Hey Mieszko, hope you’re still reading this thread.
I’m working on some tutorials and i’ve come across a couple of odd things that are probably easy for you to explain.
I’m trying to setup everything with blueprint first, then do a code version of the same functionality (and look at ways of mixing and matching).
So I’m working on initially moving the AI character to a guard position. I have the variable for the location set, but I wanted to monitor if the guard was at that position and move them to if it they aren’t. I added a sequence node that will get the guard to move to the location, added a service that checks the guards current position and compares it to the guard position I want it to start at, setting a bool key in the blackboard. I then have a decorator that checks if that bool is set or not and allows the sequence to run.
Now my problem is that if the decorator condition is true, the service is never run. So am I supposed to run the service at the node ABOVE the one I’m going to do the condition on? Or am I missing something obvious
Just in case anyone is watching. Moving the service up the tree to the selector worked. So in general it seems like you have to have a service higher up the tree than a conditional decorator that depends on that service’s results. Rather than placing the service on the same node as the decorator. I guess the decorator condition is done before the services on the node, so that makes sense, just changes the editing style of the BT setup in the editor a bit.
That’s right. A service is only being ticked as long as the branch it’s attached to is the active branch. If a condition restricts a branch from being activated the service will not get activated neither.
, you are awesome. Thank you for putting up something on DetourCrowds on your site, saving me lots of time by knowing the current limitations. Looking forward to new AIControllers!
Getting back to the original thread’s meritum, we’ve started talking internally about ways of supplying devs with more genre-specific AI code and samples. Current idea is to have a “Character AI framework” plugin of some sort what will come with code, blueprints and other assets. How about it?
Sounds very useful. I guess the biggest issue is how to make sure that people know how to setup their own trees to get specific functionality. One thing that strikes me is that having some example services, tasks and decorators would be quite useful for building up modular behaviors quickly. I suspect the main thing people will struggle with is knowing how to achieve exclusivity of behavior (i.e. to make sure that the correct branch in the tree is running at the right time), its something I’ve seen people get confused with a lot. Not sure there’s a good way to explain what to do there though. There’s an interesting set of videos on the wiki right now where a guy sets up the BT using a “state” variable which confuses things no end for example. So maybe in a tutorial you can look at explaining some typical examples of functionality and how to properly setup conditions so that you get the correct behavior.
The one thing I’ve not explored yet are the world queries that are required, but the other elements of setup are pretty clear (I guess knowing BT’s in other forms helps) so I’ll have a few tutorials up soon-ish.
I would wager many look forward to AI programming about as much as I look forward to character rigging and decaffeinated coffee…which is not much. Also get the feeling some have not realized how much work they’re going to have in AI. So some AI frameworks would most certainly be well received. Samples and docs would be my main preference; however, there’s no denying that some AI frameworks would probably be preferred by most. Either way, you have my gratitude!
I notice you guys have been talking about A.I. templates, and while I know will come out with something amazing soon enough. I’ve started my own thread because of my interest in A.I. I’m working on documentation of the tools within Unreal that aren’t well documented at this time and creating different samples of A.I. that could be used for multiple genres. So far I’m working on steering behaviors for squads which can be used in RTS, FPS or Adventure games. Today I touched on Car A.I. by simply implementing navigation, so its capable of driving location specific. This will of course be an on going project even after the release of the genre-specific A.I. to continue to expand on what Epic provides. So for anyone who is interested. Feel free to post here.
To me, we would mainly need some templates with some (preferably) fairly advanced AI in them. Witht hose we could dig into the code and experiment with it, see how it reacts, and learn how do you create the illusion of intelligence.
which confuses things no end for example. So maybe in a tutorial you can look at explaining some typical examples of functionality and how to properly setup conditions so that you get the correct behavior.