Smart Terrains tutorial

Lately some people asked us how to create and script smart terrains. To avoid responding for each single email we decided to create this little tutorial. We will use ST as Smart Terrain abbreviation. This tutorial treats about npc's ST-s but for mutants it's almost the same.

We assume you are familiar with:

- lua programming
- all.spawn editing (with acdc)
- waypoints (patrols)
- ai schemes

First you have to think about your ST, where to spawn it, how many npcs/mutants will "work" for your ST, when ST should be activated/terminated, how many states your ST will have and so on. We guess the best way would be to show you how to get it working by an example. So let's say we want to spawn ST in Cordon for 3 bandits.

1. Spawning ST:


[2515]
; cse_abstract properties
section_name = smart_terrain
name = esc_bandits_smart_terrain
position = 131.02030944824,0.065616846084595,-248.9094543457
direction = 0,0,0

; se_smart_terrain properties

this is actually the most important stuff:


type = esc_bandits_smart_terrain
cond = {-infoportion}
capacity = 3
squad = 1
groups = 5
respawn = esc_respawn_inventory_box_0002

'''type''' is a name of our new ST (required)
'''cond''' describes conditions which have to be met (optional)
'''capacity''' ST npcs/mutants quantity i.e. how many npcs/mutants our ST can handle (required)
'''squad, groups''' no idea what they are used for, maybe they are not used at all but i might be wrong (both are optional)
'''respawn''' name of the stash (blue box) where items will be spawn when ST respawn will be called (optional)

2. Spawning npcs/mutants and assigning (binding) them to our ST: in this case for each mutant/npc we have to add to its logic:


custom_data = < [smart_terrains]
esc_bandits_smart_terrain = true
END

3. Adding job (logic) for each npc/mutant from our ST (for each state). Let's say our ST have two states: state 0 (describes what npcs/mutants are doing during day) and state 1 (during night). We have 3 bandits, so say:

- bandit1: walker (state 0) and kamp (state 1)
- bandit2: guard (state 0) and sleeper (state 1)
- bandit3: walker (state 0 and 1 <= he's doing the same at day and night)

There are at least 3 ways to add logic (job) for each npc/mutant, we will use the most common one, i.e. we will add logic to config\misc\gulag_escape.ltx file. It may looks like this:


;-- bandit1 (walker -> state 0, i.e. during day)
[logic@esc_bandits_smart_terrain_bandit1_walker]
active = walker@esc_bandits_smart_terrain_bandit1

[danger_condition@esc_bandits_smart_terrain]
ignore_distance_corpse = 0
ignore_distance = 0

4. Now we have to script our ST. In this case we will add our code to scripts\gulag_escape.script file. There are several things we need to do here (each of this steps is required):

- load logic (jobs) for each npc/mutant, for each state -> function load_job(...)


if type == "esc_bandits_smart_terrain" then
t = {}
;-- section is a "link" to logic defined in ltx file
t.section = "logic@esc_bandits_smart_terrain_bandit1_walker"
;-- no idea, probably describes after what time
;-- npc will use this job again (?)
t.idle = 0
;-- no idea but i guess it's optional
t.timeout = 0
;-- priority
t.prior = 100
;-- npc will use this logic if ST switched to this state
;-- in this case - state 0 (day)
t.state = {0}
;-- no idea about squad and group
t.squad = squad
t.group = groups[1]
;-- no idea what means position_threshold
t.position_threshold = 100
;-- describes whether npc in this state is online or offline
;-- online = true by default
t.online = true
;-- describes restrictors (where npc can/can't go)
t.in_rest = ""
t.out_rest = ""
;-- because of the way how jobs are assigning by
;-- smart_terrain.script you never know which job
;-- will be used by which npc; if you want to ensure
;-- that certain job is used by certain npc then
;-- you have to use predicate function; in this case
;-- we want this job to be used by expert (master) bandit
t.predicate = function(obj_info) return obj_info.rank >= 900 end
table.insert(sj, t)

;-- bandit3 -> state 0 (day) and state 1 (night)
t = {section = "logic@esc_bandits_smart_terrain_bandit3_walker",
idle = 0, prior = 5, state = {0, 1}, squad = squad, group = groups[1],
in_rest = "", out_rest = ""}
table.insert(sj, t)
end

One more thing about ST states, it's up to you how many states your ST have. The important thing is to add logic for each state. For instance your ST can have those states:

0 - npcs are offline
1 - npcs are online (day)
2 - npcs are online (night)
3 - npcs are online, they decided to assault other ST
4 - npcs are online and actor attacks them

And another thing, i'm sick when i have to fill so many tables, so i usually use this function:


function fill_tbl(section, idle, prior, states, squad, group, in_rest, out_rest, online, gulag_name)
local tbl = {}

tbl.squad = squad
tbl.group = group
tbl.in_rest = in_rest
tbl.out_rest = out_rest
tbl.online = online
return tbl
end

So using above function, we can load logic like this:


if type == "esc_bandits_smart_terrain" then
local t = table.insert(sj, fill_tbl("bandit1_walker", 0, 100, {0}, squad, groups[1], "", "", true, type))
t.timeout = 0
t.position_threshold = 100
t.predicate = function(obj_info) return obj_info.rank >= 900 end
table.insert(sj, t)

table.insert(sj, fill_tbl("bandit2_walker", 0, 5, {0}, squad, groups[1], "", "", true, type))
table.insert(sj, fill_tbl("bandit2_sleeper", 0, 5, {1}, squad, groups[1], "", "", true, type))
table.insert(sj, fill_tbl("bandit3_walker", 0, 5, {0, 1}, squad, groups[1], "", "", true, type))
end

- automatically change job for each npc/mutant -> function load_states(...)


if type == "esc_bandits_smart_terrain" then
return function(gulag)
if not db.actor then
return gulag.state
end
if level.get_time_hours() >= 5 and level.get_time_hours() <= 22 then
return 0 -- switch all mutants/npc to daily job
else
return 1 -- switch all mutants/npc to nightly job
end
end
end

- ensure that our ST will be used only by bandits -> function checkStalker(...)


if gulag_type == "esc_bandits_smart_terrain" then
return npc_community == "bandit"
end

==Links==
Discussion:
Gsc-game.com

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