I'm busy working on some IA maps, just for $#!ts and giggles, and maybe to post online (but i'll cross that bridge when I get there).
I've got some maps up and running, but i have OOONNEEEE small problem... The enemy vehicles are following the paths set by the map that I seeded them off of. They bunch up along the side of a valley wall, trying to scale a near vertical climb, and sit there for the whole game. Can any body explain to me how to change this so that they catually follow the new map's terrain features, and not the old one's?
Also, as a sidenote, I've made an enhanced version on the IA Dunes, with the map borders and the hills in front of the basesmore lumpy and not flat, and with more dunes, making it more Dune-y :-). I'm not sure who to ask to get it online, but if you do want it, just PM me with your aaddy and I'll shoot it off to you.
Havoc
3 things;
-or your cliffs are too steep or to shalow
(do also note that if you make like a very square object and than want the AI to go to the other side theu have a hard time getting around, blend the edges so it gets more round and the AI generally has an easier time pathing across a map)
-you ended up with some pathpoints in/under/ontop of a hill
(if a stage/hold point is where a hill is units wont do anything untill they reached the stage/hold point, wich they never will ...)
-or this may perhaps be usefull if implemented;
http://www.bzuniverse.com/forum/index.php/topic,6698.0.html
G
My problem would be under your second option:
-you ended up with some pathpoints in/under/ontop of a hill
(if a stage/hold point is where a hill is units wont do anything untill they reached the stage/hold point, wich they never will ...)
the seed-map (IA-Canyons) was relatively flat. The new map is set on Venus, with 100m+ cliffs, and you battle in the valleys and ravines caused by erosion. so I'm thinking the path-points are sitting +-80m UNDER the surface of the terrain. The Scions just klump against a canyon wall, sit there, mill around abit, and generally have an attack of the stupids. What I was wondering is how do I move said unreachable pathing points so that the units travel AROUND the canyon walls and not try go through them...
when you've activated the editor (note; you dont have to be in it, it just needs to have been activated) press "shift+F9" and a the editor will switch to a yellow/blue editor wich allows you to move/add/remove paths.
press 1 than 2 than you can select a path or make a new one, once one has been activly selected you can remove it by pressing delete
every map should have a few paths to work wich are;
-Recycler
-RecyclerEnemy
-stage1 (to 3)
-hold1 (to 4)
optional are
-tank1 (to 3)
-tankEnemy1 (to 3)
-turretEnemy1 (to 3 or 4)
-gtow1 (to 5)
additionally you can spawn extra human and AI units/buildings by using the following;
mpic#_fvscout_ivscout
or
mpiC#_vscout
# -> a number used only once meaning if you have 2 mpic2 paths only 1 would work and it may break any other spawn-paths
use c/C (or h/H for the human team) to specify exact units/race or use the capitalisation to spawn a "general" unit
make sure that the paths are all at relativly flat terrain and in such a position the AI wont stage an attack facing a huge wall dead-center ...
you may wanna first of all read the "netvars.rtf" documents in your root BZ2 folder ...
(its basicly a much better explanation of what I tried above ..)
G
I think I'll make this thread sticky aswell while I'm at it.
I dunno how many times I've had to explain path points and shift-f9 to folks. :-)
HEy, Thanks Guys. It's still buggering me around, but I HAVE got them to move around the terrain. I'll fool around with it some more and try fix the rest of the problems. :-)
Also, I've uploaded my modded Dunes map. Here it is:
http://savefile.com/projects/1073374
Hope everyone likes it. Feedback would be appreciated :-D
From the 1.3 Changelog:
- Added more AIP stages for mapmakers. Previously, 'stage1' 'stage2'
and 'stage3' were available. Now, 'stage1' thru 'stage32' are available,
with the game counting the number available at map load time. Any break
in the order stops the search, so a map with stages 1,2,3,4,6 would only
use 4 stages, 1..4. [NM]
1.3 Requires the following paths
ENEMY'S TEAM
---------------------------------
RecyclerEnemy
turretEnemy1
turretEnemy2
tankEnemy1
tankEnemy2
tankEnemy3
hold1 // Enemy Turret Hold Point 1
hold2 // Enemy Turret Hold Point 2
hold3 // Enemy Turret Hold Point 3
hold4 // Enemy Turret Hold Point 4
gtow1
gtow2
gtow3
gtow4
gtow5
stage1
stage2
stage3
thru 'stage32' are available, // (1.3
PLAYER'S TEAM
---------------------------------
Recycler // Player's Recycler
tank1 // Tank 1
tank2 // Tank 2
tank3 // Tank 3
EXTRAS:
---------------------------------
edge_path // MAP EDGE
power1 // POWER UP 1
power2 // POWER UP 2
power3 // POWER UP 3
Also i usually add the following paths to the GreenHeart mpi maps. (Not Required)
GreenHeart Style Custom Paths:
---------------------------------
mpic1_fvturr_ivturr_ //Scion & ISDF Turret
mpic1_ibmtow1 // ISDF Mortar Tower
mpic1_ibagtow1 // ISDF Assault Tower
mpic1_fbspir_ibagtow1 // Scion GunTower & ISDF Assault Tower
mpic1_fbstow_ibstow1 // Scion & ISDF Rocket Tower
while I think about it I may aswell copy the fleshstorm path point data from the other thread and put it in here so that all this stuff is in the same place:
Path points for Fleshstorm ( all modes IA and MPI ) :
Swarm :
RecyclerEnemy - resequencer
leech1
leech2
leech3
leech4 - leeches
leech5
leech6
sfact - gestator
sresp - respirator
Gtow1
Gtow2
Gtow3 - protectors
Gtow4
Gtow5
scortex - cortex
splice - splicer
nclust - neural cluster
infu - infuser
BlackDogs :
recBD - Recycler
powBD1
powBD2 - power generators
powBD3
factBD - factory
bunkerBD - com bunker
armoBD - armoury
serviceBD - service bay
gtowBD1
gtowBD2 - guntowers
techBD - tech center
Scion :
recs - Matriarch
kiln - kiln
antenna - antenna mound
stronghold - stronghold
dower - dower
spire1
spire2 - Gunspires
spire3
Mechana :
M_Fact - producer
M_Pow1
M_Pow2 - power generators
M_Pow3
M_Com - com building
M_GT1
M_GT2
M_GT3
M_GT4 - guntowers
M_GT5
M_GT6
M_GT7
EDF :
rece - recycler
power1
power2 - power generators
power3
factory - factory
bunker - com bunker
armory - armoury
servicebay - servicebay
gtow1
gtow2 - guntowers
techcenter - tech center
additionally if you wish to make more maps like the mechana one you will need the following extra path points for the EDF :
power4 - power gen
train - training center
bomb - bomber bay
gtow3 - guntower
maps will also need several stage points.
for the player the path points :
Recy - recycler
Cons - Phaer Rhan Overlord
are also required for IA.
and in MPI:
mpih_pvcons - Phaer Rhan Overlord
Recy - recycler
and that's about it.
Really? You manage with that few Fleshstorm path points? :evil:
:roll:
lol
-Av-
Quote from: Avatar on May 24, 2007, 01:35:40 PM
Really? You manage with that few Fleshstorm path points? :evil:
:roll:
lol
-Av-
yeah, I kept it pretty simple.
Well, it's barely four pages worth if I print it out... I don't know how you squeak by with that few...
God, I suck at sarcasm, don't I??? :lol:
You must've gotten AWFULLY tired of making maps, placing that many points on each map... and I cringe at the thought of the Scriptor script...
-Av-
if you make a blank map with all the paths already in it all you then need to do is move them around a little, import a new terrain and away you go ;) .
the DLL wasn't too complicated a lot of the work was done by the aip's, but I kept them simple aswell with no switching or any crazy stuff like that, the simpler something is the less there is to go wrong with it.
I have one question. What to the Stage point mean? Like stage1, etc?
What are these paths used for?
That's where the AI will send units to wait to attack you. As it makes Tanks, for instance, they'll bunch up and then head for a staging point. They'll sit there for a bit and then come attack you. This way not all attacks come from the AI Base, where you could easily bottle them up.
Use this to have them go somewhere, then hit the human base from an unexpected direction.
-Av-
wouldnt it actually be smarter to remove them for vets because then that would be unexpected?
Quote from: bigbadbogie on December 02, 2007, 06:45:04 PM
wouldnt it actually be smarter to remove them for vets because then that would be unexpected?
eh, pb3 was released awhile ago. pb4 has been released yet. The vets should be able to figure out where the enemies will come from just by looking at the layout of the terrain. If the map make puts in enough stage points then you'll never know which direction you'll get attacked by next. before you start complaining my maps, just be thankful i'm not using the g66 dll with the maps I create, otherwise it might take more than two hours to defeat them.
I can beat your maps in much less than that if I just keep making APC's... hole up in your base and just keep sending in APCs... use the scrap from the massive attack waves to make more APCs and send them in from all directions... works like a charm.
GAIPS, otoh, doesn't fall for this as the AI throws things back up again as fast as you take them down. The most evil thing Natty has is the AI Constructors... and the blatant, 'we don't worry about scrap' is in your face all the time...
This is not intended as criticism, nor should in any way make you change the 'Greenheart' maps. I love them, and the pre-placed defenses make for a different challenge than a GAIPS map. It wouldn't be the same if the AI tossed them all back up again, as then the maps would be pretty much unplayable.
Getting back to path points, the whole point of playing MPI is to get the AI as close to being a human player (without the attitude) as possible. Using staging and hold points is one way of doing this. A good commander won't just keep tossing units at you straight from his base, he'll mix and match and hit you from all over. I personally like the feel of a map with well-placed staging points as it makes the AI seem like a busy army out to destroy you.
-Av-
Agreed. I like how in G66 Iceberg how the AI will stage units out to the outer regions of the map behind your base and hit your base with a nicely coordinated pincer.
ZTV Death Ray has a Bomber Blocker that kills any aircraft sent towards the AI base. It also has boulders rolling down the hills, etc. Love it.
is G66 not included within pb3 anyway? if not does it work with it?
help wanted =]
G66 Version 2 works with 1.3, and is even more hellish. There are beta's of it around on the G66 board here I think.
Quote from: TheJamsh on December 28, 2007, 05:28:17 PM
is G66 not included within pb3 anyway?
Eh, g66 was never added to the 1.3 patch however g66 2.o was release seperatly. All the 1.3 public beta releases use the mpi stock dll & stock13 aip files. The public beta release do however contain some maps i've created that were orginally setup to be harder & last a lot longer. The GreenHeart type mpi maps were included in the public Betas since they caused alot more beta testing to take place & were fun to play. I'd really hate to see how hard those greenheart type mpi maps would get with the g66 mod.
i played it today... freakin awesome!
at first i thought it was AI improvement in all areas... including instant games.. apparently not...
the maps are good too
G66 is *very* dll based, and he only works on multi-dlls, so yea. :)
i am somewhat confused however, on the AIP selection screen, we have the "stock 1.3 DLL's" (this is in instant skirmish mode btw)
easy
standard
hard
extreme
insane
are THESE the G66 AIP's/DLL's for 1.3pb3?
Nope, none of them are related to G66 (as stated G66 is *very* dll based), just different AI's that members around here have themselves made.
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Download/install the zip in the G66 for 1.3 All-In-One thread in the PB3 board. It pulls in the right .CFG's and the G66 AIP's.