Need two lane bridges, not one for sake of AI

[ModaFlanker 0]

Let's face it-- every coder has to struggle with AI. We'll all probably have to live with AI getting stuck if they go off the road.

There is one part of ArmA that is essential to a lot of missions, and that is the AI's ability to drive on roads.

I was hoping 1.14 would help with the bridge problem.

Definitely improved-- vehicles do not head straight for the water [they still do sometimes, but only after bridge is majorly jammed].

The worst place is the eastern bridge of Dolores. When two vehicles cross from opposite sides at the same time, they tend to get jammed as their evasive move makes them wedge into the sides and end up permanently sealing off the bridge.

We should have bridges that are clearly two lanes, so when AI cross it from opposite sides they do not need to evade each other. There should also be some maneuvering room for when vehicles meet at the edges of bridges [example: it is very tight on the western side of the eastern Dolores bridge, leading to traffic jams].

Maybe this cannot be done for ArmA if changing bridges [making a new map with altered bridges for Sahrani North and South in a new patch] might break a lot of user generated missions and therefore be considered undesirable... but this should DEFINITELY be taken into consideration at least for ArmA II!!!

This problem severely hampered Karrillion's RTS-4 maps, and now that we are getting into Warfare 1.0 we are seeing the exact same problem. It is ESSENTIAL to those maps that the AI drivers are able to do their jobs.

If unable to change what is established in ArmA, how about a new "Warfare friendly" map where the roads encourage steady AI driving usage, so that people can select that map over the current South Sahrani one?

[frederf 0]

Why don't all two-lane roads have the AI drive in their lanes?

[Buzz 0]

Why don't all two-lane roads have the AI drive in their lanes?

That might be really easy to do with the right script but... do you drive on the left or the right?

[frederf 0]

Who cares? Pick one.

[Jex =TE= 0]

Why don't all two-lane roads have the AI drive in their lanes?

That might be really easy to do with the right script but... do you drive on the left or the right?

As the wheel is on the the left hand side, I would say drive on the right.

Is it me or did OFP AI handle driving better?

[ModaFlanker 0]

It's actually pretty appalling how bad the AI is at driving everywhere. I don't think 2 lane bridges will fix the problem.

If not changed bridges then a change in the way AI views roads, so that it NEVER reacts to an AI driver in the next lane and sticks to its own "side".

[frederf 0]

What's fun is that AI drivers don't account for the width of their vehicle. I put in in a road block centered on a road and the bus stops and then I put it so that the edge of the roadblock was 3cm from the center point (covering 49.9% of the road) and the AI bus hits it at full speed!

[rundll.exe 12]

The biggest problem with AI in Arma is that they dont anticipate in advance.

You must have noticed it when being commander in a tank, with AI driver. The driver heads at full speed to a crossing, then brakes full to end up just a little further then the crossing. Then he tries to turn into the right direction and search for the road again. Now this isnt that bad in open areas, but in towns he keeps hitting every corner of the buildings.

The AI should brake more in advance and go steady in the corners.

Again, AI driving was more then fine in OFP, and now in Arma its broken again, I dont get it. Why break a fine working piece of code

[Col. Faulkner 0]

If they can't get the AI to cope with bridges (and people

have been complaining about this since day 1) then there

shouldn't be bridges on the maps.

It does seem as if commanding an AI driver is smoother in

ArmA now than it ever was in OFP. Tell your tank driver to go

forwards and he'll mostly actually do it; not turn right, slew

left, back up a bit, turn right again and then move 5 metres

forward then halt while skidding to the left again.

[ModaFlanker 0]

I realize that overall I just want this AI problem fixed one way or the other... bridges or not.

It's a little distressing to realize that bridges aside, I sometimes find trucks stuck in the walled portions of a city, forever sitting there.

They ran into something on the road, tried to compensate by driving into some cramped areas, then freeze into full claustrophobia [because if that was MY AI driver and I told him to try moving again, "NEGATIVE" is the response].

I would love a fix for ArmA... but at the very least this MUST be corrected by ArmA II's release as a lot of really fun gameplay modes are reliant upon a functioning supply network.

[pathetic_berserker 4]

I must say that until recently I hadn't realy noticed just how bad the AI was. At most I only had small numbers that i was always with and on top of.

But since WARFARE came along I've been trying to use more AI but the idea that i could actualy 'use' them has become pure fantasy. Even a simple column of vehicles is nearly impossible as the AI drops behind, zigzags off the road for no apparent reason, or drives itsself into an object, gets confused and then heads in the opposite direction.

So I tried it with a group of tanks thinking that atleast they wont need the roads to maintain speed but it was basicaly the same problem and one crew even managed to flip thier T72 in the open!

So after spending way more time than was acualy fun trying to get them to behave I just sent them to other side of map, hoping it was thier certain death.

But they didn't shut up as they called in all thier kills.

Bastards.

[mrcash2009 0]

Quote[/b] ]So after spending way more time than was acualy fun trying to get them to behave I just sent them to other side of map, hoping it was thier certain death.

But they didn't shut up as they called in all thier kills.

Bastards.

I can see it now in the changelog :

Quote[/b] ]5525. AI No longer act like bastards.

i would love to see a "final" patch where they actually do not much else apart from look at this kind of thing and try some suppression tactics included into the AI .. sign it off and we can all have great fun and not spend time making missions avoiding things like this.

[malick 0]

Well, for AI to stick to the road you may envision two solutions :

1 - the AI sticks to the road like a train to rails. It chooses its path by selecting roads and never consider another path while in "SAFE" mode. The AI would only leave the road when attacked or when ordered to, when being set to "AWARE" or "COMBAT", for example.

2 - the AI sticks to the road because it's pathfinding is precise down to a meter or less. That should be enough for a driver to decide if his truck can move on a road or crossing another vehicle on the other lane. Actually, pathfinding for vehicles IS terrible because the coders gave them a movement precision in the order of 10 meters to simplify the code and to reduce the strain on CPU.

I believe that this issue should be fixed by ArmA 2, as the pathfinding has been advertised as being dramatically improved for all classes. Infantry can move through narrow spaces without crying "negative" and/or walking into harm's way to avoid a simple obstacle. At least, that's what they say

Malick

[Balschoiw 0]

I´m not sure but I guess the major problem for AI is the raised object density along roades and their tendency to do evasive maneuvers when braking. This is what ruins any convoi through a village with a crossing or a town. Bridges are like a gameshow, you never know what will be left of a convoi if you send one over it. Sometimes it works great, next time one AI decides to evade the vehicle in front of it and either gets stuck on the bridge or drives through the bridgewall to drown itself in agony.

It´s a pure pita like that, but all the "improved AI" things that came with the patches didn´t really solve all those problems. Bridge crossing for infantry units seems to be "ok" in most of the cases but vehicles crossing a bridge are still solid drama.

Using limited speed, sophisticated placement of wp´s strict combat modes, whatever. Tried everything, little effect. 10 out of 50 times AI drivers waste it.

It´s really unsatisfying, especially if you create a mission that demands AI to cross a bridge. At some point you simply give up and scrap the mission as there is no way to make sure that it will work 100 percent.