VictorFarbau

Looks awesome. I guess you cannot expect a 100% functionality of viewblocks given the way you have to implement them. There will be tradeoffs - you might be able to peek in between blocks or some part could be blocked where there's no smoke for a second or two. The way you have set them now looks good to me, viewblock objects hovering above ground level is pretty much how it should work. I would probably decrase the block size a bit further; after all it feels more realistic when sbd shoots you through light smoke than facing blind enemies right in front of you. As said, tradeoffs. Did you manage to attach this functionality to Smokeshells by now? You mentioned this would be a problem... Cheers, VictorFarbau

Don't give up yet. In our sunday night battle yesterday I dearly missed that functionality. AI was wrapping us in smoke again. And while we couldn't see a thing their fire was precise as usual. Then I was pinned down in a bunker surrounded by AI. After 5 minutes I threw 2 smokeshells and it was all white. I stepped out and was shot in that very second. Man, do I miss a working smokeshell VictorFarbau

DMarwick - "My baby" is more the equipment AI stuff. The smokeshell usage is a mere necessity for me. It is a rather primitive script. But I did not find a satisfactory external solution for that. In the other AI enhancers I tried through time smokeshells were rarely if at all used - certainly not in such a tactically smart way that you proposed. So less focus on that for me right now - more focus on making equipment AI more reliable and smart. But what about this - if you get the Viewblock objects to work (send me a version and let me see whether it also causes CTD for me) I'll integrate the usage right into your addon...? Cheers, VictorFarbau

Oh - I have to check that multi-init-"hit"-eventhandler out. Right now I am also just hooking up a "hit" eventhandler which is not really multi-addon friendly. VictorFarbau

@IceBreakr - if you use that addon all units of class "man" (and that includes civilians) will use opportunities to get ammo and weapons. @DMarwick - units should throw smoke given 3 conditions: 1. You use the correct addon 2. Units are wounded 3. Units carry a smokeshell (will try to get replacements when empty using the ammo script) I have seen that working fine - except for the weird AI interruptions that might be caused by cascaded commands given to the AI (like gun pointing to the skies for minutes, units being stuck, units not reacting to commands). The latter I need to work on still to make it more friendly to the underlying AI engine of Arma. Cheers, VictorFarbau

@DMarkwick - I took the liberty to have a look at your config. I saw that you prepared the usage of viewblocking objects already in there. Are they not working or why did you decide to not use them? @william1 - I have observed similar behaviour in my group. Only in the first game though, the second round was going splendid. Some of the guys were running low on ammo, ran to dead west soldiers but just stood there. After a while they ran away again. The same behaviour shown by some opfor soldiers whereas others took weapons and mags just fine and other ignored everything around them. Knowing that it is the very same script running on all of them I can only conclude that there is a conflict with pending orders and AI status of some kind. This is generally the risk when interfering with the AI engine on a higher level w/o having real control over the unit. The current scan ranges are (quoting from top of my head) 30m for ammo and 60m for weapons which is almost too much in my mind - don't wanna have units running around everywhere just for a mag. It should more be like using the opportunity and not being the big harvester. I guess only more observations will help me to work around this if at all possible. There seems to be a good amount of random in there. VictorFarbau

Sorry for starting a new topic for this one. But I got this now error-free in MP as well and added functionality. Would like to extend this more in the future. I simplified the usage, the paramter version drove me nuts and caused several errors. The way it is used now is simple - you place the addon and off you go. Alternatively you can use any @Addon directory if you rather en- or disable it as needed. I use the Smokeshell version together with @DMSmokeEffects 4.2. This drove my mates crazy during MP, AI was throwing smoke all over the place and snitched magazines and ammo everywhere. Ultimately I was killed by a SpecOp carrying a M16 ACOG Cheers, VictorFarbau

Current version is 1.0 !!! THE ADDON VERSION REQUIRES "Extended_Init_EventHandlers" © BY SOLUS !!! VFAI Equipment.AI download Equipment.AI Introduction ========================= What does it do? Equipment AI will allow units to scan their immediate environment for bodys and their equipment. If a unit goes below certain ammo levels it will try to snitch a magazine, a grenade or smokebomb here and there. If the unit looses its weapon or does not find ammo in a given time the unit will focus on getting a new weapon as quick as possible. Equipment.AI activation ======================= To activate Equipment.AI for the desired side (west, east, guerilla or civilian) you need to place an object of any type (e.g. InvisibleH) with a specific name onto the game map. Combinations with multiple objects are possible. This way undesired effects in foreign game maps are avoided. Naming scheme: ------------- An object named VFAIEQW will activate Equipment.AI for all west soldiers. Add another object called VFAIEQE to also activate it for all east soldiers. The same goes for VFAIEQG and VFAIEQC (guerilla and civilian side). Any combination will work. If no such object is found then Equipment.AI will not be run on any unit. Multiplayer =========== Apart from the desired VFAIEQ[x] objects you need to have a "Logic" object by the name of "Server" placed onto the game map. So the usual procedure when creating MP maps in fact. Needless to say that the server will need to have the VFAI.PBO object placed into its addons dir. No client will need this addon unless you are creating soldiers on a client PC while playing MP. Additional comments =================== Since this addon hooks into the common unit creation process using extended init event handlers © by Solus I deem it necessary to use this activation method. Otherwise the script would be run on all units in all missions and you would be forced to remove the addon each time you don't want to use it. So this is a bit clumsy but it works. If you want to activate this extension only for specific units you will need to use the script version instead and call it by putting >this execVM "equipment_ai.sqf"< into the init line of each unit on the map. Next steps ========== - Include secondary weapons (AT, Pistols) etcpp - Smart weapons choice (based on missing weapons types within the group) - Better weapon detection (now units will try to exchange unknown weapons as quick as possible for known ones) - Eliminate any errors (I bet there will be some, too much nightly scripting and testing ) Regards, Victor Farbau

Started new topic with new and corrected version "VFAI - AI extension" Cheers, VictorFarbau

Solus, one question. Have you tested this on a dedicated server? I have used the init event handler in my VFAI extension which runs fine on a local server and also local dedicated server (running the client on the same machine). But as soon as I run it from a remote dedi server (addon is present) the inits don't seem to be run anymore. Have you heard similar feedback? Thanks, VictorFarbau

Norailgunner: known "bug" and a tradeoff to minimize script runtime. I will find a smart way out of this one of these days. Currently I have more issues getting this to work in MP, weird issues there, too (as usual). VictorFarbau

Interesting feedback - I will work on this to cater the needs. I guess there should be one version that always runs and another that can be configured per need. @william1 - I configured the threshholds conservatively; the guys are not meant to rip apart everything they find. Don't forget this is an interruptive script for them. They will only take weapons and ammo (mags, smokeshells, handgrenades) if they need them. See ya, VictorFarbau

Equipment AI will NOT allow units to take ammo and weapons if their behaviour is COMBAT or STEALTH. Which means they shouldn't turn their back on enemies in the middle of fighting. The game engine changes that status quite dynamically so there should be sufficient idle time to get stuff while not being suicidal. I guess the code is ready for release within the next few days. There will be script and addon versions included. Cheers, VictorFarbau

Ok, so I understand that this command is simply not what I need. @Sickboy: I am not controlling any player here - I am only allowed to check whether he's mounted or not. But you're right about that "unassignVehicle" command. If I use that on units from within a script then the assigned vehicle role is reset to [] indeed. A simple "disembark" command from within the game is not enough. I guess it has to do with the AI engine where units are controlled by simple "mount" and "unmount" commands (when using WP e.g.). @benreeper: that simple (_unit == vehicle _unit) bool is working fine, I'll go for this one Thanks, VictorFarbau

One day I'm gonna tear this game a new one To finalize my latest project I need to know whether a unit is mounted in any vehicle. I thought I'd use the "assignedVehicleRole" command for that. Initially all units return a [] when queried. Once I have them mount a truck it changes to ["Cargo"] e.g. which is fine. But this status is not being reset to [] after having left the vehicle - actually it seems it's never being reset to [] after that and the unit keeps that status forever or unless assigned to a new role. Jeez it's soo tiresome to work around all these behaviours Does anybody have an idea how to query the correct "mount status" of a unit? Thanks, VictorFarbau

Good idea DMarwick. Equipment.AI is just the first module in a series I was planning to overcome some everyday-annoyances. Vehicle.AI could be the next step - need to consider different things there compared to "simple" weapon&ammo logistics. Like group waypoints, battlefield situation etcpp. Don't forget that most vehicles e.g. weaken groups rather than strengthen them (like: only 1 Gunner, slow AI pathfinding and driving behaviour). Cheers, Victor

DMarwick, I had this already built in but took it out for now since the script commands of Arma do not allow to scan the inventory of a "weaponholder" at this point in time. I tried all sorts of tricks to work around this but came to no acceptable results. The inventory list will always be []. The Arma engine can do it (you can manually command you units to take stuff) but scripting commands won't work as expected. Cheers, Victor

Interesting you mention that. That is exactly the most tedious work left for me. There's also no point if a dead unit carries 8 magazines and the first AI grabs them all and leaves 7 teammates empty handed. Also got to be careful when it comes to sending additional commands to AI in combat. Multiple casaded orders sometimes cause awkward behaviour (like courching around with the gun pointing skywards e.g.). I will release as soon as the parameters are sufficiently balanced. Cheers, VictorFarbau

I will release both script and addon (addon prolly a bit later) when ready. The script is independent from the unit's side. So east, west, res and civ can use the same script alike. AI units won't care about which weapons they can get their hands on as long as they know the type and ammo (which is part of the script). VictorFarbau

Hello, I just wanted to stimulate some brainstorming about the upcoming "Persitant = 1" feature of the 1.05. In my understanding this will enable a dedicated server to continue running a mission even after all human players left. So theoretically any player can resume at any time to continue the mission and influence the environment. I must say that I am very excited about this feature and I want to make sure to use its potential. While I was thinking of making my first big battlefield mission (which is work-in-progress) compatible to that concept I already had some ideas what to look out for. I don't want to return to my private war at day 5 only to find out that everybody else ran out of ammo, has no gasoline or bleeded and starved to death. Anybody interested in throwing in their concerns and ideas? I will maintain a list of items in this very first post then. Vehicles 1. AI vehicles driving / flying around will run out of gasoline after a while. Need some smart scripting to either refuel them per script (lame), have them refuelled by supply trucks (better) or have them find and use gas stations (best). 2. Same as 1. but for Ammo! Human players 1. If a continuous war scenario is required there need to be sufficient playable soldiers available. Think about respawning them to battlegroups at given positions in time. 2. Human players will need medics and ammo at a higher rate than in typical missions now. Think about how to make these available (EvacHelis, Ammo chaches etc). AI players 1. Make sure they can get Ammo and medical treatment as well. Battlefield organisation 1. Nowadays battlegroups often just appear somewhere on the map. When thinking of a more realistic approach this could include proper deployment strategies of enemy units using Heli insertion, moving out from barracks etc. 2. Resource / capacity planning. Nobody has endless supplies so attacking vital supply routes or warehouses for example should show an effect. Which would need a proper supply management to be in place in the first place. Same for both sides.

Oh yeah. I can tell Cheers, VictorFarbau

Oh, that's not good. Since I am not a modelmaker (haven't tried this yet) I can't help. I was just thinking that two invisible simple walls of about 30m length forming a cross should do the trick, don't you think? This being placed into the middle of the smoke explosion would block everybody's view from each angle. Shame that there's no such object available in the available game objects... or is there? Cheers, VictorFarbau

Hey DMarwick, congrats. Great improvements. It's real nitty-gritty work. I remember my smoke scripts in good old OFP (picture link) and that was a lot of work in regards to tuning and tweaking. One question, did you pursue this idea with the viewblock object at least for smokegrenades any further already? That smoke is very nice but seems to have little genuine blocking effect due to engine limitations as it seems. Regards, VictorFarbau

Well, I bet ya the error is in the first consecutive statement right after "While {TRUE}". So this would be <table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td>Code Sample </td></tr><tr><td id="CODE">_NearestVehicle = Â nearestObjects [_plyr, ["landvehicle", "Air", "Ship"], 10000] select 0; Are you sure you can query for these class names? I don't know and can't check right now, but I only used classes like "Car","Tank", "Man" or "Motorcycle" so far which are sub-classes to the ones you query. VictorFarbau

Howdy, I wonder if anybody has a clue. I wanted my group to be able to detect satchel charges placed by friendly or enemy troops. All my attempts using "nearObjects" and the like were in vain. Once placed the charges are only recognized as "dummyWeapon.p3d" object using the "near" commands. I placed some grenades and magazines on the ground too - and they're also being put into the list as "dummyWeapon.p3d" objects. Is there any scripting way known to check for the presence of any defined weapons / magazines lying on the ground? Btw - I could command my men to pickup that stuff from the ground one by one, so the engine knows very well about the presence and nature of these. Seems I am just using the wrong commands to identify them somehow. Thanks, VictorFarbau