ME question

[frinik]

  Kyth I must say that I am impressed by the depth of your knowledge( I am sure I am not the only one!) of SF, of the ME and of the technical details that go into mission creation etc.Sometimes it feels like you created the game

I am awarding you a honorary Master's Degree in SteFulogy from the University of Kharkov for your extanksive knowledge and your outstanding contribution to our love and appreciation of this great sim and its intricacies! 8)

Jokes aside, you truly have an encyclopedic knowledge and if we had you writing both the editor and users manuals I think we wouldn't need this forum anymore....

[Kyth]

 

I hope everyone can follow this little discussion, it's not total gibberish,

[hemisent]

Kyth
  Thanks for the help. I've redone a few lines as you suggested and the units move as I want them to. The only problem remaining is that when my units actually park themselves in their 3 respective locations they all turn 180 deg opposite the directional arrow(away from the enemy). This I don't get. I'm going to try to reverse the arrow and see what happens.

  Also, I'm trying out Lockie's suggestion about the tank cfg file and the files all open in notepad but they're mostly gibberish. Any easy ways to make them readable you can suggest?

Cheers All
H

Update**
Tried changing the directional arrow-made no difference. The tanks parked in whichever direction they felt like.

[Kyth]

 

I hope you can show me the script and positions again.

If all else fails, send me the mission that you're creating and we'll see.

[hemisent]

Kyth
  Here's the scripts

   ext, ai_form, 2;
   ext, ai_setstate, 0, 0x4;
   ext, ai_setstate, 0, 0x1;
   ext, ai_move, road wp01, false, -1, 15;
   ext, ai_move, road wp02, false, -1, 15;
   ext, ai_move, road wp03, false, -1, 15;
   ext, ai_move, road wp04, false, -1, 15;
   ext, ai_move, road wp05, false, -1, 15;
   ext, ai_setstate, 0, 0;
   ext, ai_form, 0;
   ext, ai_setstate, 0, 0;
   ext, ai_move, path wp06, false, -1, 15;
   ext, ai_move, path wp07, false, -1, 15;
   ext, ai_move, path wp08, false, -1, 15;
   ext, ai_move, path wp09, false, -1, 15;
   ext, ai_move, path wp10, false, -1, 15;
   ext, ai_move, amb01, false, -1, 15;
   ext, ai_defence, hill, 15, 150;

After changing 1, in the actual game folder it stuck. Seems the changes to script file from the ME don't save all the time.

   ext, add_trench, 1, amb01, 1, 1, hill;
   ext, add_trench, 1, amb02, 1, 1, hill;
   ext, add_trench, 1, amb03, 1, 1, hill;

If you want the actual mission let me know.

Thanks again
H

[Kyth]

Try the following script and see if it works:

   ext, ai_form, 2;
   ext, ai_setstate, 0, 0x4;
   ext, ai_setstate, 0, 0x1;
   ext, ai_move, road wp01, false, -1, 15;
   ext, ai_move, road wp02, false, -1, 15;
   ext, ai_move, road wp03, false, -1, 15;
   ext, ai_move, road wp04, false, -1, 15;
   ext, ai_move, road wp05, false, -1, 15;
   ext, ai_setstate, 0x4, 0;
   ext, ai_setstate, 0x1, 0;
   ext, ai_form, 0;
   ext, ai_move, path wp06, false, -1, 15;
   ext, ai_move, path wp07, false, -1, 15;
   ext, ai_move, path wp08, false, -1, 15;
   ext, ai_move, path wp09, false, -1, 15;
   ext, ai_move, path wp10, false, -1, 15;
   ext, ai_defence, hill, 15, 150;

I hope you're learning something from all this,

[hemisent]

I hope you're learning something from all this,

Are you kidding? A week ago I couldn't figure how to make heads or tails out of this, now at least I think I have a shot at it. Couldn't have done it without you guys and all the assistance.

I plugged in your script file and ran the game-played out very well. The tanks continue to park in every direction but the intended one but other than that I'm a happy camper.

[lockie]

The tanks continue to park in every direction

I had the same problem, but managed to resolve it. U've to use Kyth's advice how to place technics at defense positions and MANUALLY adjust every contour position to the desired direction. Each time start the mission and see how tanks parks and again... and again... I was about to become crazy 
I've a mission vs SU-100 and u'll see an example, when it'll be released
But infantry still doesn't obey my wishes, they take ONLY ONE direction, which is not appropriate to my desire 

[hemisent]

Thanks Lockie
 Yes, it's driving me crazy. I've manually adjusted the directional arrows individually a number of times and the blasted tanks continue to have a mind of their own. In the real mission I suppose the player can order "do as I do" and they can be made to sort of re align themselves but there should be a way around this.
 
 Going to try out your suggestion to modify the tank cfg files to eliminate the bunching up. The files open up in that crazy code and just now I got that inupad program to work-a huge pain in the ass but...


Cheers!

[lockie]

Going to try out your suggestion to modify the tank cfg files to eliminate the bunching up. The files open up in that crazy code ...

Try to use a small program "Shtirlitz IV"

[Kyth]

I plugged in your script file and ran the game-played out very well. The tanks continue to park in every direction but the intended one but other than that I'm a happy camper.

Okay, I have one last idea to try:

Get the tanks in line formation for the final leg:

   ext, ai_form, 2;
   ext, ai_setstate, 0, 0x4;
   ext, ai_setstate, 0, 0x1;
   ext, ai_move, road wp01, false, -1, 15;
   ext, ai_move, road wp02, false, -1, 15;
   ext, ai_move, road wp03, false, -1, 15;
   ext, ai_move, road wp04, false, -1, 15;
   ext, ai_move, road wp05, false, -1, 15;
   ext, ai_setstate, 0x4, 0;
   ext, ai_setstate, 0x1, 0;
   ext, ai_form, 1;
   ext, ai_move, path wp06, false, -1, 15;
   ext, ai_move, path wp07, false, -1, 15;
   ext, ai_move, path wp08, false, -1, 15;
   ext, ai_move, path wp09, false, -1, 15;
   ext, ai_move, path wp10, false, -1, 15;
   ext, ai_defence, hill, 15, 150;

I find that the AI responds better in line formation for normal movement orders, except for river crossings, where it's better to have no formation.

If this doesn't work, please send me your mission files 

[hemisent]

Kyth
 Thanks for replying. Actually I thought of this already. I put them in line formation at the last waypoint and they go to their positions much easier now, however they still all turn roughly 90deg to the left of the directional arrow.

Lockie.
  I changed the values you recommended to 8.0 and it worked. Much less jamming up now.

Thanks all
H

[Kyth]

Kyth
 Thanks for replying. Actually I thought of this already. I put them in line formation at the last waypoint and they go to their positions much easier now, however they still all turn roughly 90deg to the left of the directional arrow.

Okay, this is much better  At least they're not facing backwards,

There's something in the AI that's a little hit or miss, 

[hemisent]

 Back to the problem with vehicle placement. Thinking/hoping that perhaps the problem was related to my(player)unit, I set up a single tank starting from a separate location and had it move to a single defensive position.The script was written for defense and there was no formation set. I set the directional arrow and ran the AI. Same thing happened, all my units point in a certain direction and now the single AI unit mirrors it.
 I then set up an enemy force hoping this would spur the AI into positioning itself in their direction...nope.
 Very odd. Will keep playing around with this.

Cheers all
H

[frinik]

 Hemi I remeber reading something about positioning of units in the Mission Editor manula page 35.So I decided to do a little test mission called simply Hemi

I created 2 German zones( the initial area and the defence position area) and one Sov one.I ascribed myself a player tank as observer and another AI tank who would fulfill the mission.I put abotu 8 Sov trucks as enemy group(just trucks so I could observe my AI tank without being shot at...).

I ascribed myAI tank a script consisting of 3 commands;1) movement to defined area, 2)defence position(don't forget to indicate defined zone and distance (I put 500 metres so the Ai does not wait too long to shoot at incoming enemy) and 3) sector.Apparently this command is supposed to ensure that your unit faces the right direction as it includes the rotate command. Itested and it worked.May have been fluke but why don't you try a dummy script like thta with more thna one unit and put some token enemy(give the enemy a dual command movement to the enemy defensive position and then the Mode of kovement command with the attack parameter.Try and see if it resolves your issue.As well you cna zoom in on the map and see your units while in the mission creation mode.There's a command thta allows you to launch the mission you just created and observe how the units move.It's useful to try.

Cheers!

[lockie]

... 3) sector.Apparently this command is supposed to ensure that your unit faces the right direction as it includes the rotate command. Itested and it worked.

it's interesting. As far as I know, command "sector" doesn't work, at least as my point. I'd be pleased to see er part of code vs mentioned command.

[hemisent]

Thanks Lockie
 I know it's something I'm not doing right or don't understand. I'll try to duplicate what you just did and report back. Could you maybe post your script file of this test?

Thanks
H

[frinik]

  Lockie,Hemi let me further testing with more units and with opposing units coming from a  different direction to see if it works like the first time(i.e friednly units face proper direction.Then I'll post the script.

[lockie]

Could you maybe post your script file of this test?

but I don't know how command "sector" works either
Perhaps, it's smth vs "sector fire".

[hemisent]

Could you maybe post your script file of this test?

but I don't know how command "sector" works either
Perhaps, it's smth vs "sector fire".

Perhaps the all knowing, magical, mystical Kyth might know