Trying to Get Bots Back on Track

[SPECTRE]

I'm working on a remake of HallofGiants, and i'm having trouble getting the bots out of the "airspace" above the tubes.

A tube consists of a ForcedDirVolume inside pushing in the Z...immediately followed by another ForcedDirVolume that keeps the player from going too high.

Getting bots into the tube was tough enough, but now that they're in....they won't leave. I've tried forced node paths, liftcenters & exits, and volumes that push. It seems that the AI wants to direct themselves (as they do have some air control) back to the center of the top of the tube. Thus...they bounce infinitely.
The only thing that kind of worked was JumpPads.....but those defeat the purpose of the gravity tubes.

I have made a somewhat functional version of HallofGiants for UT2K4, but Epic continues to strip things out of the engine that would be beneficial to this map.

EDIT: I really miss the bot console command that allowed the designer the ability to see what the bots were thinking. As well as the realtime path-connecting line from one target to the next.
I think they're just losing their path up in the air.


I'm open to suggestions.

Thanks!

[ambershee]

Is it not possible to place some kind of bot path in the air and ignore any warnings it throws?

[Làámßø]

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A tube consists of a ForcedDirVolume inside pushing in the Z...immediately followed by another ForcedDirVolume that keeps the player from going too high.

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I'm open to suggestions.

Thanks!

Did you try on the 2nd ForcedDirVolume to push in the X/Y direction (meaning, out in the direction you want them to go)?

I'm assuming that you were forcing back down on stopping them from going to high?

[Nawrot]

that command is: "showdebug" in spectator, then select bot you want to spy on.

I also noticed that Epic made bots "smarter" in wrong way, they try to take shortcuts (and calculate wrong distance) then jump to death or just below stairs.

With those gravity tubes (i undestand you mean those above flags) you can do one trick: add 4 volumes (or more) that split area over into sections, and add in each some gentle force to push players and bots out of it. Like 250 force up from gravity tube, and somewhere above it, 4 volumes that put players to sides from area above with force of 5-10. So players can count it but bots will fall off.

Or maybe kismet + toggle volume that pushes them out of area.

[ambershee]

You could probably create a volume to do that that only affects bots, which would be even better.

[SPECTRE]

Is it not possible to place some kind of bot path in the air and ignore any warnings it throws?

Already tried it. Thanks though.

Did you try on the 2nd ForcedDirVolume to push in the X/Y direction (meaning, out in the direction you want them to go)?

I'm assuming that you were forcing back down on stopping them from going to high?

Yes and yes. Imagine a bot being shot out of a canon at an angle, and then navigating back to the opening of the canon. It's weird...but they can do it because of the air control in low grav.

that command is: "showdebug" in spectator, then select bot you want to spy on.

I also noticed that Epic made bots "smarter" in wrong way, they try to take shortcuts (and calculate wrong distance) then jump to death or just below stairs.

With those gravity tubes (i undestand you mean those above flags) you can do one trick: add 4 volumes (or more) that split area over into sections, and add in each some gentle force to push players and bots out of it. Like 250 force up from gravity tube, and somewhere above it, 4 volumes that put players to sides from area above with force of 5-10. So players can count it but bots will fall off.

Or maybe kismet + toggle volume that pushes them out of area.

Showdebug is exactly what I needed. For some reason I couldn't find that listed anywhere.
The bots will actually pull off some amazing longer jumps but then screw up the simple shorter ones.
The volume tricks won't help without proper navigation. As I mentioned earlier...they have almost complete air control.

You could probably create a volume to do that that only affects bots, which would be even better.

I looked into that but couldn't find a setting specifically for the bots. If there was such a thing...I would be extremely happy. I had a tough time getting them in to the vertical tubes...and so far i've settled for a forceddir on bots and players. Even though the players had the option to press jump.

Thanks everybody for the ideas.....keep em coming.

[ambershee]

You'd have to create a little bit of code; sublcass the ForceDir volume, and look at where it applies the force, then add a little check in to see if it's a bot or a player.