reported Path Finding Broken (2.7) (track attached)

[darkman222]

CA units still stop for no reason. Sometimes going off the street even stops tanks. If you'd add a new path for them to follow, they start moving for a minute then stop again.

The path is shown correctly with the yellow line though.

Edited June 8, 2021 by darkman222

[Shadow KT]

19 hours ago, darkman222 said:

CA units still stop for no reason. Sometimes going off the street even stops tanks. If you'd add a new path for them to follow, they start moving for a minute then stop again.

The path is shown correctly with the yellow line though.

 

Move the speed slider to 0 and back to speed. Don't overspeed the slider. 

 

 

[IdefixRC]

Can confirm the bug in multiplayer. units either move for a bit then stop or go off-road suddenly even though path was set on road earlier.
In essence any AI controlled movement of more than 1 city block is currently not possible (unlike in 2.6 where it worked fine before).
In addition I had a hard time adding green path markers on very wide roads (turned red all the time). Maybe the issue is related.

 

Thanks for investigating this as this is a key element of our server (Ai airbases are resupplied through AI convoys which are now all stuck at the origin warehouse)

[Volator]

On 6/23/2021 at 1:32 PM, IdefixRC said:

In addition I had a hard time adding green path markers on very wide roads (turned red all the time). Maybe the issue is related.

You have to hit the middle of the road more or less precisely.

 

[inexus]

Talk about bad path finding... I keep seeing this again and again. I wonder if it is specific to the Syria map. 

It didn't use to be like this... 

[Callsign112]

On 11/4/2021 at 4:12 AM, inexus said:

Talk about bad path finding... I keep seeing this again and again. I wonder if it is specific to the Syria map. 

It didn't use to be like this... 

Unfortunately i don't have the Syria map yet, but I am really interested to know what you did to get that result. Can you tell me which unit is using those way points? I am guessing that you have Combined Arms and that your screen shot is taken while the mission is running. Is this what you see when you press the "show all routes" button at the top of the screen? It looks like you have multiple way points set, what type are they?

[Ignition]

On 4/21/2021 at 2:26 AM, key_stroked said:

 

I don't expect non-column formations to follow on a road. That wouldn't be very logical obviously. But currently in 2.7, changing their formation is only one of two ways (that I've found) to get them moving again.
 

If you select a group and give them a road waypoint (green icon), the yellow dashed line pathing will appear, but very frequently the group won't move. Their speed is set at a default of about half the speed bar, but they'll just sit there while you watch the yellow dashed line start to disappear, starting at the units, and continue to shrink towards the waypoint set. You have to drag their speed slider bar to 0, and then back to a desired speed to get them to move and the yellow dashed line to once again emanate from the lead vehicle in the group.

The second way to get them moving is changing their formation type, but upon doing that, they'll go offroad, really fast at first, before slowing down because they hit every single object they can. Often driving offroad is faster than driving on the road in a column formation.

Units will also sometimes stop at bridges and remain there until you do the speed slider bar workaround, or change their formation to a non-column formation. Of course doing that makes them cross the river by going through the river, and as I said in the OP, if they're already beyond the river and you switch them back to the default column formation, they will drive back through the river to get to the road and then cross the bridge.

I attached the mission I used. It's just an empty Caucasus map with the three unit groups I outlined in the OP. I slotted into the tactical commander slot and issued them waypoints and reported the observed behavior that was supposed to be in the track file I provided.

CA Testing.miz 8.3 kB · 18 downloads

 

 

This is still happening. Its impossible to use Combined Arms.

They get stuck, sometimes if you change formation they start moving and then they stop again. I attached a screenshot were I couldn't move 1 group and then all the following groups got also got stuck for ever, I couldn't move anyone.

The pathfinding is really REALLY bad, impossible to use Combined Arms.

[NineLine]

Need to add track and mission if you are going to add new reports so we can test and see if its the same issue as reported, thanks.

[Ignition]

1 hour ago, NineLine said:

Need to add track and mission if you are going to add new reports so we can test and see if its the same issue as reported, thanks.

Did some tests and it worked fine now in singleplayer.

But yesterday was horrible. I don't know if its related to the ammount of ground units (around 150-200), long waypoints + multiplayer. It was running on a dedicated server.

They got stuck all the time, if I gave the order to move when I was inside a unit, they sometimes reacted as with changing formation, but sometimes the got there forever.

If it happens again I'll try to upload a track.

Edited November 7, 2021 by Ignition

[Callsign112]

I was finally able to get a row of infantry and a row of moving vehicles to pass a row of parked vehicles. Before 2.7., I was able to do this with a lot less fuss. The only way I could get it to work now was by placing the parked vehicles closer together, and the last truck nearly off the road to coax the infantry to stay on the road and not go the wrong way around. TBH, the row of moving vehicles don't always follow their path though, but sometimes wonder off into the field. 

 

Edited November 10, 2021 by Callsign112

[Sapper31]

This is still turbo-broke. It is game breaking on multiplayer servers - if pathfinding goes off road in any appreciable capacity it becomes so laggy and desynced the server becomes unplayable with lag and freezing units.

 

 

[NeMoGas]

Yeah it's pretty terrible. The number of hoops you must jump through just to use CA in MP is crazy. Then even when you do all the things, and check all the boxes, your units still like to depart the road 15 miles down the rout, cross 3 forests and ford 2 rivers before getting back to the road. Of course the whole time the unit is in motion even 15 miles away from described adventure above the server is melting down until someone finds the "bad" waypoint and corrects it.

This basically makes having a combined arms simulation where aircraft support ground assets in a real time dynamically changing battle near impossible at times. This really should be at the top of EDs list of things to do as it is core to basically any realistic war scenario.

This is the reason most servers don't allow the use of CA and instead have fields of static nicely arranged tanks for players to plink from 10 miles away. A pretty boring and frankly easy thing to do after a while.

[Sapper31]

28 minutes ago, NeMoGas said:

Yeah it's pretty terrible. The number of hoops you must jump through just to use CA in MP is crazy. Then even when you do all the things, and check all the boxes, your units still like to depart the road 15 miles down the rout, cross 3 forests and ford 2 rivers before getting back to the road. Of course the whole time the unit is in motion even 15 miles away from described adventure above the server is melting down until someone finds the "bad" waypoint and corrects it.

This basically makes having a combined arms simulation where aircraft support ground assets in a real time dynamically changing battle near impossible at times. This really should be at the top of EDs list of things to do as it is core to basically any realistic war scenario.

This is the reason most servers don't allow the use of CA and instead have fields of static nicely arranged tanks for players to plink from 10 miles away. A pretty boring and frankly easy thing to do after a while.

Yeah agreed. This is a major hurdle ED needs to clear. It's Digital Combat Simulator, not Digital Flight Simulator. As more and more helicopters are released (looking at you Apache) that live and breath organically alongside ground forces in the low level environment - CA will need to become more relevant to make an immersive battlefield experience and controlling/moving those units as a scenario unfolds is key to making the experience more than just a static target range.

CA needs additional work/features but in its current state this pathfinding issue is killing otherwise fantastic multiplayer servers that incentivize players to purchase modules -  especially helos, terrains, & CA.  I have purchased several modules specifically because of servers like Rotorheads and DDCS where creating and commanding ground units is core to game play - then I can support those units airborne with CAS/Rotary. Those same servers have been rendered unplayable by ground unit movement which isnt even that egregious (tank moving 2 km across open field).

 

Please ED, bump this up the priority list. 

[JackCooper]

Yup. unplayable module for almost a year. Nice. Can we put this topic right next to "Buy" button at main screen of CA? How can that happend to released module? Ok, at least you can cover yourself with Early Access of Supercarrier, that is also abandoned (slowly worked on, it is on EA at the end of the day  ) but this one is a way far released, but why not supported module? Own this for a while and almost want my money back.

[Swooperduper]

This is so ridiculous. This abysmal path finding destroys the DDCS server.  This server is a dynamic campaign that relies equally upon dynamically spawned ground forces and player initiated CAS.  The current pathfinding procedure is mind-boggling complex and shouldn't be this way. 
Currently we have to:

1. Set a Red Waypoint next to a road
2. Set a Green Waypoint on a road
3. Set our destination Waypoint
    a. Optional (Set secondary RED waypoint) But not through a town or dense forested terrain.
4. Set the speed slider to "0."
5. Reset the speed slider to a speed that is not greater than the unit can travel.

This is the process that has to followed each and every time we wish to set a unit on it's way. It is horribly unfair to the individuals that have purchased combined arms.  If you do not follow the aforementioned procedure exactly, you will see the yellow dashed pathing line start to seperate from the unit's path.  When the yellow dashed line reaches the waypoint even if the unit has not reached the waypoint the unit will stop somewhere between it's starting point and intended point. If you do not follow the aforementioned procedure, the unit will attempt to path offroad causing massive amounts of server lag and end up destroying a 35 to 40 person play session's quality.

Edited November 1, 2022 by Swooperduper

[Soviet Kitty]

+1 to all that has been said.

Add to that the fact it's unplayable in VR. The sights aren't aligned. If you try and zoom in you get a big black screen. Etc. CA is supposed to be off early access, I paid 40€ for a module I can only use a third of. Give CA and core mechanics more love, we don't care about pilot 3D models.

[Callsign112]

On 2/27/2022 at 4:54 PM, Swooperduper said:

This is so ridiculous. This abysmal path finding destroys the DDCS server.  This server is a dynamic campaign that relies equally upon dynamically spawned ground forces and player initiated CAS.  The current pathfinding procedure is mind-boggling complex and shouldn't be this way. 
Currently we have to:

1. Set a Red Waypoint next to a road
2. Set a Green Waypoint on a road
3. Set our destination Waypoint
    a. Optional (Set secondary RED waypoint) But not through a town or dense forested terrain.
4. Set the speed slider to "0."
5. Reset the speed slider to a speed that is not greater than the unit can travel.

This is the process that has to followed each and every time we wish to set a unit on it's way. It is horribly unfair to the individuals that have purchased combined arms.  If you do not follow the aforementioned procedure exactly, you will see the yellow dashed pathing line start to seperate from the unit's path.  When the yellow dashed line reaches the waypoint even if the unit has not reached the waypoint the unit will stop somewhere between it's starting point and intended point. If you do not follow the aforementioned procedure, the unit will attempt to path offroad causing massive amounts of server lag and end up destroying a 35 to 40 person play session's quality. PLEASE FOR ALL THAT IS GOOD IN THIS WORLD GIVE SOME DAMN LOVE TO FIXING COMBINED ARMS PATHING!

 

On 2/27/2022 at 5:33 PM, Soviet Kitty said:

+1 to all that has been said.

Add to that the fact it's unplayable in VR. The sights aren't aligned. If you try and zoom in you get a big black screen. Etc. CA is supposed to be off early access, I paid 40€ for a module I can only use a third of. Give CA and core mechanics more love, we don't care about pilot 3D models.

I really enjoy using CA in Single Player mode, but I certainly understand the pain you guys are feeling in MP. I wonder why there is such a difference between SP and MP game play? The most obvious thing would be something to do with memory/system resources, and hopefully what ever the issue is, it will get resolved with the upcoming core engine updates. 

[Ignition]

Still broken, group starts to move and then stops. If you change the formation and PRAY so no unit get stuck on a tree or building, it resumes the route but it goes directly to the first waypoint instead of on the road.

Unplayable.

Units get stuck very frequently, they don't go backward so they continue going forward and getting it worse, this makes the whole group stuck making the group behind also stuck between the buildings trees and other units.

CA its a mess.

Edited July 10, 2022 by Ignition