Years after the Borealis Incident, the remaining rebel fighters struggle to find a hero to replace Gordon Freeman. Running low on options, they resort to creating one of their own. An original story set in the Half-Life 2 universe. Re worked weapons, enemies, and even suit functions make for a totally new way to experience the world of Half-Life 2.
So one real big issue with soldiers in HL2 is they don't really show you what they're trying to do. Attacking, flanking, taking cover, w.e, they're always facing you and shooting on the move. Even running away, they'll face towards you and shoot while sprinting backwards! This takes away any moments where you can really read into what they're trying to do.
Enter this overhaul. Soldiers no longer override where they face while running and they'll opt to walk and shoot if they need to attack on the move. I'm planning on a big AI rework soon and the only way that'll really pay off is if their intentions are made more clear so hopefully these tweaks go a long way in that department!
nice! the combine ai was really bad in hl2
eeehhhhh....I never really thought so
the issue, in my opinion, was that the AI node graphs on many of the default HL2 maps were pretty bare bones,which severely limited the skill of the AI.
on many sourcemods, (Minerva Metastasis to name one) had a very good node graph on it's map, which gave the AI more options in combat, they'd flank, lay down suppressive fire, spam grenades if you were in a very defensible position, etc
I'd say the grand majority of Minerva's maps give them very little room to "flank". Suppressive fire isn't a thing, throwing grenades is a thing they can do if you're near a spot they saw you at in the last couple of seconds. They will never "grenade spam" an area seeing how only one squadmate can toss a nade at a time.
Idunno man please don't make stuff up to defend it? The amount of upvotes on this makes me think people actually believe it.
Only the maps once you entered the deeper portions of the facility. The surface levels, and the island itself, had plenty of ways for the AI to outmaneuver the player, especially on the way back up near the finale.
Grenade spam is a thing man, plan RTSLvilletwo, one of the maps has a section where four Overwatch Soldiers will lob a ‘nade every 2-3s if they can’t directly see you.
Then go play a Gmod combat\arena map, I’ve had no fewer than 4 grenades thrown into the same room I was covering in
Also pretty sure ‘suppressive fire’ is actually a thing, it’s been awhile since I was on the SDK wiki reading about how AI nodes worked, but I’m pretty sure one of the hint nodes (or something like that) functioned pretty much like suppressive fire,
Hell, the Alien AI is Black Mesa is super freaking aggressive, hardly have any time to reload before a Grunt will come charging around the corner and shoulder rush me.
I have literally looked at and overhauled their code. There is no suppressive fire, there is no "suppressive fire" node. I have absolutely no idea what Black Mesa's ai has to do with this?
As for them supposedly outmaneuvering the player, the only movement goals they ever consider are ones to find LOS on you or to get to cover, generally to reload. Minerva's opening sections are on wide open beaches and later in an area with a couple cramped building where it's extremely easy to have them all funnel into your los and die. They do not have the capacity to make smart use of the map.
This is objectively false. For a game made in 2004, and even compared to most games today, the AI in HL2 is pretty astonishing, especially if it is used correctly, as asw01 has said.
you haven't played many games, have you?
Yea I've only beaten 500+ and own about 700, I guess that's not many.
Then you should know better than this.
Know better than what, exactly?
Halo's Elites, any of the Far Cry's mercs, FEAR's replica soldiers, and that's all just from around the same time HL2 released
What's your point? Did I say that Half-Life 2 has the best AI ever made? No. Did I say it was better than everything during its time? No. Did I say it was better than modern day? No. I said for its time it was good AI; I guess I used the word 'astonishing' to spice up the vocabulary over it, but we aren't going to get hooked up on semantics, are we?
You are putting words in mouth for the sake of arguing with...your own opinion of what I have said? Really strange, mate.
The most you could possibly extrapolated from what I've said is that I believe Half-Life 2 had impressive AI for the time, and AI that is still serviceable today. Those aren't exactly controversial statements by any means, so I don't know what your gripe is.
When did I put words in your mouth, lol. I just said what I think, and why I think that. HL2 AI is laughable, all they do is rush at you and sometimes throw grenades. I don't care if it's a matter of how it was applied or if it was actually well programmed or not, it's just bad one way or another, be it by 2004 or todays standards.
Maybe it was better before steampipe update, idk. As of now it's not.
I think you should try playing it again and actually pay attention to what they are doing. You have grossly simplified what they can do and what they will do. They will flank, they will use choke points and cover, they will pin you with fire and grenades, they will hide and ambush. The HL2 combine AI will absolutely do more than rush and sometimes throw grenades, I really don't know where you are getting that from.
There is no intentional "flanking", they have zero concept of what a "choke point" is, they have no suppression fire schedule or w.e, and they absolutely do not have some kind of "hide and ambush" behavior. I'd really appreciate it if you didn't spread misinformation based on what you think they're doing. You can literally find their code online and see exactly what they do, what they consider, what they respond to w.e. This is literally demonstrably false.
Sure, maybe not directly built into their AI, but even mild competent use of hint nodes in the engine can create all of these effects. Yea, if you just plop a combine down into a room with nothing else all they do is run around and shoot, maybe throwing grenades. That is not the way to use them, though, and anyone who has spent any time setting up a level in Hammer would know that. Their AI becomes quite competent as long as the levels are designed well and some amount of consideration is used when placing their nodes. With nodes, and no other changes to their code, I have personally created all of these situations. I'm not spreading misinformation, it is demonstrably true.
When you say stuff like "they hide and ambush" I really cannot accept "ok they don't actually do that but it's easy to think they do in some situations, especially when I've played basically every major HL2 mod that exists and I cannot think of a SINGLE instance of behavior like that. Good AI absolutely can make the player think they're doing more complicated things than they do, I would 100% disagree the combine soldiers are equipped to do that. Their movement goals are incredibly basic and don't even allow for a vague kind of nuance, they are basically just running for you or away from you. They don't coordinate their movements, they don't throw grenades if the grenade wont hit you so they often don't use them in ways where they can look smart like trying to flush you out instead of running in.
They're built for incredibly linear arenas and I think it says a lot that in EP2 Valve basically scripts almost all of their behavior to make them seem more interesting. Try to make something like a FEAR arena, something built to just let the ai do things that look interesting, and the soldiers will make almost no use of it. The idea they even express enough to "fake" good behavior, like the great audio from FEAR's replicas or their varied animations which help show their intentions is something I cannot buy into at all. It's like someone trying to tell me fast food is actually a gourmet meal. There's a reason I bothered with a complete overhaul of their behavior so seeing posts telling people what they can "actually" do is pretty frustrating tbqh.
So again, to reiterate, basically nothing you just said was factual, it's you basically over-complicating behavior which is literally "run to a position to shoot from".
This conversation will never lead anywhere because you're desperate to make yourself feel like your time putting this together was worth it, I get that. What you've done does look like an improvement, congratulations *confetti* you can stop being so triggered now.
I mean, I'm only on the defense of a game that literally revolutionized gaming for the entire world, created a massive community, and has lead to us being here right now, how dare I defend it.
I never noticed the Combine sprinting backwards....whenever they retreated, (which wasn't often, to be fair) they'd turn around and book it
Nice.