[RESOLVED] Lab staff getting stuck

Issue:  Lab staff sometimes get stuck standing around doing nothing with the status of "Running Tests"

Repro:  Just let the game run for a few minutes (it took me roughly 3 minutes on max speed with the attached save game on my first run, and about 10 minutes on my second run.
Other times did take longer though).

Other notes
I have not noticed a pattern or direct cause, it seems to happen unpredictably, but happens very regularly.  In my first test it occurred once during the day shift, and once during the following night shift.  In the second test it only occurred during the day shift of the second day.  Subsequent tests did not follow any pattern.

In this hospital the issue occurs most often in the hematology lab (which is the largest).  However after a lot of testing I did see it happen once in the histology lab as well.  I have only noticed the staff getting stuck at lab sinks though.  I have not tested kitchen sinks.  No other equipment appears to cause this issue.

When the staff gets stuck it appears to me that they move to the lab sink, but that they don't actually enter the washing animation.  I'm assuming there is a keyframe event at the end of the washing animation to move them to the next step but since it never starts they never get to leave sink purgatory.  This doesn't always seem to be the case though, I have observed staff move to the sink, not play the washing animation, and break out of this state after a moment.  This appears to be an edge case.

Staff will not break this state even after shift changes or after midnight.  Staff needs continue to deteriorate until they are extremely unhappy.  Not sure if the tests they are running are ever completed or if I have a patient somewhere that is also stuck.  

Adding or removing sinks does not have an effect.  Staff still occasionally get stuck either way.  Removing the specific sink in question also does not have an effect.

It does not appear to be affected if more than one staff person attempts to use the sink at once (or at least if a second person moves to the sink while it's in use).  

Firing staff does not cause them to exit this state, however reassigning their workspace will cause them to move to their new workspace and then stand there.  So they do not exit this state but they do move.  Changing their department will change their uniform as normal but they will remain stuck.  Saving the game while the staff is stuck and then reloading it does clear this state and they proceed on to whatever it is they decide to do next.

All of my testing was done on max speed, no idea if this occurs on slower speeds or not.
No mods are in use.  Some tweakables have been changed to allow for more floors and more staff (I don't think any others were changed but not completely sure).

Attached
Log file after the first test (2 staff members were stuck at that time)
Save game that all testing was done with
Screenshot of the issue

Hi, welcome to the forum and thanks for the detailed report!

While it happens quite randomly (and I don't think we've seen anything similar recently), it's actually relatively easy to reproduce when letting the hospital from your save run for a day or two.
At this point we have a hotfix ready for the next patch, but I plan to investigate more as the actual cause is still not completely clear.

Btw - maybe this will be helpful - could you try to save and reload the game when it happens next time? That should also free the lab staff.

Awesome, glad you were able to catch it and fix it! In the meantime saving and reloading does fix the problem, but of course it's just a matter of time before it happens again. Thanks for the quick response!