Map's Navigation Network aka Bot Support - basics
Posted: Sat Feb 09, 2019 10:31 am
Here I think I will start with the beginning, I will not start from the middle as other tutorials are written.
I have a simple cubed map - I'm a beginner, I have PlayerStart as I read somewhere but I see Bots not very moving, how do I do map for making Bots to roam around ?
The basic knowledge: Bot is a roamer having as main goals (hard-coded inside internal script) Inventories with a more or less dynamic desire. Team-Games have some deal here with another Bot Code but that's another chapter.
In order to see Bot Moving and collecting items (weapons, armors, ammo, etc.) these must have paths linking them through some points used as references where Pawn can reach and even camp on them - not on walls or stupid vertical pipes. These points have to be placed where Bots should move without hitting walls or flying to reach at their location - yes, gravity is another factor in account. Editor by default will build paths based on a ground unit not a flier unit. Other U227 stuff and XC_Engine can do various stunts, but here we speak about basics in order to learn them. Bot is a pawn which is running and walking and... swimming when map uses water-zones.
Basic element for those referenced way-points which are part of an entire road is PathNode by default - others might have various different purposes. This Actor is pointing the sequences of a whole road split in small pieces. Each piece of the road is limited by such two nodes in a straight line.
Other docs might specify that Nodes have to be visible each-other and placed at decent distances ( the mostly around 500-800 UU except tiny spots ). The problem of this "visible" stories is causing confusions at random. It's not about visibility it's about MOVEMENT WITHOUT HITTING WALLS in order to reach at that point using current LOCOMOTION based on movement PHYSICS required for that location. Pawn running and walking will not reach at a point over his head or twice bigger than pawn, must reach in the center of Node - Even if this is well VISIBLE, it is not always reachable. In a Teleporter case and certain Lift cases definitely points are not so visible each-other or they are not even a bit visible, so you can forget this visibility myth running for 18-19 Years - it's just BULLSHIT from those who never wrote any new Navigation stuff, simple as that - to not forget ramps problems which will be described here.
Based on the same "visibility" joke as a main "Do not do this" samples are people adding multiple nodes in spot making sure about visibility. This is completely wrong causing processing errors when network is build (AS-Guardia as a stock plonk). When engine decides that Pawn can move to a nearby NavigationPoint, doesn't matter if pawn can see it or not. If pawn is guided to that node (because can move to the node's location), other nodes added in spot are an useless nonsense, Engine computes movement capabilities having nothing with "CanSee()","LineOfSight()" and all that "EYE" dummy stuff.
Use your brain and just think if Pawn can reach where you want before moving nodes manually based on "I guess" and/or "let me see this" plonk type habits.
After this INTRO type I will quote some original doc copied from Epic which later removed this information for some brain-fart of them, even if people are still playing UT99 and making maps/mods for it...
I have a simple cubed map - I'm a beginner, I have PlayerStart as I read somewhere but I see Bots not very moving, how do I do map for making Bots to roam around ?
The basic knowledge: Bot is a roamer having as main goals (hard-coded inside internal script) Inventories with a more or less dynamic desire. Team-Games have some deal here with another Bot Code but that's another chapter.
In order to see Bot Moving and collecting items (weapons, armors, ammo, etc.) these must have paths linking them through some points used as references where Pawn can reach and even camp on them - not on walls or stupid vertical pipes. These points have to be placed where Bots should move without hitting walls or flying to reach at their location - yes, gravity is another factor in account. Editor by default will build paths based on a ground unit not a flier unit. Other U227 stuff and XC_Engine can do various stunts, but here we speak about basics in order to learn them. Bot is a pawn which is running and walking and... swimming when map uses water-zones.
Basic element for those referenced way-points which are part of an entire road is PathNode by default - others might have various different purposes. This Actor is pointing the sequences of a whole road split in small pieces. Each piece of the road is limited by such two nodes in a straight line.
Other docs might specify that Nodes have to be visible each-other and placed at decent distances ( the mostly around 500-800 UU except tiny spots ). The problem of this "visible" stories is causing confusions at random. It's not about visibility it's about MOVEMENT WITHOUT HITTING WALLS in order to reach at that point using current LOCOMOTION based on movement PHYSICS required for that location. Pawn running and walking will not reach at a point over his head or twice bigger than pawn, must reach in the center of Node - Even if this is well VISIBLE, it is not always reachable. In a Teleporter case and certain Lift cases definitely points are not so visible each-other or they are not even a bit visible, so you can forget this visibility myth running for 18-19 Years - it's just BULLSHIT from those who never wrote any new Navigation stuff, simple as that - to not forget ramps problems which will be described here.
Based on the same "visibility" joke as a main "Do not do this" samples are people adding multiple nodes in spot making sure about visibility. This is completely wrong causing processing errors when network is build (AS-Guardia as a stock plonk). When engine decides that Pawn can move to a nearby NavigationPoint, doesn't matter if pawn can see it or not. If pawn is guided to that node (because can move to the node's location), other nodes added in spot are an useless nonsense, Engine computes movement capabilities having nothing with "CanSee()","LineOfSight()" and all that "EYE" dummy stuff.
Use your brain and just think if Pawn can reach where you want before moving nodes manually based on "I guess" and/or "let me see this" plonk type habits.
After this INTRO type I will quote some original doc copied from Epic which later removed this information for some brain-fart of them, even if people are still playing UT99 and making maps/mods for it...