The Dawn of Skirmish WA Advanced AI Mod v1.9 is here!

Download Link1
Download Link2

**ATTENTION**
This is meant for Dawn of War WINTER ASSAULT 1.50 ONLY! No other versions will work as it will error out if you try to run on anything other than the expansion + v1.50 patch!

Meet the Cast:
Thudo (Thudmeizer)..>> Team Lead/Coder/Gfx/Bonafied Cheerleader
ArkhanTheBlack......>> Lead Coder/Scripter
LarkinVB............>> Lead Coder/Scripter/Beta Tester
Corsix..............>> Coder
Slash...............>> Beta Tester
FinalDeath..........>> Beta Tester
Zenoth..............>> Beta Tester
QuietDeath..........>> Beta Tester
JBird...............>> Beta Tester

Introduction
============
Prepare for a more enhanced Dawn Of War/Winter Assault Skirmish Experience!

This project started after the release of Dawn Of War with the intent to bring to the global DoW community a more intense and satisfying AI opponent on the field of war. We hope you will agree that has been achieved with the understanding more is to be done in the future. Our work continues to evolve and in the coming months will make current efforts pale in comparison. However, you have to start somewhere and hot damn what a jumpstart!

Its been a slice from start to, well, continuing! We're so looking forward to enhancing the AI even further in the coming months!


A Personal Thanks
=================
At this time I would like to personally thank all the participating members of the team:

ArkhanTheBlack, LarkinVB, Excedrin, and Corsix, as well as our beta testers, ThetaOrion, FinalDeath, and Zenoth (all who keep our work "in-perspective" and "on-track" with our ultimate goals of achieving the most competitive DoW AI opponent we can create!).

Its through your dedication, patience, and technical expertise that allowed the work to commence and prosper. Without you fellers, there'd be a pittence of work compared to the greatness this project has become. We've come a long way and do sincerely hope to continue our expert correspondance into the future of the product.


Disclaimer
==========
This is to acknowledge that we take no personal responsibility for any hardware damage or data corruption brought forth by the use or installation of this DoW modification. As used, this modification works "as is" and has been thoroughly tested and should not cause any major problems. In the event, however, that something serious does occur, it is up to the user(s) of their computer(s) to make appropriate backups before any attempt is made to install the following DoW modification. Use at your own risk.


Whats In The Package?
====================
o Main Installation Package containing the Enhanced DoW AI scripts (contains ONLY those .ai files that our team altered)
o Dawn Of Skirmish WA v1.9 README.txt (what your reading)
o *NEW* Doc folder containing information how to add your own faction to the AI project.

Installation
============
Piece of Cake! Run the executable and it will extract to where your <installed Dawn Of War folder> is.

Once installed, run the newly placed shortcut on your desktop "Dawn Of Skirmish WA v1.9" or from StartMenu/Programs/"Dawn Of War Skirmish AI Mod". You will know if the modification is running when on the top-left section of the Dawn Of War Main Menu it will display: Dawn Of Skirmish v1.9.

To uninstall this modification, go back to StartMenu/Programs/"Dawn Of War WA Skirmish AI Mod" and choose "Remove Dawn Of Skirmish AI Mod" to remove the modification from Dawn Of War.

Whats New?
==========

v1.9 Changes:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
o Better adjustment to patch v1.5 balance changes (More troops, slower teching)
o Fixed some performance problems with v1.8
o Improved attack, defend and harassing behaviour
o Fixed some attachment issues

Thanks to everyone on the team for you incredibly hard work getting this compatible with all the major balance changes in WinterAssault and thanks to you, the community, for your patience!

Now DAMN IT go get owned before DC arrives!!

Wah I come here almost everyday after 1.8 is released. Now I get 1.9. See whether I'll be owned by the hard ai. GOOD WORK!
Noticed something: the ai is not really good at fighting off tier 1 mass, especially tac mass, on small maps from 1v1 to 2v2. Is it possible to code in such a way that the ai knows what is the human player doing by getting his/her keyboard/mouse input, so that the ai can cope with early rush/tier 1 mass better?
Anyway the ai can dance like crazy. It's fun to watch scouts chasing after dark reapersxD

Edited by mnbvcxz3210, 17 August 2006 - 05:22 PM.

Shall i upload this to dowfiles?

Please send up to DoWFiles (they take forever to notice such blockbuster releases except when faction mods come out). :(

As for small 1vs1 maps + our AI.. err.. not a good combo always. No AI out there in PC RTS land will win 1vs1 in a small map against an average-to-pro player. Anyway.. the AIs should have enough units in Tier1 to fight you off.. not sure what ya mean? Guess it depends on many things...

Yes it's correct and it's alright. Since AI is better at managing resources and production than at battlefield fighting I guess? The skirmish AI is doing very well in larger maps.

Oh I mean the AI produces troops and upgrades according to what its human enemy is doing by getting his/her commands. For example the human player is massing heavy infantry, then the AI knows that ( hmm by what way? By getting the input from the mouse and keyboard? Anyway the AI can actually 'see' all players troops and buildings right? I don't know.), so it produces dark reapers ( suppose the ai is eldar). Something like that. Forgive me if it's not possible. I don't know much about coding AI.

Another point which may possibly be improved can be the build orders. Maybe there is a collection of teching/rushing/blah blah BOs. The AI randomly chooses one of them. Or is it already doing so? Correct me if I'm wrong.

Haha likely the answers to the questions above are just 'not possible' or 'too complicated', but well, see them as utopian wishes then.

Edited by mnbvcxz3210, 20 August 2006 - 03:02 AM.

1) AI produces and upgrades units based on what most common class the enemy has (enemy which is you). Works quite well actually. Its NOT perfect but hopefully in DC it'll be drastically improved with the help of Relic.

2) AI does not randomly choose build orders as we've set it to choose based on the enemy it faces and we have pre-determined BOs which are good counters against other races. Granted, its also NOT perfect but until AI can have as many lines of code as a human has neurons and synapses don't expect a god. Our AI devs try their absolute best to ensure you stay challenged within the confines of the logic and game engine (and its supremely better x10,000 compared to the vanilla offering).

Uploaded to Dowfiles.com!

You can view it here, http://dawnofwar.fil...sh_AI_Mod;68127

Thanks a ton SLASH!!

Oh ic. Thanks a lot. And yes it's A LOT better than the original vanilla offering.

no problem thud, just ask me if you need anything upload

-your friendly neighborhood Slash

The file at DoWfiles is corrupt only 22kB!

i belive you need the v1.8 AI to run it

i belive you need the v1.8 AI to run it

Definitely not! 1.9 has its own installer!

The 1.9 Installer is corrupt on DoWfiles since its only showing 22kb where it should be 300kb+. Slash.. can you quickly investigate?

Thud im so ashamed, im sorry. The file that was uploaded to dowfiles.com was incomplete (i have no clue why =/ )

here is the correct one....

http://dawnofwar.fil...sh_AI_Mod;68260

i hope everyone can forgive me....

Edited by Slash, 23 August 2006 - 01:30 AM.

Thanks bud.. no biggie.. all is forgiven!

Hey guys i'm new to this site but i saw it displayed on DOW.com. My username there is wackymarmot and i have been having some major issues with DowAI mod. I think some other people are getting the same problem so i thought i might bring it up with you guys. Everything works fine till you get about 1- 2 minutes into a skirmish. this is with any race, map or setting and what it does is it basicly boots you of the game to your main computer display page. I really really really want to play what i expect to be a great mod but the bug/problem dosn't let me. By the way this happened in 1.8, 1.9 and this new reviesed 1.9 when i tried to play it. ANy help or advise would be greatly appreciated. By the way i don't know scrap about modding so simple language would be helpful. Thx.
Wacky Marmot

http://forums.revora...showtopic=38452

Have you tried official maps which came with the game? 1vs1 games? Dropped all details and resolutions down to LOW to see if it makes a difference?

mmmmm. no i haven't i guess that could work let me try it out.

Whoa. that is really strange now the program isn't even using the auto renforce system. Everything worked fine for past 2 minutes so i think that i wasn't using DowAI even though i double checked to make sure i was. In the top left of the menu it said DowAi mod enabled so....whatever. The other thing is, does DowAI work with Hero's Mod? Anyways i am uploading the newest patch 1.51 on to my game, mabey that will make a diference. Other than that the only problem is that the game shows me as using Dow AI mod but i dont think i am because there is no auto reenforce, the strat posts are taking just as long to take, and the buildings are also being build just as fast as the original game.

Oh by the way i did try the original 1v1 map with low on everything and that is what i was talking about in the first paragraph...
Any sudjestions?
Wacky Marmot

Edited by wackymarmot, 23 August 2006 - 06:45 PM.