Coding Frikbots to be scared of heights

[Lightning Hunter]

[qbism]

I used the version from 'definitive frikbot waypack' with both sets of changes. I'm testing with 3 bots plus myself. Just through observation and scrolling through console messages, it appeared to be at least 50% reduction in falls. I don't know if it could get any better without more extensive traceline checks and/or prediction (bots simulating physics beyond one move).

Keeping the bot on-task to reach items would kill two birds with one stone. When a bot has a weak weapon, let it shoot but keep moving to the next goal. In any case limit enemy engagement to X seconds then move on.

[qbism]

Rats, all my last edit did is kill off attempt to move around obstruction, which is why they were falling less but standing around more. I realized this when going back and testing dm4.

[Lightning Hunter]

[qbism]

Thinking about the no-bots concept again... This is a hypothetical engine-side and mapping feature. Use the map itself to guide bots. I haven't looked at the q2 code for no-monsters but it would be kind of like that. No-bots would be a brush texture similar to noclip except it applies only to bots. The mapper would place nobot walls at the edges of unjumpable ledges, or use them to keep bots out of places where bots get stuck. The botplayers would need a flag of some sort so the sever would know. Of course nobots would not apply to bots already in the air, that would look weird. I don't know if it could be done qc-side with placed ents. Perhaps a nobots entity placed with DP or FTE ingame editor and saved in entertainment file?

Clearly AI improvement would still be the more universal way. I wonder if any other qc bots have dealt with ledges successfully?

[frag.machine]

One idea...

Hack the QBSP utility to generate an "ai_nav" hull in the 4th. unused slot supported by the Quake BSP file. The ai_nav hull would be very similar to the player hull in dimensions, but would hold information about environmental hazards (slime,lava,void,etc). Then, on the engine side, the walkmove and traceline builtins ought to be adapted to use this information when available, falling back to current behavior otherwise. This way, not only bots would navigate better, but regular monsters AI would be improved, too.

EDIT for grammar.

EDIT2 Forget about QBSP: bake the 4th hull generation in the engine BSP load. It already generates the point size hull during map loading anyway.

[Lightning Hunter]

[Cobalt]