Autopilot for testing new missions

[Billsponge1972]

   I might be showing my ignorance with the mission editor but I wanted to ask anyway. 

   Do any of you mission makers run the whole mission on autopilot?

   I just started trying this with a Short tank mission that I have been improving on since uploading it a week ago or so. 

   And is it a sign of mission quality/integrity to run The whole mission on autopilot just to see how it plays out?

   I've noticed that sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't even with no changes, just restarting the mission. 

[Jaegermeister]

I frequently run all or parts of missions on autopilot to get to a certain part I am looking at.

 

A mission should be able to run all the way through on autopilot, but sometimes the AI pilot will not survive certain situations like enemy attacks, AAA or whatever. That doesn't mean the mission is wrong, and being able to run it all the way through on autopilot does not mean the mission is good or high quality. Sometimes harder missions require that a real human take over as pilot to be able to get through it or achieve the goal.

 

There have been some questionable issues with AI over the last year or so that are causing some unpredictable AI behavior now. That could be the cause of your inconsistent results.

[Billsponge1972]

Thanks Jaegermeister,

  I get what you're saying about AI behavior. The opposing ground vehicles will sometimes drive right past each other and not even unlock their turrets! Even with waypoints set too "low" and vehicle set to "high". The constant tweaking makes me nuts! I'm always trying this or that to get things to work like I want them. Sometimes it seems like there's no rhyme or reason but once it works it seems to work always.

[CzechTexan]

When testing missions, I use Autopilot for takeoffs and flying to and from the target area (most of the time when testing).  I don't use it when in the target area or for dogfights.

[Billsponge1972]

Thanks CzechTexan, not a bad idea. It seems letting the AI do the combat part provides a false narrative. 

[Sandmarken]

I always use alot of autopilot during testing, the weakness of the autopilot as i found out is that it dont behave like a human pilot in many cases. During my latest project i found that some of my testers rather fly alot outside the given path and not triggering waypoints than always follow every waypoint. The autopilot ofc will always fly exactly the path given. 

[Jaegermeister]

3 hours ago, Sandmarken said:

I always use alot of autopilot during testing, the weakness of the autopilot as i found out is that it dont behave like a human pilot in many cases. During my latest project i found that some of my testers rather fly alot outside the given path and not triggering waypoints than always follow every waypoint. The autopilot ofc will always fly exactly the path given. 

 

Yes, real players are good at NOT following directions. It is always a challenge to build in an allowance for people that just fly around aimlessly and look for trouble. Sometimes they don't even get close to the waypoints as I have discovered the hard way. I prefer to trigger events with large check zones or from other AI planes instead of the player whenever possible. At least that is a little more predictable.

[Billsponge1972]

Thanks for all the good advice people!

  I seem to rely heavily on waypoints for my mission events which probably isn't a great idea especially since human players sometimes hit them at different angles and altitudes. I'm just not versed enough with the MCUs to be efficient. I guess a certain amount of slop is needed.

[Gambit21]

On 5/28/2024 at 8:19 AM, Billsponge1972 said:

   I might be showing my ignorance with the mission editor but I wanted to ask anyway. 

   Do any of you mission makers run the whole mission on autopilot?

   

 

Always, without exception, for every test.

I never flew a single Havoc or Hell Hawks mission while building those campaigns. I left that to the testers. 

I also place "TESTER" aircraft at various points in the mission, (usually at ground attack targets etc)  with all mission logic tied into them. I can activate/deactivate them as needed and use them for testing certain sequences without having to watch the AI take off, fly to the target etc.

 

[Billsponge1972]

You guys are way out of my league. I'm not sure what you mean by "tester" aircraft if you could explain. 

And thanks for all these tips and tricks, coming from some of the crazy good editor gurus on this forum!

One more hopefully not stupid question;  I've grouped and named groups to keep the tree organized, but when I need to make some MCU's between groups, I can't get both groups to "ungroup" at the same time. When I finally do, then have to regroup and rename them. Is this normal?

[Jaegermeister]

1 hour ago, Billsponge1972 said:

You guys are way out of my league.

 

Not really, just more stubborn at figuring it out perhaps

 

1 hour ago, Billsponge1972 said:

I'm not sure what you mean by, you can start the mission from any point just by dragging it around the map "tester" aircraft if you could explain. 

 

Duplicate player aircraft flights at different points in the mission that can be activated by simply linking a Mission Start MCU and selecting that AC as Player. Once the duplicate flight is placed and linked to the waypoints and check zones, you can start the mission at any point just by dragging the flight around the map and linking the test flight to the Mission Start. When you disconnect it and reassign the original flight as player, you are back to the original full mission without actually changing anything except 1 link

 

1 hour ago, Billsponge1972 said:

And thanks for all these tips and tricks, coming from some of the crazy good editor gurus on this forum!

One more hopefully not stupid question;  I've grouped and named groups to keep the tree organized, but when I need to make some MCU's between groups, I can't get both groups to "ungroup" at the same time. When I finally do, then have to regroup and rename them. Is this normal?

 

You don't have to ungroup to link them. Select Find Target or Find Object and then browse to the desired plane or vehicle group in the mission tree and right mouse click.on the group header. Set that as the working group and right click again on your target.  Select Move to Object and left click on it to assign it as the linked target or object.

 

It would be normal to have to rename groups after you ungroup them, but in this case, that is not the most efficient method.

[Billsponge1972]

That duplicate aircraft flights to a mission begin MCU is super idea. 

I will try your quick method of ungrouping and grouping tomorrow. 

A big time saver that will help me finish a short tank mission revision and upload it. I like short missions with lots of action because I have so little time these days to play or mission build these days. I started the tank mission in March! I'm sure I'm doing lots of things the hard way. 🙄

Thanks again!

[IckyATLAS]

I asked once to "players" if they would prefer not to have an autopilot mission so as to fly the mission like a real one.

 

You have the instructions about the mission and there you go, with a paper map that you have with you, speed, compass, watch etc. but you must find your way looking below and identifying, villages or rivers, lakes or whatever. The autopilot should just allow you to fly straight at level and keeping the altitude but no more. Your aiming point will not stay if you have lateral wind like in the real world.

 

I was surprised that the answer was the request to have a preplanned autopilot flight. So I have it in my missions but you cannot succeed the mission just flying autopilot.

 

Edited June 2, 2024 by IckyATLAS

[kraut1]

1 hour ago, IckyATLAS said:

You have the instructions about the mission and there you go, with a paper map that you have with you, speed, compass, watch etc. but you must find your way looking below and identifying, villages or rivers, lakes or whatever. The autopilot should just allow you to fly straight at level and keeping the altitude but no more. Your aiming point will not stay if you have lateral wind like in the real world.

 

In this way I fly all my missions.

+radar contacts by subtitle (equivalent to realistic radio message) and warnings by AI wingmen in combat either by subtitle or audio message.

Moving Icons on HUD / map are from my point of view immersion killers for a WW2 flight simulation.

Edited June 2, 2024 by kraut1