AiWatchObj Works sometimes

Yandros on 10/9/2018 at 14:57

TrolPausePts are not special and do not dynamically create AIWO links like some of you seem to think they do. All it has is the property which sets the default values of any AIWO link added to the marker, either manually in Dromed or at runtime by scripts. There should be no conflict between the WatchObj Default property and a link added and set manually unless you're ALSO adding another link at runtime.

Also, setting the priority to Absolute won't fix anything if the pseudoscript still isn't firing in the first place, or is getting aborted due to alertness or awareness settings. It's also generally a bad idea as actions with Absolute priority will ALWAYS execute when triggered, even if the AI is DEAD. :D

Unna Oertdottir on 10/9/2018 at 15:19

The AI is invincible.

The culprit is a motion that gets added twice. This prevents further actions.
Either remove the motion from the aiwatchobj-link or from the metaproperty that has the same motion.

vfig on 10/9/2018 at 16:47

Quote Posted by Yandros

All it has is the property which sets the default values of any AIWO link added to the marker, either manually in Dromed or at runtime by scripts.

I guess I misunderstood the way Watch Link Defaults worked. Apologies.

john9818a on 14/9/2018 at 14:24

Just in case someone stumbles across this thread in the future, there has to be enough light for the AI to see the object that has the AIWatchObj link. If you're in a situation where light sources can be turned off or doused, setting up the object to be a very low intensity light source itself to enable the AI to see it under any conditions.

vfig on 14/3/2023 at 03:13

a problem i just had in my mission (still in the "AIWatchObj works sometimes" category, so i will describe it here) is an AIWatchObj pseudoscript that would sometimes seem to cancel itself. it would get halfway through its steps and then just not finish the rest of them—and there werent any alerts or anything like that happening to explain it.

my watch was set up with a radius of 4, and the second step was "Play sound/motion… Conv 42", which is the "squatting down" motion. the watch would always get as far as this step and the motion would begin, but some of the time the rest of the steps in the watch (doing a frob and removing a metaproperty, but not relevant) would simply not happen, and the ai would just go back to patrolling.

Quote Posted by R Soul

The AI checks the conditions of the link (distance, alertness) every fraction of a second (I'm not sure of the exact frequency).

being reminded of this—that the conditions are checked not just to start the pseudoscript, but repeatedly as it runs—put me on the right track.

i used this bit of squirrel to print the XY distance (as used for the Radius condition) and the Z distance (as used for the Height condition) every tenth of a second. "BookDropoffPt" here is the name of the marker which the AIWatchObj link goes to. and i used ai_flow_watch to log the ai actions.

Code:

class DebugDumpDist extends SqRootScript {
function OnSim() {
if (message().starting) {
SetOneShotTimer("DumpDist", 0.1);
}
}

function OnTimer() {
if (message().name=="DumpDist") {
local obj = Object.Named("BookDropoffPt");
local p1 = Object.Position(self);
local p2 = Object.Position(obj);
local dxy = vector(p1.x,p1.y,0.0) - vector(p2.x,p2.y,0.0);
local dz = vector(0.0,0.0,p1.z) - vector(0.0,0.0,p2.z);
print(":::::: "+dxy.Length()+", "+dz.Length());
SetOneShotTimer("DumpDist", 0.1);
}
}
}

here is what was logged:

Code:

[AI(2390) Watch: Flow] Pseudo-script: Play sound/motion(Sound Concept,Sound Tags,Motion Tags) ("", "", "Conv 42")
SQUIRREL> :::::: 3.89799, 1.02003
SQUIRREL> :::::: 3.92049, 1.02577
SQUIRREL> :::::: 3.97865, 0.955612
SQUIRREL> :::::: 4.05461, 0.747475
SQUIRREL> :::::: 4.09629, 0.485069
SQUIRREL> :::::: 4.09123, 0.250938
SQUIRREL> :::::: 4.07575, 0.011322
SQUIRREL> :::::: 4.05718, 0.233513
SQUIRREL> :::::: 4.04623, 0.455269
SQUIRREL> :::::: 4.04042, 0.618729
[AI(2390) Watch: Flow] changed goal to "'Goto Object or Location' [2399; (-9.095997, -190.925293, 104.155251) ] at priority 'Low'", ability "Patrol ability"

from this log i could see that during this motion, the ai's center moves backwards a little bit, enough so that the XY distance went back up over the 4.0 threshold just a little. and as a result, the pseudoscript stopped running because now the Radius condition was no longer met.

the fix i found: i made the first step of the pseudoscript be "Goto object" so that, although the watch starts when the ai enters the 4.0 radius, they walk significantly closer to the marker before beginning the motion, and so their distance from the marker now never exceeds approximately 2 feet.

(note: a "Goto object" with no arguments in an AIWatchObj pseudoscript will go to the destination of the link, in this case the BookDropoffPt marker itself. this doesnt work in Conversation or Response pseudoscripts, there you need an explicit argument for the object to go to.)

R Soul on 21/3/2023 at 23:13

The AI in the Dark Engine have a very relaxed idea of being at the location of something, or within the radius etc. As with the links, I think the AI will check every X milliseconds if they're within a certain distance of the target object. That additional Go to object step is certianly a good idea, and selecting 'no test once triggered' will also help to keep them on track, especially if it's a short set of actions.

vfig on 22/3/2023 at 03:54

good call. “no test once triggered” would also fix this.

(but wont that prevent the script being interrupted if the ai is alerted? i would need to tesr this to understand it better, but my understanding is the ai would attack/flee as that is higher priority, but then resume the script where they left off after settling down—which is not appropriate for this script at least)