How is AI driving in the latest patch?

[PlacidPaul 11]

I hope improving this is high on the priority list for arma 2 and 3. My way of dealing with the AI's skills is just not looking at them. They seem fairly reliable overall though, so it boils down to just a major immersion breaker for me. I usually have them follow in column, safe, and then hit stay back once or twice or three. This way i'm not always watching the freak show.

I used to use a driving improvement mod sauku driver, think i spelled that wrong. I thought before 1.60 it seemed to help with the back and forth show. I'm not sure if anyone still uses this or is worth anything? Also, a friend told me that the beta patches help somewhat, is this true?

side note; I occasionally get AI that will ignore the stayback command, is there a way to snap them out of this?

Edited July 18, 2012 by PlacidPaul

[^Th0mas^ 10]

I hope improving this is high on the priority list for arma 2 and 3. My way of dealing with the AI's skills is just not looking at them. They seem fairly reliable overall though, so it boils down to just a major immersion breaker for me. I usually have them follow in column, safe, and them hit stay back once or twice or three. This way i'm not always watching the freak show.

I used to use a driving improvement mod sauku driver, think i spelled that wrong. I thought before 1.60 it seemed to help with the back and forth show. I'm not sure if anyone still uses this or is worth anything? Also, a friend told me that the beta patches help somewhat, is this true?

side note; I occasionally get AI that will ignore the stayback command, is there a way to snap them out of this?

So far I dont think improving the AI driving is high on their priority list. Every game they have released after Operation Flashpoint has suffered from poor AI pathfinding. Some tweaks were made here and there to improve, but its never been fully fixed.

In the E3 video the developer said that they hope that ArmA 3 will be the most stable game in the series when its released. I sure hope so. This time we also have underwater support, and I hope that the AI under water is good as well.

[krycek 349]

This time we also have underwater support, and I hope that the AI under water is good as well.

Watch them blow up the wrong sub,killing endangered fish species and colliding their underwater rig with rocks.Us after seeing A3 AI FPDR

J/K:p I'll give BI the benefit of the doubt.

[HKFlash 9]

Driving forward on a clean road for a few seconds doesnt prove much.

It proves the AI was improved. Before the AI was unable to bypass another vehicle. Maybe you should just play the game instead of babbling in the forums?

[^Th0mas^ 10]

It proves the AI was improved. Before the AI was unable to bypass another vehicle. Maybe you should just play the game instead of babbling in the forums?

Guess I do both :D

[Baff1 0]

Convoys also worked great in 10 year old Operation Flashpoint. Before the ambush you can look have decent the convoy is driving:

The convoy AI had a massive upgrade in ArmA 1.

A noticeable improvement.

It wasn't so good in OpF.

In ArmA 1 the convoy AI was markedly superior to that found in any other game in my opinion.

AI man should be patting himself on the back for that one.

[h34dup 147]

I'm glad I found this topic, as it's something I've been searching for some kind of solution or even just an explanation to. What about incorporating improvements like Saku (does it still work? From what I read in his original thread a patch sort of rendered it useless?) or SLX (COSLX, to be specific) to your mission? I'm thinking of giving this a try for one of my missions where AI driving is sort of unavoidable as I could really use some form of improvement.

This really is one of the only remaining complaints I'd have about Arma 2 (I don't remember how it was in A1 it was so long ago and OFP forget it I was playing Thief and System Shock 2 those days). It's preposterous, there's no reason the AI can't at least be tied to the path of the road for most of the time, I'd even be willing to trade letting AI go off-road for a more reliable system on the road.

[f2k sel 164]

Never mind.

Edited July 20, 2012 by F2k Sel

[^Th0mas^ 10]

It sure would be nice to see if the driving is any improved in ArmA 3. Maybe we can get something official soon? :)

[Corbon_HydraShock 1]

Is there any connection to if you have your team set to "Danger" "Stealth" or "Safe" and their driving? I may be wrong, but it seems that when I had them set to something other than safe was when I found they'd take harsher short-cuts. And, let's face it ... it's a war zone... taking cross-country routes is to be expected if it shortens the travel time.

There is also a predisposition to use a vehicle like a HMMV with the crew - taking short-cuts that are probably better not taken in small cars. This is understandable.

I'm beginning to think there is. Most of the time I find it awesome that they can do most of the driving.

All in all I'm happy with their driving on the Harvest map.

[HKFlash 9]

Is there any connection to if you have your team set to "Danger" "Stealth" or "Safe" and their driving? I may be wrong, but it seems that when I had them set to something other than safe was when I found they'd take harsher short-cuts. And, let's face it ... it's a war zone... taking cross-country routes is to be expected if it shortens the travel time.

Yes this is true. And its an improvement when compared to OFP.

[SavageCDN 231]

unfortunatly Saku's AI driving fix no longer works due to changes in a recent patch (1.60 perhaps?).

For better (smarter) AI you need to look outside of vanilla Arma. UPSMON does a good job of keeping units driving (-onroad switch) but it's a bit much if you just want AI to keep it together :p

Can't check ATM but wondering what ZoneKillers Battlezone missions use for driving as they seem to be able to handle roads at decent speeds without major f**kups.

Edited July 24, 2012 by SavageCDN

[Dwarden 1124]

i already explained in several threads and skype and irc channels that OFP driving was different as the roads were single lane (in A1> then two lanes) and there was way way more spacing (between vehicles, between object on side and road edge etc)

and yes I do agree driving AI should be improved more ... but that's task for next title ...

[onlyrazor 11]

and yes I do agree driving AI should be improved more ... but that's task for next title ...

Remember... You'll get quoted on that. I'd use :icon_twisted:, but some other BIS developer probably has a copyright on using that, so I won't.

[^Th0mas^ 10]

Thanks. That information alone is almost good enough for me to pre-order ArmA 3 :) . I dont care when its fixed, as long as it is sometime! :)

[Janez 507]

Ability to set waypoints for fellow AI squad members would solve a lot of problems. If they are under High-Command you can set as meny waypoints as you wish but only one for squad mates. So you have to select a unit, look on map, zoom in, click where you want new waypoint and do it all over again after hundred meters. It takes insane amount of time to get your squad mate to drive 2km if you dont want to risk him getting stuck with only one waypoint. Atleast if you are in his vehicle you can correct it or see it coming. If you are far away they all you can do is hope for the best.

This would be welcome feature not only for drivers but for infantry as well.

Unless there is already such feature and I just dont know about it.

When Im making a mission I always give new waypoint after sharp corners just to be sure, however you cant do that in missions or campaign for that matter.

[maruk 80]

Except from tight spaces, bridges, animals (including small ones, like rabbits) and other units near to or on the track, objects in general, T intersections, convoys, incoming and ongoing traffic, the AI behave quite well.

That doesn't change the fact that ARMA AI driving skill is bad, and got worse throughout the series somehow.

The OFP1 AI drivers have been driving on the rails, literally. In Arma 2 it is all much more dynamic. However, if you really do some effort in testing it you can see massive improvement from Arma 2 as shown on the video from 2009 and current shape of OA.

If there is a driving problem, a CIT ticket with clear reproducible steps is best way to tell us about it and let us check if it could be improved.

[Smurf 12]

The OFP1 AI drivers have been driving on the rails, literally. In Arma 2 it is all much more dynamic. However, if you really do some effort in testing it you can see massive improvement from Arma 2 as shown on the video from 2009 and current shape of OA.

If there is a driving problem, a CIT ticket with clear reproducible steps is best way to tell us about it and let us check if it could be improved.

Actually I've been ambushing some convoys after writing that, and yeah, they are much better than what I last remember. Point for you guys.

Still, they have problems with objects (more then one, otherwise they pass it with no problems) near or on the track and when they find another unit in the way (crossing the street or something), as they can't manage to enter an "agreement" on what to do next, so they keep moving some centimeters forward and backwards until they are clear to move on. Seems they can't estimate what will be the other unit's next move.

Was watching some old Discovery docu about DARPA's robotcars project and could see the same driving problems there; but they had many teams working EXCLUSIVELY on that. I can't say "Lazy BIS, fix it NAO!" cause, altough I don't have a clue about what is going on on those codes, I guess it is a lot of complex thigies. I know there isn't a easy fix for it (punctual problems) and you are doing the best you can with the available resources.

[.kju 3240]

CIT tickets:

> Feature #3450: AI shouldn't avoid running animals over when at risk

https://dev-heaven.net/issues/3450

The tickets contains next to the demo mission also a few decent ideas

how one might handle this.

> Bug #16120: Cars/trucks not sticking to roads in combat mode

https://dev-heaven.net/issues/16120

Essentially with safe behaviour AI does a lot(!) better.

It might a decent approach to apply this driving behavior even during

aware and combat mode - or to make AI stick to roads a lot more even in

those modes with non tank vehicles.

> Bug #27361: AI Convoy driving/pathfinding is terrible

https://dev-heaven.net/issues/27361

Again careless or safe behavior leads to significantly better convoy

behavior. There are also two rather simple community scripts to improve

convoy behavior. They do the behavior change and in addition adjust the

speed of the individual vehicles when units get to far apart from each other.

AI Convoy Script by norrin

http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=9975

Convoy creator & convoy control by DTM2801

http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=8286

Both include a sample mission. One is Utes, one is Chernarus.

> Bug #25642: AI Pathfinding Issue (APC) when empty vehicle at the side of a road

https://dev-heaven.net/issues/25642

Here only engine tweaks can help.

[^Th0mas^ 10]

Im sure the AI driving is alot better now then they were before. It doesnt mean they act well at this point, and in a game that is (IMO) all about driving, AI and infantry, this issue should have a higher priority.

[Tonci87 163]

@Maruk

a simple bunny near the road will do^^

No seriously, place alice and silvie, get yourself in a truck with an AI driver and let him drive from one side of the map to the other. Make sure he has to pass a few towns.

Note the time he takes. Now drive the same route yourself or simply give it to the dev who is the worst at driving :p and compare your time with the ai time.

[f2k sel 164]

Actually I had to give up trying to use a bus in a mission.

All it had to do was to drive around four waypoints which it did, the problem was as if there was any shooting nearby, the first time the AI seem to cope but the second or third time the bus comes around it just stops for about two to three minutes and then tries to continue but he seems clueless now and tries to drive through trees and buildings, even when there's clear space in front of him he turns into an object. I was only testing on a runway and I accept there are probably no paths for the vehicle but shooting shouldn't make them this bad.

I've tried all the usual stuff allowfleeing, disableAI target,autotarget,FSM setskill but nothing helps.

Even if I respawn the unit his driving is just as poor as before. We need a way to wipe his memory.

I wonder if we had the opposite of reveal it could help especially with civilians who seem terrified all the time.

As for convoys one thing I've noticed and may have mentioned it before is if you watch them the first vehicle can get around a tight corner but the second usually overruns the corner slightly and then every following vehicle over runs it even more.

It seems as if they move to the previous vehicles position plus a small overrun and so the problems just increase with each vehicle.

I don't know if each vehicle follows the path or the vehicle in front, but I think that's where some of the problems are.

Edited July 25, 2012 by F2k Sel

[PsychoPigeon 10]

Thats crap. Any word if BIS is going to fix this anytime? If not fixed in ArmA 2 its probably the same in ArmA 3 I think.

Welcome to the ArmA series. The third game will be the same as this, awkward movement, unresponsive menu, laggy servers.

[HKFlash 9]

Welcome to the ArmA series. The third game will be the same as this, awkward movement, unresponsive menu, laggy servers.

You and I don't play the same game my friend.

[cm. 10]

If OFP had rails, maybe add them back in... but with 2 rails? :s