Bot navigation
How is bot navigation done in games like quake and unreal. I assume they don`t use pathfinding like units in rts games do. So how can they know how to move from one room to the other.
[Edited by - Calin on February 13, 2010 1:30:04 AM]
In the Quake engines I believe it's a combination of AI nodes (special objects placed by map makers telling the AI wants special about a particular location [cover, high ground, etc.]), which also define a node graph, and ray tracing the immediate environment. The Unreal games might use a similar system but I have less experience with them as a developer.
Foxbots, for instance, for TFC, use waypoints and a pathfinding algorithm. They know nothing about the 3D world (e.g.,walls or stairs) until they run into something.
They follow waypoints to get from goal to goal. Then AI determines their next action.
They follow waypoints to get from goal to goal. Then AI determines their next action.
Half-life (or Counter Strike at least) uses waypoints, placed by the editors of the map (that's why new maps didn't have bot support immediately, same in Battlefield 1942/Desert Combat).
So there are predefined paths, that the bots follow, if the see an enemy unit, they stop, and start to shoot it. (Just like when in Warcraft (rts), when you attack+left_click on terrain, they go there, but stop and fight and follow enemy units they "see".) I guess there are junctions too, and the both takes a route randomly or an other way.
But Counter Strike had an other method too, there was some kind of automatic waypoint generation: you started the generation on a specific map, the computer was working hard for maybe half an hour, while the bots were literally (you could watch it in free view) walked to every spot on the map they could reach. So those bots found the secret places, paths through boxes/holes/stuff. It was a very clever thing. But in game, it used the same waypoint system (AFAIK)
So there are predefined paths, that the bots follow, if the see an enemy unit, they stop, and start to shoot it. (Just like when in Warcraft (rts), when you attack+left_click on terrain, they go there, but stop and fight and follow enemy units they "see".) I guess there are junctions too, and the both takes a route randomly or an other way.
But Counter Strike had an other method too, there was some kind of automatic waypoint generation: you started the generation on a specific map, the computer was working hard for maybe half an hour, while the bots were literally (you could watch it in free view) walked to every spot on the map they could reach. So those bots found the secret places, paths through boxes/holes/stuff. It was a very clever thing. But in game, it used the same waypoint system (AFAIK)
Quote:Original post by CalinHere is a very detailed article on how the bot AI in Quake 3 was done. Techniques have changed somewhat since then of course, but it's a very good article nonetheless.
How is bot navigation is done in games like quake and unreal. I assume they don`t use pathfinding like units in rts games do. So how can they know how to move from one room to the other.
Thanks, that brings some insight.
How does that work with overlapped levels/galerries within the map. do they use multiple pathfinding grids on the vertical?
[edit]
thanks jyk for the Q3 link
[Edited by - Calin on February 13, 2010 1:27:21 AM]
Quote:Foxbots, for instance, for TFC, use waypoints and a pathfinding algorithm
How does that work with overlapped levels/galerries within the map. do they use multiple pathfinding grids on the vertical?
[edit]
thanks jyk for the Q3 link
[Edited by - Calin on February 13, 2010 1:27:21 AM]
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