Dynamic-AI-Creator (DAC) V3.0 released

[orcinus 121]

Hi, I'm having another problem all my tanks and helicopters spawning but there doesn't seem to be that many infantry even though dac says 900~ units have spawned

Can you see them on the map if you turn debug on?

Maybe you should zip your mission & upload it somewhere.

[cuel 25]

Is there a DAC config for ACE / ACEX_RU/US? The one at ACE WAGN seems to be down.

[orcinus 121]

Is there a DAC config for ACE / ACEX_RU/US? The one at ACE WAGN seems to be down.

IIRC there was one posted in the DAC config thread, not sure if it will be up-to-date but should be a good starting point.

[SavageCDN 231]

Upon inspecting the camps I believe the howitzers are blowing themselves up for some reason lol.

I know Orcinus already sorted you out but also be aware the camp howitzer gunners can be idiots at the best of times.. I've seen them take out entire groups of friendlies in their attempts to direct-fire vs the enemy... or even blow themselves up by shooting at the ground (they don't seem to take into account obstacles or elevation in direct-fire mode.. they will fire away at a target even if it is blocked by terrain or some object).

@cuel - let me know if you find an ACE-specific configs (don't think the config thread has one... or else I'm truly blind :cool: )

[orcinus 121]

Re howitzers - good point. Generally I either replace howitzers with mortars, or stop using DAC for artillery altogether & replace them with statics like AA, AT & heavy MG weaponry.

Re ACE2 units - I remember now (I think) - Rexehuk posted some links to RARs on the Havoc website that had some ACE configs. I don't have it any more; just checked & the link is a 404.

OTOH Manzilla has posted at least one mission that used both DAC3c & ACE2 - Ground'n'Pound - so he may well have a DAC config he would be willing to share.

@Cuel - if you want to make your own config, you can get a full list of ACE2 units from the Six config browser

Edited July 17, 2012 by Orcinus

[SavageCDN 231]

I started a WIP ACE configs in the config thread with the little bits I had:

http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?100617-Dac-custom-config-resource&p=2190137&viewfull=1#post2190137

[Cakeonslaught 10]

I'm having a problem with my DAC(v3.0c) missions. It seems that the waypoints are being generated at the lower left corner of the map for some reason. I was reading http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?117516-AI-moves-to-the-bottom-left-instead-of-waypoint&p=2034448#post2034448 and it seems that someone found a fix but i have no idea what he means. Could somepony please enlighten me?

EDIT: I may have found a fix. I fiddled around a bit and it seems that i have to have this in the init.sqf:

if(!isServer) then {waitUntil{!isNull player}};

DAC_Zone = compile preprocessFile "DAC\Scripts\DAC_Init_Zone.sqf";

DAC_Objects = compile preprocessFile "DAC\Scripts\DAC_Create_Objects.sqf";

execVM "DAC\DAC_Config_Creator.sqf";

Also, i had to remove the DAC_Intern from my map. Now during waypoint generation, i can see it create waypoints all around the map as well as generating all the black rectangular markers in the bottom left corner. As it generates units, they begin to move toward the corner of the map, but once initialization is finished they cease and begin following seemingly appropriate waypoints. My guess is that the waypoints and markers were being misplaced before, whereas now the markers are still being misplaced, but the waypoints are working correctly. It is also important to have the folder labelled "DAC" from "DAC_Basic_Files" in your mission folder for the init code above to work. Hopefully someone can correct me if i've done something that will break the game later, and i hope that other people can test this out if they have the same problem.

DAC or a similar system should be integrated into ArmA3.

Edited July 22, 2012 by Cakeonslaught
Possible fix

[SavageCDN 231]

My advice to you would be to use the script version of DAC over the .pbo version. It's much easier to change settings, etc in DAC especially if you change a lot of parameters (in DAC_Config_Creator). You will still need the init.sqf stuff for the script version.

I believe DAC assigns the 0,0 waypoint to generated units until it is finished initialization... then assigns them their proper waypoints within the zone (or at least that's my guess). I've noticed this as well when moving a DAC zone after init.... units get assigned the 0,0 wp temporarily until the new zone is completed.

[Cakeonslaught 10]

Thanks savage, you're right it's alot better with the scripts(especially because it allows you to turn off the dynamic weather).

One thing i've noticed that i can't identify the cause of; after about an hour or so of play, DAC missions always slow to a crawl(about 10 fps) and the markers on the map seem to freeze. Has anyone experienced this?

Edited July 22, 2012 by Cakeonslaught
spelling errors

[orcinus 121]

Thanks savage, you're right it's alot better with the scripts(especially because it allows you to turn off the dynamic weather).

One thing i've noticed that i can't identify the cause of; after about an hour or so of play, DAC missions always slow to a crawl(about 10 fps) and the markers on the map seem to freeze. Has anyone experienced this?

Check the settings in the Config creator for battlefield clearance - I forget exactly what Silola called it & I'm not on my main PC - I had an issue with FPS slowing, it was due to too many corpses/wrecks accumulating.

[teilx 4]

Maybe he change something in the config creator or he had to many zones(waypoints can slow down if you have to many zones) and ai....can be many reasons. It is easy to overloads misson with dac, be careful.^^

[Georilla 6]

Curious if the way soldiers are ranked is completely random or we can customise it? I noticed (due to the ACE feature to see ranks) that some squads have a Colonel leading them which also has a couple of Majors, Captains and some Sergeants and only a few Privates. Strange kind of ranking, not really bothersome, but might be able to change that?

[teilx 4]

Oh, good question. It seems they get random soldiers from the unit pool.

[SavageCDN 231]

Perhaps DAC assigns them 'random' ranks below the leader's rank? Never really thought about it before...

[orcinus 121]

Curious if the way soldiers are ranked is completely random or we can customise it? I noticed (due to the ACE feature to see ranks) that some squads have a Colonel leading them which also has a couple of Majors, Captains and some Sergeants and only a few Privates. Strange kind of ranking, not really bothersome, but might be able to change that?

Interesting, I never noticed that. In essence that would make a group more highly-skilled & less susceptible to headless-chicken syndrome if the leader gets slotted. Maybe it's designed in as a way to (randomly?) generate groups with different overall skill values?

To change rankings, you would probably need to write a script to adjust them based on the commander's rank & the number of units in the group; calling it from the "Create" event of DAC_Config_Events.

[Georilla 6]

I think that's probably the answer. I never noticed it before, because normally you shouldn't see the ranking when you're not part of the squad. I think it's fine though, doesn't bother me at all. I'll just disable the feature that makes you see rank/name of soldiers for immersion.

[SavageCDN 231]

So I wonder then how DAC assigns ranks when generating groups? Does it choose a certain rank based on # of units in the squad (ie > 5 units make the leader a lieutenant, < 5 units a Sergeant)... or some other factor?

[twisted 128]

I searched for an answer but couldn't find one.

I'm finding it very tricky to get helicopters to spawn at an airfield then patrol a huge area. I tried linking zones with one tiny zone spawning a heli with no way points and then having a huge zone with only helicopter waypoints (like you can do for infantry or vehicles) , but dac does not make the connection.

Any advice or solution?

[iceman77 18]

I searched for an answer but couldn't find one.

I'm finding it very tricky to get helicopters to spawn at an airfield then patrol a huge area. I tried linking zones with one tiny zone spawning a heli with no way points and then having a huge zone with only helicopter waypoints (like you can do for infantry or vehicles) , but dac does not make the connection.

Any advice or solution?

I haven't used DAC for months, but if I remember correctly you should be able to place a helo on the map (at an airfield) and integrate/merge that vehicle into one or more of the dac zones.You can even create your own WPs to merge into any given dac zone. I only recently came back to arma2 and haven't fiddled with dac again (yet) or i'd be able to give you more info.

[Georilla 6]

I was just busy with a DAC mission and wanted the same thing but it didn't work.

I digged in the DAC readme and searched for what Iceman77 said. I quote:

"It’s basically possible to integrate groups, which have been placed in the Editor, right into the DAC System.

You can either get this started right when the mission starts or even later as well.

An integrated group can get "released" by the way out of the DAC System at any time.

If the group has waypoints assigned, so DAC will save them if the group will get released out of the DAC

System later again, to reassign these waypoints to the group.

Following categories will be supported with this

Infantry, wheeled vehicles, tracked vehicles"

So that won't work with helicopters. What twisted did, didn't work for me either.

[jiltedjock 10]

I searched for an answer but couldn't find one.

I'm finding it very tricky to get helicopters to spawn at an airfield then patrol a huge area. I tried linking zones with one tiny zone spawning a heli with no way points and then having a huge zone with only helicopter waypoints (like you can do for infantry or vehicles) , but dac does not make the connection.

Any advice or solution?

Try spawning the heli in the first zone with 1 waypoint in that zone and eg 10 waypoints allocated per group, then create your linked waypoint zone with sufficient waypoints to suply the extra 9 waypoints.

[orcinus 121]

It's generally not a good idea to set less than 2 waypoints in a DAC spawning zone, DAC may malfunction. Spawning choppers for release to HAC did not work until I set 3-4 waypoints in the spawning zone.

[SavageCDN 231]

Has anyone tried getting camps to spawn without a defending group? It seems if you use zero as group size it will still create the units at camp.

Also can you have a camp with zero respawns... basically just use it for the static arty (so other units can call in strikes)?

[orcinus 121]

Has anyone tried getting camps to spawn without a defending group? It seems if you use zero as group size it will still create the units at camp.

I think you might need to create a specific unit config with empty arrays. IIRC if you spawn any statics in a camp you have to also specify one unit (but no more) as weapon operator.

Also can you have a camp with zero respawns... basically just use it for the static arty (so other units can call in strikes)?

Never tried that myself, however DAC will automatically man any editor-placed static weapons (side-sensitive) within a spawn zone.

[SavageCDN 231]

I think you might need to create a specific unit config with empty arrays. IIRC if you spawn any statics in a camp you have to also specify one unit (but no more) as weapon operator.

Never tried that myself, however DAC will automatically man any editor-placed static weapons (side-sensitive) within a spawn zone.

Thanks I will try the empty arrays (or I'm guessing I'd need at least 3 units in? crew, pilot, leader so that it can assign a gunner to the statics?).. one problem I can see is that I would have to create a camp-only zone and another unit spawning zone.. but that is easy :p

Gonna try the zero respawns and see what happens. I'm actually testing DAC in Iron Front to see how it works and I want to have AI artillery strikes available to the units.. but there are issues with respawning using DAC - it does respawn units however adds them to an existing group instead of re-creating the group.. so you eventually end up with one massive group instead of the 6 you started with.

edit: actually the massive group problem only happens when you are respawning different unit types (ie: infantry and vehicles).. if your camp is infantry only it just won't respawn :)

I've actually seen this before with I44 so it must be either something mod-specific or just that DAC hates WW2 stuff :p

Edited July 28, 2012 by SavageCDN