Elevator, Elevator is up or not ? Options

[sixcentgeorge]

Elevators are very stranges for bots , as they do not see them they go " in " so nobody can catch a place in . case*.bsp have some as others maps . the most awfull is to see them jumping from it ;[ as it has not reach the level .

[LordSkitch]

Hehe yeah, bots have a hard time navigating elevators... when I waypoint maps I'll do everything I can to get them to avoid the elevators all together.

[Sandman[SA]]

Yeah, I have a hard time with elevators too. I can get the bots to work them but at maybe a 25% sucess rate.

What I have found that works best so far is the make a kinda one way pathed triangle. 1 point on the lift, 1 off and 1 lift button point at the button.

[Cheeseh]

put at lift button waypoint at a point visible to the lift and the button (not necessarily right next to the button, only at a point near the lift and the button)

if there is the possibility of a bot falling down an elevator shaft because the lift isn't at the position it should be if the waypoint is in the middle of the elevator shaft, make it a "check for lift" waypoint

dont use "wait for lift" waypoints unless the lift moves on its own without the need for a button

[Sandman[SA]]

Where should the check for lift waypoint be?

[Cheeseh]

in the middle area of where the lift goes, and if there is at some point no lift there (if the lift is at another position at that point)

[Sandman[SA]]

Okay, I tryed that with my three point system. Standerd point ( off lift ) to "lift button" point to "check for lift" point, all one way path. If the lift goes up, the bot will never use the lift button. It just stands there and spins on the check for lift point. What am I doing wrong?

[Cheeseh]

Try making the check for lift waypoint connect to another check for lift waypoint (if not already done so) I forgot how I did most of the lift stuff now, maybe its time for a rewrite.

[Sandman[SA]]

I tried some experimentation last night with no check for lift points and then with 1 and then with 2. The results were almost exactly the same for when the lift goes up. They just spin there waiting for the lift to move. If you help them by making the lift move for them, then they are fine. For the most part, they stay on path untill they reach the next point. Being that it's strait up makes that part easy.

If the lift goes down, the story changes. The check for lift points seem to keep the bot on the lift but if you remove them, the bots will try to circle the loop again and catch the lift button on the 2nd loop. Kinda touchy here because if the lift is delayed long enough, the bots will try the loop a 3rd time and in most cases, wind up falling down the lift shaft. Or if they can't get off the lift in time before it drops, they usually tend to try and go back up but can't and end up trapped there.

If the bots could use the lift button waypoint on the first try and the check for lift waypoint would just make the bots stand still and wait 3 seconds, if they don't move, leave to try again. If they can't reach the next waypoint in 10 seconds, slay self. Then they would be less likely to get stuck and we waypointers could devise more predictable pathways to trick the bots into using the lift more effectively.

[Cheeseh]

sometimes bots determine if they are on a lift or not by checking if the path from bottom of the lift shaft to the top actually goes through the lift entity, and says that it needs to push the button if it isn't moving.

A more sophisticated means of lift waypoints may require a new waypoint format, say that allows attachment to an entity such as a lift. I've been contemplating the idea of a dynamic waypoint that moves along side entities such as trains and lifts, that would make it easier to determine when bots should enter / exit lifts, but the path finding becomes more difficult.