How to do Waypoints for POD-Bot

* Parts of this Text were directly taken and tweaked from Botman's explanations * (Lazyness took me again and Botman is better than me in explaining things) * V1.2 Waypoint Makers please read: If you previously did some waypoints for POD-Bot you will notice some differences. First, you are now allowed to have connections between 8 Waypoints at the same time (was 4 before). Also the Wayzone Radius gets calculated instantly now when placing a waypoint (makes "wayzone calcall" somewhat obsolete). And even more important you should now do lots of waypoints since the Bots will try to to vary them. Also try to place waypoints at Places where you would like them to take cover (see below for a more lengthy explanation). First, before starting to do waypoints because you desperately need them for a custom map you want to play you better check here if they weren't already done by someone else: http://www.nuclearbox.com/podbot/downloads.shtml 1. Waypoints, what are they ? Waypoints are locations in the maps that the bots will use when navigating. They allow the bot to roam about the map without having to blindly bump into walls. Waypoints can be thought of like the bread crumbs in the Hansel and Gretel story. They are something marking a path to make it easier to follow. The waypoints are not displayed while the game is being played. The bots "know" which way to go by following the path laid out by these waypoints. In order to get the bots to cover the entire map when playing the game, waypoints should be laid out all over the map. Without the waypoints the bots will just randomly run around and will tend to stay in the same area. Waypoints also allow the bot to know where specific goals are in the game. You couldn't play capture the flag unless you knew where the flag was and where the flag needed to be taken after being captured. Waypoints are what makes all of these things possible. Bots with sufficiently advanced waypoint information and algorithms would be able to find the shortest distance between points in the map and navigate from their current position to some goal on the other side of the map. This document describes the commands needed to create or edit a waypoint file (to be used with POD-Bot). When creating or editing a waypoint file it is best NOT to have any bots wandering around at the same time. Create a LAN game, and join the game then start laying out waypoints for a map. Save the waypoint file, disconnect from the server, then start the game again, this time with the bots to see how well (or poorly) they follow the waypoints you have created. 2. What do waypoints look like in the map ? The waypoints are displayed using vertical lines that look like lightning or electric streams. The vertical line used to draw the waypoint is the same height as the player. The point in space at the center of this vertical line is what is actually used as the waypoint. Different Types of waypoints have different colors. Waypoints are stored in a file with the same name as the map file name but using the extension ".pwf" instead of the map file extension of ".bsp". For example, the waypoint file for the map de_dust would be de_dust.pwf.It will be stored in the Half-Life\cstrike\PODBot folder and then in the folder you specified with wptfolder (defaults to "WPTDefault"). Waypoint files are automatically loaded when the map is loaded (if they exist). If the waypoint file does not exist, you will need to create it using the directions contained in this document. 3. Waypoint console commands Summary The following Waypoint commands are available (note these ARE case sensitive): "waypoint on" - Turns on displaying of waypoints. "waypoint on noclip" - Turns on waypoint editing with noclip cheat. This allows you to fly and you don't collide with walls. Useful for doing swim waypoints. "waypoint off" - Turns off displaying of all waypoints. "waypoint add" - Adds a waypoint at the current player location. A Menu will pop up where you have to select the different types of waypoints "waypoint delete" - Deletes the waypoint nearest to the player (see below). "waypoint find x" - Shows you the Direction to a specific Waypoint Nr. x "waypoint showflags" - Shows all of the Flags which are set manually on this waypoint "waypoint addflag" - Allows you to manually add Flags to a waypoint. "waypoint delflag" - Let's you select a waypoint flag to delete "waypoint setradius x" - Manually sets the Wayzone Radius for this waypoint to Value x "waypoint stats" - Shows the number of different waypoints you did already set. "waypoint check" - Checks if all Waypoints are valid (automatically done when saving them too) "wayzone calcall" - Calculates the Wayzone Radius for all Waypoints in the Map. (obsolete now since V1.3 because wayzones are automatically set when a waypoint is created) "waypoint save" - Saves the current waypoint list to a file (with Waypoint & Path Checking) "waypoint save nocheck" - Same as above but forcing tosave even if they are full of errors.. "waypoint load" - Loads the waypoint list from a waypoint file (and initialises all Datas). "autowaypoint" - Displays the status of the autowaypoint setting. "autowaypoint on" - Turns on autowaypoint setting. "autowaypoint off" - Turns off autowaypoint setting. "pathwaypoint" - Displays the status of the pathwaypoint setting. "pathwaypoint on" - Turns on the pathwaypoint setting (see below). "pathwaypoint off" - Turns off the pathwaypoint setting. "pathwaypoint add x" - Connects the nearest Waypoint to you, with the waypoint whose number specified with Value x. "pathwaypoint delete x" - Disconnects the nearest Waypoint to you, with the waypoint whose number specified with Value x. "debuggoal x" - Forces Bots to use Waypoint Nr. x as a Destination Waypoint To use the waypoint commands, you will have to use the console. You must start the game with the console option enabled (use "hl.exe -console" in the Target: line of a shortcut or use "Half-Life Console" in your SIERRA menu from the Windows Start button). Use the '~' key to bring down the console. Enter the console commands that you wish, then use the '~' key again to return to the game. You can make things easier by binding console commands to keys on the keyboard. Just type "bind" followed by the key you want to bind to, followed by the console command. You will have to use double quotes on the console command if it's more than one word. Here's an example of console commands that I use when editing waypoints... bind a "waypoint add" bind d "waypoint delete" bind l "waypoint load" bind w "waypoint save" The 'a' key will manually add a waypoint. The 'd' key will delete a waypoint. The 'l' key will load the most recently saved waypoint file (useful if you have added some waypoints but don't want to save them and want to go back to the previously save waypoint list, sort of like an "undo"). The 'w' key (for "write waypoints") will save the list of waypoints to the waypoint file. I tried using 's' (for "save waypoints"), but I kept hitting 's' by mistake when I wanted to add or delete a waypoint. Using "waypoint add" will place a waypoint at the location that the player is currently at in a map. Waypoints can be placed anywhere the player can go. When placing a waypoint, you will hear a sound to indicate that the waypoint has been dropped (the sound is the same sound the crossbow bolt makes when striking an wall). You then have to specify the Type of waypoint you want to place here. "Normal Waypoint" sets a Waypoint which is used for normal walking from one point to each other. From V1.4 on you should place lots of them (but still caring for some distance between them), since the Bots use them for hiding and varying their paths. Color is green. A Standard Normal Waypoint "Terrorist Important Waypoint" and "Counter Important Waypoint" These are strategical waypoints for that team. Bots use these waypoints to patrol the map. How they use this, heavily depends on the map type. In a DE Map you should place a lot of Counter Waypoints around the Bomb Plant Zone and only 2 or 3 strategical waypoints for Terrorists. On a DE Map Counter Bots will most of the time pick a Counter Waypoint as a destination and only sometimes pick a Terrorist waypoint. Terrorists are allowed to pick any of them as a goal waypoint. This behaviour changes with the maptype, in a CS map for example it is vice versa. It helps to think of the important waypoints like strategical positions in a sports game. Imagine the team which defends the Map Goal is the 'Home Team' and the other one is the 'Away Team'. Now you need to have more important waypoints for the Home Team, because the Away Team will go for them anyway. On a DE Map the CT Team is the Home Team, on a CS & AS Map the Terrorist Team is the Home Team. The average number of 'Home Team' Important Waypoints should be about twice as much as the the important waypoints for the 'Away Team'. Terrorists WP Color is red, Counter Waypoints are blue. A Terrorist Important Waypoint A Counter-Terrorist Important Waypoint "Ladder Waypoint" These need to be placed on a ladder if you want the Bots to climb it. Set the bottom waypoint at a position where you're already "stuck" to the ladder. At the top of the ladder you should place another ladder waypoint. Set this at a position where you can hardly look ever the edge. If the ladder is quite a long one, you might want to place another ladder waypoint in between the other ones. In most cases you need to connect the waypoints manually by using pathwaypoint (see below). If there is no connection between the waypoints the Bots won't climb the ladder ! Color is purple. A ladder waypoint "Rescue Waypoint" This is only needed on Hostage Maps. It's the location where you want the CT Bots to rescue the hostages. Usually only 1 is needed (depending on how much Rescue Zones there are it might be more).. Color is white. A Rescue Waypoint "Goal Waypoint" Place this at a position where Goals of the Map need to be achieved. In DE maps this is a bomb plant spot and on cs maps Counter look here to rescue some hostages. In AS maps these are the Escape points for the VIP. Color is purple like ladder waypoints. A Goal Waypoint "Campstart Waypoint" This is a camping (or sniper if you prefer) waypoint. To place it, look into the direction you want the Bot to start looking at when camping. To let him crouch at that position just press the duck button while adding it. You also need to specify the: "Campend Waypoint" Selecting this will set the end direction for the Bot to look at when camping. Look straight into the direction where you want the Bot to look and select it. Note: you can't set a campend waypoint before doing a campstart waypoint. Normal Color is cyan, if you made it team specific it will have a touch of red if Terrorist WPT or blue if CT. A Camp Waypoint where the Bot will duck while camping "Jump Waypoint" This is the very first of the upcoming learning Features in POD (I'm planning on extending this a lot). By selecting it, your moves will be monitored and if you jump, a normal waypoint will be placed at the position you started to jump and another will be placed where you landed. The Waypoint Type as said before is a standard waypoint but a red connection line will show you that there is a jump connection between the two. You can also create jump connections between already existing waypoints, just make sure you're in the near of the first when jumping and land in the near of the destination waypoint. Note that this will adjust the waypoints origin on the average position of the previous position and your jump position. You can even have the Bots jump to a ladder or do several jumps after each other ! Waypoints connected with a Jump Connection *NOTE* To set a crouch waypoint, just keep holding your duck key. You certainly noticed, I don't have different paths for different teams. I removed team specific paths, since the Bots should be free (IMHO) to walk everywhere and I secretly hated to to do waypoints for every team. Using "waypoint delete" will remove the waypoint closest to the player. The waypoint MUST be within 40 units from the player (about 1/2 the player height) in order to be removed. You will need to stand fairly close to the waypoint to be able to remove it. This prevents you from accidentally removing a waypoint on the other side of the room. When removing a waypoint you will hear a sound indicating that the waypoint was removed (the same sound the tripmine makes when placed on a wall). "waypoint addflag/deleteflag" gives you some additional options for waypoints. The first, "blockwithhostage" is rarely used. If you set this flag on a waypoint Bots won't take this waypoint if a hostage is following them. With the other two, you can make a campwaypoint team-specific. Using "waypoint save" will save the waypoint data to the waypoint file. Before saving (if you didn't add the 'nocheck' argument, the Waypoints and Paths will be checked for major mistakes and if something is wrong you'll be told so and nothing will be saved. During the checking time CS freezes and depending on the speed of your computer it could easily last for a minute. Don't worry your computer hasn't crashed ! Waypoint files will have the same name as the current map with an extension of ".pwf". The file will be saved into the "cstrike/PODBot" Folder. Your current player name will be saved as the waypoint file creator. Using "waypoint load" will clear out all waypoints in the current map and load them from the waypoint file in the maps folder. This is a good way to "undo" a bunch of waypoints that you have created but do not wish to save. There is no way to "undo" a single waypoint. You will have to use the "waypoint delete" command to remove waypoints one-by-one. The "autowaypoint" command allows you to automatically drop waypoints as you run around in a map. To turn autowaypointing on use "autowaypoint on". As you run around the level waypoints will be dropped every 200 units automatically. No waypoint will be dropped if another waypoint is already within 200 units of your current position. So if you want to place lots of waypoints fairly close together you may have to manually place some of the waypoints using the "waypoint add" command. Autowaypointing keeps track of where the last waypoint was dropped (either manually or from autowaypointing) and will place another waypoint when you are 200 units from the last waypoint. If you don't like where autowaypointing placed a waypoint and want to move it a little bit, you can delete the waypoint using "waypoint delete" (but turn off autowaypointing before, since it will place a new waypoint otherwise). When using autowaypointing, try to stay in the center of narrow hallways and always place a waypoint on BOTH sides of a door. You may have to place some of these waypoints manually using "waypoint add" since places like intersections of hallways and doorway entrances and exits don't usually fall exactly at the location where autowaypoint would want to place a waypoint. Don't use autowaypointing for locations like ladders or jumps ! The "pathwaypoint" command allows you to display what the bots would consider to be a valid path from one waypoint to other waypoints. Turn pathwaypoint on using "pathwaypoint on" and whenever you get close to a waypoint yellow or white lines will be drawn to all of the other waypoints that the bot would consider to be "reachable". If the connection is a two-way connection the line is yellow, one-way connections appear white. These "reachable" waypoints would be waypoints that are clearly visible from the current location. Certain waypoints will be disallowed as reachable for one reason or another. For example, waypoints suspended in mid-air above the bot would not be considered reachable since the bot couldn't jump high enough to get to them. Also waypoints that are too far away from the current location would not be considered reachable. You may have waypoints that are close enough to each other, but across a wide gap that would be too wide to jump. If the far waypoint is close enough and clearly visible, it would still show as "reachable" since I currently don't have a method to determine if the bot can get to that waypoint or not. The bots will ONLY move from one waypoint to another if there is a path between them. Get in the habit of turning on the pathwaypoint setting when creating waypoint files so that you can see the waypoint paths and will know whether or not a path exists between two waypoints. Also get in the habit of checking that paths exist BOTH WAYS between waypoints. Just because a path is drawn from point A to point B, doesn't mean that a path exists from point B to point A. The "pathwaypoint add <waypointnr>" command allows you to manually assign a path between 2 waypoints. This is needed in some cases where the waypoints are blocked (by doorways or other objects) and you wish to create a path between these waypoints. Also ladder waypoints need to be manually connected most of the time. Move close to the waypoint you wish the path to start from and use the "pathwaypoint add x" command. Of course the "x" must be replaced by a valid waypoint number. The actual Waypoint Number you're standing on, will be shown in the upper corner of your HUD (if you turned pathwaypoint on). For example to manually assign a path between Waypoint Nr. 250 and 251, you first should stand in the near of Waypoint Nr. 250. Then type in: "pathwaypoint add 251" and it will get connected. You should now see a white waypoint path line being draw from the start waypoint to the end waypoint. Note that this is a ONE-WAY connection. If you wish to create a path back in the other direction you will have to start with the second waypoint and end the path back at the first waypoint. A 1-Way Connection A 2-Way Connection The "pathwaypoint delete x" command is just like the "add" command except that it removes a path (connection) from the starting point to the ending point. This is necessary in some cases where you may have a door that opens from one side and allows you to go through but once the door closes you can't go back through the other way. When adding waypoints use the pathwaypoint feature to verify that waypoints are actually reachable. Sometimes you add a waypoint and it appears close enough and it also appears to be in plain sight, but the Half-Life engine doesn't indicate that the waypoint is "reachable". Be sure to check this in BOTH directions when defining a waypoint path. Usually you don't have to be too careful about waypoint placement, but in some situations, you may have to spend more time carefully laying out waypoints to get them to be "reachable" (ladders are a good example). To set crouch waypoints, simply crouch when adding the waypoint. You will notice that the waypoint line is shorter than a normal waypoint. Bot will crouch automatically when approaching a crouch waypoint (if it's not a camping waypoint). Try placing waypoints at intersections in hallways (do use some "important" waypoints at crossings). Try not to place waypoints in places where the bots would bump into corners of walls or other obstacles when trying to get from one waypoint to the next. Remember the bots won't always take what you consider to be the "obvious" choice when choosing the next waypoint. Try to limit the choices that they have to keep them from heading off in the wrong direction. Also remember that the Bots could go backward in a fight and might not find a waypoint. In that special case they wouldn't find a near enough waypoint (they only search in-between 200 Units) and get stuck forever. Since V1.4 it's important to have a lot of waypoints together to allow the Bots a wider choice. Also put some waypoints in corners or behind walls/doors so they can take good cover positions. The Bots will try to take cover at waypoints not seen by the enemy and the one with the smallest wayzone radius in their range 4. What are the Wayzones ? Bots will pick a point inside this radius for their destination origin (based on things like orientation etc.), this just makes movement not that "static". Ladder waypoints, camp waypoints and goal waypoints will always have a radius of 0. Don't try to change it ! After POD-Bot calculated all Zones you should walk all over your waypoints to verify that they are reachable within their radius. Try to be careful with the radius. If your path bends around corners it's better to lower the radius. You should set the radius to 0 if the Path goes through some narrow doorways or similar. You manually assign a new value by standing near to the waypoint and typing "waypoint setradius x". Where x is the value you want to assign. Valid ranges are 0-128. The bigger, the wider it is. You'll also notice, if you turned on pathwaypointing some lines will show you the radius of the actual waypoint (if it's not 0). Some Tips & Tricks when creating waypoints: I start by typing "waypoint on". After that I type "autowaypoint on" and "pathwaypoint on". Then I try to cover the map with waypoints everywhere I want the Bots to roam (except for ladder waypoints) and manually adjust wayzone radii which aren't appropriate . After this I try to think of the important points for each team. I move to that position, delete the "normal" waypoint and instead set a strategical waypoint at that position. Then I place the goal waypoints, rescue waypoints (if needed) and ladder waypoints. Then I do a lot of test playing and checking with 'debuggoal' until I'm finally satisfied with all of the movement. When saving and there are errors, the waypoint number with the error will be shown to you. Use 'waypoint find x' where x is the number of the waypoint you want to find. Green Beams will then show you the direction to the waypoint if you previously turned on pathwaypoints. Type 'waypoint find -1' to turn it off. Another useful command for testing waypoints is the debuggoal command. If you want to check out if Bots will make it through a difficult route, save the waypoints, then load them again and type debuggoal x, where x is again the number of the waypoint. you want the Bot to reach. After that add 1 Bot to your team and watch him move to that waypoint. Be sure to turn it off again for real playing because otherwise all of the Bots would take this waypoint as a goal. There's no waypoint for shooting breakables. The Bots will automatically shoot them if it's blocking their way, just make sure that the path connection goes right through the breakable. There's also no button waypoint. If a Bot sees a Button he will randomly try to press it. If you want to make sure that the Bot uses the Button you could do tricky waypoint connections leading towards the button. ### Some common newbie mistakes: #### Picture 1 - Placing unnecessary waypoints #### The waypoint in the middle of the window was probably set with the intention to help the Bot with navigating through it. However it results in the opposite. If the Bots have a clear Line of Sight to another waypoint they assume there won't be any obstacle in the way. It would be better to delete the waypoint in the window and just connect the waypoint in front of the window with the one behind it. #### Picture 2 - not fitting Wayzones #### Look at that biiig wayzone assigned to this waypoint. If a Bot tries to walk over this foot-bridge he will almost 100% fall down into death because he would think even the free space beside it is walkable. For precise movement a wayzone radius of 0 should be assigned instead. #### Picture 3 - No connections between Waypoints, bad ladder waypoints #### First, the connection from the normal waypoint isn't the best. It is better to have the angle of approach set in a more straight angle. But the really bad error is that there's probably no connection from the ladder waypoint to the normal waypoint above. Let's take a look down from the upper waypoint: Yes. It's even worse. There's a one-way connection from the upper waypoint to the ladder waypoint (at an angle where the Bot won't use the ladder resulting in broken legs), there's no connection from the ladder waypoint to the top and worst of all would be the only Path Bots could take to reach this position. Playing with such waypoints would result in Bots circling around a single waypoint just because the waypointer forgot about connecting them. Simply manually connecting the ladder waypoint with the top waypoint would get rid of the problem. #### Picture 4 - Wrong Placement of Important Waypoints #### Now look at this. Isn't it funny how peacefully the Terrorist Important Waypoint, the CT Important Waypoint and the Normal Waypoint co-exist at the same place ? NO, it's not! This map - cs_galleon - is a hostage map where the Terrorist Team starts on the ship and the Counter-Terrorists Team spawn somewhere else outside the ship. Having both of the Important Points at the same place screws up all tactical reasoning the Bots do and will just result in Deathmatch Gameplay (if there even will be gameplay then). So the CT Important Waypoint should be deleted and be recreated at the CT Spawn Area or in the near of it. In addition the CT Waypoint and the normal waypoint are much to close together. More about this below... #### Picture 5 - Bad approach angles for Ladder Waypoints #### The normal waypoint in the front is connected with the ladder waypoint in the background at an angle that the Bots will almost everytime run either into the back of the ladder or collide with the side of it. To make it even worse the normal waypoint on the right is also connected with the ladder waypoint (you can't see it on the picture) so the Bots will get stuck everytime they want to use the ladder (they don't know how to manoever around backsides of ladders).. Luckily there is a button at the left of the picture so if the Bot heads off to press it, there's a chance he will approach the ladder from a better side. The problem could easily be solved by deleting the connection from the waypoint on the right side to the ladder and by moving the front waypoint a short distance to the left. #### Picture 6 - Waypoints too close together #### Besides that two waypoints at this close distance are absolutely unnecessary, it will slow down the Bot (because of the higher amount of waypoints) and furthermore will do no good to the Bots Navigation and Collision Avoidance. I'll try to explain: The Bots have a hardcoded radius inside my DLL where the Bot thinks he reached this precious waypoints. It differs between types of waypoints, to stay at the example picture normal waypoints are considered to be reached when the Bot is inside a radius of 50 Units from the center of the waypoint. To see what I mean with 50 Units you could set a waypoint to a 50 Unit Wayzone by typing 'wayzone setradius 50'. Now in the example picture the distance between the 2 waypoints is way below it, at a rough guess I would say 16 Units. So what ? If the Bot reaches Waypoint Nr. 1, he automatically thinks (in the same frame) he has reached Waypoint Nr. 2 without any movement which obviously is bad for precise movement. Furthermore I'm post-processing the paths of the Bots so when 2 Bots have the same waypoint as a goal I try to find alternative waypoints. So if a colliding Bot #1 wants to reach Waypoint Nr. 1, Waypoint Nr. 2 will be a assigned to Bot #2 which leads to the Bots getting stuck in each other very often. Avoid something like this at all costs! #### Picture 7 - No Waypoints at all ! #### I can imagine looking at this scenario that the waypointer thought something like this: "Oh well, these Bots are waypointed and I don't want them to move here so I just don't set waypoints here and everything's fine". This is wrong! It's true that POD-Bot uses waypoints for basic movement so the Bots normally should never reach this position in their normal navigation. But it's totally different when engaged in combat ! If a Bot is attacking/fleeing an enemy he doesn't use waypoints but uses an unwaypointed navigation like Realbot for example. So it could easily be the case that a Bot is engaged at a position where waypoints are available, moves backwards while fighting the enemy, finally kills his enemy and stands at the position where I took the screenshot. Now the Bot wants to switch back to waypointed movement but can't find a waypoint in the near distance and is stuck forever again. So a basic rule would be to place waypoints even in areas where you doubt a Bot will ever move to, you never know what could happen in combat! Phew ! I hope I didn't miss anything. Remember: the better the waypoint file, the more fun it is to play with the Bots ! If they are stuck somewhere on a map, it's usually the fault of the waypoint file creator... If you've got questions not answered here, please use the waypoint forum at nuclearbox: http://www.nuclearbox.com/ubb/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=forum&f=5 Happy Waypointing !