[WIP] bCombat infantry AI Mod [SP]

[bravo409 13]

ok tested hintc format["%1", getArray(configFile >> "CfgAISkill" >> "aimingAccuracy") ]; in the config and it came up with aiming accuracy numbers in start of game and still have precision hits on me and them knowing right where I shoot from.So I believe I have everything installed right so I just scratching my head for what it is.

[ebarstad 18]

Sorry to go slightly OT, here, but has anyone tried bCombat with the new Iron Front in Arma 3 mod? I haven't actually gotten the latter to run yet, so I haven't been able to test myself. I liked Iron Front, but the AI were terrible and you couldn't mod them. I'm hoping bCombat will be compatible (not a feature request -- just wishful thinking).

Looking forward to 0.15!

[bravo409 13]

sorry to ask this but what is latter and where can I find this thanks?

[lordprimate 159]

sorry to ask this but what is latter and where can I find this thanks?

you just made my night ... funnies question ever... what is latter... where can i find this.... LOL

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!

I am assuming you were being funny, I dont mean to insult!!

Latter, as the previous poster is using it is, "Iron Front in Arma 3 mod" and it is in the completed mods section... LOL what is latter... thanks for that

[kremator 1065]

Sorry to go slightly OT, here, but has anyone tried bCombat with the new Iron Front in Arma 3 mod? I haven't actually gotten the latter to run yet, so I haven't been able to test myself. I liked Iron Front, but the AI were terrible and you couldn't mod them. I'm hoping bCombat will be compatible (not a feature request -- just wishful thinking).

Looking forward to 0.15!

Yes I have gotten bCombat working with Iron Front (inside A3) :)

[bravo409 13]

you just made my night ... funnies question ever... what is latter... where can i find this.... LOL

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!

I am assuming you were being funny, I dont mean to insult!!

Latter, as the previous poster is using it is, "Iron Front in Arma 3 mod" and it is in the completed mods section... LOL what is latter... thanks for that

glad you enjoyed my joke we all need a laugh every once snd awhile.

[fabrizio_t 58]

ok tested hintc format["%1", getArray(configFile >> "CfgAISkill" >> "aimingAccuracy") ]; in the config and it came up with aiming accuracy numbers in start of game and still have precision hits on me and them knowing right where I shoot from.So I believe I have everything installed right so I just scratching my head for what it is.

bravo, i hope i'm not abusing of your patience if i ask the following:

1) revert \userconfig\bconfig_config.hpp to original version

2) disable any other mods, except bCombat

3) Set game difficulty to normal for both friendly and enemy

3) download "Assault on Charkia - SP" from Steam workshop

5) Run that mission (it's within SCENARIOS). Do nothing, just wait till 180 seconds and after that note down the readings for "BULLETS" and "KILLED" that are shown in the stats panel at top-right of the screen.

6) Repeat 5) a second and third time.

Finally let me know those readings you have collected (both "BULLETS" and "KILLED", for all the 3 runs).

Those values will help me alot into objectively evaluating your uber-accuracy problems.

Than you.

If anybody having uber-accurate AI is willing to do the same, i think that will help speeding up my issue analysis and resolution.

---------- Post added at 16:59 ---------- Previous post was at 16:56 ----------

I'm hoping bCombat will be compatible.

I hope so ;) !

---------- Post added at 17:01 ---------- Previous post was at 16:59 ----------

Thank you very much for the report!

Yay!

By the way, i'm still waiting an answer from cambam47.

If we'll find something broken within bCombat i'll do my best to fix it.

[Gambler 10]

Hey fabrizio, I love the mod.

What do you think about adding in an option to increase the amount of damage in the HandleDamage event handler for units? This would allow a work around for those that think the body armor values in A3 are unrealistic. People that play the Patrol Ops 3.0 mission really like the easykill feature in their code.

I did this in my local version:

config.sqf:

Line 221: bcombat_damage_factor = 2.0; // Damage multiplier to correct unrealistic body armor values

lib/common.sqf:

Line 391: _body_part_damage = _body_part_damage * bcombat_damage_factor;

[sttosin 67]

@Fabrizio_T,

I enabled all the optional features understanding some are more WIP than others and tested with a 4 vs. 4 fire team with MOVE waypoints in Zargarbad. Look for the "double-tap" so to speak they do due to TPW bleedout....pretty cool. There was self suicide by Frag, Indoor fighting and more.

The mission is included. Its extremely basic.

video here -

On a separate note.

One type of firing we do not see in Arma I wish could be incorporated is AI weapon resting. If while engaging, they are say 1m from a ledge, window, rock, vehicle...script determines if prone or crouch or standing is ideal, determines weapontype, then moves AI to rest weapon and fire. It is likely out of scope at this stage of development but I wanted to throw that in the discussion. I experimented scripting this with "AttachTo" with the restObject hardcoded, experienced some lag type behavior and only got AI to engage enemy by attaching then detaching.

[bravo409 13]

bravo, i hope i'm not abusing of your patience if i ask the following:

1) revert \userconfig\bconfig_config.hpp to original version

2) disable any other mods, except bCombat

3) Set game difficulty to normal for both friendly and enemy

3) download "Assault on Charkia - SP" from Steam workshop

5) Run that mission (it's within SCENARIOS). Do nothing, just wait till 180 seconds and after that note down the readings for "BULLETS" and "KILLED" that are shown in the stats panel at top-right of the screen.

6) Repeat 5) a second and third time.

Finally let me know those readings you have collected (both "BULLETS" and "KILLED", for all the 3 runs).

Those values will help me alot into objectively evaluating your uber-accuracy problems.

Than you.

Ok Fab here are the results as you asked for 3 test................. test1-bullets 15---Max 15-----killed 7,test2 bullets 10---Max 31----killed 8

test3-bullets 28---Max 28----Killed 8 So that test was with TPW Bleedout enabled only-Blastcore-Vts--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Next test with no mods running only jsrs for sound as in last test...................Test1-bullets 9---Max---13----killed 7,Test2-bullets 2---Max---11----killed 18,Test3 bullets 12---Max 17----killed 14

Also I had a lot of lag with blastcore smoke really took a toll------Also I tested no mod on a scenario I made with suppressed weapon still was found after one shot. I ran only jsrs,Bcombat no other mod.

Edited December 31, 2013 by bravo409

[ebarstad 18]

I ran the test, too, but I'm going to assume fab was looking for FIRED rather than BULLETS. Results:

Test 1

Fired: 503

Killed: 13

Test 2

Fired: 493

Killed: 7

Test 3

Fired: 352

Killed: 6

[bravo409 13]

oh damn your probably right well maybe tomorrow I have to work tomorrow...

---------- Post added at 12:32 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:16 AM ----------

I did this in my local version:

config.sqf:

Line 221: bcombat_damage_factor = 2.0; // Damage multiplier to correct unrealistic body armor values

what is this config sqf...because config in bcombat is only 219 lines so where is this thanks ...

[fabrizio_t 58]

I ran the test, too, but I'm going to assume fab was looking for FIRED rather than BULLETS. Results:

Test 1

Fired: 503

Killed: 13

Test 2

Fired: 493

Killed: 7

Test 3

Fired: 352

Killed: 6

I feel like an idiot, i should refrain from posting when i'm tired.

Yes, the reading i'm interested in was FIRED, rather than BULLETS.

Thank you ebarstad.

Your values almost matched mine and i'd say they're "healthy" and "forgiving".

In my case average bullets / kill ratio was 42,9 (on v0.15), in yours was 51,8.

I suppose you're not perceiving any excessive accuracy.

Then it's interesting to make an objective comparison with vanilla accuracy.

In vanilla case bullets / kill ratio is, according on my tests, about 23,4.

This means that in average and in a deterministic world "vanilla" AI is about 45% more accurate than bCombat, on stock settings.

My Results:

bCombat v0.15

Fired / Kills

698 / 14

545 / 13

432 / 12

Vanilla ArmA3

Fired / Kills

283 / 13

297 / 11

288 / 13

A final note on accuracy: just to be clear, it's not my scope to pinpoint accuracy settings suitable for anybody and situations, as that's highly subjective.

My objective is to set up some decent presets, letting you able to tweak them either from bconfig_config.hpp or directly from game difficutly settings.

The only thing i'm trying to address are potential misbehaving of these presets and/or problems with bconfig_config.hpp loading.

---------- Post added at 10:17 ---------- Previous post was at 10:09 ----------

Hey fabrizio, I love the mod.

What do you think about adding in an option to increase the amount of damage in the HandleDamage event handler for units? This would allow a work around for those that think the body armor values in A3 are unrealistic. People that play the Patrol Ops 3.0 mission really like the easykill feature in their code.

I did this in my local version:

config.sqf:

Line 221: bcombat_damage_factor = 2.0; // Damage multiplier to correct unrealistic body armor values

lib/common.sqf:

Line 391: _body_part_damage = _body_part_damage * bcombat_damage_factor;

Merged as core setting into v0.15: bcombat_damage_multiplier, default = 1;

Edited December 31, 2013 by fabrizio_T

[potemps 1]

Fabrizio sorry i didnt aswered, i didnt played by 2 days. I think it works fine now, but tell me - can i run your mod with standard shorcut command line for example

"E:\Gry\steam\SteamApps\common\Arma 3\arma3.exe" -mod=@CBA_A3;@bcombat;@Blastcore-A3;@JSRS2.0;@alive -skipintro -nosplash"

or i need to do something else. Also i tested ALIVE today, and from that what i see, the maksmans (not snipers) is little to deadly ive been killed from 500+ meters, i dont even see anyone, ive been moving - and its been standard 1 shoot 1 kill :)

Also i got question.

What is the future of bcombat mod ? What are you planning to do or what do add. Im just curious, becouse i remember your flexiAI videos from fall 2009 and its got some serious nice stuff.

Edited December 31, 2013 by potemps

[fabrizio_t 58]

Fabrizio sorry i didnt aswered, i didnt played by 2 days. I think it works fine now, but tell me - can i run your mod with standard shorcut command line for example

"E:\Gry\steam\SteamApps\common\Arma 3\arma3.exe" -mod=@CBA_A3;@bcombat;@Blastcore-A3;@JSRS2.0;@alive -skipintro -nosplash"

or i need to do something else. Also i tested ALIVE today, and from that what i see, the maksmans (not snipers) is little to deadly ive been killed from 500+ meters, i dont even see anyone, ive been moving - and its been standard 1 shoot 1 kill :)

Also i got question.

What is the future of bcombat mod ? What are you plannind to do or what do add. Im just curious, becouse i remember your flexiAI videos from fall 2009 and its got some serious nice stuff.

Good news you got it working fine.

About shortcut: it should work, but please double-check that the mod is active within CINFIGURE/EXPANSIONS menu.

A bit OT, but i'd suggest to add to shortcut " -showScriptErrors -world=empty" for better control on errors, as well as quicker loading,

About marksmen: try lowering their skill, bCombat is quite sensitive to that.

By the way, are you playing newly created missions?

I ask this because recently BIS decided to tweak AI groups skill preset settings (almost doubled in average!), so new missions featuring editor placed default groups may actually deliver 150%-200% the skill you'd used to get.

This can make an enormous difference. I'm doubtful how to address this, because by further tweaking accuracy and skills i'm either risking to break new missions or existing ones.

About the future of bCombat: basic AI features i considered fundamental are in (except MP), now i'd like to enter a consolidation phase, with further balancing, optimization and added flexibility.

Config.sqf configurable settings number will grow, from 40+ (v0.14) to about 60 (v0.15).

bCombat was the second step (after bDetect) in a 3-steps project which was born from the FlexAI experience.

Actually about 80% of bCombat was (rawly) coded / prototyped about 2 years ago.

That said, it's not even half of what i've already written for FlexAI/ArmA2.

Next step would be decision-making, or bCommand, supposed to bridge the gap between operational (strategical) level and micro-tactical level (bCombat).

Depending on the appreciation of bCombat and on my spare time (i'm 40 and with a family!) i'll consider moving on to bCommand (which would mean for me a lot of headache and further time to be spent).

Edited December 31, 2013 by fabrizio_T

[kremator 1065]

I think you know how much bComabt is appreciated! bCommand will be amazing too.

I'll test this new tweak to AI groups, as it does seem odd.

[fabrizio_t 58]

I think you know how much bComabt is appreciated! bCommand will be amazing too.

I'll test this new tweak to AI groups, as it does seem odd.

For reference, DEV build 113178 changelog, December 4th, 2013:

Skill of a unit of a group inserted in the editor now ranges from 0.4 (Pvt.) to 0.7 (Col.)

Post: http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?149636-Development-Branch-Changelog&p=2570454&viewfull=1#post2570454

If i recall correctly it was 0.2-0.4 before.

So now in average skill is about twice as high. You guess the difference ;)

Not the brightest idea to make such a change at this point, if you ask me.

[potemps 1]

Hmm, but you know when im playing ALIVE (btw its great but i still need to learn few things) Units is spawned by the AI command i think. The ultra accuracy is for that what i see a specops with supressors, the rest of units works fine - but i figure out how to nerf them :D

Its great to hear (read) that you will work for something like bCommand....i think the vanilla arma targeting system is retarded a little, there is should be something like - AI making groups (red white etc) and try to maneuver with them, so we can use here something like no autoengage - like in slx/zeus mods -and ofc BIS should work on some things, like AI taking cover on right sides of hard cover, or AI should not think that a wired fence is a real cover couse this is retarded.

And im curious - is the bcombat will work with arma 2 ? :D

And happy new year for you and your family :)

Regards

[b0s 18]

Hi

Some "OK" (hintc ?) box opens all the time when in combat. It has no other text than "OK". This goes away when I disable bcombat.

Thank you!

edit: yes found it on page 43

Edited December 31, 2013 by b0s

[kremator 1065]

This has already been answered .... please read the rest of the thread :)

[pellejones 1]

We did some testing with this on a dedicated server. All AI was controlled by the server. The server was running bCombat. At first it was cool, they attacked fast and so on, but after a while we noticed that the behavior was strange. They sort of just stood there, wiggling back and forth, trying to figure out where to go. It was all really strange. Something is off there.

[fabrizio_t 58]

We did some testing with this on a dedicated server. All AI was controlled by the server. The server was running bCombat. At first it was cool, they attacked fast and so on, but after a while we noticed that the behavior was strange. They sort of just stood there, wiggling back and forth, trying to figure out where to go. It was all really strange. Something is off there.

Sure something may be broken, MP is untested / unsupported.

I hope it is not something related to vanilla AI glitches: the more i test it and the more i find v1.08 AI units prone to "blackout" and getting stuck after time.

However if you can give some more insight on that strange behaviour it may help me better understand what happens.

---------- Post added at 15:13 ---------- Previous post was at 15:06 ----------

And im curious - is the bcombat will work with arma 2 ? :D

And happy new year for you and your family :)

Regards

FlexAI worked pretty well on ArmA2.

I'd say movement under fire was superior to bCombat, probably because ArmA2 AI was almost oblivious of any threats farther than 150m. away ;)

First time i tried the ArmA3 FlexAI port i thought AI acted horrible in comparison and i had doubts to be able to sort it.

bCombat is using scripting commands which came with ArmA3 and so it's obviously not compatible with ArmA2.

I'm not considering porting back bCombat to ArmA2, too much of a hassle.

ArmA3 is the current state-of-art of RV engine and i'm sticking to it, despite i really dislike the pseudo-futuristic setting and the copy-cat weapons.

if at least we could get out-of-the-box some real machinegun instead of that awful bipod'ed MX ...

Best wishes and happy new year to you all.

Edited December 31, 2013 by fabrizio_T

[sttosin 67]

Sure something may be broken, MP is untested / unsupported.

I hope it is not something related to vanilla AI glitches: the more i test it and the more i find v1.08 AI units prone to "blackout" and getting stuck after time.

Hiowever if you can give some more insight on that strange behaviour it may help me better understand what happens.

---------- Post added at 15:13 ---------- Previous post was at 15:06 ----------

FlexAI worked pretty well on ArmA2.

I'd say movement under fire was superior to bCombat, probably because ArmA2 AI was almost oblivious of any threats farther tan 150m. away ;)

First time i tried the ArmA3 FlexAI port i thought AI acted horrible and i had doubts to be able to sort it.

bCombat is using scripting commands which came with ArmA3 and so it's obviously not compatible with ArmA2.

I'm not considering porting back bCombat to ArmA2, too much of a hassle.

ArmA3 is the current state-of-art of RV engine and i'm sticking to it, despite i really dislike the pseudo-futuristic setting and the copy-cat weapons.

if at least we could get out-of-the-box some real machinegun instead of that awful bipod'ed MX ...

Best wishes and happy new year to you all.

Amen on the real MG. That's why I use massi units often.

[bravo409 13]

So what do we do about AI finding you after one shot suppressed or non suppressed? Last butly how do we solve the accuracy issue?

[ebarstad 18]

So what do we do about AI finding you after one shot suppressed or non suppressed? Last butly how do we solve the accuracy issue?

Going by the numbers, I don't think there is an accuracy issue. However, there are a lot of bullets flying around including the new suppressing fire, which means your chances of being hit are greater, especially if you're not using hard cover or changing positions. Perhaps it's a case of perception versus reality. Unfortunately the end result is the same (getting killed).