57 replies to this topic

[thudo]

Larkin - this one is for you.

Yea I know WTF bother with it since WA is coming out in 1-2 weeks but since Excedrin posted the error message in BuildBaseStrategy.ai I decided to check it out.

Installed v1.40 and went to work..

First..

Buildbasestrategy.ai

I noticed in function BuildBaseStrategy:CalculateEffectivenessDemand( enemy_id )

That it errored out in line(s):

local self_eff = self.player_stats:GetEffectivenessRating( class )
local enemy_class_rating = enemy_stats:GetTotalClassRating( class )

Then I looked at what Relic did and their line(s) was:

local self_eff = self.player_stats:GetTotalEffectivenessRating( class )
local class_rating = enemy_stats:GetTotalClassRating( class )

See the difference?

Also under function BuildBaseStrategy:CalculateClassDemand( enemy_id )

local enemy_eff = enemy_stats:GetEffectivenessRating( class )

I substituted:

local enemy_eff = enemy_stats:GetTotalEffectivenessRating( class )

See the trend? Yeaa I know this is an F**ing hack job but if it gets any closer to figuring out what the hell is going on then cool..

Also under function BuildBaseStrategy:CalculateDemand( unit_id, unit_stats )

effectiveness_demand = unit_stats:GetAverageEffectiveness( majority_class )

became:

effectiveness_demand = unit_stats:GetEffectivenessRating( majority_class )

and..

self:GetEffectivenessDemand( class )*unit_stats:GetAverageEffectiveness( class )

became:

self:GetEffectivenessDemand( class )*unit_stats:GetEffectivenessRating( class )

Also was then peachy as the above error occured when the commander unit came out..

Now.. when the first squads came out I got an error I had LOTS of experience with like Larkin in regards to SquadAI shiet. When the squads tried to run the reinforce logic it died. So..

For every script that had:

if self.squad_ai:CanReinforce( use_leader) then
self.squad_ai:DoReinforce( use_leader )
elseif not only_leader then
use_leader = false
if self.squad_ai:CanReinforce( use_leader ) then
self.squad_ai:DoReinforce( use_leader )

or whatever had "CanReinforce" I substituted a new vaiable Relic started using:

if self.squad_ai:CanReinforce( true, 0 ) then
self.squad_ai:DoReinforce( true, 0 )
elseif not only_leader then
use_leader = false
if self.squad_ai:CanReinforce( false, 0 ) then
self.squad_ai:DoReinforce( false, 0 )

See it? Yep...

I've now had 3 complete games WITH NO "AI Execution Errors" and the Eldar AI is as happy as ever using all of Larkin's FoF and HardCounter scripts to get WS/DRs out. All working.

Now.. I'm sure they're is work to do but FUCK ME ITS WORKING AT LEAST ! ! !

I had to say something as it was bothering me from this morning and I needed to test it. So its working now. Dunno how much but at least I got you part of the way.

Let me and I'll send it up - no promises on AI Execution Crashes BUT the games I had were like the old times using Larkin's wicked arse scripts. That was my biggest concerns: would Larkin, Flenser's, and Corsix's custom work all initiate correctly? Seems so far but more testing is needed.

Okay.. let me know.. going on a hotair balloon ride early in the morning my time..

So... Relic -> 0.5 AI Team -> FUCK YA ! ! ! ! !! !

TuD.

[thudo]

Oh and one more dumb thing:

Relic has now rated all units in DoW that the AI can use with a very simple integer "1-10". Since I haven't done that when you load our AI under v1.40 if you pull the console down you'll see why. So the "rating = " line must be between "rating = 0" (builders) to "rating = 10" (uber units)

Currently, I have seen no issue with it as it stand but we'll likely have to fall in line at some point and see what that does.

[thudo]

Update:

Just a massive 3vs3 HARDER all mixed factions on our huge test map - NO ERRORS WHATSOEVER. No crashes either!

Larkin - yer clear baby! Took me a total of 10mins to fix the AI but I need yer loving surgetical code-genius brain to figure out any minor details. It looks good. Not perfect but it works!

Things I notice about v1.40:

1) At main menu where the clickable words (CAMPAIGN, SKIRMISH, etc etc) there is no drapped banner like there normally is. Seems the whole screen is strangely shifted.

2) All SMs have their eyes as RED instead of Green/Yellow. Gawd it looks dumb having Red eyes with red armour! Ugh!

3) Mod Manager is super fast switching between mods!

4) Larkin's AI trick (delete HQ, hit Switch Player, go and restart, AI is in control) does not work in v1.40

5) Noticed many new animations for units and FC's Orbital Bombardment actually shows the massive new recticle before it fires down! Very cool!

6) Body decals remaining on ground is INSANE! So cool knowing a big battle took place here BUT vehicles don't leave damaged parts. Ugh..

7) We missed a NobzTactic.ai designation in cpu_manager.ai so Nobz were never getting proper tactic configs from us - how'd we miss that! hehehe

Okay.. I'm putting up v1.4b1 on the site for the testers and our coders (Larkin/Flenser/Corsix) to scrutenize for v1.40. I'm very happy with it BUT I need extensive testing.

Is it semi up to par over our v1.3 on v1.30?

C ya everyone - going Ballooning in 5 hours.. Nite..

Edited by thudo, 10 September 2005 - 04:29 AM.

[LarkinVB]

Good job Thudo. I spotted both problems too but thought there was more and stopped looking. Seems you found what broke the code. Now we just have to fix other small incompatibilities. I'm currently merging with by latest build. Will send it to you and Oozish when finished.

[oozish]

very nice, I'm going to check it out now!

[oozish]

Deadmans crossing...no problems at all, no errors, and a great game to boot! I noticed I don't see any warping of the Ork dok/boss anymore, did anything change with that because he used to teleport all the time around me, behind me, etc. and I always thought that was really cool--something you don't see in the vanilla dow at all.

Anyway, back on topic, looks like the patch works great!

[LarkinVB]

I saw him teleporting in other AI v AI games so basically he still does.

[oozish]

ok, i'll keep on the lookout then..

[Malkor]

Don't suppose I could be a beta tester and try this with the new patch...? ^^

[thudo]

Thanks everyone and Larkin for cleaning up my mess.

Just got back from HotAir Ballooning..

So yep WE DODGED A BULLET for sure - imagine if upon bypassing the first Demand code changes that the game then crashed to desktop!?!?! Exactly.. Wouldn't have been pretty. This was a huge deal as then we'd be totally screwed as where to look for the major code break?

Beta testers - PLEASE update to v1.40 and SCRUTENIZE the new build. Now that I'm back from my 2000foot balloon excursion I will be putting Larkin's build up and playtest it.

I want this build to go out ASAP to synch it up with v1.40 of the game-code prior to the expansion. Please try and have fun with it and note how it compares to the same AI under v1.30?

Malkor - since we're down to 2 betatesters I believe we could always have another tester as long as yer willing to put in some playtesting time and enjoy reporting back in a semi-detailed manner. We love hearing battlereports from the front! Send me a PM with your email and we can hook you up. I've seen you around before on these forums..

Thanks everyone once more. So glade we got this working a day after v1.40. Still.. we we're lucky. It could have been bad. I so didn't want 6-8 months to go down the tubes... All of us have put in much too many good hours getting this baby to sing the way it should.

Edited by thudo, 10 September 2005 - 11:22 PM.

[Hostile]

Thudo and company, you all are trully driven by forces from the nether. Yikes, nice work people.

[thudo]

Wow! Thanks Hostile.. Nice to hear from other leaders in other game mods. How is BfmE modding going? Excited over BfmE2 being annouced 2 months back? Thanks for stopping by... I take it yer playing DoW as well and now looking forward to the massive new expansion coming in 1-1.5 weeks from now?!?!

[oozish]

Well, I"ve been trying to beat the orks on deadmans crossing on INSANE and I have had my ass handed to me every which way I try. I guess I'm just not good enough to beat those bastards on insane! It's frightening actually, they literally were held off (1st wave) and I thought I might have a chance, but by then the second wave simply washed over my shore up into my base and there were 2 tracks, 1 wartrukk, and a *^*^load of troops....

insane = too tough 4 me. Going back to harder where I"ll feel like a bad@ss.

[thudo]

More battlereports! heheheh. Usually I gauge success from how HARDER plays as INSANE gets a good resource bonus (at least it did under v1.30 game-code as I'm hearing v1.40 vanilla AI INSANE is actually easier than STANDARD.. WTF ?!?!?!?!?)..

I might bring in two more beta testers as I love hearing "Stories of AI glory or burning defeat".

[oozish]

aha! I got'em. AFter much thinking about how to do this and after a few days tries, I finally found this strat that really worked well. You simply can't let them get their resources equal or better than you on insane......this seemed easy, but it's the strat as I failed time and time again before playing this game:

http://www.flypictur...one&id=pNj0mqo=

Thud...take a look, fast forward through the boring parts.

Sm vs Ork on INSANE latest skirmish patch and 1.4 DOW

Edited by oozish, 11 September 2005 - 04:26 PM.

[Malkor]

Thudo> You've been PM'd.

[Malkor]

Whelp, my first gogo. I had a 2v2 on Saint's Square on Harder with conditions Annihilate.

I noticed that they were very easy to outproduce and outgun early game (notice how big of an army I had while being lazy comparable to my ally when the first enemy went down), so I gave the remaining opponent (Orks) a chance to build up. They actually put up quite a big fight considering we were both tier3 by the time we came knocking on their door, though I let my ally do the majority of the fighting.

In conclusion, Persistent bodies and decals with tihs AI mod is absolutely beautiful.

Other comments include - Why did the workers keep running into people's defenses? Both the enemy and my ally had a habit of suiciding their workers...

If possible there should be some kind of threat detection system so they don't throw their heroes or single squads into impossible odds.

edit: I just tried a 4v4 and at about 20-30 mins in I got a crash to desktop.

Attached Files

•  4P_SAINTS_SQUARE.2005_09_11.20_15_01.rar   163.02KB   3 downloads

Edited by Malkor, 12 September 2005 - 03:32 AM.

[thudo]

I want to welcome Malkor to the betateam.. You, Oozish and Excedrin will have a fun time chatting on beta experiences especially as we move into WA territory.

I'll have to check your replay but your out-producing an enemy team is strange. Normally the enemy AI team kicks serious ass as its the AI allied with a human that has issues. Further, the AI should have had a major rush on you and your ally.

Btw, the AI sending builders out to get "apparently suicide" is due to the AI trying to build something out in the battlefield. We don't know how to correct that like trying to correct why AI allied with humans don't build up fast like on an AI-only team. Perhaps fixed in WA? We don't know..

Edited by thudo, 12 September 2005 - 03:24 AM.

[Malkor]

Why in hell would an allied CPU build slower than an enemy one...? Relic needs to get off the anti-freeze

And if you missed my edit... a 4v4 20-30 mins in resulted in a crash to desktop. All races but Chaos were present.

Edit: Played an hour long FFA. I lost, but it didn't crash.

edit II: Played another FFA. Got about 30 mins, then it crashed again.

Edited by Malkor, 12 September 2005 - 06:07 AM.

[LarkinVB]

Welcome Malkor. Please add your crashlog. "It crashed" isn't very helpfull. Please also name your replays by the version number you are playing like v1.4b3 or something. Any relations between the crashes ? I also got one while watching the AI but it only happened whole scrolling the map and doesn't seem to be AI related according to the crashlog.

I watched your replay and all were producing as desired. Your ally showed a good performance and wasn't behind in production. For me it's still a myth that allies are hampered by some code.

The first enemy just had bad luck being attacked by you and you ally.
I saw some stupid single squad attacks though. Will have to check that.
Builders have stupid tendencies getting killed. I'm also looking into that.

Edited by LarkinVB, 12 September 2005 - 06:38 AM.