Aiming Practice Mod

Kartoshka · August 2012

Hi All,

First off, I am very new to the modding side of NS2 although I do have a bit of coding experience behind me. The other day I had an idea for a mod (please let me know if someone has already thought it up/implemented it) that I thought could be a bit of fun.

The idea is an aiming practice mod for marines. So basically you start off in a small room and a few skulks spawn in front of you and you have to fight them off with an lmg or shotgun. The reason I think that this could be cool is because in a standard game you might get to kill 15 skulks or so in a half hour period (more if you are not a noob like me). With this mod you would be able to really practice your aim by shooting maybe 100 in the same time period. You may say that you can just play more ns2 which is true, but for me I would love the ability to have some concentrated time just shooting skulks, as it is a very fun part of the game in itself.

So, I mentioned before that I am very new to modding. I was wondering if someone would be able give me a few pointers in the right direction as to how I might implement this. Eventually it would be cool to have features like being able to select damage and armour levels etc and also the difficulty of the skulks movement.

I know that this kind of falls in to the category of bots but it doesn't seem like there has been any movement on that for a while.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

All the best,

Matt

Dghelneshi · August 2012

Just a note regarding the movement: It would possibly be best to be able to pre-record the skulks' movement via parsing a demo recorder file, otherwise it would be too easy to predict, too hard to implement or just unrealistic.

mf- · August 2012

I'm all for this, I however am useless and cannot contribute :P

elmo9000 · August 2012

Would be fun to have something like this. One other idea would be to make the bots be able to acquire you as a target no matter what. Right now when they lock on, they will keep running on to you until they are at biting distance. Then you could for example have a map, that has lots of vents, and the skulks spawn in them. Then they jump out and try to get you. Maybe could even add random jumping for them when they get out of the vents, and some clutter on the ground so they kinda "jump" off of them when they run over them.

Would be possible to get much more sophisticated movement with Dghelneshi's idea, but then they wouldnt attack you at all i guess. Then again, i dont know if they really have to.

Bicsum · August 2012

You could make the skulks act like bouncy balls and shoot them in a room with a cannon.

Killing them in fewer time would give you more points?

The skulk model should also have a helmet then.

Kartoshka · August 2012

Hey Guys,

Remedy has created a map based of the ns2_docking Ballcourt that could be used for this aiming practice concept. I guess the concept could work with bots or live players in a dueling type way, or even 3 vs 3 marine/skulk combat.

Here is a link to the map: <a href="http://www.duplexgaming.co.uk/downloads/index.php?id=114" target="_blank">http://www.duplexgaming.co.uk/downloads/index.php?id=114</a>

One thing I was wondering was if there might be someone out there who would be able to help me get a simple skulk bot working that could jump and strafe etc towards an enemy player. I have had a look round in the code and in other people's bots but have decided that this kind of coding is above my level as I have never done any game development before. So just thinking if there was someone out there interested in the concept that would want to help out.

Regards,

Matt

Soul_Rider · August 2012

I was planning to make a game mode like UT2004's Wave, where you stand as marines and have to survive increasingly more difficult waves of aliens. Only trouble is, bot code!!

To much for me to program, and none of the bots currently written are up to the job unfortunately. If you want bot code you really are going to have to take the plunge yourself :)

Angelusz · August 2012

Heh. Nice idea. This reminds me of the NS2 alpha. The first time the engine became 'playable' was with a very simple gun and targets popping up (wooden stick figures). It was loads of fun running around the map, popping some caps into them, seeing them fall apart.

I guess an NS2-shooting range could be part of the 'training' in the main menu. I would definitely like to see this.

Dghelneshi · August 2012

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Soul_Rider @ Aug 20 2012, 12:04 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1965159"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'>I was planning to make a game mode like UT2004's Wave, where you stand as marines and have to survive increasingly more difficult waves of aliens. Only trouble is, bot code!!

To much for me to program, and none of the bots currently written are up to the job unfortunately. If you want bot code you really are going to have to take the plunge yourself :)</div>
Yeah, unfortunately I can't see any AI ever being able to use all the classes different movement styles in a realistic way. All bots I've seen so far act on a 2D plane, getting flying, wallwalking and walljumping into that mix will be disgusting.

Yuuki · August 2012

I tried just to change a bit the bot behavior so they always attack you, in a very small map it mostly work, by tuning a bit balance parameters (alien spawn) you get waves of skulks attacking you, it's quite fun. You can add a bit of random jumping and strafing, adding leap shouldn't be too hard.

I don't have time to develop and maintain such a mod though, but I can help if anyone wants to.

Kartoshka · August 2012

Hey Yuuki,

Do you mind posting quickly how you got that to work? When I try the bots they just start running till they hit a wall and then stop! No worries if it is a big hassle.

Yuuki · August 2012

Here it is, basically I increased the search radius of enemies and removed other orders. The map does the rest.

<a href="http://www.filedropper.com/ns2train" target="_blank">http://www.filedropper.com/ns2train</a>

Unzip and copy in ns2 folder. Start the mod, then in console:

map ns2_train
cheats 1
j1
addbot 2 2

ScardyBob · August 2012

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Dghelneshi @ Aug 15 2012, 09:58 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1963821"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'>Just a note regarding the movement: It would possibly be best to be able to pre-record the skulks' movement via parsing a demo recorder file, otherwise it would be too easy to predict, too hard to implement or just unrealistic.</div>
I like this method. You could record some good skulk players attacking marines in a location (e.g. crossroads in summit or ball court in docking) and then parse the movements into preset attack paths. You could even rank the attack paths by difficulty and then combine it with an increasing number of skulks attacking at the same time to increase the difficulty of the mod.

Kartoshka · August 2012

Thanks Yuuki,

I had a lot of fun with the map and bots this morning.

eh? · August 2012

I don't understand how you could pre-record anything but a small portion of a skulks initial approach. How do you effectively mix in movement from a "good" skulk to respond to a player practicing? I mean I guess if you want the bot to never attack anything it might be ok, but otherwise that approach seems pretty difficult.

Seems like it's just as complicated / difficult as writing a bot with intelligent movement.

xDragon · August 2012

That kind of hard coded training is exactly what you dont need in NS2.. getting better at aiming is all about doing it organically, and on the spot. You need to be able to make the most of any situation you are in, by using your surrounding and your movement to get the best angles on target. Having preset positions where skulks attack from only helps you in those specific situations, which can end up hurting your play in others. Its best to focus on improving your reactions in all situations, not specific ones.

Some of the best training I found you could do in NS1 was to just facerush into anything, and force yourself to react as best you can. even in ways that may not make sense or are different, thats how you can discover tricks that fool even the best of players. It also forces you to develop reactions that start to happen naturally regardless of your situation, which can help you avoid ambushes or outwit an opponent.

Aiming Practice Mod

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