Add CVAR to disable ZCajun bot AI

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Expand view Topic review: Add CVAR to disable ZCajun bot AI

Re: Add CVAR to disable ZCajun bot AI

by Rachael » Fri Jan 29, 2021 4:27 pm

I plan to yes, but we'll see how things go when I get into it, I can't make any promises.

Re: Add CVAR to disable ZCajun bot AI

by TDRR » Fri Jan 29, 2021 4:19 pm

Forgot to ask, are you planning on keeping nodes, not only as something generated and used internally by the bots like ZCajun did, but also loadable by modders manually if desired?

I mean, as long as the automatic generation is good enough, I don't mind that much seeing that feature go, but mostly just curious.

Re: Add CVAR to disable ZCajun bot AI

by Rachael » Fri Jan 29, 2021 11:32 am

That was the plan. :) As I said before it was going to be rewritten using ZScript anyway, so that is definitely on the roadmap.

Re: Add CVAR to disable ZCajun bot AI

by Nash » Fri Jan 29, 2021 11:32 am

While neat as a proof of concept, I can't say the mod's code should be integrated directly into the engine as-is - what with the outdated DECORATE-ACS practices and whatnot.

It would be better to cleanly reimplement everything from scratch, bit by bit; using the mod as a reference/inspiration.

Most of the heavy lifting should be done on the engine side (stuff like navigation, nodes, etc), with some convenient overrides exposed in ZScript for modders to customize.

Re: Add CVAR to disable ZCajun bot AI

by Rachael » Fri Jan 29, 2021 11:13 am

Yeah - that is one of the issues that will have to be solved once it goes ZScript - you're right they do not currently respawn, however you can turn on force respawn (at least for the test).

The reason they don't respawn is because all the ZCajun code is gone that used to make them do that on their own.

Re: Add CVAR to disable ZCajun bot AI

by Enjay » Fri Jan 29, 2021 9:32 am

Aha! yes, that was it. I can spawn bots now. Thanks. I think making it a lump makes sense.

I haven't checked the current status of the TDRR stand-alone bots but with this setup bots don't seem to be respawning - either in DM or coop. I'll need to dig a bit deeper to see if it's my setup/parameters or something else.

Re: Add CVAR to disable ZCajun bot AI

by Rachael » Fri Jan 29, 2021 9:04 am

I removed the zcajun/ folder in the branch. Bots.cfg will work if loaded from the main GZDoom directory.

Bots.cfg is otherwise unchanged, so a default bots.cfg from ZDoom 1.22 will still work.

I might, however, change it into a lump so that it can be put in the tdbots.pk3 file, or even replaced by a mod.

Re: Add CVAR to disable ZCajun bot AI

by Enjay » Fri Jan 29, 2021 8:17 am

Sorry that this took a few days. I have tried the runnable version and I can tell that the TDRR bots are integrated in as much as their options are auto-loaded into the menus and so on. However, if I try to add a bot in either single player or deathmatch mode I get: "Couldn't spawn bot; no bot left in bots.cfg".

I have my zcajun folder set up and the bots.cfg that is in it is the same as the one that works with my standard GZDoom install.

Re: Add CVAR to disable ZCajun bot AI

by Enjay » Tue Jan 26, 2021 3:11 pm

This is very exciting: bots getting a bit of love after so long. Your plans make perfect sense.

I've grabbed the file but I can't check it right now.

Re: Add CVAR to disable ZCajun bot AI

by Rachael » Tue Jan 26, 2021 2:52 pm

I've got a work branch now with them integrated, but they need to be translated to ZScript still before they can be accepted as an official feature.

That being said, I plan to make them modular - if you are ever unhappy with the bots, you should be able to release a modified version of them as a mod, or, rewrite your very own system completely from scratch - without ZCajun code interfering.

https://github.com/madame-rachelle/gzdoom/tree/tdbots

Here's a runnable artifact from the commit: https://github.com/madame-rachelle/gzdo ... s/37378866

There's still a lot of work to be done, and they no longer automatically respawn (mostly due to me gutting the ZCajun code), but they do otherwise seem to work (at the moment), albeit using ACS for now.

Re: Add CVAR to disable ZCajun bot AI

by Enjay » Tue Jan 26, 2021 2:52 pm

Rachael wrote:If TDRR is okay with it, I'd like to review his mod and perhaps make a somewhat-native version of it officially, to replace ZCajun. That'll take some work, but I think I could pull it off.
TDRR wrote:You have all my support, by all means do it if you want! Of course, you can reach out to me in Discord if there's anything you'd like to ask, but I think the basics are really simple to get working so there should be no issues.
That sounds like a really good solution. The TDRR bots perform noticeably better than the stock Cajuns and presumably a lot of the code work is already done.

Thank you very much Rachael for considering the idea and, of course TDRR for generously allowing his code for consideration. Fingers crossed that it works out.

Re: Add CVAR to disable ZCajun bot AI

by Redneckerz » Tue Jan 26, 2021 2:40 pm

Would be great if some itigation of TDRR's bots end up in GZDoom - They are substantially better than ZCajun which hails from the ZDoom 1.x era.

@TDRR: If you want to go truly hardcore, release a source mod - A custom build with the bot code patched in. :P (If you want a ''static'' version, you would be better of with ZDoom 2.81 as your base, either way). Kidding ofcourse.

Re: Add CVAR to disable ZCajun bot AI

by TDRR » Tue Jan 26, 2021 12:23 pm

Rachael wrote:
Enjay wrote:and, of course, the TDRR bots require the base Cajun bots to function.
I would still allow for "bots" to be spawned. ;)

If TDRR is okay with it, I'd like to review his mod and perhaps make a somewhat-native version of it officially, to replace ZCajun. That'll take some work, but I think I could pull it off.
You have all my support, by all means do it if you want! Of course, you can reach out to me in Discord if there's anything you'd like to ask, but I think the basics are really simple to get working so there should be no issues.

Re: Add CVAR to disable ZCajun bot AI

by Rachael » Tue Jan 26, 2021 12:16 pm

Enjay wrote:and, of course, the TDRR bots require the base Cajun bots to function.
I would still allow for "bots" to be spawned. ;)

If TDRR is okay with it, I'd like to review his mod and perhaps make a somewhat-native version of it officially, to replace ZCajun. That'll take some work, but I think I could pull it off.

Re: Add CVAR to disable ZCajun bot AI

by Graf Zahl » Tue Jan 26, 2021 11:44 am

TDRR wrote:
Graf Zahl wrote:You are getting a 'no' because the entire idea is pointless. To spawn a bot the user needs to take deliberate action so what's the point?
You're right, this isn't the way I should have suggested to fix my problem. The issue is that the ZCajun bots still aim even with PROP_TOTALLYFROZEN, which I'm going to guess is a bug. Does a fix for that have any more chances of being added, or I'm still doomed there? (And should I make a bug report for it?)

If you have a problem with A but then suggest B because it encompasses A, chances are likely that you won't get what you want. This sounds like a genuine bug in the bot code. So if you got a problem, report the problem itself.

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