HETMAN - Artificial Leader [NR6 Edition]

[Mack. 58]

@NinjaRider600 Thanks, I will do some more testing!

[Mack. 58]

Thats absolutely awesome, thank you!

 

I need to do some in-depth testing but so far it's running well. The only issue I've noticed is if the crew boarding the chopper and the chopper are on different Headless Clients occasionally the helicopter will take off before they are able to board. To be fair I can at least use two headless clients with my mission now.

 

Thanks again for your dedication in getting this working, by my count you have made 9 different betas!

[NinjaRider600 328]

4 hours ago, Mack. said:

Thats absolutely awesome, thank you!

 

I need to do some in-depth testing but so far it's running well. The only issue I've noticed is if the crew boarding the chopper and the chopper are on different Headless Clients occasionally the helicopter will take off before they are able to board. To be fair I can at least use two headless clients with my mission now.

 

Thanks again for your dedication in getting this working, by my count you have made 9 different betas!

No problem, this was a big troubleshooting week for me. Towards the end I was legitimately losing my mind around locality issues. But either way I'm happy it works now.

 

That take off before everyone is in is probably caused by a false positive caused by different localities in the function that checks if everyone is in. Not sure if there is much I can fix with that other than adding delays for the checks.

[Mack. 58]

I’m not surprised! I tried learning SQF and found it a very frustrating and time consuming experience. It’s great seeing all the new features and fixes in HETMAN.

[NinjaRider600 328]

Adding one last feature for 1.22.7.3 before release. Support requests will now exist as actions/ace self actions to request air support, infantry support or armored support for HAL controlled player squad leaders. I also plan on maybe adding transport support and ammo drop support in the next release as those will require additional tweaking.

[NinjaRider600 328]

1.22.7.3 is finally complete with new bug fixes added as well. Full list of new features will be added to the main post once I upload it. Also overhauled the caching system for dedicated servers which is what I've been mostly working on recently.

 

Upload should follow in the next day or two. Thinking of naming it 1.22.8 given the major updates the system got.

[Mack. 58]

Hey NinjaRider600,

 

Ive done some further testing with the transport system with AI on the server and on a headless client including human squads, human players as squad leaders and human squad members. I'm happy to report it appears very robust provided the squad and chopper are on the same headless client or the server. The only "issue" is as a human squad leader you have to order one of the units to get out twice and then rejoin the squad, a very easy work around. I will also test the transport system as a human pilot. 

 

The only other headless client related snag I've discovered is the artillery which as mentioned before must remain on the server to work. From a mission designer perspective if this could be fixed it would be very useful as headless client support could be implemented by simply offloading all units from a side to a headless client without having to individually exempt artillery units. I understand this might be going down the rabbit hole again but if your up for looking into it as always I am happy to test.

 

Mack

 

EDIT: Tested with human pilot and AI squad, both on server and HC. Glad to report its working with only a minor snag that can be solved with a simple workaround.

 

The Load task disappears a few seconds after being received, this could make it difficult to tell where you should land to pick up the squad. The workaround is to go to the map screen and click on the completed task, this will centre the map on the pickup location. Hope this is some use.

[NinjaRider600 328]

Sorry for my inactivity. I had an unexpected journey at the hospital which delayed my work quite a bit. Thank you @Mack. for your continuous testing! I have also spotted that issue with the double get out order and will attempt to fix it on the next release. It is caused by having the new AI disembarking code running on player controlled squads instead of only AI (had kept it as a fail safe).

I witnessed the issue with the artillery as well. I'll see if I can make the code itself HC compatible, otherwise the mission maker will have to add the units as exceptions.

On a bright side however, I have finished work on 4 new features for player squad leader: Infantry Support, Armored Support, CAS Support and Airlift/Transport support based on the cargo system.

 

More information will follow.

[Mack. 58]

@NinjaRider600 I hope all is well now.

 

The support options are great news, my friends have requested that feature during play testing.

[NinjaRider600 328]

8 minutes ago, Mack. said:

@NinjaRider600 I hope all is well now.

 

The support options are great news, my friends have requested that feature during play testing.

@Mack.

It's coming soon, actually that link I gave you for "HAL 1.22.7.3 no asg" should be the latest version. I still use that drive folder for my backups (I think it got to version 27 since the first upload) so you could normally re-download it and try it out. It also contains the new zbe-cache for dedicated servers which adds drastic changes to the way caching works. If you want to try it out feel free to do so. To know it works, as a player you should not see at all any AI unit or vehicle outside of the caching distance except if you are in an air vehicle. This part only works for players connected to a server so locally/client hosted stuff wont work if you are the host (if you use HC this doesn't matter since you would never use local host).

Also keep in mind that version is still very bumpy so the transport system might fail given I'm working on it right now.

[Mack. 58]

@NinjaRider600 Great to hear ZBE is being improved. Unfortunately I won't have access to my "test rig" for about a week, after that I will do some testing.

 

Ive found Zeus to be very useful when testing ZBE cache, I can fly around and see it working away from player units. The snag I've seen previously is units being uncaching inside rocks, Ive seen a perfect V formation caused by the squad leader passing between two huge rocks. 

[Mack. 58]

NinjaRider600 I have a small contribution I wish to make.

 

By editing some of the files I have managed to get all vanilla artillery working in HETMAN NR6 including the DLC's. Ive listed all the changed lines below including the original line commented out. Its done by simply editing the default RHQ's except for the Sochor. Previously the Scorcher and Sochor both used the same ammo. At some point BIS changed this thus preventing HETMAN from utilising the Sochor hence I have removed the Sochor and added it as addon artillery. Im sure a more elegant solution exists for the Sochor.

 

Best Regards

 

Mack

 

EDIT: Here is a download link for the edited files:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ZLEwipEepXiZW5nSnO-3kkKNa0y4ipu9/view?usp=sharing

 

VarInit.sqf

//RydHQ_Mortar_A3 = RHQ_Mortars + ["i_mortar_01_f","o_mortar_01_f","b_g_mortar_01_f","b_mortar_01_f"] - RHQs_Mortars;
//Original line above, new mortars added
RydHQ_Mortar_A3 = RHQ_Mortars + ["i_mortar_01_f","o_mortar_01_f","b_g_mortar_01_f","b_mortar_01_f","b_t_mortar_01_f","o_g_mortar_01_f","i_g_mortar_01_f"] - RHQs_Mortars;

//RydHQ_SPMortar_A3 = RHQ_SPMortars + ["o_mbt_02_arty_f","b_mbt_01_arty_f"] - RHQs_SPMortars;
//Original line above, Removed Sochor and added Pacific Scorcher. Sochor is added as mod artillery in init.sqf 
RydHQ_SPMortar_A3 = RHQ_SPMortars + ["b_mbt_01_arty_f","b_t_mbt_01_arty_f"] - RHQs_SPMortars;

//RydHQ_Rocket_A3 = RHQ_RocketArty + ["b_mbt_01_mlrs_f"] - RHQs_RocketArty;
//Original line above, added Pacific Sandstorm and MRL
RydHQ_Rocket_A3 = RHQ_RocketArty + ["b_mbt_01_mlrs_f","b_t_mbt_01_mlrs_f","i_truck_02_mrl_f"] - RHQs_RocketArty;

 

RHQLibrary.sqf

RYD_WS_Art_class = 
	[
	"b_mbt_01_arty_f",
//Line below added - Pacific Scorcher
	"b_t_mbt_01_arty_f",
//Line below removed. Sochor added to init.sqf as mod artillery
//	"o_mbt_02_arty_f",
	"b_mbt_01_mlrs_f",
//Line below added - Pacific Sandstorm MLRS
	"b_t_mbt_01_mlrs_f",
//Line below added - MLR	
	"i_truck_02_mrl_f",
	"i_mortar_01_f",
	"o_mortar_01_f",
	"b_g_mortar_01_f",
	"b_mortar_01_f",
//Mortars added below
	"b_t_mortar_01_f",
	"o_g_mortar_01_f",
	"i_g_mortar_01_f"
	];


RYD_WS_Static_class = 
	[
	"i_gmg_01_a_f",
	"i_gmg_01_f",
	"i_gmg_01_high_f",
	"i_hmg_01_a_f",
	"i_hmg_01_f",
	"i_hmg_01_high_f",
	"i_mortar_01_f",
	"i_static_aa_f",
	"i_static_at_f",
	"o_gmg_01_a_f",
	"o_gmg_01_f",
	"o_gmg_01_high_f",
	"o_hmg_01_a_f",
	"o_hmg_01_f",
	"o_hmg_01_high_f",
	"o_mortar_01_f",
	"o_static_aa_f",
	"o_static_at_f",
	"b_g_mortar_01_f",
	"b_gmg_01_a_f",
	"b_gmg_01_f",
	"b_gmg_01_high_f",
	"b_hmg_01_a_f",
	"b_hmg_01_f",
	"b_hmg_01_high_f",
	"b_mortar_01_f",
	"b_static_aa_f",
	"b_static_at_f",
//Mortars added below
	"b_t_mortar_01_f",
	"o_g_mortar_01_f",
	"i_g_mortar_01_f"
	];

Sochor as "addon" artillery in init.sqf:

 

RydHQ_Add_OtherArty = [
[["o_mbt_02_arty_f","o_t_mbt_02_arty_ghex_f"],["32Rnd_155mm_Mo_shells_O","2Rnd_155mm_Mo_Cluster_O","2Rnd_155mm_Mo_guided_O","6Rnd_155mm_Mo_smoke_O",""]]
];

 

[NinjaRider600 328]

On 2/2/2019 at 8:59 AM, Mack. said:

@NinjaRider600 Great to hear ZBE is being improved. Unfortunately I won't have access to my "test rig" for about a week, after that I will do some testing.

 

Ive found Zeus to be very useful when testing ZBE cache, I can fly around and see it working away from player units. The snag I've seen previously is units being uncaching inside rocks, Ive seen a perfect V formation caused by the squad leader passing between two huge rocks. 

I've fixed that in the last version, units should spawn on top of rocks instead. The new version is still a bit under testing but on dedicated servers it caches entirely all AI for any client that is not HC or server. So as a player (even in zeus if you dont have an override) you will see no AI, they will be locally frozen, hidden and not simulated until as a player you get close to the actual AI (zbe ai cache range). This doesn't work on SP since these AI units are local but on dedicated servers it can lead to drastic FPS increases for clients. I've also made that cache still persist during battle and firefights away from the caching distance so that they still happen but players only hear them without having their game render it. The system also detects if you are in an air vehicle in which case it only works for infantry beyond 6km and works like usual NR6 ZBE otherwise so that CAS birds can see everything and CAP birds see their aggressors.

[NinjaRider600 328]

@Mack. Thank you for the arty configs! I'll add them to the 1.22.8 release.

[Mack. 58]

19 hours ago, NinjaRider600 said:

I've fixed that in the last version, units should spawn on top of rocks instead. The new version is still a bit under testing but on dedicated servers it caches entirely all AI for any client that is not HC or server. So as a player (even in zeus if you dont have an override) you will see no AI, they will be locally frozen, hidden and not simulated until as a player you get close to the actual AI (zbe ai cache range). This doesn't work on SP since these AI units are local but on dedicated servers it can lead to drastic FPS increases for clients. I've also made that cache still persist during battle and firefights away from the caching distance so that they still happen but players only hear them without having their game render it. The system also detects if you are in an air vehicle in which case it only works for infantry beyond 6km and works like usual NR6 ZBE otherwise so that CAS birds can see everything and CAP birds see their aggressors.

 

Thats awesome, I look forward to testing it.

[NinjaRider600 328]

As I've mentioned in the NR6 Pack thread, I've begun work on the mod version of the pack which will turn NR6 Hal and all of its add-ons into something usable through modules in the missions editor. This will make setup much easier in an attempt to make mission making with Hal faster and simpler for the user. Keep in mind that all of the scripted functions from the script version will still work in case you want to use them or to change variables on the fly.

[john111 76]

What about using Headless native support.That should take care of FPS issues.

[NinjaRider600 328]

18 hours ago, john111 said:

What about using Headless native support.That should take care of FPS issues.

Yes HC should help but if there's tons (300-400 AI) present on map, client FPS will drop regardless if there is an HC is on or not.

 

A HC will only offload AI processing from the server to itself but player clients will still have their game generate the physical presence for the AI unit running around. This cache works in a way that completely disables simulation for said AI and hides them making it as if only whats around them existed in game (only happening on player clients so that the AI on HC and server function as normal). This new cache helps only player client FPS and not server side FPS. The latter can benefit from HC so using both is the ideal situation especially now that HAL is HC compatible.

[froggyluv 2130]

Curious how the Cached battles are auto-calculated?

[NinjaRider600 328]

Progress on the NR6 PACK mod version continues. HAL is almost done and I've added a big new feature for non-big boss operation.

 

Each Leader can now be set to Simple Mode which effectively removes the limitation of 4 objectives. On the mod, you will simply have to place as many objective modules as you would want and sync them to the Leader module. The Leader will then function in a sort of All At Once mode where you can set the max number of objectives to capture at once. This should replace the need to use Big Boss if you do not desire to coordinate various leaders or use the auto map objectives features of BB but still want the Leader to capture as many objectives as you give him.

[NinjaRider600 328]

3 minutes ago, froggyluv said:

Curious how the Cached battles are auto-calculated?

That's the magic. It's kinda hard to explain but basically it only caches everything for players and their client. The AI on HC and server ARE NOT cached fully (just the normal ZBE) so battles still happen normally but not for a player who is far away. That also why unfortunately it only works on dedicated servers.

Basically battles are local on server and HC but not on player clients or for flying players since they need to see vehicles.

[NinjaRider600 328]

WIP RELEASE POSTED! This is heavily under construction but I'm posting it so you can follow the progress of it.

This pack also has the new simple mode. Simply place the leader module, sync the simple objectives you want to that leader module and it should work.

[NinjaRider600 328]

I am also making some last changes for 1.22.8 and releasing it soon.

[john111 76]

Is it possible to tell Ai how to get to the objectives?     I meant,decide if I wanted them to go to a position,let`s say on the Carrier Freedom ,and  ,get spawned there at the spawn point and get a boat and  go to a wp ,then dive to some place .

 

Could I get them to always use Air for cover?    Even get the enemy to watch out for Air and maybe even hide some of the forces out of sight,then use them as a reinforcement?

[NinjaRider600 328]

5 hours ago, john111 said:

Is it possible to tell Ai how to get to the objectives?     I meant,decide if I wanted them to go to a position,let`s say on the Carrier Freedom ,and  ,get spawned there at the spawn point and get a boat and  go to a wp ,then dive to some place .

 

Could I get them to always use Air for cover?    Even get the enemy to watch out for Air and maybe even hide some of the forces out of sight,then use them as a reinforcement?

Unfortunately, Hal does not support anything over water. However, you can tell the system to use only air or land cargo if you want to enforce a method of transportation for them to get to the objective (make sure the transports are available and controlled by Hal). Additionally, the AI commander will dispatch armed transport helicopters or attack helicopters to cover infantry when there is a threat (as long as you gave him helicopters to control.) With the player actions you can even request air support and the commander will attempt to dispatch what he can to your position as long as you have a knowledge of the enemy around you (your character must have spotted something nearby). As for making them hide, by default Arma AI usually takes cover but it is also possible for Hal to order a squad to withdraw if it knows that the squad stands no chance against something like a helicopter. This is mostly based on commander personality so if you want this to happen more often I would play around with those settings. Lastly, transportation is also dispatched according to the threat so during a big firefight don't except to see helicopters pick up or bring anyone (except for Evac). If they do bring people they will try to drop them before the hot zone but generally will avoid going altogether.