[WIP] bCombat infantry AI Mod [SP]

[fabrizio_t 58]

I notice that units LOVE to use chainlink fences for cover. Of course they are completely useless (in terms of visuals and ability to absorb bullets!), so is there a way to get AI to ignore that as cover in bCombat ?

Thanks for feedback.

bCombat already filters out this kind of objects based on a height / min. width capped ratio, but when some unit comes close to them vanilla AI usually takes over.

Vanilla AI loves fences, poles, gates, ... there's already a ticket about that.

[ebarstad 18]

1) I think I preferred the earlier morale values, though maybe something between the two would be the best balance. It just seems to me like I'm seeing red and purple a little too often now. On the other hand, since enemies are now bullet sponges, maybe the increased morale penalties are a good thing.

2) I've only turned off surrendering and haven't played with the other values yet. Thank you for putting so much detail into the config file.

3) I agree with Kremator.

[fabrizio_t 58]

1) I think I preferred the earlier morale values, though maybe something between the two would be the best balance. It just seems to me like I'm seeing red and purple a little too often now. On the other hand, since enemies are now bullet sponges, maybe the increased morale penalties are a good thing.

2) I've only turned off surrendering and haven't played with the other values yet. Thank you for putting so much detail into the config file.

3) I agree with Kremator.

Thank you.

Hope to receive feedback from other testers asap, in order to move on.

[katipo66 94]

Hi fabrizio,

I now use latest stable.

I just use BCombat default settings, personally for me I felt they fled more in previous version, also in this latest iteration the group leader seems in much more of a hurry or more determined (engine related not bcombat) to move to his waypoints, this makes for bad decision making for the group, Thats just a feeling I get, no science, and on that note theres one thing that I have discovered (which is probably old news) is that AI"s main priority is full filling their waypoint/s, even over engagement with enemy they are not thinking let's find cover and win this firefight first, it's their waypoints that have priority and so the continued suicide running is from that and nothing to do with trying to engage the enemy. Or a better way to explain it is any movement when under fire is made for the waypoint, not for fighting the enemy.

I have placed 2 groups down about 200-300mtrs apart and gave them parallel move waypoints through a custom course that is about 1000mtrs in length, the course is setup so they discover each other 50mtrs into it, in vanilla they pretty much sort it out within the first 200mtrs but with BCombat they move quite a lot further down the course as they are able to survive better, but the intention is not to win the engagement but to make it to their waypoint, this would be nice if it was optional in the waypoint settings, what I mean is the ability to cancel/resume waypoints when engaged.

Of course that has nothing to do with BCombat but could temporary waypoints be replaced with a guard or hold waypoint directly on group leader which might then lead to even better firefights at least as they might not make silly decisions that are based entirely on getting to their waypoint when under fire. Demonized had made a clever script for me in A2 that did something similar.

BCombat improves AI survivability no doubt and makes them a much tougher opponent, things that make them stupid is the rigid formations they keep as this will cause AI to get split up always if they are using V formation (default) they move to cover no problem but some will be on the wrong side of that cover or group is split up as they seem to try and maintain formation even under fire?

Another thing I noticed with vanilla and BC is if one group spots enemy they will happily fire from out in the open first before try to move to cover only metres away, probably no biggie but just what I've noticed.

I've got some videos to show all this so will try and upload when I get time.

I have only tested with default settings, what files do I need and init setup to customize settings, sorry it wasn't clear to me, or at least turn the balloons off.

Edited December 19, 2013 by Katipo66

[mr_centipede 31]

I find v0.14 is much better than previous version. feels much more consistent and stable.

[RSF TheCapulet 59]

Another thing I noticed with vanilla and BC is if one group spots enemy they will happily fire from out in the open first before try to move to cover only metres away, probably no biggie but just what I've noticed.

Hmm, Cover before fire or cover during overwatch would be fantastic.

[mr_centipede 31]

I got a zero divisor error for the first time ever:

Error in expression <cklist) - 2 step 2 do 
{
if( _blacklist select _n < time) then
{
_blacklist set[>
 Error position: <select _n < time) then
{
_blacklist set[>
 Error Zero divisor
File @bcombat\lib\common.sqf, line 487
Error in expression <cklist) - 2 step 2 do 
{
if( _blacklist select _n < time) then
{
_blacklist set[>
 Error position: <select _n < time) then
{
_blacklist set[>
 Error Zero divisor
File @bcombat\lib\common.sqf, line 487

[fabrizio_t 58]

NOTICE: Latest DEV build has new issues:

http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?160330-Scripting-Discussion-(dev-branch)&p=2583496&viewfull=1#post2583496

Better sticking to stable.

I got a zero divisor error for the first time ever:

Error in expression <cklist) - 2 step 2 do 
{
if( _blacklist select _n < time) then
{
_blacklist set[>
 Error position: <select _n < time) then
{
_blacklist set[>
 Error Zero divisor
File @bcombat\lib\common.sqf, line 487
Error in expression <cklist) - 2 step 2 do 
{
if( _blacklist select _n < time) then
{
_blacklist set[>
 Error position: <select _n < time) then
{
_blacklist set[>
 Error Zero divisor
File @bcombat\lib\common.sqf, line 487

Acknowledged, fixed in v0.15.

---------- Post added at 15:27 ---------- Previous post was at 15:26 ----------

I find v0.14 is much better than previous version. feels much more consistent and stable.

Good.

---------- Post added at 15:32 ---------- Previous post was at 15:27 ----------

Hmm, Cover before fire or cover during overwatch would be fantastic.

Speaking about autoriflemen i think opening fire from actual position is a smarter move.

This way they immediately provide some cover, in order to let other units move to cover.

Sure they become temporarily vulnerable doing so, but i think that it's an acceptable tradeoff.

Other kind of units should better move to cover, i know, but engine thinks different ...

It's likely i will experiment a bit on this.

I just use BCombat default settings, personally for me I felt they fled more in previous version, also in this latest iteration the group leader seems in much more of a hurry or more determined (engine related not bcombat) to move to his waypoints, this makes for bad decision making for the group, Thats just a feeling I get, no science, and on that note theres one thing that I have discovered (which is probably old news) is that AI"s main priority is full filling their waypoint/s, even over engagement with enemy they are not thinking let's find cover and win this firefight first, it's their waypoints that have priority and so the continued suicide running is from that and nothing to do with trying to engage the enemy. Or a better way to explain it is any movement when under fire is made for the waypoint, not for fighting the enemy.

I have placed 2 groups down about 200-300mtrs apart and gave them parallel move waypoints through a custom course that is about 1000mtrs in length, the course is setup so they discover each other 50mtrs into it, in vanilla they pretty much sort it out within the first 200mtrs but with BCombat they move quite a lot further down the course as they are able to survive better, but the intention is not to win the engagement but to make it to their waypoint, this would be nice if it was optional in the waypoint settings, what I mean is the ability to cancel/resume waypoints when engaged.

Of course that has nothing to do with BCombat but could temporary waypoints be replaced with a guard or hold waypoint directly on group leader which might then lead to even better firefights at least as they might not make silly decisions that are based entirely on getting to their waypoint when under fire. Demonized had made a clever script for me in A2 that did something similar

Thank you for your considerations and extensive feedback!

I understand your point, but yet i consider it debatable.

Let me go a bit OT in order to make some real-world considerations.

The decision to engage battle vs. proceeding to waypoint should ideally be tied to the rules of engagement (ROE). These rules are normally determined at the operational level, in order to achieve some objective.

In modern war usually ROE are given as strict as possible, with room for en-route enemy engagement restricted to (kind of) SEARCH & DESTROY tasks. Even in these cases however, the units taking contact with enemy are not usually supposed to be those that will primarily counter it, their role is usually restricted to recon within a broader combined arms operation.

Speaking about ArmA3, i think that having groups keep following the assigned path should be the default behaviour. It's up to the mission creator to decide what units are supposed to do alternatively under some circumstances, since this involves some decision-making that's ultimately tied to mission objectives.

That said, there's a "grey area" with room for general improvements.

For instance when enemy is close enough and / or threatening the route it would be wiser to engage it, as long as strength permits it.

About waypoints: bCombat is not supposed to fiddle with dynamically defined waypoints, FlexAI did it and hopefully bCommand will, eventually.

BCombat improves AI survivability no doubt and makes them a much tougher opponent, things that make them stupid is the rigid formations they keep as this will cause AI to get split up always if they are using V formation (default) they move to cover no problem but some will be on the wrong side of that cover or group is split up as they seem to try and maintain formation even under fire?

Very true! Hard formation in combat is a always a pain.

It causes bad usage of cover and a lot of unneeded roaming.

I'm supporting "soft" formations since ArmA2, sadly this is coded at engine level and we can't "fix" it for now.

Another thing I noticed with vanilla and BC is if one group spots enemy they will happily fire from out in the open first before try to move to cover only metres away, probably no biggie but just what I've noticed.

Which is something i dislike too.

bCombat is limiting this behaviour, yet without scripting commands able to fully override AI we won't overcome this completely, unless playing with combatMode, which comes with many limitations and may conversely break missions.

I have only tested with default settings, what files do I need and init setup to customize settings, sorry it wasn't clear to me, or at least turn the balloons off.

Please take a look into config.sqf, within bCombat mod-folder.

You'll find settings and hints there.

You may exclude balloons by commenting out the relevant line at the bottom of the file.

Edited December 21, 2013 by fabrizio_T

[katipo66 94]

That said, there's a "grey area" with room for general improvements.

For instance when enemy is close enough and / or threatening the route it would be wiser to engage it, as long as strength permits it.

Agreed, in terms of default AI it would be nice to have options in the waypoint dialog box, or a whole new behavior where groups that do merge and engage are able to ignore the current way point and focus on cover and survival until group leader signals clear. Ive made a video demonstrating bCombats awesome survival skills, also showing how they look and behave in first person. Usually in these tests default AI have very quick engagements resulting in one group being wiped out in a minute or two, this primarily is from lack of using cover correctly and bad choice of stances, note that this changes if i change the skill level for all units to maximum, then default AI seem to be a lot better but still not very convincing soldiers, sorry shadowplay creates massive files so not sure if its view-able for anyone

About waypoints: bCombat is not supposed to fiddle with dynamically defined waypoints, FlexAI did it and hopefully bCommand will, eventually.

That would be good, i dont actually mind the fact that AI sort them selves out in the manner they do, it only bothers me if im involved and having to watch them as they do suicide runs away from cover is disappointing.

Very true! Hard formation in combat is a always a pain.

It causes bad usage of cover and a lot of unneeded roaming.

I'm supporting "soft" formations since ArmA2, sadly this is coded at engine level and we can't "fix" it for now.

I really hope they allow for a "fix" as it just looks bad also groups are always broken up on different sides of fences and houses and become isolated, in a lot of tests i find groups always become fragmented which in turn compounds the moving to waypoint issue as they continually are waiting/catching up with each other

Which is something i dislike too.

bCombat is limiting this behaviour, yet without scripting commands able to fully override AI we won't overcome this completely, unless playing with combatMode, which comes with many limitations and may conversely break missions.

Ok, i did notice that bCombat moves them to cover a lot quicker

Please take a look into config.sqf, within bCombat mod-folder.

You'll find settings and hints there.

You may exclude balloons by commenting out the relevant line at the bottom of the file.

Thanks!

Edited December 22, 2013 by Katipo66

[bravo409 13]

Fab I'm not sure if this is bcombat doing this but when I'm injured it takes the medic all day to get to me...Also I'm seeing a lot of the time ai stand and shooting in the road or in the open .... Someone in the FFIS Ai mod has figured out the waypoint problem and also how to get the ai out of combat mode.Dont know if thats anything you check to see what they did or not. Sure would be nice to get BIS to give you the script or code for Ai to use buildings, I'm sure ai would stay alive more if using correct cover and not signs and guard rails...One last observation when ai come in contact with each other like 2/5 feet away its like they get confused and dont know whether to shoot or run past each other.Today I did a lot of testing...........

---------- Post added 12-23-2013 at 12:09 AM ---------- Previous post was 12-22-2013 at 11:40 PM ----------

I notice playing around with GL4 with bcombat that there is a script in Gl4 that uses houses and cover correctly Gl4 is still a treasure to be discovered.

[lordprimate 159]

how are you using GroupLink 4 in arma 3????

fab, sorry i have not been able to post any feedback. look at it like, "No news is Good news". Using the Stable build of Arma 3, no script errors, no hangups. The only thing i changed was a few of the moral %. i dropped known_contact down to 15 from 25 and moved fiendly_killed to 25 from 20. Makes more sense to me that a lost comrad or being wounded would affect moral more then seeing enemy contact. I have noticed less surrendering though. it does happen often, just not as much (as far as i can tell). I dont see ai getting stuck. in houses or by houses or anywhere. but it may just be circumstance.

I recently updated my BIOS. was outdated like 7 years(extradition). Still running benchmarks to see if it helped any.

[fabrizio_t 58]

how are you using GroupLink 4 in arma 3????

fab, sorry i have not been able to post any feedback. look at it like, "No news is Good news". Using the Stable build of Arma 3, no script errors, no hangups. The only thing i changed was a few of the moral %. i dropped known_contact down to 15 from 25 and moved fiendly_killed to 25 from 20. Makes more sense to me that a lost comrad or being wounded would affect moral more then seeing enemy contact. I have noticed less surrendering though. it does happen often, just not as much (as far as i can tell). I dont see ai getting stuck. in houses or by houses or anywhere. but it may just be circumstance.

I recently updated my BIOS. was outdated like 7 years(extradition). Still running benchmarks to see if it helped any.

Thank you.

I'think i'll lower bcombat_penalty_casualty default value in v0.15.

Not sure about bcombat_penalty_enemy_contact, keeping it high hedges against superhuman "first shot" accuracy.

Fab I'm not sure if this is bcombat doing this but when I'm injured it takes the medic all day to get to me... Also I'm seeing a lot of the time ai stand and shooting in the road or in the open ....

Sounds strange, especially if happening a lot.

Are you testing bCombat alone?

Someone in the FFIS Ai mod has figured out the waypoint problem and also how to get the ai out of combat mode.Dont know if thats anything you check to see what they did or not. Sure would be nice to get BIS to give you the script or code for Ai to use buildings, I'm sure ai would stay alive more if using correct cover and not signs and guard rails

Care to post a link to the relevant posts? Thanks.

...One last observation when ai come in contact with each other like 2/5 feet away its like they get confused and dont know whether to shoot or run past each other.

This is a vanilla issue (lack of units collision).

I notice playing around with GL4 with bcombat that there is a script in Gl4 that uses houses and cover correctly Gl4 is still a treasure to be discovered.

bCombat already allows for use of houses as cover, including building positions.

It's disabled because units tend being stuck inside and use horrible pathfinding.

Lately i noticed units don't even care to open doors and they just go through them. Bad.

The relevant settings is:

bcombat_cover_radius = [15,0]; 

Second value is cover seearch radius for buildings.

You may change it to (example):

bcombat_cover_radius = [15,25]; 

in order to collect some close buildings.

However, as i wrote above, pathfinding and AI glitches are hindering this feature.

Agreed, in terms of default AI it would be nice to have options in the waypoint dialog box, or a whole new behavior where groups that do merge and engage are able to ignore the current way point and focus on cover and survival until group leader signals clear. Ive made a video demonstrating bCombats awesome survival skills, also showing how they look and behave in first person. Usually in these tests default AI have very quick engagements resulting in one group being wiped out in a minute or two, this primarily is from lack of using cover correctly and bad choice of stances, note that this changes if i change the skill level for all units to maximum, then default AI seem to be a lot better but still not very convincing soldiers

Thanks for the video, it also shows an autorifleman doing some decent suppressive fire.

Edited December 23, 2013 by fabrizio_T

[bravo409 13]

I got gl4 to work by using gl4 pbo and put the core and local and global in user config file then turned on the garrison house and use cover,in the global and core.then go into game under modules then put done custom or defend then sync it with only leader however it will hard to see module marker it will be in line but it is there.that's how I use gl4

[bravo409 13]

Fab how do I enable the building position ?......................................>>>>>bCombat already allows for use of houses as cover, including building positions.

It's disabled because units tend being stuck inside and use horrible pathfinding.

Lately i noticed units don't even care to open doors and they just go through them. Bad.............................

---------- Post added at 02:47 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:24 PM ----------

Fab this is from the FFIS MOD 1.25 on complete mod forum..............................................................................................................................................................................

FFIS v1.15 modified by sproyd

22/12/2013 Updates

- Improved evasive animations. Removed the ridiculous ones like bunnyhop and run towards the enemy and left in four core animations, dive left (then crawl forward), dive right (then crawl forward), strafe right (then drop to one knee), strafe forward left (theen drop to one knee).

- Increased chance of evasive maneuvers slightly

- Replaced 'round' script for 'floor' script, for selecting evasive animation and radio comms. This is best practice as it ensures proper random selection of options. The existing setup favoured some options over others.

Download Link removed, newer version available below

I'm still looking into the waypoint situation.

---------- Post added at 12:01 ---------- Previous post was at 11:22 ----------

Waypoint Progress

I've also made some progress on the WayPoint system. I think I've fixed several problems, although the campaign is still not playable with the waypoints enabled, I think because BIS have designed the campaign not to be open-ended and so when you start doing stuff outside of what they want you end up failing. I can't get past the first mission.

However, I've solved some issues like units getting stuck in Combat mode where they will prone, run, prone, run, prone, run even when they haven't been in combat for ages. I've also solved the issue where a group leader will order a group to a position to destroy the enemy but then they won't leave afterwards because they think the enemy is still alive, or they'll fire on an inanimate object that can't be destroyed... So those issues are fixed.

Let me know if you'd like me to release this version.

PS: If you are using Blastcore with FFIS you might find the smoke a bit overwhelming, particularly because the AI can see right through it... The smoke effect with Blastcore is seriously huge and far more effective than OEM but needs some tweaking.

[fabrizio_t 58]

Fab how do I enable the building position ?......................................

See my previous post:

http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?167288-bCombat-test-candidates&p=2584646&viewfull=1#post2584646

And change bcombat_cover_radius setting accordingly.

Building positions are selected automatically.

That said you'll suffer vanilla pathfinding issues and glitches (e.g. units getting stuck inside).

Fab this is from the FFIS MOD 1.25 on complete mod forum.....

FFIS v1.15 modified by sproyd

...

From what i understand the mod adds some evasive animations and injects temporary waypoints at runtime.

About "combat mode", looks that what it fixes is just something previously broken with the mod, not vanilla problems.

Edited December 24, 2013 by fabrizio_T

[kremator 1064]

So fab, considering that this is pretty good now. I haven't seen anything untoward during testing ...... You 'could' be Santa Claus :)

[serjames 357]

Yep - would love to add this to our Takistan Insurgency ALIVE mission :)

SJ

[ofpsince06 11]

fab pls

[fabrizio_t 58]

So fab, considering that this is pretty good now. I haven't seen anything untoward during testing ...... You 'could' be Santa Claus :)

I see some people is still hanging around :)

Then here is my humble gift for you:

DOWNLOAD >> bCombat v0.14 [sP] - "LEAKED / GIFT" RELEASE

It's the up-to-date version, which has been released for private testing just a few days ago.

CBA required. Please carefully read the installation instructions which are included (and pasted below as well).

REQUISITES
-------------

* Download and install CBA A3 Beta 4 distribution, get it from here: http://dev-heaven.net/projects/cca/files

INSTALLATION
------------

* Extract the bCombat compressed package anywhere.
* Move or copy the "@bcombat" folder from extracted package folder to ArmA 3 main folder, usually: <steam path>\steamapps\common\Arma 3\
* Copy "userconfig" folder to your ArmA 3 main folder (you probably have an existing "userconfig" folder, just overwrite it)
* Launch ArmA 3 and activate bCombat into "Configure / Expansions" menu

NOTES
-----

* Once any mission is launched, bCombat is automatically activated

Run it with ArmA3 v1.08 (stable), since lates DEV version itself has issues.

You may remove the debug features by commenting the relevant lines at the bottom of config.sqf file within "\@bcombat\" mod main folder.

Please don't consider this as an official release, but rather a xmas gift.

It's provided as is and unsupported, so please don't blame me :).

If you prefer getting a more polished version, then please wait for upcoming official public beta.

Now i'd like to thanks all the testers for their great work.

HAPPY XMAS TO YOU ALL and thanks for support.

-----

Now back on business: just a few words about v0.15, which will be the last "private testing" version:

* it is going to add a smoke grenade throwing feature.

* it's further improving units targeting routines.

Edited December 25, 2013 by fabrizio_T

[SavageCDN 231]

Thanks Santa!!

[kremator 1064]

You all must have been on the nice list everyone! Glad to be an 'test' elf :) Thanks Santa !

[jake_krieger 10]

Thanks for making this mod available to more people

Would it be possible to implement values in the config for

turning off submission or turning off any debug hints and windows ?

[fabrizio_t 58]

Thanks for making this mod available to more people

Would it be possible to implement values in the config for

turning off submission or turning off any debug hints and windows ?

Sorry, being the testers' version, it comes with debug features on by default.

However getting rid of debug stuff is simple: just remove or comment out everything below the "bCombat MISC CALLS" line at the bottom of config.sqf.

Edited December 24, 2013 by fabrizio_T

[jake_krieger 10]

Is this mod compatible with the TPW Mods ?/

Should i deactivate the supression features of one of these two to make them work together ?

[Furret 0]

Just gave it a quick try in a 5v5 ai battle, impressive. The find cover mechanics really makes combat more engaging.