Jump to content
Bohemia Interactive Forums

chrisb

Member
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Content Count

    2385

  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Medals

Posts posted by chrisb

  1. Posted

    Are you sure that IF does not modify AI settings?

    I wouldn't think so, I have played IF with some self made missions, they seem to act very similar to the A2 ai. I can’t see that they would have spent much time altering the ai for IF, but I don’t play IF enough to test it out, no mods available as yet (or though not looked lately), so don’t play around with it too much..

    In what way would you think they would modify the ai ?

  3. Posted

    I am playing CO, patched. With mods (suspecting ASR AI) it is even worse because AI's knowsAbout gets unrealistically high - instant pinpoint. Without mods they are able to guess a direction from which grenade had come but problem is they don't need to see a grenade itself to guess it. So even if you throw a grenade on them from behind and it drops behind them they will always guess a correct direction which is bad.

    Test it yourself in editor with AIDetection(mission+scripts)_v1.1. It is pretty obvious then.

    I spend most of my time in the Editor making missions for our group, so I know what you mean about the grenade thing, but like I said, we as a group don't get the problem much, if at all now. But yes it is one of the series slight fallbacks, but I forgive them a few here and there, as the rest makes up so much. It ain't perfect, as they say, but its not far off.

  4. Posted

    I would get yourself out in the desert in the ‘editor’ and practise.

    Choose the ‘Desert Map’ put yourself a heli on there (not flying) and give it a go. Lift to around 500m using your up thrust & auto hover, then turn that off and nose down at different levels to see how much height is lost. It will soon come to you and you can practise all the other heli commands without worrying about hitting too much.

    I use a Razer Nostromo for my left hand and Rat5 in the right, no need for a KB much..

    Once you do get it there is nothing better than a run through some valleys, say on ‘ilhamarrom’ rksl island, its unfinished as yet maybe always will be, but it has great valleys for flying through and very little to bump into, hone your skills there..

  5. Posted

    Are you playing straight Arma 2 or Operation Arrowhead. There was an issue in A2 regards grenades, but that was a while back. I use that many mods now I don’t get the problem..

    Original ofp had the same thing if I recall correctly..

    I would use Ace 2, see if that helps..

    However they do react to the side the vehicle was hit by the grenade i.e. if they detect a grenade hitting, and it came from the rear, first place they look and fire, usually a spread fire..

  6. Posted

    Guys, allright. Different question.

    Does AI use grenades without mods?

    And does anyone know how is it programmed? That would be really interesting to know.

    Yes, but will depend on the unit i.e. if they have any and how many. If using SLX they will toss a grenade at you whilst they are laying injured if your not careful. If they find enemy units indside, on the roof etc of buildings they will use grenades very effectively..

  7. Posted

    As a group we use many mods but ai is mainly controlled by SLX and GL4 combined, it’s a shame that GL4 could not be included in COSLX as it would work out perfect.

    The use of buildings, rooftops etc and the unusual bits and bobs like playing dead, lobbing grenades while they are injured, surrendering, suppression, disarm and watch over etc, etc, you get with both SLX & GL4 makes A2 first class. Whole squads hold up in town in buildings, balconies and rooftops, fantastic. We have used this mix for quite a while..

    one of our group members post pics here showing it at work, you will have to scroll towards the bottom of the page

    I can’t see any problem using COSLX with GL4..

  8. Posted

    We’re trying this today in a small, but full mission, really hope it works out. Looking more and more like a game changing mod. Have not seen any performance issues that would concern, but will see today.

    The injured lobbing grenades is a SLX thing, you have to either medic them reasonably quickly (& capture) or shot them again.

    They can also play dead on the odd occasion, not sure if that’s gl4 or slx at work, or indeed the mix, makes for it to be interesting,. However when they stop playing dead they stand without a weapon for around 1 or 2 seconds, then the weapon appears for them to fire, would be great if they could fire from a lying position but they seem to have to stand for it to work. Sometimes best just to shot the dead again to make sure for certain, we have lost units with the playing dead getting up thing.. Anyway wondering off.

    Back on topic: We want to use this mod in our mix if at all pos, as its showing signs already of being better than the other suppression features in either of the other two we use.

    Great work tpwc

  9. Posted

    Hi all. Lots of posts since I went to bed. -Coulum- has as usual done a great job fielding the brickbats. I'd like to reiterate a couple of things:

    TPWCAS is not a fine grained total overhaul AI behaviour modification system. It's just a way to make AI react to passing bullets. It's not intended to be a fix for all that you dislike about Arma AI

    In response to feedback and suggestions we add and modify things to achieve the above primary goal, but not things that stray into the realm of general AI behaviour modification, since TPWCAS is designed to try and integrate nicely with mods like ASR_AI which are already doing these things. However, the more we add, the more chance of bugs and conflicts.

    Anyone is welcome to look at, use or modify the code, on the simple proviso that you post back any changes or improvements so that others can benefit from them.

    TPWCAS is an addon, not a core engine change. If it enhances your Arma experience as intended, then that's great. If not, then you can simply go back to where you were 2 weeks ago before we started work on it.

    ===

    ChrisB, you need to run your raw video through another program to compress the video down to smaller size. A 5 min video should be a few 10s of Mb, not 750Mb. I use ffmpeg under linux, I'm pretty sure there are windows versions too.

    Hi tpw

    Yes I thought that was no use, way too big, I will get a friend that’s better at this stuff than me to upload it. Once I have a link to the vid I will put it in the video section of the forum so as not to hijack your thread, I don’t want to do that as you have a great mod that may become a game changer in a really good way.

    Definitely I would post any thing they have done with the mod, alteration wise, that makes a difference, if they do..

    Sorry was not attempting to mess your thread up, just could not believe the bad ai, not seen that ai for a good while, well perhaps here and there on youtube.

    I have played around testing wise with your mod, its very good at what its for, it just seems to conflict a little with what we have now, that’s what they are looking at now.

    Still, all part of the fun finding out new stuff.

    Keep up the great work its moving at a pace now..

    ---------- Post added at 00:42 ---------- Previous post was at 00:28 ----------

    @ChrisB

    ASR AI does make ai units move into buildings. In the userconfig you can define how likely they are to use nearby buildings. You should try out ASR, its developed into a really nice ai mod that I find essential to play arma.

    Great job Ollem, keep up the good work.

    Hi Coulum

    I was not suggesting ASR ai are not good, they are. We have ASR ai and they to are fantastic, we just don’t use them in the mix. On the whole all mods made for Arma 2 are really well thought out, we have some members in the group who do this type of thing for the game we play, so I know that its not easy. It was just a reaction to the video bit, probably just the way it was set up.

    I had another quick look through the user config but really I can’t see where buildings are mentioned, but however, its all good.

    Keep it going, this mod, it could turn out to be a real game changer, will certainly be keeping my eye on it. There is a possibility you will elaborate on what’s already in GL4 and SLX suppression wise, and end up with something far better.

    If so I will be coming back and asking if you can make it GL4 & SLX compatible..

  10. Posted

    Well, for just one point - GL4 breaks pretty much every official & user mission & campaign because it messes with the waypoints. It's a great mod but has to be correctly incorporated right from the start of mission design. It is also at least a year since it had any support; SNKMAN has moved on and Tri-Force never got released. Changes to the engine may make it increasingly irrelevant, possibly break features too.

    SLX is a favourite of mine, even before Gunter Severloh got rid of most of the bugs. But it is still (unless some modules are removed or edited) problematic with heavily-scripted missions.

    TPWC - especially in combination with the LOS addon & the latest asr_ai - changes combat in ways that (CO)SLX and GL4 neverachieved. Try it, FFS! - & watch AI taking up appropriate stances before firing their weapons; crouching or hitting the deck when under fire; and yes indeed, going into buildings, climbing to rooftops to snipe, firing from windows, etc. And that all works just fine as addons with existing missions. And some of the COSLX modules work seamlessly with this combination, too.

    You don't like it? So don't use it.

    I do like the mod I have said it in virtually every one of my posts in this thread, don't want that sort of input, "you don't like it" thats kiddies stuff.. I like everything that makes Arma series better, this mod could grow into that.

    I have never seen ASR ai (and we have it as a group but don’t use it) go into buildings or take up meaningful positions inside or on top of buildings, whereby with our mix they do. If you could post up SS or film showing it I might get the group interested, but it just does not happen in our experience.

    Its old yes, but neither GL4 or SLX have been bettered so far. Your correct in the fact that the mission making needs to be well thought out, but it is, we play as a realistic sim, not as a game. So its very important that the military part of the overall game we play is as real as pos.. Everyone understands the limitations of ai, but the film on here shows ai from way back…

    Not used ai like that for a number of years, well since the two mods mentioned came out..

  11. Posted

    Remember there was no shooter for the ai to take cover from (he was invisible). So really they just saw a bunch of bullets coming from no where. I don't think the behaviour would be much different in the same situation with mods... but I could be wrong and actually would love to be proven so.

    They are not reacting to gun fire!!

    It’s the same as being a sniper away off somewhere where they can’t see you, they should and will react to gunfire, they will take cover and go for the obvious places not stand around in the open & just hit the floor.. They will obviously go low but their aim will be to get to some proper cover..

    I have done a quick test no shooting just to see what they (ai) do using their own initiative with GL4 & SLX of course. A member of our group is experimenting with your mod and we hope to incorporate it into our ai system, can be difficult as hundreds of hours have gone into adjusting and testing, its trying to persuade the rest to bother, as we have a really tight ai system now, there is only the two of us looking at it at the mo (33 now in the group), but we'll see.. It has some features that could be worked on, not by me, I’m hopeless at all that stuff, but really good at making missions, but a couple of our group do this type of stuff, so I leave it with them.

    If I need permission for them to mess around a little with the mod would you be o.k. with that..

    Now for using youtube which I never do, only for watching occasionally, old sitcoms or shows (sad I know), not for uploading stuff….

    My first bit of film is 748mb (amazed its only 5mins long) how long do you suppose that will take to upload, I know it gets reduced but I want the quality to be good but I have little time to spare.. I am going to use MS windows live movie maker..

    If for some reason I can't get it up quick I will redo another using very low settings. I am using MSI Afterburner to record is that good? it allows me to cap the fps and drop down to 25% quality, athough not sure what that will look like..

  12. Posted

    Did some more MP testing with Dedicated Server: unfortunately the debug markers stay red all the time, and suppressing doesn't seem to be equal to SP. But that needs some more verification.

    Colorcoding => "hideObject": Multiplayer: Command has local effect, needs to be run on each client -> so would need CBA function to work properly in MP

    In the mean time some more footage with 'right' color coding ;-)

    (Shooter (me) is in AI invisible cheat mode - hence no reaction to shoot me..)

    Sorry but this has no reflection on the TPWC mod as its good but....

    I know this is a test but really does anyone still play with ai as bad as that.. That type of ai behaviour is lost in the past especially Arma 2.

    OK I know its just a test but the ai are not going for cover, there are walls, buildings and rooftops nearby why don’t they go for those?

    Its astonishing that anyone puts up with ai that bad. I will set a simple test and try upload it to youtube (I’m terrible at stuff like that), but really you have to see what arma 2 ai is really like, when using gl4 & slx mixed. I don’t know, but by judging what I have just seen there, you'll think arma2 has been re-invented.

    And this stuff (GL4 & SLX) has been available for years.. Why not use it…..

  13. Posted

    Well I have had a quick look around, and its really a great island. The port at Hafen will be ideal for larger ships. Lenzburg, Muenchenstein & Muttenz are great towns, could perhaps see a couple of medium sized navy ships coming up the river there into Muttenz.

    Overall great first look, will put some ai on it and let you know how they get on.

    Thank you 'momo' for this great island and all your hard work, that I can see you have put into it.

  14. Posted

    QUOTE @ Günter Severloh

    player will be suppressed by Ai with this. SLX_Suppression_Effects.pbo_______________

    Agree with this in part, but mix GL4 & SLX mods together and you don’t need anything else ai wise imo.

    However, that said, if this mod grows into a better more realistic suppression mod, then will be tested with the other two and if compatible included in the mix as well, very hard to acheive though..

    Building searches & positions, rooftop use, flanking, suppressing, reinforcements, units working together as a whole, retreating & re-grouping, ai that care for their own lives, etc, etc. its all there. Very hard to beat, these mods (GL4 & SLX, mixed), ai wise..

  15. Posted

    Well I used and tested it on its own and with the GL4/SLX mix we use as a group when playing Arma 2.

    On its own I find it too easy with TPWC to suppress the enemy, whereas in the mix of the two mentioned above it takes reasonably heavy fire to suppress which I find more realistic.

    When I used it with the other two (GL4/SLX mix) it conflicted a little with them, couple of odd jump back type movements and a standing dead episode.

    Not that this isn’t a fine mod, it is, just personal taste and how you get used to playing using certain mods or parts of mods.

    Fine job though and it goes on my storage hdd with the other 400 or so beloved mods, they all get played and enjoyed at some point.

    Thanks again..

  16. Posted

    Thanks ChrisB

    I'm aware that there have been other AI suppression systems, but had never seen any that reacted to the actual passing bullets.

    I've played with SLX (COSLX) for some time and never been able to suppress anyone by firing bullets past their head. Into the ground nearby maybe. Or maybe I'm missing something (possible, since I am a useless old bastard).

    Anyway, play with this addon, and use it if you like it. We had fun making it and involving people with it, even if it turns out we reinvented the wheel!

    I am the same (useless old bastard), 53 this year playing since ofp and loving every mod made I think, especially ai mods. Play as part of a group, so will spread the word.

    I have it and a simple mission (I have for testing) running with it in, so will post with results.

    Am looking forward to using it.

    Thanks again.

  17. Posted

    I am going to try this, always welcome new ai mods.

    However this is not new, we have had suppression fire for some time in GL4 & SLX, both work really well, in-fact if your playing veteran level or lower, GL4 will put a message up on your map if you have managed to get the enemy suppressed. SLX works in a similar way, also giving ai reactions via shake going prone etc..

    Still this may well be a better system, will give it a try.

    Does it clash with GL4 or SLX ? Or can it be used alongside.

    I have just posted in General regarding ai and their reactions using GL4 & SLX, or should I say parts of each.

    Thank you for the mod.

  18. Posted

    Wars can last years

    Battles can last days, weeks or months

    Skirmishes can last minutes or hours

    Things we all understand but have to remember for Arma 2.

    Its long so I put it in a spoiler.

    If your really into Arma 2, you'll be working in the ‘Editor’ some of the time, in-fact a lot of the time. So plan out a strategy and break the overall mission your making down into segments. If it’s a large full scale war your planning, then this would obviously be broken down into parts. If it’s a large battle do the same, break it down. This way you get sensible ai that can react the way they are suppose to, not overloaded cpu that’s trying to run everything at once.

    If you believe cpu is holding back your ai or the game itself, experiment, try different scenarios. Make a simple mission i.e. ‘take the town and hold it’, play as a junior member of a unit of ai, watch as well as take part. See how the ai react to different things, this way is the only way you will find out if your rig is holding back any arma 2 functions. Play the mission again with more on the map and keep repeating it until you see any changes to ai behaviour.

    Everyone has a different rig, even if they are the exact same spec, same model, same graphics etc, they will have different processes running at different times taking away from the cpu. Each will have different levels of junk onboard, plus types of arma mods, so they become different for the game to run, experimenting is the only way to learn about how arma 2 will play on your system.

    I play as part of a group, I make a lot of the missions for the military part of our overall game, arma 2 is the largest of that military part. I break missions down if they are very large, this then plays to the lowest spec rig in our group (happens to be mine for my arma 2 rig), although my rig is decent and plays the game tremendously. But I have experimented for, possibly, hundreds of hours over the years with the ofp/vbs2/arma series. During the process of experimenting you find out where and what to tweak, plus how to tweak and make better the game using the available mods or your own mods if you have them.

    We all know the ai are unscripted, sometimes the stock ai can be a little unusual in their actions, but the tools are there to make them great.

    The ai we use have been tweaked and will include all of the following and more:

    (using mods that are available from Armed Assault or Armaholic sites)

    1/ They will flank

    2/ Change attack position when needed

    3/ Split into smaller groups if the section is large enough and attack from different angles when needed

    4/ Use high and low ground effectively

    5/ Use positions in buildings, windows/doors

    6/ Use rooftop positions

    7/ Call support/reinforcements if available and when required, even from units not attached to them

    8/ Interact with other units to coordinate an effective attack/counter attack.

    9/ Request further reinforcements if needed

    10/ Hold back when heavy weapon fire is being used by their own side, so as not to walk blindly into danger

    11/ Actively seek cover

    12/ Suppress fire on you, or indeed you can suppress them. We have been suppressed by fire many times in missions, very effectively by ai.

    13/ Use evasive manoeuvres effectively

    14/ Retreat if they need to and re-group

    15/ Surrender if they have to

    16/ Drag wounded from harms way and treat them (first aid), also watch over/guard while a medic treats the wounded

    17/ Disarm and stand guard over captured units

    18/ Call in air support or artillery

    19/ Use sensible stances when in combat

    20/ Re-arm with weapons or ammo when required, from dead soldiers, ammo crates, vehicles etc

    21/ If and when spawning, reinforcement units will use nearby vehicles to get to the combat area quicker

    22/ Snipers will snipe effectively from distance

    The list can go on and on..

    Yes they can occasionally do unusual things, but so do we humans. Yes they can sometimes get hooked up here and there, just one of those things, but using the right mods, it happens very rarely.

    Getting frustrated about ai is normal, we all have at some point in the series, just talk and listen to other players, or read/post on this and other forums.

    The group I play as part of, enjoy the ai with very few further tweaks. I would say they are the best ai in any game I have played. BIS have also improved them along the way, but to be fair they have provided us with the best thing of all, unscripted ai that play differently every time, can’t get better than that.

    Try never to go beyond 80-100 infantry/foot soldiers ai present at one time, in combat, imo.

    If you have a large mission area, they will, and do, call reinforcements in from anywhere they feel best to, so if you have 300 ai on the map, you could end up with all of them in combat, if your not careful. That’s where planning comes in when making missions.

    Arma 2 is a simulator when mixed with the right mods, better than VBS2, although perhaps not as well modelled vehicle and building wise (open to discussion).

    Sorry its long, but no one from BIS will tell you how the game will react on your system, they just don’t know, that’s for you to find out and experiment with. Obviously your cpu and gpu will have an affect on the game, you will have to find what affect yourself. Once you find your systems limits then play to that. You can still have full scale wars, but just plan slightly differently.

    ‘ai’ mods used or parts used from: GL4, SLX, SMK, ST movement & evasion. We run a couple of hundred mods if I include all the islands (with ofp and arma islands included), but the ai are controlled, mainly, using the mods mentioned or parts from the mods mentioned.

    Read the ‘readme’ for each mod carefully, try to understand what the mod maker has done, then experiment using the whole mod or parts from the mods that you want your ai to use, mix them and check if they clash with one another, rearrange if needed.

    Also using the latest BIS patch & beta, 1.60/latest beta.

    Its all just 'imo' from experimenting with ai..

  19. Posted

    I have played the arma series from the ofp days, I spend a lot of time making missions for a medium size group of us. As a group we play quite a complicated, intricate long term game world strategy, based on politics, resources, power and of course military warfare or clandestine covert ops etc, this is where the arma series forms the main part of the military side of our game, plus vbs2 (small part), & also the battlefield series did, until recently.

    One of the most important things to setup in the arma series is the AI, they have to act or simulate as near as pos (as you can make them) to real life friendly & enemy units, be good at moving and taking orders without wondering or getting hooked up. Therefore AI has to be tweaked and experimented with over a period of some time to get it working the way you might want it to. As a group we use a little of several mods to do this, they include the unique ‘SLX’, the great ‘GL4’, a little from ‘ASR AI’ etc, when combined we have a nice balance for AI.

    Really you can only experience Arma 2 to its fullest by investing in the game, perhaps go straight to ‘A2 Operation Arrowhead’ plus the BAF, PMC addons etc. We run a large amount of mods/addons, all push the game to new heights and add huge interest and variants, it’s a completely different game when setup correctly, but it will take time, the arma series plays an intricate part in the hobby myself and friends have enjoyed for quite a long period of time. It is by far the best of its type available, the ai can be as well, when tweaked correctly.

    CB

×