Group Link 4 Special FX Edition

[esco7800 10]

wow looks great

[snkman 351]

@mrcash2009

Yes the movement is very dynamically some times they go in bunches another time they go in little 2 - 3 man groups where they cover each other.

Still a lot to do but the basic is done i guess. ;)

[cool=azroul13 14]

Really nice feature, :rolleyes:

Good job SNKMAN !!!

Can you say more about AI vs AI ?

[froggyluv 2136]

No not so far.

Currently i'm working on the combat behaviours in the open only.

Well but i'm sure i will find some nice tweak to enhance the general A.I. combat behaviours in town's too.

Hi SNKMAN, you seem to have almost Dev-like knowledge of the inner workings of the AI so forgive the off-topic but it's a question that always burns in me about ARMA2 AI.

-Do the AI have any actual (coded) awareness that either they or the enemy is in a building (by ID code) or is it just a set of house position points?

-Why is it so hard for this engine to give AI a proper set of house behaviours ie squad entering and clearing a house; taking positions at windows and using only crouch and standing when inside?

-Do you believe that the Dev's could add this if they wanted or is it just beyond theis engine's limitations?

It just seems like a whole dimension of modern combat is being completly ignored to the point that immersion suffers.

[snkman 351]

Well just to compare:

- Same mission without "Dynamically Combat System".

0lcHK68QQDo

I had to skip time after a few seconds becouse i was getting bored... :D

@Cool=Azroul13

Can you say more about AI vs AI ?

What are you interested in?

Guess the video tell's it all. ;)

@froggyluv

-Do the AI have any actual (coded) awareness that either they or the enemy is in a building (by ID code) or is it just a set of house position points?

Well as far as i know there is no specific behaviour for A.I. in buildings.

The detection and react behaviour works the same way like somewhere else.

A.I. detect A.I. and the specific behaviour will be triggered they don't really care if the enemy is in a building or not.

-Why is it so hard for this engine to give AI a proper set of house behaviours ie squad entering and clearing a house; taking positions at windows and using only crouch and standing when inside?

A building has multiple positions where A.I. can go to it's not like in the open that they can go where ever they want.

The building positions are fixed and must be selected.

You can't say this doMove there to get A.I. to a specific position in a building.

If you have 20 positions in a building then you need to:

_soldier doMove (_building buildingPos 5);

To get him in the 4. position of the building or:

_soldier doMove (_building buildingPos 10);

To get him in the 9. position of the building.

Also A.I. in buildings and fighting enemy's never worked really well...

Most time the building simply has no spot to shoot from besides from the top of a building.

There are some other things which i haven't understand completely yet too. :)

-Do you believe that the Dev's could add this if they wanted or is it just beyond theis engine's limitations?

Of course it could be done. Nothing is impossible. ;)

Edited August 12, 2010 by SNKMAN

[froggyluv 2136]

Thanks for the detailed synopsis and hopeful positivity at the end :p

Hopefully BI will move deeper in this direction and add more specific behaviours to indoor/outdoor fighting. Haven't played OA a whole lot but it did seem that my subordinate AI did a better (speedier) job of coming down from a house position and returning to formation. One day I'd love to see them efficiently clear a structure in the same manner. Doorways and windows...well I'll just keep on dreaming...

Edit: I understand the building_positions pretty much. What I was wondering was does the building itself's model structure (Building ID code) encompass the AI? Meaning, does the AI in coding sense, know it's in building 16384 on the map the entire time it's in the structure (thereby allowing new FSM or behaviours)? From what you said, it sounds like they don't and are only aware of building_position numbers and perhaps are givien a pathway to get to that specific spot.

Edited August 12, 2010 by froggyluv

[snkman 351]

From what you said, it sounds like they don't and are only aware of building_position numbers and perhaps are givien a pathway to get to that specific spot.

Hmm... i really don't know this in detail but it could be true.

This could be the reason why sometimes A.I. is falling to dead from top of a building. :D

Yes this really is one of thouse things i haven't studied that much.

Would be really cool to have some much more detailed informations about this.

[bigshot 64]

Can anyone tell me why it seems that the crew (the troops in cargo, not pilot or gunner) of the enemy AI chopper reinforcements seem to always get ejected right before the pilot takes off?...

I have paradrops set to false so that the enemy chopper will be forced to land in order to drop off the reinforcements onboard, but usually those reinforcement troops get booted off the chopper before it ever gets airborn.

Another issue i seem to be having is that for times when the troops DONT get ejected before getting airborn, the chopper lands them about 1K away from the target area and then theyre all forced to hike it back on foot to the fight, hmf!

I can recall using Grouplink2 and the enemy choppers used to force land in the target area no matter what and the enemy troops would get out...how can i achievve something similar to this with Grouplink4 now?

[snkman 351]

Can anyone tell me why it seems that the crew (the troops in cargo, not pilot or gunner) of the enemy AI chopper reinforcements seem to always get ejected right before the pilot takes off?...

Guess you are close to the helicopter and the helicopter crew already had spotted you?

Another thing is the "Enemy A.I. Magic" which allow enemy A.I. to detect a target even if not directly in sight.

Well we can not compare GL2 with GL4 or O.F.P. with ArmA or ArmA with ArmA 2.

A.I. got it's own mind now and they do what they think they should do.

Specially helicopters are very difficult becouse they use a strange hardcoded behaviour which very often let them shoot their own units by shooting rockets on a target.

So my only guess so far is that they already know something about you?

What else do you use? Which other modifications?

[bigshot 64]

Hi SNKMAN...yea I understand, well at least that would explain the chopper landing so far away (guess ill have to switch over to using paradrop instead then)...but are you saying this may also be the reason for the crew getting out before it gets airborne?

the target area is about 1KM away from where the chopper spawns (and gets called for reinforcements). I dont think its an arma2 problem because i was previously using GPL2 Plus successfully (the chopper lands everytime and empties troops, sometimes 100m away from battle area and sometimes right in middle of it!) in this mission before trying GPL4...so its definately in the gpl coding changes.

...no other mods being used (other than a sound mod).

Thanks for trying to help, could you tell me if there's some sort of manual for GL4 other than the readme pdf that comes in the download archive?....that readme is very short and doesnt explain features in detail (i especially wanted to learn more about how to use GPL4 to spawn enemy troops in certain areas, etc).

[snkman 351]

the target area is about 1KM away from where the chopper spawns

Spawns?

Are you sure the unit's are inside of the chopper bevore he was requested as reinforcement.

I'm not really sure how you do this but normally spawned units/vehicles are not initialized with the "Enemy A.I. Enhancement" of Group Link 4 becouse of a bug.

Have you used "GL2 Plus" with ArmA 2? It works? :D

May if you like send me the mission so i can have a look at it.

For me the helicopter para / extraction do always work like it should.

[bigshot 64]

Well...by spawned I only meant where the chopper is placed at start of mission...in other words im not actually "spawning" a new chopper into the mission...its already there as it was placed in the editor.

Yes, the crew is inside before the request comes...ive tried it both ways, first by syncing the pilot groupleader to the chopper, and then also tried it by using the getin command for both driver and gunner...either way ive tried it however im not able to get the result im looking for....if i enable Paradrops they work fine though.

Yes, i will check again (by playing the GL2 version I have, as its been awhile) to make sure the chopper troops enforcement worked as i remember. I'm pretty sure that part worked in GP2 with arma2 as I recall, but if im mistaken ill let you know.

Sure, I can send you both versions with GP2 and GP4 (although its not completed) so you can see...just let me know where to send it?

OH! - 1 detail i havent mentioned is that the mission takes place on Sahrani...this means that the "CAA1" addon is required of course...but other than that this is going to be a no addon remake from my original arma1 version.

[snkman 351]

Well i don't need the whole mission simply copy the important content to utes or desert ( if you have OA ).

This way i don't need to dl the whole CAA1.

Currently i really have no clue why this happend...

[sagitarius_2k 10]

hey, i got this error message when playing

Script UserConfig GL4\GL4_Core.sqf no found

my mods >> ACE, SLX, zeusai

[pvt. phillips 10]

does GL4,SLX, and zeusai work together?

[AnimalMother92 10]

does GL4,SLX, and zeusai work together?

Have a read through this.

[pvt. phillips 10]

Wow you are awesome,thanks for posting this reply!:D

[Stubaf. 10]

Do you have to use some special profile or userconfig settings for GL 4 to run optimally or should you use default settings?

[snkman 351]

The "Default" settings are optimal in my mind and fit what i personally like.

Of course everyone got it's own mind and may you don't like something like it is.

If so then you may should tweak the settings to fit your needs. ;)

[NoRailgunner 0]

Will the GL4 AI still focus on player or his team/group and chase him - no matter which other threats are around? Or will the AI break and attack other units and perhaps loose contact to player?

[snkman 351]

It's up to the user.

Next version will have a option to enable A.I. attack A.I. with most features of Group Link 4.

A.I. will not be able to request reinforcement against A.I. this simply is useless becouse if a player is far away he will not recognize what's going on and resources will be used which could be used at another point way better.

The main focus still is the player group and A.I. leaded by a player everything else would just be a waste of resources.

[camus25555 10]

all my ennemy units are using gl4_ia by default but i need some of them without gl4 so they could use upsmon script instead.

// GL4 Enemy A.I. Enhancement:

// ==============================================================

// Choose if the "Enemy A.I. Enhancement" should be used.

// Note: Set this value to False to disable the "Enemy A.I. Enhancement" completly.

// True / False, default is True

GL4_Core set [1, False];

i tried setting this to false but it desactivate gl4 for all units, i tried to add some module but i can't figure how to enable gl4 only for some units.

[snkman 351]

Here we go!

Create the "Group Link 4: System" module.

Synchronize ONE enemy A.I. group ( leader ) with the "Group Link 4: System" module.

Create the "Group Link 4: Custom" module.

Synchronize all enemy A.I. groups ( leader ) with the "Group Link 4: Custom" module which you like to use the enemy A.I. enhancement.

That's it. ;)

[Havoc Company 10]

Hey SNKMAN, I love GL4 but is there any way to STOP GL4 moving units out of positions where we might want them to stay put?

I only ask because we place a lot of people inside buildings in takistan etc, but it's frustrating when they leave the buildings to attack us.

Been watching your latest version btw and I can't wait, looks good :).

Oh and I want to do this while maintaining mission compatability with/without GL4, so that rules out the use of modules.

Edited August 19, 2010 by Havoc Company

[camus25555 10]

thanks Snkman it's working now :)