Core error message - what does it mean, what triggers it?

[OWHorus]

Hello,

We are using POL 0.99 Release. From time to time I see the following error message in the logs

Character <serial> tried to drop item <serial>, but had not gotten an item.

It seems to be harmless, and is triggered by various players. Sometimes the message repeats over 2-3 seconds multiple times, sometime it occurs only once.
If it occurs only once, both the players character and the item exist, in other cases, if it is repeated the item serial does not exist, if I check afterwards.

I have a lot of checks in my scripts, and it is definitely not a script message.

Can someone please tell me, what situation triggers this message?

Thank you

[CWO]

It's mainly caused by lag. It means they tried to drop an item that they didn't pick up. If they pick up an item and then drop it quick enough during lag, the drop packet might arrive before the pick up packet causing the error. If it happens quickly in succession for one character, it could be a macro program shuffling items around really fast, if it's a bunch of characters, it's probably a connection lag spike. Overall, it is harmless and nothing to really worry about.

[OWHorus]

Thank you - it is quite rare, but most often seen with a player who is known to use a lot of macros.

Since it happens during Dungeon tours, he is probably hammering the keyboard

Horus