Hey guys,
AIwhisperer still needs a very optimised fastlane/aihints.ini combo to fully deliver, but worth it so far.
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Got rid of some safeguards and added a few new options.
The way i work on a car/track combo : make sure the Main values and Experimental are properly set up for a track first, then start tweaking the zones, then add the Behaviors tweaks.
I made a couple of tweaked tracks already, which i'm gonna share here later. Greenwood with the gt2000 is quite a blast now, i can't even reach 14th... When it comes to racing offline, i'm a big fan of the TZ2 and the Simca, as they offer a real challenge, but the Elan is good fun as well. The others are a little easier.
So far i tweaked a few tracks, here is greenwood for the GTC and WSC. Didn't tweak them all yet, it takes time, and i want them to match my pace and be able to run against eachother without issues.
As a preview, if you guys want to give the first attempts a try :
Greenwood :
https://www.mediafire.com/file/vqpjgbbtz0zy5fp/greenwood_f3ct.7z/file
Westwood :
https://www.mediafire.com/file/gh2w1wyfqnsmgqh/westwood_f3ct.7z/file
Sadly the Simca the way it is sucks for AI, mainly cause of its shifting timing and its 6 gears. I made a dedicated AI version (showcased in the vid), can't share it until someone knows how to connect an acd file to an encrypted model, or until i hear from Lucas so that he encrypts the AI version himself.
Same goes with the lovely Elan 26R, which is already fast and fun to race against the way it is, but is really turning into a demon on wheels once boosted. That i can share :
https://www.mediafire.com/file/54wyzutpjfcbtm5/ac_legends_gtc_elan_26r_AI.7z/file
So far the tracks include all the Gt2000 class, a few american cars (like the TVR and the WSC Corvettes), and a few WSC ones.
Anyway, for the app and how you can use it for your own combos :
A proper setting of Brake hint and Lookahead base should let the AI car go smoothly and fast thru the track. From there i try to match my own pace minus 1 or 2 seconds using AIGRIP. AI Grip can also be used to get better exit on very powerful cars, where the AI would struggle to oscillate with 1st gear.
The vintage cars always enter a safe state as soon as they lose grip, which is super annoying, which can be avoided with a little boost on AI grip on fast corners and braking zones. If you need to go above 1.35, you should probably just rewrite the fastlane.
A proper setting of tyre hints would let the car decrease its pace with tyre wear. If AI cars start crashing after 6-7 laps, it's probably because the tyre wear wasn't taken into account enough (0.95 is very safe, 1.10 would almost ignore tyre wear. Good for attack, terrible on the long run).
Remember you can use the AIHintsReader app to create zones, edit hints, add Danger/Hint zones, Zone1&2 etc... The DANGER, HINT and BRAKEHINT still need a complete track reload but the Zone1 and Zone2 can be called (once saved in AIHintsReader) by clicking "Load AI Hints Cache" in AIwhisperer directly ingame without restarting.
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I usually use the Zone1 as an overtaking zone (where AICaution gets -0.05/-0.08 value combined with a +20% aggression level). It really helps cars going full throttle overtaking without slowing down. i would not set it up like this around any corner still.
Another trick is to set a Zone1 overtaking zones right after a corner, so that cars accelerating would go full blast without paying too much attention to their surroundings, since the risks of crashes on acceleration is a lot lower in this situation. Doesn't have to be very long, but definitly helps cars to exit faster when packed.
The Zone 2 could be used for very specific zones where 1 or 2 car types are having stupid behavior : the infamous "let's shift gear up 5 meters before heavy braking" or "For some reason on THAT corner i will always overshoot) can be easily resolved using a specific Zone2 set of sliders.
Finally, because i've been asked about it, remember that for the brake hint value for each zone, it has to be set up BEFORE the AI car starts braking. If you set up a -0.010 brake hint in zone 2 and the car starts braking at point 0.7525, the Zone2 should start at 0.7515. If Zone2 starts at 0.7535, the slider modification will not be taken into account.
Talking about zone1 & 2, i added a few new sliders. The topspeed limit can help prevent a car from switching gears right before a corner, which always end up in terrible brakings. The gas throttle, RPM limiter and Minimum RPM are just toys (and cannot be saved cause they invalidate lap times), but i found out a car in a slow corner is REALLY faster if it maintains a little RPM going thru. Gives me some ideas for later updates if i find a gas throttle minimum value to pass those chicanes like a pro.
The behaviors available :
Elasticaution can fully be turned off now.
Elasticaution is a little script that allows to automatically reduce or enhance AICaution level depending on situations. It is not perfect, but at least AI cars would not slow down or enter a safe state each time the car ahead gets a little slower.
I added a new "closer racing" slider in the behavior's list. It's related to Elasticaution and needs it activated to work :
Bring the "Closer Racing" slider (-0.1 seems to be ideal, but -0.15 is waaaaay funnier) once AI gets some space (after few corners, or even a few laps). I need to figure out how to slowly inject it ingame automatically, after the first laps where it creates too many issues when a pack is driving toe to toe. Once spaced out? At -0.1 they really stick together, with a lot of action going. At -0.15 they start fighting like angry cyclists, and below -0.2 you have a full team of lunatics. Cannot be saved yet, i need some testing on modern cars to see if it gets interresting with those as well.
I'm working on a " switch behavior completely" where the attacking AI would switch to a different approach if its pace is faster AND it's been stuck for more than a lap. But now since the behaviors are always triggered differently during a race, they usually manage to finally pass an opponent after a couple of laps (when their pace is similar). I don't see fast cars staying behind like noobs anymore.
The Spike behavior by itself is pretty simple, and calculated with the car ahead data, which means it is always triggered even if the car is already in another situation. It automatically adds a few cheats into AI cars so that they don't stupidly rear end the car ahead. It is highly needed with vintage cars, but might be overkill with modern cars.
The Spike offset will send the AI cars to either dive in or try to overtake from the outside line, which means you can now have 3 cars wide situation. They never handle it well, but it is fun to witness. Basically, the way it's implemented at the moment , it's triggered by any emergency braking (SPIKE) so that, instead of ramming, a car will attempt a dive (inside line) if space is available or an outside overtaking. Might create problems on tight tracks with walls, so use accordingly with the track's needs. It is very subtile, and triggered for half a second, so it doesn't overwrites the normal AI behavior, but since it gets the car ahead off the trajectory, it gives some nice attack moves sometimes.
Force Pass gets a bit stronger. If you get too many incidents on braking, bring it off. It brings the aggression level a little higher, and the AIcaution a little lower, so that an AI car don't stay behind another one, and keeps trying to pass it.
Clear road needs some refinement, but it definitly helps cars to come back to the car ahead. What it does is keep the car in a "rush state" where the AI car brakes later and go for apex. It's greatly appreciated for a car at front followed by a pack, as it would enter and exits the corner a little faster, preventing the following cars to immediatly form a slow pack of cars when reaching closer on brakings. Since the values might have more or less impact depending on the car type, it needs a few sliders to be fully optimised, but the default settings i set up are good for vintage atm. Pace is not affected much.
Anyway, tested without too many issues with the GTC60s and the WSC packs.
There are still problems and situations where it needs refinements, but so far i had quite intense offline racing with the app the way it is. At least the AI coming from behind makes for a real threat sometimes, with nice diving and position keeping action.
The AI still doesn't have a defense behavior yet. The issues i'm encountering is that it is simple to script, but too efficient : an AI car in a defense mode makes for an impossible wall to pass for the other AIs 😂, so i'll let this one out for now.
See you next time
