ALiVE - Advanced Light Infantry Virtual Environment 1.0 (GA)

[spyderblack723 407]

So when starting an asymmetric mission i have always spawned a custom obj with an infantry group and a motorized group. Is this not how it works?

Any time i just place the asymmetric commander down with a civ obj module I dont get any enemy at all. Does it take a while for them to start appearing or does there need to be some enemy at beginning for AI commander to give orders to?

 

Yes, there always needs to be a starting force the for the AI Commander module to command, otherwise it will error out and exit.

 

(With Asymmetric Commander debug on) Once the game starts, all objectives will be analyzed by the asymmetric commander and assigned hostility values based on it's analysis. After about 60s or so you should begin to see orders being placed on nearby objectives. Insurgent groups will then move to those objectives and setup installations. The Insurgency will grow from there.

[stu81 45]

 

{     _x setVariable ["NOAI",true,false];  } ForEach crew this;

 

This seems to have stopped my helis flying off on their own when using ALiVE CAS an Transport modules  :)

 

Got it from VCOM AI thread

 

Ok, tested more. This stops them flying away when base is attacked but if we are under fire while being transported he will not land. Will update when i find solution.

 

Edit.....

This actually does not work, it just takes longer before they go and do their own thing.

 

 

Still cant get the support helis to stay put at base or not ignore commands when under fire :(

[spyderblack723 407]

Ok, tested more. This stops them flying away when base is attacked but if we are under fire while being transported he will not land. Will update when i find solution.

 

Not landing while under fire is a common issue for AI in Arma unfortunately. I believe there was some improvements made in Dev Branch to help remedy this.

[HeroesandvillainsOS 1504]

So when starting an asymmetric mission i have always spawned a custom obj with an infantry group and a motorized group. Is this not how it works?

Any time i just place the asymmetric commander down with a civ obj module I dont get any enemy at all. Does it take a while for them to start appearing or does there need to be some enemy at beginning for AI commander to give orders to?

And just to add to what Spyder said, OPCOM will send orders to populate civ objects. Some maps, such as Takistan if I recall correctly, don't actually have any military objects (meaning you can only use civ/custom objectives) and the maps still populate with enemies.

[tupolov 520]

Congratulations to the ALiVE Devs for their 1.0 release! Thanks for your dedication to this massive project!

 

Alas, reading about all those cool possibilities of ALiVe makes me really really jealous towards those who can enjoy them to the fullest whereas I still can't get persistence to work

at all.   

 

So I can never really make progress in my missions because nothing is saved.  I had opened a thread in the AliVe forum describing my experience with the previous version of the mod already and sadly version 1.0 hasn't solved my persistence problems.  I have posted my logs and even a vanilla units mission there so hopefully a solution to this mystery will be discovered eventually.  Just wanted to post here to expand the range of ALiVE users who might have additional ideas of possible error sources preventing persistence for me. 

 

So I'll post my test mission and the logs obtained from playing with ALiVE 1.0 here as well:

 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/3r6djdgwk7sk1v6/ALiVE%20Test%20Mission%20by%20tourist.7z?dl=0

 

tourist

Your logs show everything is working fine.. except...

You have a space in your server group name "BW FS". Remove the space and it should work, use "BWFS" instead.

[spyderblack723 407]

And just to add to what Spyder said, OPCOM will send orders to populate civ objects. Some maps, such as Takistan if I recall correctly, don't actually have any military objects (meaning you can only use civ/custom objectives) and the maps still populate with enemies.

 

The airbases and some of the military bunkers around Takistan should register as military objectives

[HeroesandvillainsOS 1504]

The airbases and some of the military bunkers around Takistan should register as military objectives

Yeah maybe I'm confusing it with another map. Basically what I was saying is Assymetric missions still populate the map with enemies even if only an Assymetric OPCOM and Civ Objective modules only are placed. He said that when only using the civ obj module the mission didn't have any enemies. I'm pretty sure mil obj modules are not 100% necessary in Assymetric missions because I've had to make missions without that module before.

[ski2060 167]

So, with an Asymmetric OPCOM linked to a Civ Objective module on Takistan, I should see Insurgent forces start to spread around the map from the initial Module placement correct?  No other objective placement needed correct?  Maybe just a couple of override infantry squads?

My current mission build is set up to give players lots to do.  I am using Massi's MEW mod now since RHS is giving such fits and I need both fighters and civs. 
I have a Takistani Insurgent OpCom set to ASW and linked to a CivObj module.
Then, I have a Middle East Fighter OpCom set to occupation and linked to both CivObj and MILObj modules, so that they start spread all over the map and occupying a lot of territory.

The plan is for the players to have lots of infantry opposition they will need to deal with to clear areas, while also doing Insurgency clearance patrols looking for the IED factories and HQ's.

In testing I am seeing AI from both factions spawning in patrols, roadblocks, in towns, and CQB settings.

Should I not be seeing the Insurgents spawning right away?

[stu81 45]

Yes, there always needs to be a starting force the for the AI Commander module to command, otherwise it will error out and exit.

 

(With Asymmetric Commander debug on) Once the game starts, all objectives will be analyzed by the asymmetric commander and assigned hostility values based on it's analysis. After about 60s or so you should begin to see orders being placed on nearby objectives. Insurgent groups will then move to those objectives and setup installations. The Insurgency will grow from there.

Thought so, yeah i either have a custom obj with units with civ obj (objective only) as a start or civ obj module with "placed units" as a starting point. Glad I was doing it right :)

[stu81 45]

Not landing while under fire is a common issue for AI in Arma unfortunately. I believe there was some improvements made in Dev Branch to help remedy this.

Yeah I know what u mean. In crazy instances I have had to wave of ALiVE heli from landing as it was too hot and AI pilot was going ape shit. With the testing im doing now running VCOM i spawn an enemy close to base to get some shots off then delete them. The CAS and Transport pilots fly off. I can tell them to go places and shoot etc but as soon as I order RTB or land they land for 1 second and fly off on their own again :(

 

So has anyone successfully found a way to stop ALiVE support (CAS/Transport) from being taken over by VCOMAI? Really loving the fire fights but dont want to give up my ALiVE modules.

[twisted 128]

really digging Alive. some great battles. But I find that it eats frames. I go from 40-50FPS average to 20-28FPS. Dropping graphics settinsg doesnt help. Im using the modules as suggested in the alive wiki quick start guide.

 

Any tips for enjoying alive without it eating up so many frames?

[autigergrad 2034]

really digging Alive. some great battles. But I find that it eats frames. I go from 40-50FPS average to 20-28FPS. Dropping graphics settinsg doesnt help. Im using the modules as suggested in the alive wiki quick start guide.

 

Any tips for enjoying alive without it eating up so many frames?

I'm betting your Virtual AI module is still set at the default 144 on the limiter.

 

That means that ALiVE is allowing 144 of your virtualized units to be "physically there"

 

Drop that down to 20 or so (which is what I use) and your frames will skyrocket back up.

 

ALiVE should actually INCREASE your frames for the reason just mentioned..it allows you to "virtualize" hundreds of enemies and save precious CPU processing power until you are within fighting distance of those units.

[jcae2798 132]

Can anyone point me to how i would add additional vehicles to the OPF_G_F faction.  For example, if i wanted to add armoured vehicles from OPF and/or IND factions, to the rebels.  Been playing around all morning with no luck.  I know there is a few posts and on the WIKI, but not clear how to add this, only transports/support vehicles...

 

Thanks!

[autigergrad 2034]

Can anyone point me to how i would add additional vehicles to the OPF_G_F faction.  For example, if i wanted to add armoured vehicles from OPF and/or IND factions, to the rebels.  Been playing around all morning with no luck.  I know there is a few posts and on the WIKI, but not clear how to add this, only transports/support vehicles...

 

Thanks!

A quick and dirty way to do it would be this....

 

1. Place an empty vehicle of the type you want on the map in the editor

 

2. Place troops from the faction you want operating it on the map as well.

 

3. tell one of the solders in the unit to movein driver, gunners to movein gunner, and the rest to moveincargo after naming the vehicle (jeep would be j1 for example).  You can then copy and paste this several times and just rename each vehicle (j2, j3, etc.)

 

4. Once this is done, just make sure that the original faction name of the empty vehicle is in your Military Commander AI module, as well as the faction name of the soldiers driving it.

 

5. Go to the Virtual AI module and sync the vehicles to the module to virtualize them.

 

6. The units will now move, fight, and operate just like everyone else.

 

 

This is my trick when I use the 3cb soldiers and I want them to populate Foxhounds, Jackals, and Coyotes.  The vanilla 3cb Jackals and Coyotes still have Vanilla Nato troops driving them by default so I switch them out with the Royal Marines or Army.

[jcae2798 132]

A quick and dirty way to do it would be this....

 

1. Place an empty vehicle of the type you want on the map in the editor

 

2. Place troops from the faction you want operating it on the map as well.

 

3. tell one of the solders in the unit to movein driver, gunners to movein gunner, and the rest to moveincargo after naming the vehicle (jeep would be j1 for example).  You can then copy and paste this several times and just rename each vehicle (j2, j3, etc.)

 

4. Once this is done, just make sure that the original faction name of the empty vehicle is in your Military Commander AI module, as well as the faction name of the soldiers driving it.

 

5. Go to the Virtual AI module and sync the vehicles to the module to virtualize them.

 

6. The units will now move, fight, and operate just like everyone else.

 

 

This is my trick when I use the 3cb soldiers and I want them to populate Foxhounds, Jackals, and Coyotes.  The vanilla 3cb Jackals and Coyotes still have Vanilla Nato troops driving them by default so I switch them out with the Royal Marines or Army.

Thanks, i've done this, but the problem is i want them to spawn in as the insurgency gets bigger.  Otherwise its only the starting force with those custom vehicles.  Trying to create an environment where the insurgents are stealing AAF vehicles and using it against NATO.

[HeroesandvillainsOS 1504]

So I'm thinking of finally making a pretty much vanilla ALiVE mission on Altis but I don't really get how to play ALiVE without it being Assymetrical. I looked on the wiki and don't really see the basics, just the basics on how to set a mission up but not what to do when you're actually playing.

I want to set one side as Occupation and the other as Invasion. So if I'm not asking civilians to tell me locations of weapons depots and caches and whatnot like I do in Assymetrical missions, what am I supposed to do other than killing bad guys? Am I still looking for weapons caches and depots and blowing stuff up still?

I think I'd like to be the Occupying force. What's the Invasion forces way of playing? I'm assuming maybe they'll try to take key pieces of real estate around the map like power plants and stuff?

Anyway, any basic how to play stuff regarding a conventional battle would be helpful. I've been playing Assymetric for so long I don't really know of any other way to interact with ALiVE.

[spyderblack723 407]

So I'm thinking of finally making a pretty much vanilla ALiVE mission on Altis but I don't really get how to play ALiVE without it being Assymetrical. I looked on the wiki and don't really see the basics, just the basics on how to set a mission up but not what to do when you're actually playing.

I want to set one side as Occupation and the other as Invasion. So if I'm not asking civilians to tell me locations of weapons depots and caches and whatnot like I do in Assymetrical missions, what am I supposed to do other than killing bad guys? Am I still looking for weapons caches and depots and blowing stuff up still?

I think I'd like to be the Occupying force. What's the Invasion forces way of playing? I'm assuming maybe they'll try to take key pieces of real estate around the map like power plants and stuff?

Anyway, any basic how to play stuff regarding a conventional battle would be helpful. I've been playing Assymetric for so long I don't really know of any other way to interact with ALiVE.

 

There's many different ways of playing, all up to you basically.

 

    If you are the attacking force, you may want to start off by doing recon on enemy defenses and bases and planning initial attacks accordingly. From there you could setup an FOB, call in additional forces to hold your position and then slowly work your way inward towards the heart of the enemy by taking strategic positions. You may also want to recon enemy supply lines and cutoff their logistical paths from which the Military Logistics module is reinforcing their units.

 

If you're defending, you might want to use commander tablet to allocate forces to hold key areas, setup defenses at choke points, and attempt to perform small sabotage raids on enemy supply lines in order to level off their assault.

[ski2060 167]

In a vanilla mission, you're just killing stuff until reinforcements run out.  Basically constant warfare run by the AI with sandbox play for the players.

Go out, make your own objectives, and destroy OpFor.

[HeroesandvillainsOS 1504]

There's many different ways of playing, all up to you basically.

 

    If you are the attacking force, you may want to start off by doing recon on enemy defenses and bases and planning initial attacks accordingly. From there you could setup an FOB, call in additional forces to hold your position and then slowly work your way inward towards the heart of the enemy by taking strategic positions. You may also want to recon enemy supply lines and cutoff their logistical paths from which the Military Logistics module is reinforcing their units.

 

If you're defending, you might want to use commander tablet to allocate forces to hold key areas, setup defenses at choke points, and attempt to perform small sabotage raids on enemy supply lines in order to level off their assault.

Thanks, Spyder. I'm thinking I might like to be the native friendly forces, so I think I might make my side the Occupation. How do I find or recognize the Invading force's supply lines? What does that look like in the game?

And what can I expect the Invading force to actually try to do to disrupt the island? Will they be blowing stuff up or generally trying to do anything in particular (other than killing me and taking objectives) that I should be aware of?

And do civilians play any role at all other than just window dressing in this kind of mission?

[HeroesandvillainsOS 1504]

In a vanilla mission, you're just killing stuff until reinforcements run out. Basically constant warfare run by the AI with sandbox play for the players.

Go out, make your own objectives, and destroy OpFor.

Hmm. That actually doesn't sound like too much fun if I'm being honest. At least not compared to the depth of the "objectives" Assymetric missions offer. Maybe I just don't have too much of an imagination.

There isn't more to this than that? An invading force for example won't try to sabatoge any pieces of infrastructure or anything at all?

[spyderblack723 407]

Thanks, Spyder. I'm thinking I might like to be the native friendly forces, so I think I might make my side the Occupation. How do I find or recognize the Invading force's supply lines? What does that look like in the game?

And what can I expect the Invading force to actually try to do to disrupt the island? Will they be blowing stuff up or generally trying to do anything in particular (other than killing me and taking objectives) that I should be aware of?

And do civilians play any role at all other than just window dressing in this kind of mission?

 

You can identify supply lines by basically looking for long lines of motorized vehicles that might carry units. As you might think, the most likely play to find these convoys headed to is objectives/areas that have seen heavy fighting and the attacking force wants to reinforce.

 

Attacking forces will identify the closest objectives to their starting point (Military AI Commander module position) and sweep from there. They will typically act quickly and use brute force to capture objectives.

 

Civilians don't really play any role other than aesthetic in conventional missions

[spyderblack723 407]

Hmm. That actually doesn't sound like too much fun if I'm being honest. At least not compared to the depth of the "objectives" Assymetric missions offer. Maybe I just don't have too much of an imagination.

There isn't more to this than that? An invading force for example won't try to sabatoge any pieces of infrastructure or anything at all?

 

Conventional missions were designed to be relatively basic for the time being (a good way to make sure the base systems of ALiVE are working well). There are improvements to opcom that are on the feature list to be done post 1.0 but there's no guarantee as to if or when those will be worked on.

 

http://dev.withsix.com/projects/alive/roadmap (1.1 and Future iterations)

[friznit2 350]

The overall aim of a conventional campaign is to take and hold ground.  The various strategies and tactics employed are simply methods to achieve this aim.  ALiVE merely simulates an AI Commander taking and holding ground in order to provide a credibly realistic battlefield environment in which players can employ whatever tactics they see fit.  Ultimately though it's up to the mission maker to put the shine on it!

 

If you want realistic objectives, start with Finding the enemy (recce using whatever available kit and equipment you have).  Log their positions using Adv Markers and SITREPs.  One you've identified key enemy assets (Command, Control, Comms, Intelligence, Logistics - C3I & Log), RTB to rekit and plan a strike.  Then defend the location, retask some AI to hold the ground using the Comd tablet and repeat!

[Moon_chilD 200]

(Posted the same in the VCOM Thread)
So little input here. Got some help from TeTeT today. 

Looks like he solved the mystery behind that VCOM and ALiVE Combat Support.
Instead of this:

{_x setVariable ["NOAI",true];} ForEach crew this;

you need to use this:

{_x setVariable ["NOAI",true];} ForEach crew (this);

(I've been told that the false is not needed because its default anyway)
 
That is the explanation by SpyderBlack:
 

Additional information for the future, the reason you were seeing _this select 0 in the error is because the code performs a replacement of all references to this in the code with _this select 0
So that () fix makes perfect sense as it equates to (_this select 0) after the replacement
(Good catch TeTeT)(bearbeitet)
Will change that so the module does it automatically

For now that worked with the Test3 Version of VCOM and the Combat Support is finally obeying! 
Now I can die in peace!
 
Many Greetings
Moony

[stu81 45]

(Posted the same in the VCOM Thread)

So little input here. Got some help from TeTeT today. 

Looks like he solved the mystery behind that VCOM and ALiVE Combat Support.

Instead of this:

{_x setVariable ["NOAI",true];} ForEach crew this;

you need to use this:

{_x setVariable ["NOAI",true];} ForEach crew (this);

(I've been told that the false is not needed because its default anyway)

 

That is the explanation by SpyderBlack:

 

For now that worked with the Test3 Version of VCOM and the Combat Support is finally obeying! 

Now I can die in peace!

 

Many Greetings

Moony

Just tested this :(

Helis still fly off and do their own thing.

Im using version 3 also.