A3EAI - Roaming/Vehicle AI Patrols - Discontinued

[kludgeDev]

What is A3EAI:

 

A3EAI is a general-purpose AI addon designed specifically around A3 Epoch and its unique features, built from a heavily modified version of DZAI 2.2.1. "A3EAI" simply stands for "ArmA 3 Epoch AI". For users of DZAI, you'll know exactly what to expect from A3EAI.

 

A3EAI Features:

 

1. Automatically-generated static AI spawns: A3EAI will spawn an AI group at various named locations on the map if players are nearby.

2. Dynamic AI spawns: A3EAI will create ambient threat for each player by periodically spawning AI to create unexpected ambush encounters. These AI may occasionally seek out and hunt a player.
3. Random AI spawns: A3EAI will create spawns that are randomly placed around the map and are periodically relocated. These spawns are preferentially created in named locations, but may be also created anywhere in the world.
4. Air and land vehicle AI: AI patrol in vehicles around the map, looking for players to hunt down. Cars and trucks may roam the road, and helicopters (or jets) search the skies for players. Helicopters with available cargo space may also occasionally deploy an AI group by parachute. Dynamic AI may also sometimes summon an air vehicle to their location for support.
5. Custom AI spawns: Users may also define custom infantry and vehicle AI spawns at specified locations.
6. Adaptive classname system: A3EAI reads Epoch's loot tables to find items that AI can use, such as weapons and equipment. Users may also choose to manually specify classnames to use instead.
7. Error-checking ability: A3EAI checks config files for errors upon startup. If errors are found, A3EAI will use backup settings and continue operating as normal.
8. Classname verification: A3EAI filters out invalid or banned classnames and prevents them from being used by AI.
9. Universal map support: A3EAI supports any and every map for Arma 3 without changing any settings.
10. Plug-and-play installation: Installing and upgrading A3EAI is a simple copy and paste job and does not require modifying any Epoch files.
11. Easy configuration: A single configuration file contains all settings for A3EAI. This config file is external to the A3EAI pbo, so configuration changes can be made without ever having to unpack or repack the pbo file.

 

What's new about A3EAI:

 

A3EAI is intended to be a near-total redesign of DZAI in terms of how the three major AI spawning systems (Static, Dynamic, and Random) work together. In DZAI, the 3 systems worked mostly in isolation: Static AI was for cities and towns, dynamic was for everywhere else, and random was just... random.

 

A3EAI seeks to change things up by using "zero-configuration heterogenous spawning system" that lets all three major spawning systems to work together as one. Instead of having manual static spawn definitions for each city, town, etc, A3EAI will place a single spawn area at each city/town/etc directly. The upgraded dynamic and random AI spawning systems will fill in the gaps by spawning AI wherever necessary. AI group sizes, skill levels, and to a certain extent, loadouts, will be assigned to suit the location - small villages will have the lowest level AI, with larger cities having tougher AI. "Remote" areas such as factories and military bases will have the highest difficulty AI.

 

To put it simply, many changes have been made to A3EAI that I simply can't list here. You will have to see for yourself when it is released.

 

Where to download A3EAI:

 

Download at: https://github.com/dayzai/A3EAI

 

 

How to install A3EAI:

 

A3EAI install instructions are located in the download package as well as the A3EAI Wikia site: http://a3eai.wikia.com/wiki/A3EAI_Installation.

 

A3EAI is currently in alpha testing phase:

 

Because this is an alpha release, many significant changes are to be expected, so I would like to kindly ask users to hold off on feature requests and focus on looking out for bugs and design-related issues. I will always consider all feature requests but designing and implementing them takes time.

 

 

where to change units?

[Liqu1dShadow]

this would be perfect if you could put in an array and only have static AI at locations you decide.

 

Basically I want air and land patrols and then at locations I chose to have AI, (on check points and military locations) I neeeeeeeeeeeeeeeed this lol

[Face]

The goal of A3EAI is for minimum necessary configuration to produce maximum results, so that it's impossible to f*ck up (theoretically).

 

I'm sure some other addon developer will develop (or has already developed) something similar with more focus on manual configuration instead. However this is not my goal (unfortunately) since in my experience, the more highly configurable something is, the more easy it is to mess something up, and more difficult to diagnose and fix. And no matter how configurable something is, people will always want more, to the point where it's pointless to use a script package that someone else wrote, and where it's better to just write something yourself to suit your own needs.

 

The reason why I say that the only way 100% satisfaction can be achieved is if people write and use their own addons is that when you're using something that someone else wrote, you're basically letting the addon writer decide what's appropriate and what's not for the addon. If you're a more hands-on type of person and want things to be done your way, then make use of the scripting language that is available.

 

That said, I will definitely be looking for ways to add more configurability where it makes sense as A3EAI is further developed. As new features are added, I tend to keep them simple and limited-configuration at first so it's easier to limit the edge cases that cause people problems.

 

And to all questions about "where to configure", there is only one configuration file with A3EAI. I suggest looking in there.

[Liqu1dShadow]

I love it, its a good script and I use it. its the only bit my players ask for lol,

 

I get "would be nice to fight AI into these military camps Liqu1d" all the time, there are scripts to do it but I like this as its easy :)

[cyncrwler]

Good morning Face,

 

I was wondering if there is somewhere in A3EAI files I could possibly remove the AI's ability to spawn with a nightstalker scope? 

 

Thanks!

[Face]

What's wrong with the nightstalker scope? Right now my policy on scopes is: don't like a scope - disable all scopes. Thermals will be disabled in the upcoming update.

[cyncrwler]

Oh nothing is wrong with the scope at all. I have just enabled the ability for players to be able to craft one, so I have removed the nightstalkers from all other missions, and caches on the server to encourage them to be crafted more. I have no problem with you leaving them, I just wondered if there was an easy way for me to temp disable.

[Face]

I'll be looking into using the Epoch scope loot tables as a sort of whitelist of usable scopes, as well as a manual definition option in case users want to unlink A3EAI scope data from the Epoch loot tables.

[cyncrwler]

Thanks for the information, Face. :)

[Onaabys]

See alot of ppl ask about to only have AI at a certain spot on map. You know you have the Editor tool included in A3AI where you can make your own custom spawns locs for both infantry and vehicles spawn. It works really great! Use it on all my custom AI spawns!

 

I dont use Dynamic spawns on A3AI only the Town/Capitol spawn, land vehicles patrol (works really great), static AI at my own bandit camps. I even use A3AI to spawn AI at helicrashes (check this post) to http://epochmod.com/forum/index.php?/user/16619-second-coming/).

 

Face still have made the best AI addon for an Arma game! :)

[Liqu1dShadow]

See alot of ppl ask about to only have AI at a certain spot on map. You know you have the Editor tool included in A3AI where you can make your own custom spawns locs for both infantry and vehicles spawn. It works really great! Use it on all my custom AI spawns!

 

I dont use Dynamic spawns on A3AI only the Town/Capitol spawn, land vehicles patrol (works really great), static AI at my own bandit camps. I even use A3AI to spawn AI at helicrashes (check this post) to http://epochmod.com/forum/index.php?/user/16619-second-coming/).

 

Face still have made the best AI addon for an Arma game! :)

 

do you have an example of your static spawn so I can work out how to make mine? (don't worry, I don't want to copy it :) )

[Onaabys]

Yep i have, i dont mind if you copy it. :)

 

This is one i use for Green mountain! Have added a basic lvl 0 A3AI to spawn at it of 3 ais!  paste this ones in my A3EAI_custom_defs.sqf (in the @epochhive folder). You need to set this one to true in the A3EAI_config.sqf for it to work: A3EAI_loadCustomFile = true

 

One hint on my server i have added some more buildings to loot at Green mountain! Have some military tents and small green barracks.

 

"GrnMnt" is the name i use for it.

This part is the loc [3702.79,5992.34,0.00143433]

,100 (is the radius for the to roam)

,3 (number of AIs)

,0 (lvl or rank on the AIs)

,true (means they respawn, false mean the dont respawn)

,2700 (respawn timer, 45 mins)

call A3EAI_createCustomInfantryQueue; (the basic end call for them to spawn)

//Green Mountain
["GrnMnt",[3702.79,5992.34,0.00143433],100,3,0,true,2700] call A3EAI_createCustomInfantryQueue;

You have the included in the A3AI map a Editor tool, check the install guide and you can load mission to make spawn points for both ground units and vehicles, even blacklist areas etc! If u use M3Editor it work with your own made town etc. So you can load it in and make your spawn points for AIs!

 

I love to make things with the 3D editor (m3editor now, even have old A2 bandit camps converted to A3), so tommorow when im abit more sober i can post one of my own made bandits camps. And can post the A3AI custom spawn for it to.

 

I actually havent tried out the Vehicles custom spawn for A3AI, but have tried the DZAI custom vehicle spawn and it worked great both for ground vehicle and planes!

 

More info about this you can find on the A3AI github at this location: https://github.com/dayzai/A3EAI/tree/master/3.%20Editor%20Tool

[Hospitalised]

Ive installed this as per the instruction, my game client runs fine but i can see any of the AI, how can you tell if the script has spawned them / installed correctly, i dont get any errors. also my ingame admin menu doesnt show them on the see AI feature. ive used the standard install??

[Face]

@Hospitalised: Enable debug level 1 in your A3EAI_config.sqf and A3EAI will log all AI spawning actions into your RPT log, you can see if it's working that way. The ingame AI marker doesn't seem to ever work for AI, even antagonist AI spawned by Epoch.

[prue420]

Sorry if this has been asked a lot or I am just blind but I cant find instructions on how to set up the headless client in this whole forum, any chance someone could help and again sorry i tried to look for the last 2 hrs and cant find a thing.

[Face]

I've been working on something else for A3EAI so I haven't had a chance to write the guide for HC. If you already have an HC set up (guides are available on the forums as well as Google), then all you need to do is install the provided .bikey, @A3EAI addon folder, and run your HC with the @A3EAI parameter, just like you would install any other @ addon.

[Tobias Solem]

I am not sure that I'm completely certain this is true, but I think I see a problem with the scaling (in terms of amount of players) of A3EAI. I get the impression that for example if I set the amount of roaming AI to a maximum of 10, and that if the roaming AI respawn to a new location if they do not encounter players; this means that on an almost empty server, the very few players that are online will be encountering AI over and over and over and over ad infinitum, ad nauseam. This can be balanced to an extent by limiting the number of times the AI spawn.

 

But if the server population rises, the same amount of AI and their respawn rate might mean that only a few people encounters AI at all. 

 

It's just a perspective I've gotten since our server has been mostly empty or very sparsely populated the past few weeks. When spectating players playing somewhat alone, they're bombarded by endless hordes of AI until they give up, because they keep dying to the AI, and then simply quit. 

 

On the other hand, when there's a decent amount of players online, it's somewhat better balanced, because the spawning AI are spread out over the larger population, which means there's more "quiet time" for each player group. 

 

 

And if I reduce the amount of AI, and their chances and spawn rates it will lead to the AI not being there for (too) long.

 

 

 

If I can suggest something, then I would want to factor player amount on the server into the calculation of probability and amount of AI somehow.

[second_coming]

I am not sure that I'm completely certain this is true, but I think I see a problem with the scaling (in terms of amount of players) of A3EAI. I get the impression that for example if I set the amount of roaming AI to a maximum of 10, and that if the roaming AI respawn to a new location if they do not encounter players; this means that on an almost empty server, the very few players that are online will be encountering AI over and over and over and over ad infinitum, ad nauseam. This can be balanced to an extent by limiting the number of times the AI spawn.

 

But if the server population rises, the same amount of AI and their respawn rate might mean that only a few people encounters AI at all. 

 

It's just a perspective I've gotten since our server has been mostly empty or very sparsely populated the past few weeks. When spectating players playing somewhat alone, they're bombarded by endless hordes of AI until they give up, because they keep dying to the AI, and then simply quit. 

 

On the other hand, when there's a decent amount of players online, it's somewhat better balanced, because the spawning AI are spread out over the larger population, which means there's more "quiet time" for each player group. 

 

 

And if I reduce the amount of AI, and their chances and spawn rates it will lead to the AI not being there for (too) long.

 

 

 

If I can suggest something, then I would want to factor player amount on the server into the calculation of probability and amount of AI somehow.

 

I think it's best to remove the random spawns and limit the dynamic spawns but then add A3EAI controlled AI to things like helicrashes/crate spawns/capture points.

 

That way people don't end up getting overwhelmed by AI when base building/running in the open but still have a strong AI presence whenever they go to places of interest regardless of the number of players on the server.

[DanVonTrap]

This is how i have my dynamic AI setup

 

/* Shared AI Unit Settings. These settings affect all AI spawned unless noted otherwise.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------*/

 

//(Static/Dynamic/Random Spawns) minAI: Minimum number of units. addAI: maximum number of additional units. unitLevel: Unit level (0-3)

A3EAI_minAI_village = 2; //1

A3EAI_addAI_village = 1; //1

A3EAI_unitLevel_village = 0; //0

A3EAI_spawnChance_village = 0.30; //0.30

 

//(Static/Dynamic/Random Spawns) minAI: Minimum number of units. addAI: maximum number of additional units. unitLevel: Unit level (0-3)

A3EAI_minAI_city = 2; //1

A3EAI_addAI_city = 2; //2

A3EAI_unitLevel_city = 1; //1

A3EAI_spawnChance_city = 0.50; //0.50

 

//(Static/Dynamic/Random Spawns) minAI: Minimum number of units. addAI: maximum number of additional units. unitLevel: Unit level (0-3)

A3EAI_minAI_capitalCity = 5; //2

A3EAI_addAI_capitalCity = 5; //1

A3EAI_unitLevel_capitalCity = 2; //1

A3EAI_spawnChance_capitalCity = 0.90; //0.60

 

//(Static/Dynamic/Random Spawns) minAI: Minimum number of units. addAI: maximum number of additional units. unitLevel: Unit level (0-3)

A3EAI_minAI_remoteArea = 2; //1

A3EAI_addAI_remoteArea = 2; //1

A3EAI_unitLevel_remoteArea = 1; //2

A3EAI_spawnChance_remoteArea = 0.50; //0.70

 

//(Dynamic/Random Spawns) minAI: Minimum number of units. addAI: maximum number of additional units. unitLevel: Unit level (0-3)

A3EAI_minAI_wilderness = 0; //1

A3EAI_addAI_wilderness = 0; //2

A3EAI_unitLevel_wilderness = 0; //1

A3EAI_spawnChance_wilderness = 0.40; //0.40

 

//(For dynamic and random spawns only) Defines amount of time to wait in seconds until cleaning up temporary blacklist area after dynamic/random spawn is deactivated (Default: 1200)

A3EAI_tempBlacklistTime = 1200;

 

//If enabled, AI group will attempt to track down player responsible for killing a group member. (Default: true)

A3EAI_findKiller = true;

 

//If normal probability check for spawning NVGs fails, then give AI temporary NVGs during night hours. Temporary NVGs are unlootable and will be removed at death (Default: false).

A3EAI_tempNVGs = true;

 

//Minimum AI unit level requirement to use underslung grenade launchers. Set to -1 to disable completely. (Default: 1)

A3EAI_GLRequirement = 0;

 

//Minimum AI unit level requirement to use launcher weapons. Set to -1 to disable completely. (Default: -1)

A3EAI_launcherLevelReq = -1;

 

//List of launcher-type weapons that AI can use.

A3EAI_launcherTypes = ["launch_NLAW_F","launch_RPG32_F"];

 

//Maximum number of launcher weapons allowed per group (Default: 1)

A3EAI_launchersPerGroup = 1;

 

//Enable or disable AI self-healing. Level 0 AI cannot self-heal. (Default: true).

A3EAI_enableHealing = true;

 

Then i have 15 box truck of 5 AI roaming around the map along with 3 heli of 10 para drops but with the heli drop you wont always get the drops and the players seem to do well and dont complain. We get the odd rage quiet but you always will

 

And what @second_coming said remove random spawns keep them to towns citys and what ever custom location you may have setup.

[DanVonTrap]

I've been working on something else for A3EAI so I haven't had a chance to write the guide for HC. If you already have an HC set up (guides are available on the forums as well as Google), then all you need to do is install the provided .bikey, @A3EAI addon folder, and run your HC with the @A3EAI parameter, just like you would install any other @ addon.

 

ohhhh working on something for A3AI anything big or just tweaks?

[Face]

@Tobias Solem: Scaling spawn probabilities based on player count is definitely on the table for the next release (0.6.0). The way I plan on implementing it, it will be a configurable spawn probability multiplier based on the number of players online. For example, if a Level 1 area has a spawn probability of 0.70, it can be cut down to 0.35 when only 1 player is online, and scales upwards to 0.70 once 50+ players are online (example numbers). If people want inverse scaling (less AI probability for more players online) that should be possible too. Note that this scaling probability will only apply to the following AI types: static (non-custom), dynamic, random, since all other spawn types are not based on probability.

 

@DanVonTrap: I'm reworking the helicopter reinforcement system so it's completely independent of the mapwide patrols. All AI types will be eligible to call for reinforcements if a group member is killed (no effect for solo units), and users will be able to pick and choose what AI types can summon. Normally this wouldn't be a difficult feature to develop, but with A3EAI's headless client support, my workload is essentially tripled for every major feature, since I have to ensure it works in all situations: on dedicated only, on HC only, swap-compatible between dedicated and HC. So that is why it's taking some time for 0.6.0 to be out.

[DanVonTrap]

Hi face got a small issue or it probably isn't an issue just an oversight from me. I set up a custom spawn point for a load of AI and vehicles to spawn in kavala for a server event which worked amazing and the guys loved it. I left it on and went to bed when i got up the next day the guys said that the trucks in this case the offroad with the .50 cal was seen roaming the map. I said maybe they were pathing after someone but i then saw they were patrolling over by chakia which is on the other side of the map.

 

I would like to mention we do use roaming patrols but those are box trucks any input what it could be or if anyone else has had the same thing happen to them.

[Face]

@DanVonTrap: I don't personally use the custom spawns, so hopefully if there are others who've encountered this same issue can give some input if there any. All custom spawns use the same patrol procedure as the standard static spawns, so if there is indeed an issue with the patrolling, the same problem should appear with all these AI types.

[numitv]

hey no matter what i do i cant get AI Air vehicle patrols or AI Land vehicle patrols to work i have no idea what's going on was working great until patch 

[rmbcbv]

thanks, this a3eai works well,but how can i add more ai respwan?tell  me please.