Tactical AI Kit 2.0 + Weapon Pack Released!
by Bryce · 02/27/2014 (10:55 pm) · 43 comments
First of all, I want to start this off by saying that I'm sorry this update took... oh God... that really took 3 years, didn't it? Sure did. If you want some assurance that this update is going to be a big one, the three years of feature creep the kit went through should be some consolation.
The much anticipated (I hope?) update to my AI solution is now available to download through the HNGamers store . This update comes with plenty of bugfixes, tons of new features, and an improved Creator interface to improve workflow. We also see the introduction of the TAIK Weapon Kit, which provides weapons and polished FPS mechanics to aid in the production of your game.
Never heard of the Tactical AI Kit? Fret not. Over the last several years, I've been building a set of artificial intelligence code and artwork that you can plug into your project. The AI is set around typical FPS combat, and they are smart -- scarily smart, but without cheating. They can only see things that they can actually see, so there will be no magically knowing anyone's position or anything unfair like that. They'll use cover, toss grenades, assist their friends, and much more. My ultimate goal was to be able to fight an enemy that was smart enough to be a formidable opponent without resorting to making them superhuman; I wanted to be outsmarted, and that's what I made.
Take a gander at the full feature list:
New Features
- Integrated Recast pathfinding allows you to define walkable area in your map in minutes
- Refined Creator interface
- Precompiled grenade trajectories: AI can now throw grenades to places they cannot see by tossing them through windows or bouncing them off of walls.
- "Battle Chatter" system allows AI to dynamically and audibly communicate with each other
- New animations for using and sliding into cover, throwing grenades, walking, and more
- LOD for AI: fine tune AI resource usage through the Creator by limiting cover searching and thinking based on distance from human players
- Improved AI assist functionality: AI Players will actively move toward the sound of combat
- Revamped cover functionality
- AI players will sneak up on close, unaware enemies for a clean melee kill
- Many bugs fixed, a huge amount of settings and behaviors redesigned and tuned up
Existing Features
- Fully dynamic AI solution that encourages replay value by randomizing select behaviors and avoiding doing the same thing twice. Players are able to sneak past AI to avoid conflict if they want to (and if map design permits)
- Complete multiplayer compatibility
- AI Players will seek out cover when attacking threats, hiding while taking fire and leaning out to attack threats
- Complex reaction state for realistically reacting to gunfire, bodies, sniper fire, and much more
- Alert level system starts NPCs off in a casual, non-alert state. This alert level changes depending on what happens around them.
- Zone system and an AI Manager will disable AI Players in a level depending on the position of human players to improve performance
- Squad support allows you to group any number of AI together. Objectives can be given to an AI squad leader to lead his men, or a human player can command them to move, hold, and regroup.
- Built-in respawning capability
- Complex vision system will factor in light, fog, and the color scheme of your level
For those looking for an easy way to implement common FPS mechanics, look no further. I am including this pack with the Tactical AI Kit because I got a lot of requests for assets from the demo, so this is for those who were interested in getting features from it.
- 28 weapons from the demo included
- Attachment support for sights, sound suppressors, and grenade launchers
- "Aim down the sight" mechanic supports iron sights, various optics, and sniper scopes
- Weapon reloading, bolt-action and pump-action supported
- Two primary weapon slots and one pistol slot
- Bullet penetration: rounds will punch through thin surfaces
- Melee takedown system lets you make flashy up-close fight animations that work for both humans and AI
- High quality sound and particle effects for gunfire, bullet impacts, and explosions
- Full multiplayer support
- Custom weapon GUI showing ammo count, attachments, weapon name and graphic
This is essentially a true FPS starter kit, this is a very good solution for those looking for a good starting template to build a FPS off of. With most of the common shooter mechanics already built in, you'll save yourself a lot of time.
TAIK 2.0 comes with the AI Kit, full documentation in text and video form, the latter now being available on YouTube, and the code + assets for the Weapon Pack.
If you already bought a copy of the kit, you get 2.0 for free! That includes the weapon pack. I'll send an email out to current TAIK owners, but if you didn't get it, give me a heads-up at tgebryce@yahoo.com and I'll make sure you get hooked up.
You can be the judge of that; I encourage you to play the demo! Keep in mind the AI has changed since the demo, so they are even smarter and run more smoothly now than they did when I released this demo last spring. TAIK 2.0 will contain all artwork, weapons, and mechanics you see in the demo -- the AI is in the AI Kit half, and everything else is included with the weapon pack.
The TAIK Stealth Challenge is still a thing! In my last blog, I mentioned that anyone who could complete the Snatch and Grab mode in the airport without killing or alerting anyone would get a free copy of the kit. Turns out you guys are actually really good at that, making that a huge mistake, but I'm still willing to offer %20 off the kit to anyone who completes the challenge.
Is it time for the big link to the store? Yes?
Drop a comment below if you have any questions about features or otherwise, I'll be glad to answer them. Happy Torque'ing everyone!
The Tactical AI Kit 2.0 + Weapon Pack
Now available for Torque 3D 3.0 and 3.5
The much anticipated (I hope?) update to my AI solution is now available to download through the HNGamers store . This update comes with plenty of bugfixes, tons of new features, and an improved Creator interface to improve workflow. We also see the introduction of the TAIK Weapon Kit, which provides weapons and polished FPS mechanics to aid in the production of your game.
Wait... what?
Never heard of the Tactical AI Kit? Fret not. Over the last several years, I've been building a set of artificial intelligence code and artwork that you can plug into your project. The AI is set around typical FPS combat, and they are smart -- scarily smart, but without cheating. They can only see things that they can actually see, so there will be no magically knowing anyone's position or anything unfair like that. They'll use cover, toss grenades, assist their friends, and much more. My ultimate goal was to be able to fight an enemy that was smart enough to be a formidable opponent without resorting to making them superhuman; I wanted to be outsmarted, and that's what I made.
Take a gander at the full feature list:
Tactical AI Kit Feature List
New Features
- Integrated Recast pathfinding allows you to define walkable area in your map in minutes
- Refined Creator interface
- Precompiled grenade trajectories: AI can now throw grenades to places they cannot see by tossing them through windows or bouncing them off of walls.
- "Battle Chatter" system allows AI to dynamically and audibly communicate with each other
- New animations for using and sliding into cover, throwing grenades, walking, and more
- LOD for AI: fine tune AI resource usage through the Creator by limiting cover searching and thinking based on distance from human players
- Improved AI assist functionality: AI Players will actively move toward the sound of combat
- Revamped cover functionality
- AI players will sneak up on close, unaware enemies for a clean melee kill
- Many bugs fixed, a huge amount of settings and behaviors redesigned and tuned up
Existing Features
- Fully dynamic AI solution that encourages replay value by randomizing select behaviors and avoiding doing the same thing twice. Players are able to sneak past AI to avoid conflict if they want to (and if map design permits)
- Complete multiplayer compatibility
- AI Players will seek out cover when attacking threats, hiding while taking fire and leaning out to attack threats
- Complex reaction state for realistically reacting to gunfire, bodies, sniper fire, and much more
- Alert level system starts NPCs off in a casual, non-alert state. This alert level changes depending on what happens around them.
- Zone system and an AI Manager will disable AI Players in a level depending on the position of human players to improve performance
- Squad support allows you to group any number of AI together. Objectives can be given to an AI squad leader to lead his men, or a human player can command them to move, hold, and regroup.
- Built-in respawning capability
- Complex vision system will factor in light, fog, and the color scheme of your level
TAIK Weapon Pack
For those looking for an easy way to implement common FPS mechanics, look no further. I am including this pack with the Tactical AI Kit because I got a lot of requests for assets from the demo, so this is for those who were interested in getting features from it.
- 28 weapons from the demo included
- Attachment support for sights, sound suppressors, and grenade launchers
- "Aim down the sight" mechanic supports iron sights, various optics, and sniper scopes
- Weapon reloading, bolt-action and pump-action supported
- Two primary weapon slots and one pistol slot
- Bullet penetration: rounds will punch through thin surfaces
- Melee takedown system lets you make flashy up-close fight animations that work for both humans and AI
- High quality sound and particle effects for gunfire, bullet impacts, and explosions
- Full multiplayer support
- Custom weapon GUI showing ammo count, attachments, weapon name and graphic
This is essentially a true FPS starter kit, this is a very good solution for those looking for a good starting template to build a FPS off of. With most of the common shooter mechanics already built in, you'll save yourself a lot of time.
So What Do I Get?
TAIK 2.0 comes with the AI Kit, full documentation in text and video form, the latter now being available on YouTube, and the code + assets for the Weapon Pack.
What If I Already Own the Kit?
If you already bought a copy of the kit, you get 2.0 for free! That includes the weapon pack. I'll send an email out to current TAIK owners, but if you didn't get it, give me a heads-up at tgebryce@yahoo.com and I'll make sure you get hooked up.
How Do I Know This is Any Good?
You can be the judge of that; I encourage you to play the demo! Keep in mind the AI has changed since the demo, so they are even smarter and run more smoothly now than they did when I released this demo last spring. TAIK 2.0 will contain all artwork, weapons, and mechanics you see in the demo -- the AI is in the AI Kit half, and everything else is included with the weapon pack.
The TAIK Stealth Challenge is still a thing! In my last blog, I mentioned that anyone who could complete the Snatch and Grab mode in the airport without killing or alerting anyone would get a free copy of the kit. Turns out you guys are actually really good at that, making that a huge mistake, but I'm still willing to offer %20 off the kit to anyone who completes the challenge.
Is it time for the big link to the store? Yes?
Buy the Tactical AI Kit 2.0 + Weapon Pack for $84.95!
Drop a comment below if you have any questions about features or otherwise, I'll be glad to answer them. Happy Torque'ing everyone!
#22
03/02/2014 (10:17 pm)
It does! It takes point lights (not spotlights yet) and the sun into account. It uses the level's ambient color to determine the "darkest" a level can get, and takes line-of-sight and radius of nearby lights into account. It's not a perfectly refined system like you'd see in Thief or Splinter Cell, since that sort of thing is really project-specific. However, it has the intended effect of walking into a dark room and not being shot to pieces as fast as you normally would. 
#23
03/03/2014 (6:24 am)
Thanks Bryce, you did a real good job on those docs! It's all very clear! 
#24
For the rest, the Playermodels along with their animations can be easily imported into Blender and reexported - this will reduce alot developement time and animations can be tweaked afterwards.
@Bryce if its not to much, would you be that kind to upload/ sent the Taik Kit owners a additional file with a couple of weapons in the .dae (collada format).
This would be a big help when setting up our own weapons, i dont believe that we would need all weapons, just weapon class based
*a pistol
*knife*
*rifle
*assault rifle
anyways muchos kudos and those docs are well written!
03/03/2014 (11:51 am)
So true, really nice job with this one :)For the rest, the Playermodels along with their animations can be easily imported into Blender and reexported - this will reduce alot developement time and animations can be tweaked afterwards.
@Bryce if its not to much, would you be that kind to upload/ sent the Taik Kit owners a additional file with a couple of weapons in the .dae (collada format).
This would be a big help when setting up our own weapons, i dont believe that we would need all weapons, just weapon class based
*a pistol
*knife*
*rifle
*assault rifle
anyways muchos kudos and those docs are well written!
#25
I have some experience making weapon models. :)
Feel free to contact me.
03/03/2014 (6:24 pm)
I would be willing to make weapon models for the TAIK or people that want custom weapon models made. :)I have some experience making weapon models. :)
Feel free to contact me.
#27
@Szzg007 that's pretty rude marketing of your kit. Does it work out of the box with TAIK etc? If not or doesn't add something someone has requested I don't think you should be linking it in this blog.
03/09/2014 (5:38 pm)
Thanks Bryce this kit is great nice to see the support for the latest T3D MIT releases :-). Having lots of fun going through your documentation too really its a great job! Thanks :-)@Szzg007 that's pretty rude marketing of your kit. Does it work out of the box with TAIK etc? If not or doesn't add something someone has requested I don't think you should be linking it in this blog.
#28
I has sent a letter to you. I do not know that you have received it? I am your users.
03/10/2014 (7:06 am)
@bryce C.I has sent a letter to you. I do not know that you have received it? I am your users.
#30
I have sent you an email about some issues with the kit. Please respond. Thanks
03/14/2014 (11:50 pm)
@BryceI have sent you an email about some issues with the kit. Please respond. Thanks
#31
Its fine if you have the money or good art skills to redo all the art / animations so they can work together. This has been one of my biggest beefs with artwork provided here over the years and it's still going on. I just downloaded the demo and looked it over, loaded up the aiplayer model in a T3D editor to check the bones and sure enough... Bones have been changed and don't match the default. Also means it won't work with mack / fack, that one is even worse. I don't mind paying for good work, I just hate having to then either heavily modify the engine so it works with the rest properly or even have to pay or spend hours modifying either existing art or the new art I just bought to get it to work with existing stuff.
The whole point of Dsq's is to be able to share animations. WHY change the skeleton? Why?
I am now glad I checked (as I had no response on the website) before buying this.
05/19/2014 (9:33 am)
Ugh.. the kit looks great, but one big draw back. People Keep modifying the skeletons. Why cant we stick to ONE skeleton and just add to it?Its fine if you have the money or good art skills to redo all the art / animations so they can work together. This has been one of my biggest beefs with artwork provided here over the years and it's still going on. I just downloaded the demo and looked it over, loaded up the aiplayer model in a T3D editor to check the bones and sure enough... Bones have been changed and don't match the default. Also means it won't work with mack / fack, that one is even worse. I don't mind paying for good work, I just hate having to then either heavily modify the engine so it works with the rest properly or even have to pay or spend hours modifying either existing art or the new art I just bought to get it to work with existing stuff.
The whole point of Dsq's is to be able to share animations. WHY change the skeleton? Why?
I am now glad I checked (as I had no response on the website) before buying this.
#33
05/20/2014 (1:21 am)
sorry about that, it's been a rough coupole of months, but yeah, just take the Tactical demo download, pull out the AI model in it (matt red), drop it into a Basic T3D example editor, open it in shape editor and examine the nodes. It doesn't match the standard Bip01_(etc..) skeleton.
#34
This means any provided Dsq's for new animations that do NOT match
won't work If I want to use one of the player models as an AI as well.
I havent fully checked the dsq's, but with no information and the demo
using the matt_red dae file and the bone names:
Bip01 -> Bip01B -> Bip01C etc...
Says to me that it is probably the same for the Dsq's as they have to
match the skeleton to animate it properly...
The bone names used in matt_red are the standard Biped from 3ds I do believe, whereas the engine uses a modified name structure of the
Human IK i believe where it has Clavicle fullname instead of C
AND Please don't say:
Well, just load it up in 3ds and convert it...
I and many others (Being Indy developers) do NOT have 3ds and thus
cannot easily modify the art. The purpose of providing art work is
to sell us something that is interchangeable within the engine WITHOUT
having to change it ourselves to work with everything else.
05/20/2014 (8:13 am)
Notes engine player.cpp"@note The spine nodes for the Player's shape are named as follows:nn<ul>" "<li>Bip01 Pelvis</li>" "<li>Bip01 Spine</li>" "<li>Bip01 Spine1</li>" "<li>Bip01 Spine2</li>" "<li>Bip01 Neck</li>" "<li>Bip01 Head</li></ul>nn"
This means any provided Dsq's for new animations that do NOT match
won't work If I want to use one of the player models as an AI as well.
I havent fully checked the dsq's, but with no information and the demo
using the matt_red dae file and the bone names:
Bip01 -> Bip01B -> Bip01C etc...
Says to me that it is probably the same for the Dsq's as they have to
match the skeleton to animate it properly...
The bone names used in matt_red are the standard Biped from 3ds I do believe, whereas the engine uses a modified name structure of the
Human IK i believe where it has Clavicle fullname instead of C
AND Please don't say:
Well, just load it up in 3ds and convert it...
I and many others (Being Indy developers) do NOT have 3ds and thus
cannot easily modify the art. The purpose of providing art work is
to sell us something that is interchangeable within the engine WITHOUT
having to change it ourselves to work with everything else.
#35
How many provided art work on the site is interchangeable?
The GG soldier art is NOT in standard T-Pose...
Try creating a model using the same skeleton setup and use those
animations provided with it... Doesn't work too well does it ..
One Caveat.. This is meant for those of us without 3ds that attempt
to create a model with MS3D or Blender. The work needed to get a
compatible skeleton/model setup is far to exstensive. And if you
don't have an artist working with you, try getting all the art Sold
from the GG site by GG and others to play nice together... HAH!
05/20/2014 (8:36 am)
one final note on this...How many provided art work on the site is interchangeable?
The GG soldier art is NOT in standard T-Pose...
Try creating a model using the same skeleton setup and use those
animations provided with it... Doesn't work too well does it ..
One Caveat.. This is meant for those of us without 3ds that attempt
to create a model with MS3D or Blender. The work needed to get a
compatible skeleton/model setup is far to exstensive. And if you
don't have an artist working with you, try getting all the art Sold
from the GG site by GG and others to play nice together... HAH!
#36
Haven't seen you for a while. Just curious if TAIK is going to work with T3D 3.6.2? Is it still being updated?
I have TAIK on a 3.5.1 game and was considering updating to latest code for the 64bit app.
11/12/2014 (10:58 pm)
Bryce,Haven't seen you for a while. Just curious if TAIK is going to work with T3D 3.6.2? Is it still being updated?
I have TAIK on a 3.5.1 game and was considering updating to latest code for the 64bit app.
#37
11/13/2014 (3:17 am)
Rob, have you had any specific problems with the kit and 3.6.2? I think if it's compatible with 3.5 it should work fine in 3.6.
#38
I was also hoping for suggestions on how to upgrade to 3.6.2 with Taik. Do a start with a clean build and add Taik again (and a small amount of my own code changes) or do I try to merge latest on my current 3.5.x build?
I think I may just be paranoid of messing with my game now that it is somewhat working to my liking. but I so want 64bit... lol.
Well thanks for listening to my rambling!
11/13/2014 (8:44 am)
Hi Daniel, I have not tried moving to 3.6.2 yet. It took me some time to integrate TAIK the first time and I was not looking forward to having to do it again. I just wanted to sanity check that it should work or not before I tried.I was also hoping for suggestions on how to upgrade to 3.6.2 with Taik. Do a start with a clean build and add Taik again (and a small amount of my own code changes) or do I try to merge latest on my current 3.5.x build?
I think I may just be paranoid of messing with my game now that it is somewhat working to my liking. but I so want 64bit... lol.
Well thanks for listening to my rambling!
#39
11/13/2014 (5:42 pm)
I guess it depends how many source code changes you've made. I don't remember what sort of changes TAIK makes, but it might indeed be easier to merge 3.6.2 into your project. The changes to the scripts are minimal, but there are some wide-ranging engine changes - for example, the console type refactor changed a lot of int/uint to S32/U32.
#40
I keep getting this:
sourcecoreutiltvector.h(683) : Fatal - Vector<T>::operator[] - out of bounds array access!
I think I'm done trying and reverting back to 3.5.x. If anybody has this working and can give me a suggestion, I may try again.
12/15/2014 (11:45 pm)
I'm stuck. I have burned weeks trying to get t3d 3.6.2/TAIK2.0/WeapopnPack all working and it is a bust so far. It took me a great while just to get it compiling but it finally does. Now I have a problem with loading models. I keep getting this:
sourcecoreutiltvector.h(683) : Fatal - Vector<T>::operator[] - out of bounds array access!
I think I'm done trying and reverting back to 3.5.x. If anybody has this working and can give me a suggestion, I may try again.
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