Fun Moments Testing TDM2.0

[Springheel]

I've been doing a lot of playing of maps while looking for missing assets, and keep having cool new things happen with the changes to AI for 1.09. Thought I might as well share them here.

 

(may contain minor spoilers)

 

 

Cool Moment #1

Playing Outpost, I dropped a jar on the floor in the kitchen, and heard a guard on another floor say, "Hmm? Did you hear something, brother?" A few moments later, two guards came down on the elevator, stood looking into the kitchen, and then said, "I don't hear anything now," and rode back up. Boy did that feel immersive!

 

Cool Moment #2

Was playing Chalice, and was sneaking up on the cook when he suddenly turned around and saw me. He got half-way through his, "Hey, who are--" when I KO'd him in the face. I dumped the body in a corner, and just then the door to the kitchen opened and two guards walked in. They didn't have their weapons drawn, but they looked around for a few seconds and then said, "Guess my ears are playing tricks on me." and walked out.

 

Cool Moment #3

Playing The Parcel, on the upper floor, I got spotted by the lone guard up there and he charged me, shouting, "Aha, there you are!". I decided I'd fight him. Drew my sword, stabbed him once, and then suddenly another guard from downstairs showed up and shouted, "We'll take him together!"

 

I quickly died.

[New Horizon]

Wow! That sounds amazing. I love how cooperative the AI are now.

[Goldwell]

Wow that's awesome! Can't wait to play 1.09

[demagogue]

Every version I love our AI more and more.

[Sotha]

Every version I love our AI more and more.

 

Me too. Remember those times before grayman came in... There was an AI behavior bug that caused logjams near doors. Feels like that was decades ago...

[jaxa]

Must've been rats.

[someTaff]

Cool! So AI gets updated comparing to 1.08?

[Bikerdude]

then suddenly another guard from downstairs showed up and shouted, "We'll take him together!", I quickly died.

Thats just awesome and funny.

Me too. Remember those times before grayman came in... There was an AI behavior bug that caused logjams near doors. Feels like that was decades ago...

Yes we owe Gman a lot for his efforts :-)

[Springheel]

Cool! So AI gets updated comparing to 1.08?

 

Yep. A combination of new features and bugfixes. Off the top of my head, they have better hearing, they can take more hits when alert, they communicate with each other more and hear cries for help, they take action if someone is shot by an arrow nearby, they greet each other more, they can switch back and forth between melee and ranged weapons...probably other things I've forgotten.

[Obsttorte]

Gray the man

[Diego]

haha That sounds great!

[grayman]

[grayman]

So this morning I'm testing door handling, trying to make it more robust so AI are less likely to get stuck when the door is only partly open for whatever reason.

 

I have a City Watch guard on the other side of the door from me, and just as he's ready to walk through the door, I frob it and it starts to close. He bumps up against the door, he and it stop, and he turns to go back where he came from, takes a step, turns back to the door, and opens it.

 

I wait for it to open, he starts to walk through the door, and I frob it again.

 

Repeat 5x, with guard recovering nicely each time, stopping and turning toward the partly-closed door, and reopening it.

 

When I finally let him come through the open door, he says, "Good. Fits perfectly now."

[demagogue]

Haha nice timing.

 

I'll tell you what was fun testing my mission for 2.0. It opened & played without a hitch.

[grayman]

I'll tell you what was fun testing my mission for 2.0. It opened & played without a hitch.

 

Always good to hear.

[Tels]

I tested Dragon's Claw, and was a bit confused about the lack of "where to go" and avoided a few guards and then stumbled into the pub. After a quicksave (because I didn't know they are friendly in there), I entered, and the first thing happens is the bard maid walking towards me, and saying "Evening". Wow

 

Funny was also one of the card playing guards, mumbling under his breath while drawing a card ".. and then up the stairs and then I'll say.." <continues in a slightly different voice> "Hello there."

 

One thing I'd like to request, tho, is to lengthen the time until the next greeting towards a specific actor can be done (dunno if it is per-specific-actor, or per-specific-group of actors, or it is per "actor that does the greeting"). I wasn't very long in the pub, but I was greeted at least twice by the bar maid, 4 times by different customers and at least 3 times by the two card playing guards. A minute more w/o greeting would have enhanced it greatly. Right now it felt a bit like the local Alzhimer Club meeting

 

But still, wonderful feature!

[Springheel]

Questions moved here: http://forums.thedarkmod.com/topic/14803-questions-about-20/

[grayman]

One thing I'd like to request, tho, is to lengthen the time until the next greeting towards a specific actor can be done

 

If A meets B, there's a 30% chance he'll greet him. Then he won't greet B for at least 20s. After that, there's a 30% chance he'll greet B again. And on and on. If A's chance of noticing a person is < 100%, that will also figure in.

 

It's the same if B is the player.

 

Since most encounters are spread out as AI patrol around, this should suffice.

 

In a closed space like an inn, where the actors tend to hang around, they're more likely to see each other all the time, and greetings will occur more frequently.

 

If you want to change this behavior, please file a bugtracker issue and we can discuss what to do there.

[Tels]

I'd rather not waste a bug tracker entry if Springheel says that the current behaviour is fine.

 

Anyway, a "20s" + 30% chance sounds quite too fast to me, the same two AI sitting on a table will greet each other almost every minute then. (And if the player sticks around and they are friendly, they will greet the player almost every minute, too)

 

Greetings on patrols are probably not affected of this problem, because the AI see each other only briefly and the 30% chance says the effectively greet each other only every third time (after 20 s they have already left their "meeting place"). So if two patroling AI meet each other every 2 minutes, they only greet each other every 6 minutes (or so), which is jsut fine.

 

However, if the AI stand next to each other, this occurs much more frequently.

 

So, my advocation would be to increase the dead time to something like 3 or 5 minutes (even 2 minutes would probably reduce the greeting chatter already a lot, while not affecting patrols).

 

Patroling AI will take quite a bit to meet each other, so by the time they meet, the "dead time" would be over, anyway, and the 30% chance would be in effect again.

 

(I gladly file the above as tracker, if you wish)

 

Edit: Question for clarification: Does "greeting" here mean every idle chatter like "quiet night, huh?" or is it specific to "hello" etc?

[grayman]

File tracker issue with feature change request.

 

A greeting is any exchange. "Hello" is just one out of the set.

[lowenz]

I noticed a funny thing in TDM 2.0 (maybe it was in old 1.0x build too): the reaction time when an hostile NPC collide with the player in total dark zones is extremely high: the NPC seems dumb and drunken

Is it normal?

Edited May 14, 2013 by lowenz

[grayman]

I'd need more specifics. The response time for a tactile alert in the dark shouldn't be more than a couple seconds. How long is "extremely high"?

[Tels]

File tracker issue with feature change request.

 

A greeting is any exchange. "Hello" is just one out of the set.

 

Tracked:

 

http://bugs.thedarkmod.com/view.php?id=3415

[simplen00b]

I had fun with the Difficult level of Too Late. In the inner sanctum, I do my usual 'douse the lights and fire' routine, then hop down to KO the cowled thug.

 

Body falls to floor. The captain (?) immediately goes on alert. GREAT.

 

Manage to pick up the body and get round to the adjoining area with the barrels. OK, so I've just got to dump the body. But I can't dump where I usually do (by the brazier) cuz the captain's already on alert and the noise'll just make it worse. And if I dump it here, the patrolling guard (that carried a lit torch until I put it out) may find it. GREAT.

 

But maybe he won't. Dump body on one of the sacks. Creep back round to the brazier area. Wait till the guard in the bed area has his back turned, KO the captain and carry his body into his den without being seen. Excellent. But now I've got to dump the body. And while I'm waiting, I hear the voice of the patrolling guard from the other side of the crate wall. He's found the other body. GREAT.

 

Drop the captain's body onto the bed. Maybe it'll be quiet. YEAH RIGHT. The patrolling guard comes barrelling in with a drawn sword faster than a greased whippet. GREATGREAT&DOUBLEGREAT.

 

Get some sword hits, health down to 20% but manage to get past him and back up on top of the crates.

 

Wait for everything to settle down.

 

Especially my heart rate.

 

 

 

Great. (Genuinely.)

[lowenz]

I'd need more specifics. The response time for a tactile alert in the dark shouldn't be more than a couple seconds. How long is "extremely high"?

Yes, 2-3 seconds.

 

Isn't too much?