Comments - ESAI

Just threaten them with a big stick

It will be fixed when you fix your mod. The way DICE wrote the scripting language ESAI is compatible with all mods.

i chose random picture cause who cares about that

It was designed under 1.41 but also works fine with 1.5

ESAI runs in all BF2 mods. There are no exceptions. Because of the way the coding language was written by EA, it is impossible for it to not work with all mods.

Probably (almost certainly) you can use ESAI in your mod. Read over the News post on this page titled "ESAI permission requests".

If you meet all the conditions I posted then you may use my work.

Yep, I just checked out the GS page. You're fine to use it.

I just sent you a message also, take a look at your inbox when you get a chance.

Nope...because it has -always- worked with ver 1.5. The SAI layer of the game engine didn't change between 1.41 and 1.5, and that is the part of the AI that ESAI manipulates.

Negative. The custom ESAI for fh2 that I talked about was strictly for FH2 ver 2.3.

The big difference between that ESAI:FH2 and Standard ESAI was custom plugins written for specific maps, mostly to correct funky CO orders for the "Push" game mode of FH2.

Most, if not all, of the maps I did custom SAI for have been changed by the mappers now, so I would have to rewrite EVERYTHING. This is extremely time consuming.

I have since retired as an FH2 dev, so any update would not be an official part of the mod.

That, of course, would decrease my user base for a new FH2 ESAI custom version, and also be problematic for people running FH2 COOP servers.

For all intents and purposes the FH2 branch of ESAI is in the graveyard.

Guess I'm a little slow sometimes...

(waiting for a thousand clicks on this comment's vote button).

Original Project Description and "Official" home of ESAI; full details in this forum thread:

Battlefieldsingleplayer.com

err, huh? If you are having trouble I would be happy to help but I don't understand what you are trying to say.

If you play as commander then ESAI has no effect on the AI strategies for your side.

ESAI is designed to enhance AI commander strategies only, and has no effect either positive or negative with respect to individual squads following their orders. In general they do so when running SP/Coop as a squad leader with ESAI enabled.

Brief Project Update:

Project Reality is no longer supported by this AI enhancement.

"I see it only effect on the behavior and tactic bot use right :/"

I make no -personal- claims that ESAI has any effect on the game whatsoever. It is here for anyone to try if they like, it is free software, and your individual results may vary.

Now then, my user base has been very consistent in asserting that ESAI does boost the level of action, improves the overall game balance, reduces commander spam,improves the coordination of bot decisions at the squad level, encourages bots to make proper use of available attack vehicles, and generally improves the game's Fun Factor.

But that is just what most of my users (and all of my beta testers) tell me. I'm not =personally= saying that any of those benefits are real. It is up to the end user to decide if they are.
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"i see some of sever map file already have StrategiesAi. already and it biggest that what i have to replace".

What you have found in there is a custom strategy that has already been written for the map by someone else. Past experience has shown me that most such files do not significantly improve game play, and some of them can even make it worse. It all depends on whether or not the strategy was well written. I have seen a few of them that are very well written. Sadly, most of the time the code is pretty feeble.

IF you see the handle "FFOLKES" inside the Strategies.ai file, you should likely leave it alone. That is one person at least that can code strategies that are not childish or fundamentally flawed with screwball logic.

(The only examples of sane BF2 strategies I ever found when I was first learning to write them were the ones created by FFOLKES.)

I can only suggest that you back up the original file before replacing it with an ESAI file. Try the map a few times running both strategies. Decide which strategy script makes the map the most fun to play,and just use the one you like the best.

Well, I have the most fun when I play coop mode on my LAN, and we split the human players evenly between the two teams and have at it. We all play as squad leaders,with the rest of each fire team consisting of bots only.

The AI commander runs the show for us in terms of the overall battle plan,and does a pretty decent job of it. That leaves us free to enjoy the squad level action without the distraction of crappy CO directives.

ESAI was originally made for a SP game environment, where it usually isn't much fun to play the role of CO. More accurately, -I- have never enjoyed being the commander in SP...I imagine there are people who do.

"I'm enjoy but i think still pr bot always driver the chopper and hit other"

ESAI is Strategic AI code. It does not influence things such as bot driving skill. Such aspects of BF2 AI are not controlled by the SAI layer of the system, thus ESAI has no -direct- effect on path finding / navigation for individual bots.

Great! Glad you finally got it working.

You don't have to alter "StrategicAreas.ai". (Advanced users can tweak it for better use with ESAI, but it is not required).

Also, once a map is hooked to ESAI, you will never have to mess with it again. The rule for official ESAI updates is that they will always be backwards compatible with prior releases.

The ESAI upgrade process is simple - when a new version comes out, you just replace your main ESAI folder with the new version...you need change nothing in your ESAI enabled maps.

Check that you have the main ESAI folder in the correct directory: \mods\bf2

If it gets to the spawn screen before crashing that usually means you have the map file in the right place in the zip, but the ESAI folder isn't in the expected location.

If it crashed, then yes, you made a mistake somewhere. ESAI may or may not be wonderful, I won't claim either way.

I will claim that when it is setup correctly,ESAI won't crash your game.

Any crash related to ESAI will occur during map load or else the moment you first click the spawn button.

If you can give a more detailed description, I may be ale to tell you what the problem is.

Sorry you are having trouble. One thing you said:

"I copied all the files from the AI folder"

That doesn't sound right - you should be copying a single file from the ESAI \MapFiles \ directory into your server.zip. Put it into the \AI folder that already holds a file named "StrategicAreas.ai".

Just the one file into that single folder in the zip.

(laughs) - Cool then man. Give ESAI a go and see if you like it.

Crash Course on ESAI Setup:

1. Unpack the zip from the download and put the ESAI folder here:
[BF2 Install Folder] \ mods \ bf2 \.

It would be something like this: "C:\ BF2 \ mods \ bf2 \ ESAI\"

-Once that is done you can use ESAI with ANY mod, AND you can use it with multiple mods at once.

- DON'T copy ESAI to all mod folders. You don't need to. Any map from any mod that is hooked to ESAI will pull its AI code from the default install location.

2. Open the `server.zip` for the map you want to add ESAI to.

3. Open the folder \ ESAI \ MapFiles \ [default|user] \

- Look around in the sub folders folders, this is where you will find a large selection of files that you can add to `server.zip`. These are all very small files named "Strategies.ai". All the sub folders represent different ESAI Strategy Sets.

Start out simple; try the Medium Map strategy set. The map file file for it would be found here:

\ ESAI \ MapFiles \ Default \ mediumMap \

4. Whatever strategy set you chose, the `Strategies.ai` file responsible for loading it now needs to be patched into the map. Add it here:

`server.zip` --> \ GameModes \ [mode] \ [size] \AI

EXAMPLE:

Say you wanted to use the ESAI Strategy Set "Medium Map" with a 64 size SP game mode. After navigating to the Medium Map `strategies.ai` file, you would put a copy of the file in this location:

\ levels \ [MapName] \ server.zip --> \ GameModes \ SP3 \ 64 \ AI \

5. You DO NOT need to run a dedicated server to use ESAI!

ESAI works under regular SP mode. It also runs without issue on a non dedicated server running coop mode. And yes, it will work on a dedicated server too.ESAI has been tested in all these configurations.

6. If using ESAI for COOP, all players MUST have ESAI installed to the bf2 mod directory. All players must also have a copy of the patched map. If not then you will have problems with CTD.

Full tutorial with images coming ASAP.

You assume incorrectly sir. ESAI has been tested extensively with Project Reality by the guys over at Veterans Gaming, as well as by other individuals who have given me feedback in the past.

You could go human V human in coop mode and have a lot of fun, but ESAI would not be active if you were both playing as the Commander.

No, it is a rather arcane scripting language specific to the battlefield series of games. The programming paradigm is hard to describe - it is neither procedural nor object oriented.

This is Forgotten Hope 2 Version 2.3 for BF2

All downloads are temporarily suspended due to intellectual property issues.

ESAI will be available for download again after copyright is secured. Thank you for your interest in this project.

No problem, I just wasn't sure if I was allowed to post a direct link. I will take my chances. The link below leads straight to the thread:

Battlefieldsingleplayer.com

To the handful of people watching this mod (4 of you as I write this):

If you want to track the very latest on this project,you should keep an eye on the BFSP thread dedicated to it. It is a sticky in the Advanced Topics section; you can't miss it. In the future you may find my beta releases and / or regular updates much sooner at that forum.

Moddb is a great network, but Battlefield Singleplayer is the home of the ESAI project.