missing info AI Infantry don't move a fixed point via scripting/pathing

[TEMPEST.114]

It's taken weeks of diagnosis and trial and error but I have now confirmed there is a bug with the pathing of the AI infantry (we all know there are bugs with vehicles driving through woods, gardens etc) but this isn't it. 

What I was trying to do:

I wanted to have a late activated group in the ME as a 'template' that I could use, via scripting to create 'n' number of them, and change their final waypoint to a specific x,z position on the map -- this position was going to be based upon the orientation / position of another unit. 

E.G. I wanted to spawn a infantry from a building doorway and move it to the back of an APC or I wanted to spawn an AI Infantry from a command tent opening to run to a SAM battery control panel on a scud launcher to set it off.

So I've spent weeks learning how to do all this via scripting and I'm able to place a static red flag at the exact point of the control panel / door way / opening etc that I want regardless of the target objects position or orientation. The flag is perfectly aligned. 

 

 

HOWEVER, if I give those exact same coordinates to the final waypoint of the AI Infantry where they actually end up is anyone's guess. They can stop almost at that point (if the unit is pointing exactly due WEST) but any other orientation means they stop about 15 m away from the unit at almost any position around it. 

there seems to be no reason or rhyme as to why they vary so much, it almost doesn't matter what type of unit it is that I want them to move to (ground, static or part of a map) they still just go where the hell the like. 

Worse is it's never in the same place in regards to the vehicle. 

Just to re-iterate, it's the same x,y (actually x and z) for the flag and for the last waypoint for the Infantry. 
There is no problem with the code for working out the position of where to send them, and I am able to send the infantry to any point I want - just that it won't stop at that exact point, just somewhere around it.

[Flappie]

Hi @Elphaba. Currently, infanty units behave like ground vehicles, which is probably why their moves are not as precise as they would be in real life. Hopefully they will be improved someday.

[TEMPEST.114]

So can this be reported? Logged?

[Flappie]

I need a track first, please.

[TEMPEST.114]

You do realise it’s my script calculating the exact point I want to send the infantry to (as shown by spawning the flag there) 

 

you won’t accept scripts in missions. 
 

So, this can be done by hand easily by placing the final infantry waypoint at the door of the helo or at a flag on the ground and then watch the ai pathing screw it up.

 

This is something even the person who originally wrote the pathing code should have instantly seen was broken the first test they ran.  

I can give you a track with no script and a final waypoint somewhere they won't stop at if you'd like? But the devs can just as easily do it in 30 secs themselves. 

Edited December 25, 2022 by Elphaba

[NineLine]

If you are using the script to make a work around, upload a track with and without to show the issues and your solution. Thanks.

[TEMPEST.114]

On 12/26/2022 at 6:39 PM, NineLine said:

If you are using the script to make a work around, upload a track with and without to show the issues and your solution. Thanks.

I'm using my script to calculate where the door or final waypoint position is based upon the unit and it's orientation and position in the world. 

But if I don't use a script, you just draw the waypoints to the place you want them to stop, run the mission and notice that they never stop at the final waypoint - often no where near it. 

So there **is no workaround** Your AI Pathing does not work. 

[NineLine]

Please supply a track showing the issue, thanks. 

[TEMPEST.114]

On 12/29/2022 at 5:10 PM, NineLine said:

Please supply a track showing the issue, thanks. 

I'm sincerely confused. 

ANYONE can make a mission, drop a vehicle, or a building, an infantry and make waypoints to move the infantry to that building door / helo / vehicle door. And the Infantry won't stop at that final waypoint. 

You don't need a script to see this. Because EVERYONE can do this and it's broken for EVERYONE. I talked to @SUNTSAGabout this and he admitted the Pathing is broken and on the TODO list at some point.

So how can I provide you anything you don't already have? 

I can share a script that calculates a point on the fly - but that's NOT THE POINT. The point is that wherever you set that final waypoint, the infantry won't stop ON IT. But only within 20m somewhere around it... if they actually get there at all. 

That's the problem. You can't know / specify exactly where a unit - be it infantry or vehicle on the ground will actually stop.

I don't have a solution because at the end of the day it's your waypoint pathing that's broken. Not any calculation of a final stopping point. 

[Livers]

@Elphaba, FWIW, I see the same with vehicle movements. Very erratic, and doesn't always do it.  Usually, the lead vehicle will creep forward some random distance until it hits a tree or building or something times out and it finally stops in a random orientation. I see no way to produce a track that exhibits the behavior consistently.

Just a small rant - every time I see changes to the path finding, it gets worse. Consistently. I feel your pain.

Edited January 5, 2023 by Livers