Blake's AI Forward Observer

[blakeace]

Is it poor form to just post the raw text of the mission file? If you paste that into a Documents>ArmA2>Missions?gorka.chernarus folder as a mission.sqm text file, everything should show up. But it requires all of ACE.

If that's not too much hassle, the arty setup in the mission is quite simple, and wouldn't take to long to assess. I appreciate the offer.

Ok I tried the mission with both ACE and the beta version of arma running ACE. The only other mods running were my personal development mods including AIFO. None of which should have a bearing on the AIFO in regards to testing.
I couldn't replicate the error at all. The only issue I found was by setting the FO to be setcaptive true, prevented him from calling in fire missions, as I use the getfriend command to determine which elements returned from the neartargets command are threats. If I removed the setcaptive line from the FO's init he would request fire missions.
The only other thing I found was the placement of the mortars resulted in most dieing after the first fire mission as they are in line of sight with the opfor units in Gorka.

Sorry but I have no idea what is causing the error in the artillery module your game, and not mine running the same mission?

At a loss sorry
Blake.

[maturin]

No worries! Removing the setcaptive line makes the module work perfectly.

If it's not too difficult, I would recommend removing that limitation, as many mission makers may use this addon in a cheating sort of way, with invisible observers calling in constant barrages from safety.

I usually accomplish this thought the HideObject command, but I suspect that calling in a fire mission somehow gives enemy AI knowsabout, and results in a dead observer, even though he hasn't made a sound or moved an inch.

[blakeace]

No worries! Removing the setcaptive line makes the module work perfectly.

If it's not too difficult, I would recommend removing that limitation, as many mission makers may use this addon in a cheating sort of way, with invisible observers calling in constant barrages from safety.

I usually accomplish this thought the HideObject command, but I suspect that calling in a fire mission somehow gives enemy AI knowsabout, and results in a dead observer, even though he hasn't made a sound or moved an inch.

Cheers thanks for letting me know.

Will have to have a think about how to do this. From my perspective the only way I can think of is if the unit returns being a civilian, to check if the unit is a subtype of soldierWB, soldierEB etc. In the meantime, you could just sync with a member from each of the blufor groups. By default they will call in missions on any known targets plus if an FO goes down a team mate will attempt to grab his "virtual" gear and take over the role. By having one unit in each group also allows for some redundancy.
It is also a little more realistic as they will only call missions against known enemy positions.
This way (if you wished), you could also allow the artillery to WP a groups waypoint, see below, from the first post. Might help your blufor in their assault on gorka.

How FO's call Smoke and WP.

It is important for mission designers to note how I have limited the use of WP/Smoke to try and realise it's use in as realistic way as possible.
If an FO's group's current waypoint is search and destroy or destroy, and their behaviour is set to be combat or aware; Then they will call for WP/smoke if available for the final part of their approach to that waypoint. If they know of any enemy, they will switch to calling HE and the like in preference to the WP/smoke.
My thinking is that way it is used for assaulting possible enemy positions, and prevents it's use at inapproriate times.

[blakeace]

BlackAce, the arty module fails to find an artillery weapon with registered ballistics. It does so by checking the vehicle of the leader of the group that is synchronized with the arty module. Assuming the mortar has ballistics defined, the problem might be in the group's leader being a dismounted soldier or occupying a non-artillery vehicle.
Otherwise, try executing '[_gun] call BIS_ARTY_F_initVehicle' for every gun dynamically created.

Thanks William for your thoughts,
In this case Maturin isn't specifying a custom mortar, but allowing the AIFO module to create the west sides default mortars (after looking at his actual mission). The AIFO module creates a new group with only mortars and their gunners. The FO's remain in their existing groups so they cannot be part of the artillery module error. The strangest part is when I run Maturin's mission I don't actually get the error?
in the module where I create an artillery module that I sync with the created artillery units I use BIS_ARTY_F_initVehicle to initialise the leader of the artillery group.

Thanks
Blake

@Maturin

I actually went back to your mission to see if there was another easy solution. You actually already had it.

I usually accomplish this thought the HideObject command, but I suspect that calling in a fire mission somehow gives enemy AI knowsabout, and results in a dead observer, even though he hasn't made a sound or moved an inch.

This works, the AIFO module doesn't do anything like revealing a unit. The AI will only know about a unit through the the default acquisition processes of the game engine.

Try putting in your code you have for those other units in your FO, in the small test I did it worked fine.

dostop this; hideobject this; this setunitpos "up"; this allowdamage false;

[blakeace]

Updated Version 1.4.01

Available in the first post.
Just a small update that utilises the new-ish SunOrMoon and MoonIntensity commands allowing FO's with no augmented vision to better utilise their artillery. No idea if flares affect detection but it greatly improves the overall ambience.

Version 1.4.01

• Changed the code checking for night to be more realistic. FO's now mix up the ILLUM/HE combination differently depending on the amount of ambient moonlight at night using the moonIntensity command. Night time is found more correctly using hte night SunOrMoon command.
• Changed the AI schedule ILLUM/HE missions with realistic spcing rather than randomly selecting which type on a percentage like die roll.
• Changed the prediction algorithm slightly to reduce fire mission calculation time.
• Added a sample mission to observe the new ILLUM changes, Note the FO's still require themselves to not have NVG's for them to call ILLUM.
• Fixed report log when trying to add binoculars to a unit that already had a pair.

[Foxhound]

Thanks for informing me about the updated version!

Release frontpaged on the Armaholic homepage.

AI Forward Observer v1.4.0.1

[Nephris]

Thx for that release and your effort updateing it!
As Iron Front is getting on track again, you can imagine an AI observer offers several features for a mission aswell.
Would it be possible to release a version as script version only, as we cant load mods into IF44.

[blakeace]

Thx for that release and your effort updateing it!
As Iron Front is getting on track again, you can imagine an AI observer offers several features for a mission aswell.
Would it be possible to release a version as script version only, as we cant load mods into IF44.

Thanks I'm glad you like it, no I'm not looking at creating a script version, being a constant work in progress it is a pain to try and maintain different versions for everything sorry.

[stupidwhitekid75]

I have a question, does this work with any artillery pieces placed (including other mods, assuming they use the artillery computer) or does it only work with ACE/BI standard mortars and artillery?

Wanted to search the thread initially to see if it was answered but didn't exactly know what to search.

[Harzach]

First, this is a great addon. Definitely in the forehead-smacking-why-isn't-this-in-the-core-game category.

That said, am I completely confused, or is this not correct:

Installation:

Install as you would any other addon. (Check the BIS forums if unsure!). This addon is server side only.

How can this addon be server-side only if it uses a module? As it is, I am getting the expected error message when testing on dedi - "'You cannot play/edit this mission, it is dependent on downloadable content that has been deleted.aifo".

I'd love to use this in a particular mission (well, most missions!), but requiring yet another addon client-side is going to disqualify it from use on my clan server. Is a script version possible?

Thanks!