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7 years 9 months ago #88 by Slippery Jim
Replied by Slippery Jim on topic Teamspeak
It gave me a chuckle when I watched the AI get shot in the first video. The rubber arms were great :)

As for AI I couldn't imagine the difficulty coding it. In Swat 3 they had waypoints to show the AI the path to walk and to tell them where the doors are for stacking up but they still had to have a lot of checks for their behaviour.

I can barely get a mod made. I couldn't imagine trying to tackle a whole game. Even with a proper team of people getting them to all stay focused and working properly together would be like trying to herd cats in a maze.

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7 years 9 months ago #89 by Copy-Cat
Replied by Copy-Cat on topic Teamspeak
I see everyone's hesitations and concerns with the Unity Version of Swat 3. This brings me to write this long post. I apologize for the typo's

I have managed to convert all the cmp's in the Sound.res to wav, ultimately to ogg format, using a script I wrote so swat 3 can play the files in 100 file increments. the Process is fully automated and pretty much any new cmps from mods can now be converted back to wav.

The reason for mentioning the above is because we are now able to export all assets of the game to a usable format, for use in the Development of the Unity version of the game. The animations are what is left to export completely, since Unity uses curve based animation, rotation is reversed in some frames and the animations look painfull during these frame transitions, but is easily corrected and exported to FBX.

I completed the CCM builder script a few months ago. This script reads waypoints placed in a map and using those waypoints creates pathnodes during runtime for the AI to use for pathfinding. As the CCM builder Script is tweeked and is made more efficient, it will be scripted to write the waypoints, pathnodes, doors, cells and other information to the .CCM file. As I stated before it is being built at runtime for debugging purposes, but will later be loaded at runtime.

The AI_Movement Script is at its early stages of development and is being scripted in such a way that it should be easy to add additional AI states in the future, including pre collision detection with objects and AI to AI collisions. Guard, Wander, Hide, Comply, Restrain, Downed, Dead and Idle are the current states that have been implemented in the game.

The Character classes that have been implemented with these states are BG1, FH1, BF1, and MH1. Since the state mentioned above use the basic 8 animations for each class, only those animations have been imported to unity and the remaining animations will be added when additional states are added, transitions are needed or when a flag is triggered(example: wounded).

So currently the map loads, ccm file is built and the characters take off wandering, going to random places in the map until I issue the character compliance, shoot them down, or they idle. Once compliant if not restrained they get up and begin wandering, hiding, or idle.

The Mapping process is pretty much the same as Swat 3, levels are built in Worldcraft, textured, and exported to scn or map, then exported to obj and opened in Maya for detailing. During this detailing process, detailed objects such as lamps, chairs, doorknobs, basically any object with intricate parts that would otherwise break Worldcraft or not load into the original game without breaking or use of any crazy litactor trickery. Once its detailed or not it is exported to fbx and imported into Unity where lights, doors, and other prefabs are added, including waypoints, cells, characters, swt_starts, and other entities as needed.

The entities used in unity will be setup in the inspector window to simulate the entities in Worldcraft with hopes of eventually using exported txt files of the Entities list for the original maps.

A few months back I wrote a script to read the dialog.dat file into memory so that all needed dialog can be easily referenced, loaded and sound played, complete with text of the dialog for rendering the text on the screen.

My Manifest file for the game became soo large that I had to separated all the features into txt files, including some additional features not in the original game. These txt files are my thought process and implementation notes to the features I want to include.

There are soo many more aspects of the game that has been implemented that this post has room for, so I will end it here.

I like the saying "Recreate then Innovate", I guess that's why they call me Copy-Cat.

I get motivated very easily, I hope I motivated you to seek more information about this project, and hopefully join in on the fun creating a game we know so well.

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7 years 9 months ago - 7 years 9 months ago #90 by Slippery Jim
Replied by Slippery Jim on topic Teamspeak
I wish you and the project the best Copy Cat but I am still sceptical of your process. In my opinion the main focus should be on the AI. Without a properly working AI all your other work is wasted. Personally I wouldn't worry about all the other stuff like character skins and sounds until you can get a basic version of the game with properly fleshed out officer and player AI.

It doesn't matter if you can get a perfect replica of the officer skins in a perfect replica of a Swat 3 map if the game's AI walks into walls. I would get the "skeleton" of the game working before worrying about what clothing to put on the body, lol.

Good luck on this difficult task. Always feel free to post progress videos or photos here.

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7 years 9 months ago #91 by Copy-Cat
Replied by Copy-Cat on topic Teamspeak
As of right now my main task is the AI. All other skeleton aspects of the game have been completed. My plan was to get the game working from the opening movies to the main menu to a hosted a multiplayer map, and scripting what was needed to do this along the way.

If you try to analyze my post too much, you will assume that the tasks mentioned in my previous post are "to be completed", this assumption is incorrect; these tasks have been completed and have been completed for some time now.

The AI currently walks around to random places of the map with full animations. Going up stairs, around balconies and thru doors and responds to compliance commands and being shot. I am currently implementing collision detections from other AI, players and game objects(chairs tables, cars, refridgerators etc).

To say we first need a skeleton of the game working is an understatement. It depends on what you see as the skeleton, and without details it seems that what we've been able to accomplish does not contribute to this skeleton metaphor.

I get what your saying about the AI being the main focus, as of right now, this is the case. What I would like to see, hear, or even read is your plan from the start as to how you would go about doing this. Do our TEAM OF 2 a favor and take some time to explain your method of attack as it pertains to AI, give examples and scenarios of each of the tasks to be completed. for example

1. AI pathfinding - randomly choosing pathnodes and taking those paths to arrive at their destination using the Character STATE wander.

2. AI avoid collisions - the ability for ai to detect other ai objects, game obejects and players and correct their path to arrive at to their random destination.

etc....
in the above examples I am using the STATE wander, which state would you start with. Remember there are 9, wander, hide, hunt, guard to name a few. Each state requires more work to implement sub interaction states such as shoot, taunt, deploy, and escape during confrontations with officers.

This is what I am working on now, and any feedback, suggestions, would be helpful in the development of the AI.

I will clarify any concerns you may have with my posts, and answer any questions you might have. If your waiting for the right time to join the team right now would be the perfect time. You have soo much to offer to the team that you are probably not even aware of.

and if it not the right time, what are you waiting for? this project is no longer in its early stages of development. We are getting into the meat of this metaphorical skeleton and the feet and arms are already done.

Im not going to ask you anymore, you know what is right for you, and what you have time for.

Meanwhile I will be coding away at the AI by myself, for others to redicule, criticize, and bash in with a sledge hammer when a somewhat working AI is complete.

Again sorry for the long post, you can move it to a new topic if you wish.
I will try to get a video up on youtube with the current progress, but what can I say, if you launch swat 3 right now and load missiona it would be the same as the video.

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7 years 9 months ago #94 by Slippery Jim
Replied by Slippery Jim on topic Teamspeak
I was just sticking my nose in where it doesn't belong, lol. I just think that coding the AI so that people will actually want to play your game is the hardest thing you will have to do. All your work may be for nothing if you can't get the AI to work well.

It may look identical to Swat 3 but if it plays like a bag of hammers all your effort will be wasted. I personally would have focused on seeing if you could get the AI (officer and player) working first before worrying about anything else.

That is just my opinion and you know what they say about opinions ;)

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7 years 9 months ago #96 by Copy-Cat
Replied by Copy-Cat on topic Teamspeak
SJ, your input and opinions have always been welcomed in the Unity Project. As a matter of fact from the beginning of this project your opinions and input along with others in the Swat 3 community opinions' affected the Main goals of the project. So you can say you were grandfathered into the project from the beginning. To say your nose dont belong is disheartening.

It was agreed at the time, that the game will focus on the Multiplayer aspect of the game with no officer ai, only connected players as officers.

Have you changed your opinion on this goal? or maybe im missing the reason behind the officer and player interaction being a main goal or focus. What is your reasoning behind this?

The game was known for many ground breaking core game mechanics, ai being one of them, but is it the officer ai specifically what everyone was talking about?

please elaborate, and explain some characteristics about the officer ai or any of the ai, that you would be interested in seeing redone with accuracy if not better.

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