AI Driving - Feedback topic

[dragon01 902]

Place a car unit with driver, give him a waypoint, ideally across town, observe the fail.

Last time I did that it worked perfectly - he drove across the town. On Takistan I made a huge convoy with 5 trucks and had it drive around corners and such. They drove the route flawlessly. So yeah, repro missions are needed, because it does work in some cases.

[kremator 1065]

Unfortunately we don't want 'some cases', we want the AI to perform every time.  So either BIS modify the AI to be able to drive properly, or they change the maps so that AI cannot possibly fail!

 

Don't get me started on them mowing down our own troops !

[Tankbuster 1746]

Given the noticeable effort BIS is putting into improving AI driving, I don't see how this is helpful.

I wasn't trying to be helpful, I was trying to be flippant. Perhaps reflecting the mixture of frustration and relief I feel after a decade of these issues.

[klamacz 448]

All your feedback is welcome, with or without repro or with many or little details attached. It's just going to be less useful. 

Also mind, that reports with ambiguous description will not be processed before reports with full description.

 

As for recent changes: 

 

 

• Tweaked: AI should now be able to drive faster in convoys 
• Tweaked: AI formation following of vehicles was improved (non-convoy behavior) 
• Tweaked: AI convoy driving precision was improved 
• Tweaked: AI convoy behavior in Combat mode was improved

Mainly improvements around convoy behaviors, good place to test is Apex mission 2.

[dragon01 902]

I don't have Apex, so I'll just make my own mission (or use the artillery convoy one I previously tested this on). Gonna try dissimilar vehicles, too.

 

One idea I have, dunno how feasible, is to have the turreted vehicles driving in a column or file formation cover different directions with their turrets. So that the lead vehicle looks straight forward, the last one with a turret looks backward and the remaining ones point their turrets to the sides, in alternating directions. That's how real convoys are usually set up (and patrols on foot, for that matter), especially in a dangerous territory. It's kinda possible to set it up manually with "watch direction" commands (of course, when you change direction you have to set it again), but it'd be better if it happened automatically, seeing as it's standard procedure.

Unfortunately we don't want 'some cases', we want the AI to perform every time.  So either BIS modify the AI to be able to drive properly, or they change the maps so that AI cannot possibly fail!

Then provide a repro mission that shows the case where it doesn't work. That was my point. We need to know where it doesn't work, so that the problem can be properly diagnosed. In the situations I tested it did work, so it's possible that testers just didn't happen to check the particular town where it doesn't. Altis is a big island, you know?

[kremator 1065]

Turretted vehicles already have their weapons in different quadrants on AWARE I think (as you described)

[x3kj 1247]

but only the main turret... secondary turrets try to look in the same direction as primary turret (apart from commander).

[R3vo 2654]

The recent changes to the convoy behaviour are quite impressive. Take a look yourself:

 

However, it seems that some vehicle like the Prowler won't start at all. Here's a repro mission.

 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/18nq02pw7v0ztyy/AI_vehicle_pathfinding.tanoa.zip?dl=0

[Grumpy Old Man 3546]

Good to see the ongoing work.

Wondering if it's possible that AI will stay on the right side of the road, since they're driving almost in the center, which can cause a few issues when there's traffic in both directions.

 

Cheers

[f2k sel 164]

Something very odd going on here, I tried R3vo mission and it works as shown.

 

I then try the same thing with my vehicles and they go crazy.

I've checked and double checked but can't see any difference between our convoy setup.

I moved R3vo convoy to another location and it still works.

Mine just bash themselves into buildings or trees.

I must be missing something but can't see what it is.

 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/pro144igku2klpo/AI_vehicle_pathfinding2.Tanoa.7z?dl=0

[R3vo 2654]

I must be missing something but can't see what it is.

 

The convoy which drives over the bridge works flawlessly, but the other one is a catastrophe.

[f2k sel 164]

Yea that's the one I made of course, I think I've got it sorted.

It looks like a game file was corrupt which was sorted by a steam verify.

 

What I do find odd as that  you can have both a working convoy and a corrupt one at the same time, the bad info must be being saved in mission.sqm

[kremator 1065]

Now try to do the same with different vehicles (mixed or tracked) and do the test on more challenging roads and see if it succeeds ... bet it won't.

[R3vo 2654]

Now try to do the same with different vehicles (mixed or tracked) and do the test on more challenging roads and see if it succeeds ... bet it won't.

 

Tracked vehicles are not yet included in the enhancement.

[inlesco 233]

Tracked vehicles are not yet included in the enhancement.

Have you tried different light veh convoy setups (diff distances, speeds, behavior modes, etc.)?

 

From what I've found, my light veh convoy needs a column formation to drive properly no matter the behavior set (SAFE, CARELESS, etc.).

 

When it's CARELESS and, for instance, wedge formation, it doesn't follow the road. Instead, it keeps the formation.

[lexx 1380]

But it makes sense, no? I mean, how do you drive on the road in a convoy in wedge formation?

[R3vo 2654]

Here's another example mission. Use this one instead https://forums.bistudio.com/topic/191515-ai-driving-feedback-topic/page-11#entry3087908

The convoy leads mostly through urban areas, has alot of sharp turn in it and also  a roundabout.

 

The convoy consists of a  Quadbike, Marshall,Hunter and Prowler. Observe the madness!

[inlesco 233]

But it makes sense, no? I mean, how do you drive on the road in a convoy in wedge formation?

IIRC, it used to be like: whenever a convoy is in SAFE/CARELESS mode, it ignores all formation settings and simply stays on road. Upon contact, of course, it begins to stick to formation.

 

I had no idea something has changed regarding this.

[dragon01 902]

I actually observed that with tracked vehicles recently, but something could have changed regarding wheeled ones. Either way, it's a good idea not to let AI pick its own formation, just set it to drive in a file or column.

[das attorney 858]

Hi,

 

I looked for these values in some configs for A3 cars just now and I can't find them.

 

I thought they would be under (for ex):

 

configfile >> "CfgVehicles" >> "C_SUV_01_F" >> "AICarSteeringComponent"

 

but I couldn't see the class defined where I would expect.  Have they been removed (or am I looking in the wrong place)?

 

Thx.

 

 

Ugh quoting myself.

 

Anyway, it's under:

configfile >> "CfgVehicles" >> vehicleclass >> "components" >> "AICarSteeringComponent"

[klamacz 448]

https://www.dropbox.com/s/3bvo46yi6unm3jk/AI_vehicle_pathfinding3.Tanoa.zip?dl=0

 

Here's another example mission.

The convoy leads mostly through urban areas, has alot of sharp turn in it and also  a roundabout.

 

The convoy consists of a  Quadbike, Marshall,Hunter and Prowler. Observe the madness!

 

In this example, the order of vehicles is wrong. Formation sets the order using order of creation of vehicles (ID of vehicle is assigned when its created). In this mission, APC should be the last in column, even just putting him a bit aside so other cars can overtake easily helps.

In your first mission, with Prowler it was the same case. Prowler has to be the last. Or created in editor as second.

 

Thanks for your missions. This third one is really problematic, tight city streets. I will look into what can be improved more.

[inlesco 233]

In this example, the order of vehicles is wrong. Formation sets the order using order of creation of vehicles (ID of vehicle is assigned when its created). In this mission, APC should be the last in column, even just putting him a bit aside so other cars can overtake easily helps.

In your first mission, with Prowler it was the same case. Prowler has to be the last. Or created in editor as second.

 

Thanks for your missions. This third one is really problematic, tight city streets. I will look into what can be improved more.

Just wanted to thank you once more - you're doing God's work! :) Such significant improvements to AI behavior have been on my dreamlist since OFP ages.

[danny96 80]

Just wanted to thank you once more - you're doing God's work! :) Such significant improvements to AI behavior have been on my dreamlist since OFP ages.

Yeah right he is basically a God here - making AI gaining human intelligence :P eventually it will then jump out of screen and rule the real world.

 

But now seriously - I'm really glad that AI is getting attention here as it's basically annoying to make it do it's work properly. One thing that should also be taken in consideration is ability to FFV from like each vehicle - open door and shoot. Because if you set a car DESTROY waypoint it won't do like anything.

[dragon01 902]

In this example, the order of vehicles is wrong. Formation sets the order using order of creation of vehicles (ID of vehicle is assigned when its created). In this mission, APC should be the last in column, even just putting him a bit aside so other cars can overtake easily helps.

In your first mission, with Prowler it was the same case. Prowler has to be the last. Or created in editor as second.

I noticed that setting formation to either "file" or "column" in Group Attributes in Eden, then pressing "move to formation" (right click>transform) neatly fixes that particular problem. It's very good for ensuring convoys are in proper order. If you're planning on making a tutorial on setting them up, that'd be a very useful thing to mention.

[Grumpy Old Man 3546]

Yeah right he is basically a God here - making AI gaining human intelligence :P eventually it will then jump out of screen and rule the real world.

They might get utterly confused meeting the first female.

 

Cheers