Help with waypointing. Options

[The HHH]

So,I am capable of waypointing with Rcbot2 but I saw that RCBot 1 is a bit different,Can someone help me out a bit with what waypoint flags do,and help me with getting bots to do multiple Objectives in one map,E.G. Open door,Proceed through,Then use a Lever and then exit.

I am talking about Sven-Co-Op BTW.

[madmax2]

Hi The_HHH,

We can always use more waypointers, please feel free to share your waypoints here... btw, what map(s) are you working on?

This is way to long, but here ya go....

As for waypointing door buttons, normal wpts nearby will often work, but sometimes it won't work well. Bots sometimes have problems seeing or recognizing the buttons. Some doors don't need a wpt on the button, bots will see it or look for it, if the door doesn't open for them automaticly, after bumping into it. (ex. the eye scanner buttons in royals1, it takes one bot & a player to do it, but there is no wpt directly on either eye scanner. There are a few doors in the activist series that don't have wpts directly on the buttons, one is near the end of activist1.)

Generally, what I do with door buttons, is first try a normal wpt, if that doesn't work well, I may try a red "lift button" wpt (it helps on some door buttons), then objective last. The thing with objective wpts, is you can have to many, so try to only use them where they are needed most. Ideally, objective wpts go at the end of the level, or end of the section of the map, or on a goal/action to be done. If the map is linear in its construction, multiple objective wpts can work well, by making a one way path just beyond the objective wpt (such as thru a door), so bots won't back track to it again and will move towards the next objective wpt.

Remember, bots can't see objective wpts behind opens later wpts that are blocked by an object or a door, until that obstruction is removed. Most simple doors should not need an opens later wpt, they eat cpu/memory, and to many may not be a good thing? I may of used as many as 10 in one map, but usually less. I usually use them for major events that open or close doors/obstructions. this can be triggered by a door button, but the door may be in another room or part of the map. I usually only use them for major event triggers, which could be killing off all the enemies in a room, then a door opens automaticlly someplace in the map. The opens later wpt on the other side of the door is a new path available to the bots which should lead to another objective wpt in the next section , somewhere.

In a non-linear map, where bots have to visit the same area more than once, or where the map has some sort of central hub design to go out to different sections of the map, and those areas don't get closed off by some event. it can be difficult to prevent the bots from returning to completed sections when using multiple objective wpts... They can get into a looping thing on those kind of maps. On a couple maps i waypointed, i used increasing numbers of objective wpts to get the bots to go to the next section & not loop back to a finished one so much, it sorta works, but didn't eliminate the looping completely. It's kinda a hacky method, so use minimal objective wpts if possible.

As I build a rcw, I add & remove objective wpts to test what I have done so far, but many get removed before I finalize & release the rcw. I try to use them for major goals only, in each section of a map, but you may need to use them on an occasional problem door, too.

On some buttons, bots just won't press them unless you noclip either a normal or objective wpt into the button, i usually aim the path right into the button. For the most problem buttons this method has worked every time but once or twice, I couldn't get bots to press the lift button in activist2. It seems some buttons are different & require different methods. near the end of activist2, there are some machinery buttons that bots would not press reliably. what worked best and well, was an objective wpt against the button connected to a normal wpt that was noclipped into the button. in some cases you may need to force a one way path thru the noclipped wpt.

If you want to see examples of some problem buttons & what I did to fix it, take a look at some of my waypoints on these maps:

for noclipped lift button wpts - infested 1 or 2 , activist 1

other problem buttons - machinery buttons at end of activist2, the doors in richard_boderman

There are 3 types of lift wpts, the red lift button wpt is the one most used. the white "wait for lift" wpt, is for lifts or movers without buttons. I finally found a use for it with the horizontal movers in crystal2, and the lifts in crystal1.

I should say, its fun (or frustrating ) trying to get the bots to do everything in a map, i have fallen into that trap many times. Sometimes it's just better to leave some things for the player to do in sven, the player may have more fun too.

I hope this helps, and let us know how its going...

max