Work In progress (WIP) #9

[carneboy]

similar to Cephas, yesterday with about 12 bots in fy_aztec.. 2 bots would immediatley die on spawn... and a couple would spawn in the ground.. it was quite strange

fy_aztec i think has a max of 12 player spawn points, so if 2 people and 12bots are on then 1 on each side will be killed and placed in hover.

[carneboy]

that would explain it... so perhaps realbot should have logic to detect spawn points?

[stefanhendriks]

carneboy, thats not a bad idea at all! some "auto-detection to prevent bots being killed due limited spawnpoints" feature.. phew

Originally Posted by stefanhendriks

okay people, i have seen a lot of 'help how to get rb working' posts, and a lot of 'sollutions'. But i am also looking for suggestions on improvements. Gimme gimme gimme

IMPROVEMENT REQUEST:

My server can only support 8 public clients so i run 8 bots and the rest of the slots are availabe. so i wish that there was a command that would allow the admin to set the minimum number of bots at 8 for instance but when there are no people on the server it would add say 6 more bots, and then drop bots as each successive player joins until number of bots hits 8 again, (so that there is always 1 public slot availabe until 8x8 ballance is reached.) this is sort of equivalent to the min command that was available in previous releases. I am Convinced that dedicated server admins really need this kind of command, because this would help keep the server filled, they just dont know it yet

[wrck]

1. fix the bug that causes the bots to run backwards

2. make the bots take a diffrent routes more

3. bots should move back when they are getting damaged badly

4. follow commands such as "follow me"

5. hear & see enemies before attacking (if you have not done that already)

6. they should be more cautious when they see their teammate dies or see a dead body on the ground (that would be kinda hard to do huh..)

7. they should know how many enemies and teammates ther are when fighting. ex: if the bot was fighting alone and spots several enemys he should run back and call for back up, but if his teammates were with him then he will attack.

8. Make bots indentify what kind of gun the enemy has. so if the bot has a sniper the bot will try to avoid him unless he knows he can kill him.\

9. when bots plant the bomb they should move

well thats about it for now.

[ElGranKemao]

Originally Posted by wrck

1. fix the bug that causes the bots to run backwards

[...]

3. bots should move back when they are getting damaged badly

4. follow commands such as "follow me"

[...]

7. they should know how many enemies and teammates ther are when fighting. ex: if the bot was fighting alone and spots several enemys he should run back and call for back up, but if his teammates were with him then he will attack.

[...]

well thats about it for now.

I agree with these, the other ones seem to me rather difficult and not enough important yet (they can be worked on when more pressing bugs are fixed)

[dead bwoy]

The BIGGEST problems for my server right now are:
-the limited spawnpoint thingy
-bots fire guns that are out of ammo
-better "realbot internet" system
-running backwards
-bot chat (so they can use my fun plugins)
-bombsite/hostage issues

[ParkerLewis]

Since it seems the "what-to-do-next" thread is here now, i made a copy of a post in another thread (wich i have to admit wasn't very adapted)

Here's a "to do" list

First, let's begin with the obvious-and-asked-for-everytime ones :

1-Re-adding hearing code

2-I like very, very strong bots. I only play with bots on skills 2 or better (usually 1). I find them quite balanced, not being weak, and still easy enough to defeat. But the one thing that i have to admit may be annoying is their ability to one-headshot-kill you in a what-seems-to-be-one-frame time while you were completely out of their previous line of sight. Don't misunderstand me : they do a lot of headshots, and the more the better. They react quickly, and the faster the better (well maybe not like a god ). But maybe they should just have a little offset when they turn very quickly like every human does (well, at least a human using a mouse) if that's not already the case. I think that could be the best way to solve this without weakening them. And i would finally permanently remove those skill 2 bots from my games

3-Additional "stuck check" that would inspect info from the last 7-8 seconds : sometimes a bot is stuck (for example trying to jump over a box), he tries and tries, then moves a little - you can tell he's trying to unstuck - but not enough so he's still in front of the box, and then he returns to its previous stuck place, and tries to jump again, and so on. The "additional stuck check" could force him to move 5 meters in a random direction if he stayed in the same let's say 1 meter*1 meter location for the last 7-8 seconds although he was trying to move away.

4-Grenade code

5-Taking EVERY hostage, or at least the ones who are in a less-than-10-second-of-running radius; plus not "stealing" them from another player ("Is it not free anymore? argh" )


Now for the less obvious ones :

6-Not only hearing, but also seeing bullet impacts appearing on the walls around him should make the bot search for an enemy.

7-Smarter buy checks : they often buy weapons they already have (m4a1, ak47, ...). Plus always make sure the weapon they're going to buy is actually better than the one they're holding (who buys an mp5 when he's got an ak/m4??). This could also ensure they have more money thus preventing them to have to fight with some stupid gun when everyone else has 3000$+ weapons... Actually, they should NEVER drop a 2000$+ weapon, unless of course they find a better one, or have at least enough money for them to be sure to be able to buy a third one next round if they happen to die in this one (~8000$+).
Another point, but that may be difficult to implement, would be to make them buy different kind of weapons depending on the map. This would be a very general approach, and maybe the experience files just already tell them what kind of weapons they should buy. But it feels strange seeing them buying shotguns on very large and open maps...

8-Almost same thing but for dropped weapons. Make sure that when a bot has some cheap primary weapon and sees a dropped better one, he takes it EVERYTIME! Even if that makes him change his path... actually he could also afford some little patch change for other dropped equipments such as a defuse kit.

9-Walking the map + snipe. NEVER walk the map with the zoom on. They do it very often. The next step, but here again that may be quite difficult, would be to make them "know" when they're going through those places where it could be wiser to switch for the small gun.

10-Find places to hide after planting bomb. They could be defined from the nearby places where a human player has gone, stopped and waited right after planting it. On the opposite, they should make a check of those places before ingenuously trying to defuse the bomb.

11-Being aware of time. When hurt, and only few seconds are left, maybe it's wise to just hide and wait. Especially in such cases when it's one against many more. In an other way, if they realize it's too late to plant the bomb, they could focus on finding and beating the enemy before timeout if terrorist, and being more careful if ct.

12-Walking instead of running is a very important thing at times... would be awesome if they could master this. A case where it would be simple to implement it would be when they suspect (by hearing, or seeing) some enemy to be next room without this enemy knowing about the bot's presence.

Well, i think that's it Maybe other ideas will pop up sooner or later, i'll edit the post if it happens. Hope to see them all done for the next official release

EDIT :

13-Bots should shoot in bursts of 2 to 4 bullets (especially high skilled ones). They seem to keep shooting until opponent dies (or they lack bullets). This would make them dramatically better on long-range situations. Actually, they do it, but they should wait just a little bit between the burts (maybe something like a third or a half of a second more)

14-Bots shoot enemies even when there's a hostage between 9_9 Maybe they also do it when a friend is between (don't really know that since i play with FF off)

- internet mode stuff is a must
- grenade code would be nice
- bots planting and perhaps moving around more within say 500 units of the bomb would be nice but I dont see it as a critical need.
- Some of the unstuck additions mentioned, alot of progress has been made here but one more pass couldn't hurt.

- alot of these other suggestions are good, but I dont really feel are needed, I mean.. they are bots not humans, if some features can be added great, but some of what has been mentioned requires some complicated code and will contribute to code bloat and perhaps introduce new hard to find bugs. I'd much rather have realbot stable as hell with the few nips and tucks mentioned then an entirely human like player who malfunctions from time to time.

..just my 2cents worth.