Small spawn flag problem

[the bindlestiff]

The forward Allied spawn area in "the lighthouse" is a small hut on pilings in the middle of a waterway. The flag is inside the building which has one open doorway. There is much Allied traffic passing by the hut. After the flag is captured, every time a bot goes by he insists upon going into the hut and bumping the flag. It's as if he doesn't recognize that the flag has already been captured.

I've checked and rechecked that the node and action located at the spawn flag have the correct entity number (Team_Wolf_checkpoint), node flag (4), and action task number (16). Is this another map problem or have I overlooked something? I don't remember seeing it in other maps I have played -- once the flag is up, the bots should ignore it, I think.

Another related problem is due to the very narrow walkways that encircle the hut. Even after forcing the bots to walk instead of run and very carefully placing the path nodes and reducing their radii, about 40% of the bots do their pogo bouncing, wind up in the water and have to spend time swimming back to the ladder near the hut. Many times they will make several round trips before making it to dry land (it was 80% before my fine-tuning). This leaves the Allies with fewer bots at the scene of the battle. Is there any way to control this behavior?

[CrapShoot]

My guess is that it's another map bug. Given that the explosive actions weren't done correctly.

Maybe you can try deactivating the flag action once it's grabbed. If they still try and grab it, then I suppose that's a gurantee that the flag is bugged within the map.

[the bindlestiff]

Originally Posted by CrapShoot

My guess is that it's another map bug. Given that the explosive actions weren't done correctly.

Maybe you can try deactivating the flag action once it's grabbed. If they still try and grab it, then I suppose that's a gurantee that the flag is bugged within the map.

I added this to the script (looks a little weird, turning itself off):
action 2
{
if_fda_owner_allies 2
deactivateAction 2
}
It had no effect on the bot behavior. But I don't think the script worked -- I tested it by beginning as an Allied player and grabbing the flag. Then I switched to an Axis player and hit the flag again. If the script had deactivated the flag action, the flag should have stayed up, but it didn't.

To avoid having the action turn itself off, I put the deactivateAction command in one of the dynamite action scripts. Then I did as before, except I blew the dynamite before going back as an Axis. The flag came down again.

So it seems that the flag cannot be turned off and it probably is the map causing the difficulty.

[the bindlestiff]

The repeated efforts by the bots to raise an already-raised spawn flag is really affecting the game play in my map. When several bots respawn at once in the small enclosed hut with the spawn flag, they all try to hit it at the same time, resulting in a lot of jumping around as they try to avoid each other and hit the flag pole. Much time is wasted doing this, and it carries over as they bounce out of the door and into the water. If a bot spawns alone, he'll hit the flag and then safely exit walking as dictated by my "walk" nodes in the area.

The f0x has told me that this happens on his map as well. His CP flags are in open areas and his bots don't spawn near them so it doesn't affect him as much.

Can this be investigated to verify that this is not a Fritzbot bug? If it is, then it can be fixed. If it is the map, then I'll just have to live with it.

[Maleficus]

Don't forget that you prolly have a node near that flag that has the flags entity number, and the node itself is flagged as a "flag node". This would explain why the bots still try to bump into it even if you deactivate the action, because they keep thinking theres a flag near that node, and if the flag really is screwed up (which it sounds like it is), you'll need to clear that nodes flag too in the script.

Or just dont have the bots use the flag at all.

This can also serve as a general caveat for future custom map support: theres a lot of them out there I like, that just aren't good bot maps, because the map itself is buggy/poorly made, or they have really funky/weird architecture/traps/etc.

I've found I like ET much better for this, because the maps were made (at least originally) with bots in mind, and have been a lot easier to code for and support in Fritz ET (which is where all of my work and efforts are going to anymore).

[the bindlestiff]

Originally Posted by Maleficus

Don't forget that you prolly have a node near that flag that has the flags entity number, and the node itself is flagged as a "flag node". This would explain why the bots still try to bump into it even if you deactivate the action, because they keep thinking theres a flag near that node, and if the flag really is screwed up (which it sounds like it is), you'll need to clear that nodes flag too in the script.

Now, why didn't I think of that! I reset the node flag to zero in the script and also deactivated the action as in my post #3, above. They still continued to kiss the flag, so I'm not quite sure if deactivating an action from within the same action is legal. But I finally nailed it by also disconnecting the final node from the path. The bots behave nicely now!

Thanks for another great tip, Mal!

One other small abberation that I've noticed after watching this spawn area so many times is that sometimes a bot will spawn and then just stand there doing nothing. The only thing that gets them to move is being shot at. Happens to both teams, all classes. Normally I'd say that they have no goal but that isn't the case. There are roams and camps, and for the engineers, dynamite to plant. Is there anything I can do about that?

[Maleficus]

Its legal to deactivate an action from within its action test.

[the bindlestiff]

Some more observations about the stuck spawning bots mentioned in my post #6: it seems to happen in just the forward spawn area. This area is used by the Axis at the start of the game and then by the Allies when they raise the spawn flag. Both Axis and Allied bots are affected, any class. Usually it's one bot, but I have seen two. They don't get stuck in the same place each time, either.

They may be invisible to the other bots because I've seen an Axis bot stuck in place when the Allies come to raise the flag and they don't shoot at him as he stands there in plain view right in front of them. I've seen a stuck bot get shot at, react, and get stuck again. And I've seen a stuck bot react, move, and another bot move into his place and get stuck himself. When I'm playing the map and respawn, I usually find a stuck bot next to me -- a round to his foot sets him on his way.

I've got a good set of nodes to lead them out of the area round the spwan flag, even more so than in the other spawning areas. The stuck bots stand well within the radii of the path nodes, so they can't be lost. I get no error messages about the bots having "no valid goals." And if they do move when shot at, they run right off into action normally. For small teams it means losing a player for most of the game. I have no idea how to fix this.

[the bindlestiff]

I was wrong about the stuck bots being invisible. I witnessed a case today where three Axis bots were stuck at the spawning room when an Allied bot ran in to raise the flag and he wasted no time in gunning them down.

Another game dragged on and on because the Allies were outnumbered due to two of their seven-man team being stuck and out of action

[Maleficus]

Sorry haven't been of much help, but have been very busy with ET (hope to have a announcement in a few days for ET).

I'm thinking that you have the nodes setup in such a way that even when they realize they're stuck, the closest node is on the other side of the flag, and they can't find a way out of the corner.

Take a look at Destruction and how I dealt with flags there: a path node should NEVER be on the opposite side of a flag, but rather on the side of it (make the nodes radius large enough so it encompasses the flag). I really believe that if you play around with node placement in the spawn room, your problem will be solved.

Look thru all the problem areas, and ALWAYS make sure that for any spot that might get the bots stuck, you have a close, visible, open node so that they can get out of the spot thats holding them up, and back on the path.

Thats what they do when they realize they're stuck: look for the closest, visible node, and move towards it to get back on the path. Also play around with the node radius value - you may have them too large, or too small (anything less than 15 can be a problem, unless its a walk/ladder node).

Unless there is something seriously screwed up with the map, theres no reason why the path layout can't be modified to path around any obstacles.

Cheers!