, just uh. Later. Still not home yet.

Theory aside, I'll launch my standard DevOps routine on you, you don't need to participate, but if you don't, then it drastically decreases the chances of this bug going away. It's up to you, because troubleshooting is, after all, an incredibly time-consuming process when it comes to large numbers of possibilities in your case.

Quite frankly I feel I'm the few, if not only, cursed ice fairy existencees to actually dump a absurd number of mods into their game. So I'll do it. Besides who else will?

Quick questions:
Which version of Companion Drones are you running? The collision fix landed in 2.5.31, so an older version could explain this on its own.
Which vehicle is it, a vanilla tank or a modded one? And was it driven by you, or by autodrive at that moment?

This i can answer. Always auto drive when it happens. But there has been a instance where it's stuck without auto drive. But that one is a completely separate can of worms that is probably not the problem. IFVs with switchable turrets that's actually killable my beloved.

What exactly happens to the companion? Does it explode with an animation, or just vanish? Any destroyed-entity alert in a pop-up, chat or a window?

Uhhhhhh...,....iforgor. I think I do see the destroyed entity alert. There was once when it imploded because the funny giga tank of death walked in its general direction and touched a single pixel but that might be the giant tank of death covering up the explosion. I think I still saw the alert though....I forgot about that too Admittedly but I think I did, because I remember just seeing it flat out go ghost and I went "GOD FRICKRN DANG IT BLOODY HECK" and reloaded like a wimp like near immediately.

Does it also happen with a freshly placed companion with no research (requires no companion research done, such as Lean Burn), or only with upgraded ones (requires at least one tech like Lean Burn).

You know I actually don't know. I will tell you however that it started happening when I got the upgrades. Simultaneously, that's also when I start getting loads of vehicles so uh. I'll probably have to poke that later.

Log file:
After it happens, please send me factorio-current.log before you close or restart the game (Windows OS: Win+R, then %appdata%\Factorio). Script errors from other mods would show up there, and you don’t need to enable anything.

Uhhh how? Just curious. You want me to send you a folder? Should be capable of being done if you want it that way. Could also include saves but uh.…...I don't think you want them.

One short test:
Disable autodrive-fixed, load the same save, and try the same situation. If it stops, autodrive is involved (but not confirmed). If not, it’s ruled out, which is just as useful.
A short video or screenshot of the moment would help too but isn't necessary.

Only if none of that helps and you have A LOT of spare time on your hands:
Bisecting the mod list. It’s the most reliable method, but also tedious, so I’d only go there last. In practice, it's simple: Divide the mod list into two halves, enable one, disable the other half. If the bug happens again, keep halving the active mods until you find your culprit.

.....yaaaaaay. Thanks for reminding me of that PTSD again ( this is in a joking manner. I've had to do this more then once. No I don't know how many times. Yes, this was in other games. No, you don't want to know how many mods they had too.
)

However, I am still happy with this report and that you reported it; it's food for thought. I'll keep it open in my roster.
Thank you <3

Ayayaya

Anyways I'll commit the tests whenever I get home and after I poke things.

The more we talk, the higher the mod count. I don’t like the direction this is going :D

When it comes to file sharing, please don’t post any links here. The log file contains system paths (including your Windows username), your mod list and hardware info, so it shouldn’t be public. Send me a friend request on Discord instead: wearo (same profile picture as in here), and then you can send the log to me directly in a DM. Before sending, you can open the log in Notepad and replace your username in the paths with "USER". It isn't about someone hacking you, but the internet is a place of anarchy and such info, if leaked, can be used against you, primarily in phishing attacks.
All my professional years in IT always remind me that Cybersec isn't about 'if' it happens, but 'when' it happens.

The log file should suffice for the start since it’s the path of least resistance for now. We’ll work our way from it to the harder tasks.