PvPscene AI Tweaks - Looking for suggestions

[.kju 3244]

Preface

You may ask yourself how PvP and AI fit together.

They do in some situations and game modes:

• As ambiance
  
• To add more units to the battlefield
  
• To take care of jobs that are boring for humans
  
• As training
  

Warfare is a good example how both AI and PvP work together.

My interest is more into AAS/AnS gameplay. Means somewhat smaller scale.

Intention

A set of single, standalone, mostly server side (only) addons to improve AI behavior.

Mostly config tweaks only - except for some special use scripted systems.

No scripted AI behavior.

Examples

• Mute AI to make them react instantly to player commands
  
• Stop AI waste AT rockets on infantry
  
• Longer engagement ranges for infantry
  
• Longer unit detection and side reveal abilities for infantry
  
• Unlimited rifle/MG magazine ammo for infantry to avoid AI run out of ammo
  
• A lot more dispersion for AI infantry
  
• Improve combat ability of infantry by removing fatigue (no additional weapon sway from movement or stress)
  
• In return higher weapon sway when standing
  
• No more hand injury for infantry
  
• No more broken legs for infantry
  
• Non AA ground vehicles (like battle tanks) no longer engage and focus on air units
  
• Limited ground vehicles engaging air units to heavy MG weapons (no more M240/PKT use)
  
• Enable battle tanks to engage air units with the main gun
  
• Dispersion on battle tank's main gun
  
• Dispersion on chopper rockets
  
• Disabled dangerFSM
  
• Possibly improved dangerFSM
  
• More durability for battle tanks
  
• Mines mainly to damage only the tracks of battle tanks
  
• A few others to be added later
  

Compatibility

Basically the goal is to replace all existing AI tweaks available.

However it is up to user which to use and if to combine them (still doable).

ASR AI is probably the only exception. The per unit type scripted skill is not

something I plan to look into myself.

You are most welcome to make suggestion.

However please keep it brief and don't open up unrealistic dreams you wish AI were to be.

This project is aimed at tweaking the AI and overcoming its limits is not part of it.

[cannonouscrash 12]

The civilian AI is something that really bums me out in arma, They just dont do anything.

When playing PVP in a scenario sense where you have a blufor/opfor patrol through an active village looking for a small group of insurgents, and the civies stand out like a sore thumb.

Im not a knowledgable person when it comes to the depths of arma, but i know there are quite a few animations.

So my suggestion would be to get the AI to interact with each other, rather than just stand there, walk across the road, stand there again, so on and so on.

Perhaps it would take the creation of a module, to put down which had animations and objects built in -

Market buildings

Cattle being herded by a sheppard/s

Of course im thinking about OA and takistan, but there are more islands with different vegetation and styles of living which could be incorporated.

Said module would side by side with the alice module (if its still called alice).

I realise you said for AAS/AnS, but you mentioned the word small, and when playing a small pvp civilian ai is a must!

hope its an easy tweak :-D

Jack

[.kju 3244]

Jack this is out of the scope of this project for multiple reasons unfortunately:

• The core issue of civilans are their animations - both walk and especially the run/sprint animations look very unnatural. On the positive side BI wants to improve them in a3.
  
• It would need a lot of scripting. As stated in bold this is about config tweaks foremost.
  
• Despite those two the scripting possibilities are quite limited. ALICE already does a lot within the available framework.
  

[.kju 3244]

Added the first one in the files section at 'WIP AI Tweaks':

AIGunnerToUseAllWeapons_AI_C_PvPscene

###

With an important fix in the recent 1.61 beta patches,

AI in vehicles finally starts to act properly with a player inside the vehicle as well.

This means the AI gunner engages targets by himself now.

However he is still restrained in the use of the full weapon arsenal available to him.

This little tweak changes/fixes that.

So the AI gunner will now engage also with SABOT/HEAT and missiles at targets

(aka fire automatically without command order for each shoot).

(normally only true for: MG/AP/rockets)

Two notes:

---

1) ArmA configs still have many issues in the weapon configuration. ACE fixes some of them.

It means at times an AI gunner uses the wrong weapon for the given target

or fires too slowly or too quickly or refuses to use a weapon against a given target completely.

2) For choppers and double-seater planes you need to TAB/direct click lock

targets to make the AI gunner use missiles on targets.

In other words as pilot you need to assign him a vehicle or air target first before he uses the limited missile capabilities.

That said AI fires multiple missiles on a target quickly. So manual fire might still be the better choice..

More AI tweaks to follow.

Edited January 17, 2012 by .kju [PvPscene]

[kremator 1065]

This is excellent news and a move in the right direction. Will get it asap and test it out.

Now the BMP3 should be DEADLY!

[kotov12345 10]

if damaged vehicle and not under-fire ai should eject and fix it.

ai tanks while moving should use roads in takistan.

ai in tunguska and m6 should use missiles.

It is needed add command engine off and repair vehicle in 6 menu.

[.kju 3244]

if damaged vehicle and not under-fire ai should eject and fix it

How should they be able? Engineer class can, but I am not really a fan of that feature.

Instead AI should remain in a tank even if its immobile.

Not-under fire is hard to determine too.

ai tanks while moving should use roads in takistan

I think tanks in safe mode do stick to roads. Of course this hinders their fighting ability.

Unfortunately no other way possible to achieve this AFAIK.

i in tunguska and m6 should use missiles

Should be mostly a simple config tweak of the missiles.

add command engine off and repair vehicle in 6 menu

Engine on/off should be doable - what do you mean with repair?

[kotov12345 10]

Repair problem:

problem is that if you driving uaz for example and hit small stone you brake wheel and cant move forward.I'm sure it is very annoing for pvp.Same situation with ai.Recently I found that sometimes m1a2 or t90 can be damaged and wont move.ai not reported about it and you can only guess that truck or trucks was damaged.

Tanks in takistan not stick to roads what ever situation is in warfare map.sometimes they get stuck in stones sometimes trying climb on hill.

In ofp crcti map we have in commanding ai menu key 6 command called repair.When you asking vehicle to repair it

automatically looking nearest repair point and when find it vehicle start repair.

Realistically every vehicle should have repair tools and drive able to fix it.

I think same should be in game.

[Defunkt 431]

Can you find some way of making players under an AI commander immune to ejection from vehicles?

[tpw 2315]

I would love to see AI have the ability to step over the low obstacles that the player can also step over, rather than taking (sometimes enormous) detours.

It probably requires low level FSM wrangling, which I have no idea about. A genius such as yourself should have less problems!

[das attorney 858]

Yes, AI (under player control) cannot get in a static gun emplacement sometimes because of the way sandbags are positioned around it. Emplacements have to be designed to be AI friendly.

In fact, could you change the entry point/bounding box around static guns like the M2? The entry point is approx 5-6m away from the gun for AI. The only way to overcome this in game is to use enableSimulation on the static piece, but this has unfortunate side effects that render it not useful for the task.

[.kju 3244]

Repair problem

My approach would be to add auto repair to cars and trucks driven by AI,

or if possible make those vehicles tires not damageable (by environment) when driven by AI.

How does that sound?

Tanks in takistan not stick to roads what ever situation is in warfare map.

sometimes they get stuck in stones sometimes trying climb on hill.

Better to make a CIT ticket with simple repros/demo missions here.

AI commander immune to ejection from vehicles

Since 1.60: http://community.bistudio.com/wiki/allowCrewInImmobile

AI have the ability to step over the low obstacles that the player can also step over

This qualifies as CIT feature ticket. With scripting you cannot detect such.

For this and also performance reason something to be done in the engine itself by BI.

AI cannot get in a static gun emplacement sometimes

Model changes are not possible until BI releases the MLOD sources.

Did you try this addon? DoubledGetInRadius_Gameplay_C_PvPscene.pbo

https://dev-heaven.net/projects/pvpscene-tweaks/files

[kotov12345 10]

My approach would be to add auto repair to cars and trucks driven by AI,

or if possible make those vehicles tires not damageable (by environment) when driven by AI.

How does that sound?

[/url]

sound like unrealistic and cheat :)

Tanks not on road problem:

I did enough tickets to cit and I'm still waiting to be fixed most important sound of/off,may be some efforts about tab/radar will be done etc...

Another thing - someone driving and hit tree or stone and you injured and making meeeee sound all the time.We need medic kits for everyone to heal small injures same for ai.They need heal automatically without any command unless they not under-fire.

Edited January 18, 2012 by kotov12345

[.kju 3244]

You mean 18 tickets are much? With 6 duplicates and 7 rejected. Leaves only 5 remaining. :D

Unrealistic - so what? These are tweaks to improve gameplay and playability.

[humvee28 10]

I have tested the new AI Gunner Tweak. Very impressive.

BMP-3 is a real Killer Machine now. Full Arsenal is used on different Targets, with an insane switching Speed. :D

Suggestions for new Tweaks :

- Would it be possible to let AI Drivers ignore Vehicles and Animals beside the Road or slightly on it? That would make Life for Players with AI driven Vehicles much easier. Please have a look at https://dev-heaven.net/issues/25642.

- It would also be nice if AI Groups led by Player could be able to hold up more Formations in Danger Mode, and not only Column and Delta. Of course, it´s great that they´re searching for Cover while on the Move, but often they´re moving too far away from you (Front, Side), and giving away Groups Position this Way. The best would be that they stick in Formation, except under Fire.

Dunno if something of this is possible the "Easy Way", just some Coins. :)

[kremator 1065]

AI on foot should be looking out for tanks/vehicles and jump out of the way, rather than the tanks/vehicles swerving!

I don't know if that is possible however. I did see a whole convoy leave the road, get stuck for over 5 minutes, trying to avoid a little bunny rabbit! SQUASH IT!!!!!!!

[humvee28 10]

As happened yesterday : I´m sitting in a BTR, on my Way to a Mission. Suddenly the Driver stops. What´s going on? We can´t be there yet?

Switching to 3rd, and see a little Rabbit hoppling out of the Space between two Wheels..oh Boy.. :D

[.kju 3244]

@ Humvee28

Sadly seany frenzy killed the fix again.. :391:

How can people want to have inferior AI under player command,

if you could still have full control as commander, if he were to utilize

ALL available capabilities - instead he and others mislead people..

let AI Drivers ignore Vehicles and Animals beside the Road or slightly on it

The only tweak I can see is to remove (auto generated) animals altogether.

Everything else has done be done in the engine.

if AI Groups led by Player could be able to hold up more Formations in Danger Mode, and not only Column and Delta

I dont quite understand. What about the other formations?

Or is about AI behavior when in combat behavior?

While cfgFormations is exposed in the configs, I am unsure how much you

can achieve/tweak there. Unlikely you can define new ones too.

http://pastebin.jonasscholz.de/1664

By NoRailgunner:

Just an idea but what if you add one key to map "fast switch commander <> driver"? The "commander <> gunner" is already there.

This is part of my game mode already. The problem/challenge with an addon

is that you can easily run into key action conflicts.

(also the MP version is rather ugly due to SQF command constraints)

AI on foot should be looking out for tanks/vehicles and jump out of the way

Again only in the engine one can achieve acceptable results I believe.

One might script a priority and limited behavioral system - probably without

acceptable results though (both performance and improvement wise).

[humvee28 10]

@ Humvee28

Sadly seany frenzy killed the fix again.. :391:

Sorry, but i can´t follow you at this Point. I don´t know, what you want to tell me with that.

How can people want to have inferior AI under player command,

if you could still have full control as commander, if he were to utilize

ALL available capabilities - instead he and others mislead people..

The same for this. I can´t really follow you. Sorry. EDIT : Got it now. If i could switch to Driver or Commander, which is not given by Mission Design, all would be good. :)

I dont quite understand. What about the other formations?

Or is about AI behavior when in combat behavior?

It´s about AI behavior in Combat Mode, yes. If you choose Formation Colunm or Delta in Danger Mode, the Group will hold this Formation in it´s Form. In every other Formation, they will spread out against the Formations Form while moving ahead.

Edited January 19, 2012 by Humvee28

[Guess Who 10]

Sorry, but i can´t follow you at this Point. I don´t know, what you want to tell me with that.

[...]

Well, he's telling, that the ranting and whining has won again. Meaning: the fix to AI crew behaviour has been partially reversed by Suma in the latest beta. Unfortunately ...

[.kju 3244]

Read here: http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?t=130101

With the new beta an AI gunner under player control will be dump again.

The claims were that the AI gunner is acting on his own and that you no longer can

assign targets - which is both wrong.

In terms of combat behavior - unfortunately nothing really can be changed there.

The system is basically hardcoded and not available to tweaking.

[humvee28 10]

Well, he's telling, that the ranting and whining has won again. Meaning: the fix to AI crew behaviour has been partially reversed by Suma in the latest beta. Unfortunately ...

Thanks for the Explantation Guess. Now i got that. :D

Read here: http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?t=130101

Forgive me, but after the first few Posts of him i had to stop, due to massive Headache...ah, and i´m an SP Player..

In terms of combat behavior - unfortunately nothing really can be changed there.

The system is basically hardcoded and not available to tweaking.

That´s what i expected. Thank you anyway. :)

[Guess Who 10]

Thanks for the Explantation Guess. Now i got that. :D

Forgive me, but after the first few Posts of him i had to stop him, due to massive Headache...ah, and i´m an SP Player..

That´s what i expected. Thank you anyway. :)

Well, that's what I felt ...

Though there is still hope, because Suma also said, "until someone has the time to do all the necessary evalutions regarding the implications of such a deep change" in the gameplay. I can't stop feeling the deep urge to enforce that somehow ...

[.kju 3244]

QuickSwitchVehiclePositions_SP_Controls_C_PvPscene

###

Preface: Works only in SP; requires XEH/CBA; may still have issues in special situations.

The addon allows you to quickly switch between driver, gunner and commander seat.

To switch between gunner and commander use the key action assigned to "Swap gunner" (to be found near the end in controls).

To switch between driver and commander use the key action assigned to "Swap gunner" and hold Shift/Ctrl/Alt at the same time.

Important: It uses selectPlayer. That means you switch to the AI entity.

The benefit is that you can switch as player commander to the AI driver,

and still have the AI gunner and (now/temporary AI) commander engage targets on their own.

Use the key combo of "END" and hold Shift/Ctrl/Alt to return the player entity at any time.

It is also not available in choppers and planes on purpose.

Possible problems:

# Vehicles without commander seat might eject player when switching seats (needs confirmation)

To be found in the files section at 'WIP AI Tweaks'.

[humvee28 10]

I´m testing this at the Moment, and it works like a Charm in the Editor (haven´t tested it in a Mission yet).

and still have the AI gunner and (now/temporary AI) commander engage targets on their own.

Confirmed. The Killer BMP-3 is back. Yay!

Thanks for that really needful Addon.