Getting Ai to Use Poses

Disclaimer: WestCoastCollege was instrumental in helping me work this out as I was sticking my code in the wrong place - so it's not all my own work.

2nd Disclaimer: I thought this was already a resource ... but apparently it isn't.

First up, let's expose the stock getPose function to script so we have an easy way to find out what pose the Ai is already in. At the end of player.cpp add:

[edit 17 oct 12] Apparently this defineEngineMethod is now in stock 1.2

//yorks
DefineEngineMethod( Player, getPose, S32, (),,
	"0=standPose, 1=crouchPose, 2=pronePose, 3=swimPose" )
{  
   return object->getPose(); 
}

Now open up AiPlayer.cpp, and near the end of AIPlayer::getAIMove function:

/...
   // Replicate the trigger state into the move so that
   // triggers can be controlled from scripts.
   for( int i = 0; i < MaxTriggerKeys; i++ )
   {
      movePtr->trigger[i] = getImageTriggerState(i);

//yorks in start
	switch (mPose) 
	{
	   case StandPose:
		     movePtr->trigger[3] = false; 
			 movePtr->trigger[4] = false;
		break;
		case CrouchPose:				
			movePtr->trigger[3] = true; 
			movePtr->trigger[4] = false;
		 break;
		case PronePose:
			movePtr->trigger[3] = false;
			movePtr->trigger[4] = true;  
		 break;
	}
//yorks in end

   }

   mLastLocation = location;
   
   return true;
}

//yorks - new function!
void AIPlayer::changePose(S32 poseNumber)
{
	Pose Pose = StandPose;
	if(poseNumber == 1) 
	{      
		Pose = CrouchPose;
	}
	else if(poseNumber == 2)
	{
		Pose = PronePose;
	}
	setPose(Pose);
}
//yorks

Expose this new function to script:

//yorks
ConsoleMethod( AIPlayer, setPose, void, 3, 3, "()"
			  "(int pose) StandPose=0,CrouchPose=1,PronePose=2")
{	
   object->changePose(dAtoi(argv[2]));
}

Anyone want to change my ConsoleMethod to a DefineEngineMethod feel free

And finally declare the new function at the end AiPlayer.h:

//...
   void stopMove();
   void changePose(S32 poseNumber);//yorks
};

#endif

So, you can now set the pose of an Ai by using:

//set the pose!
%myBotID.setPose(%pose);

//and return the pose
%myBotID.getPose();

[edit 17 oct 12] www.garagegames.com/community/forums/viewthread/130955/1#comment-831144 should fix the issues listed below

Now let's talk about issues with it not working as desired:

The main one is that there seems to be some sort of hiccup in the passing of the actual animation, so whilst the the boundingbox resizes correctly, the animation requires a "bump". This has been reported and confirmed as a bug.

But in the meantime, we'll use a workaround and "jumpstart" the animation.

function AiPlayer::doStand(%this)
{
   echo(%this.getname() @ " AiStand");
   if(%this.getPose() != 0)
   {
      %this.setPose(0);
      %this.schedule(50, "kickStartPose", 0);
   }
}

function AiPlayer::doCrouch(%this)
{
   echo(%this.getname() @ " AiCrouch");
   if(%this.getPose() != 1)
   {
      %this.setPose(1);
      %this.schedule(50, "kickStartPose", 1);
   }
}

function AiPlayer::doProne(%this)
{
   echo(%this.getname() @ " AiProne");
	
   if(%this.getPose() != 2)
   {
      %this.setPose(2);
      %this.schedule(50, "kickStartPose", 2);
   }
}

//and our kickstart bugfix workaround solution
function AiPlayer::kickStartPose(%this, %pose)
{
   echo("kickstart pose " @ %pose);
   if(%pose == 0)
      %this.setPose(0);
		
   if(%pose == 1)
      %this.setPose(1);

   if(%pose == 2)
      %this.setPose(2);
		
   %this.setTransform(%this.getTransform());
}

It's the setTransform at the end which helps to "jumpstart" the animation into the new pose, and it also helps if there is a slight delay - hence the schedule.

And there you go, you can now change the Ai's pose (as long as the model is set up with the correct animation0 by using any of the following:

%myBotId.doStand();
%myBotId.doCrouch();
%myBotId.doProne();

This also helps prevent previous issues where having a "prone-able" Ai could see them default to prone instead of standing.