NTai XE10.1b

jhmartin · Post by **jhmartin** » 17 May 2006, 20:34

I'll do that. So far I have only been playing 1 player "multiplayer" games, ie just me and an opposing Bot so I'm confident that other players aren't the problem. When I expand to multiple humans I'll be sure to give them an image of my Spring dir to avoid that problem.

[7thDM]Dark_One · Post by **[7thDM]Dark_One** » 17 May 2006, 22:47

I'm just curious as to what exactly the build trees for things are. I'm looking through the AI folder in TASpring and like for XTAPE, there are a bunch of text files with the unit names and stuff and am curious as to if these are the build trees for things. If so, then I will write up the build trees for AAS, for the NTai bot.

Lindir The Green · Post by **Lindir The Green** » 17 May 2006, 23:06

The .txt files are what that particular unit should build.

I gave a detailed description of how to get started, check a few pages back.

[7thDM]Dark_One · Post by **[7thDM]Dark_One** » 18 May 2006, 00:51

Ok, I can work this almost all out now, I have only one problem. How do I make NTai recognize my buildtrees and use them? Because when I go to test it, it loads up the default one, how do I switch it so that it loads up my build tree and uses it? If someone could give me info on that, PM me.

Lindir The Green · Post by **Lindir The Green** » 18 May 2006, 02:05

well, you have to put everything in the absolute_annihilation.sdz (or whatever it is) folder, and you have to set default=0.

AF · Post by AF » 18 May 2006, 15:40

caydr has deifned a tag int he AA variants tellign NTai where to laod from, look at the mod_info,.tdf file.

You'll also need a mod.tdf in that folder with abstract=0; along with the 2 other tags, look at lindirs XTA buildtree or arghs nanoblboz buildtree to see how.

I believe the folders for AA would be AAS etc, and I think there's an AAS folder thats empty in the installer should anyone attempt an AA buildtree.

[7thDM]Dark_One · Post by **[7thDM]Dark_One** » 18 May 2006, 16:39

The folder for where NTai tries to load the buildtrees for Absolute Annihilation Spring is: "AA". So anyone who attempts to make buildtrees for the AA mod, renamed the original empty AAS folder, to AA, and start from there.

AF · Post by AF » 18 May 2006, 18:20

No, caydr named them according tot he variants. Look at mod_info.tdf for the variants, caydr set out tags forcing laoding from AA+variant initial so AAS AAB etc

jhmartin · Post by **jhmartin** » 18 May 2006, 18:29

I'm not sure if this is a Spring or NTai problem:

I played a 'multiplayer' game, 1 human 2 NTAI bots, all on different teams. A bot scout plane buzzed me pretty quickly, and 'yellow' expanded quite quickly. There was a battle, and somewhere in there I think the two bot commanders blew each other up (it was com-continue). Following that, I expanded outwards. I ran into some enemy vehicles, but they did not attack me. My mortar unit pounded away at the enemy vehicles and they didn't move or attempt to attack him, until he was at point-blank range. 5 minutes later the game froze and had to be End-Task'ed.

No log files were seen in the AI directory after that. The only problem I noticed in the game otherwise was that some messages came up about invalid units, which I assume is because this was AA 1.46 and some units in the NTAI build tree didn't exist.

So, any thoughts on what might have caused the stall and/or lockup?

[7thDM]Dark_One · Post by **[7thDM]Dark_One** » 18 May 2006, 20:04

AF:
Well perhaps it is because I am using the normal variant but...:

:: Absolute Annihilation 1.46
:: AA for Spring v1.46 Standard Edition
:: First instance of NTAI
:: [7thDM]Dark_One : player :: 0
:: AI DLL's in game
:: aidll\globalai\NTai.dll : AI :: 0
:: aidll\globalai\NTai.dll : AI :: 1

:: Found 0 Metal Spots

:: SpeedMetal.smf
:: AASpring146S.sdz
:: map size 26 x 4
[00:00] CManufacturer::Init
:: error loading file :: AI\AA\SpeedMetal.smf\global.txt
:: error loading file :: AI\AA\global.txt
[00:00] CManufacturer::UnitFinished
[00:00] CManufacturer::UnitFinished role set
:: error loading file :: AI\AA\SpeedMetal.smf\armcom.txt

That is taken from my log file for NTai, which is how I found out why it wasn't loading my buildtrees from the AAS/AA146/AASpring146(I renamed it a multitude of times to find the proper one so I could test my buildtrees.)

AF · Post by AF » 18 May 2006, 20:15

In that case I stand corrected, I was just working off of what caydr told me...

I noticed a problem where the file stream buffered the output which meant if NTai exited through other means such as endtask, crash, or stop debugging, then the logs might not get printed out. That's sorted in XE8.1 among other little things.

I guess the 2 commanders killed eachother ebcause they spent a minute or two fo dgunning eachothers construction things, then one moves in the way slightly and booom, in XE8.1 they'll try to reclaim eachother instead so one Ntai gets a resource boost and there's no big bang.

Also there shouldnt be any error reprots on unitnames as AA uses a totally abstract buildtree that has nothing AA specific in it, hence why it doesnt play anywhere near as good as it could do.

NTai under AA is using only a thousandth of its potential.

[7thDM]Dark_One, if you pm me an email i'll send you the XE8.1 I'm sending lindir, its got everything exept predictive dgunning..

Also in XE8.1 there's a new tag to cotnrol the antistall algorithm

antistall=0;

it's ste to zero by default, zero means no antistall algorithm at all
1 means antistall algorithm on unviersal build keywords and metatags
2 means antistall algorithm for everything.

There's also a B_RULE_EXTREME_CARRY which issues a normal B_RULE_EXTREME, and if it was successfull a second B_RULE_EXTREME is added, otherwise if it fails tis skipped.

smoth · Post by **smoth** » 18 May 2006, 22:12

Ntai issues...

The units all move to the upper left corner.. for no apparent reason

also, the tech tree is finally done. I will be making a series of images to represent this as I get time today. preperation for the release is going to be a lot of work PLEASE get back to me soon.

-smoth

Lindir The Green · Post by **Lindir The Green** » 19 May 2006, 03:18

smoth wrote:The units all move to the upper left corner.. for no apparent reason

That is a known issue with I believe the AI interface.

It happens to every AI.

FizWizz · Post by **FizWizz** » 19 May 2006, 04:31

it has not happened yet with AAI, at least as far as I've seen.

unpossible · Post by **unpossible** » 19 May 2006, 09:12

FizWizz wrote:it has not happened yet with AAI, at least as far as I've seen.

i second that - nor SAI
edit: nor in XE8

Targ Collective · Post by **Targ Collective** » 19 May 2006, 10:20

Looks like it's time to cannibalise some of thier code, Alantai. Which means a major revision to the core of NTAI, I imagine.

Ouch.

krogothe · Post by **krogothe** » 19 May 2006, 11:51

Lindir The Green wrote:
smoth wrote:The units all move to the upper left corner.. for no apparent reason
That is a known issue with I believe the AI interface.

It happens to every AI.

It doesnt, ive never had it.

AF · Post by AF » 19 May 2006, 14:17

It's todo with not checking error codes, I believe it's fixed in XE8.1

It was todo with scouting and a change I made that filtered out scouting of points if they where already in LOS.

Lindir The Green · Post by **Lindir The Green** » 19 May 2006, 15:02

Really?

It happened to all of them back in the day.

AF · Post by AF » 19 May 2006, 15:04

The bug was introduced into XE8 after i eradicatd it by accident in the few days before it was released.

The KAI attack/scouting method meant it was sort of immune to the bug.

Spring RTS Engine

NTai XE10.1b

Build Tress

Stall / lockup