Ai Poses Reduxed - Finally A Fully Working Version

After much iteration, I finally managed to iron out all of the bugs and previous hacks to get a properly working version of having the AiPlayer use standard player poses/stances.

First up, add the mAiPose attribute to shapeBase.cpp and shapeBase.h files.

//shapeBase.cpp
ShapeBase::ShapeBase()
 : mDrag( 0.0f ),
   mBuoyancy( 0.0f ),
   mWaterCoverage( 0.0f ),
//...
   mMoveMotion( false ),
   mIsAiControlled( false ),//added comma yorks
	mAiPose( 0 )//added yorks
{
// ...

//shapeBase.h
//...
   /// @name Physical Properties
   /// @{
	F32 mAiPose; //yorks new
   F32 mEnergy;                     ///< Current enery level.
   F32 mRechargeRate;               ///< Energy recharge rate (in units/tick).
//...

Next, we want to prevent the player code from intefering with Ai poses. At the bottom of UpdateMove() function.

//Player.cpp
//at the end of UpdateMove() function

//...
   // Update the PlayerPose
   Pose desiredPose = mPose;
	
	if (!mIsAiControlled)//yorks new - leave the AiPlayer alone!
	{
	   if ( mSwimming )
		  desiredPose = SwimPose; 
	   else if ( runSurface && move->trigger[sCrouchTrigger] && canCrouch() )     
		  desiredPose = CrouchPose;
	   else if ( runSurface && move->trigger[sProneTrigger] && canProne() )
		  desiredPose = PronePose;
	   else if ( move->trigger[sSprintTrigger] && canSprint() )
		  desiredPose = SprintPose;
	   else if ( canStand() )
		  desiredPose = StandPose;

          setPose( desiredPose );
	}//yorks new
}

And make sure that poses are being networked in PackUpdate() and UnPackUpdate(). Might as well throw swimming and jetting in here too or the AiPlayer will be in their state - but will not play the animation.

//player.cpp
//in packUpdate() function
//...
   if (stream->writeFlag(mask & MoveMask))
   {
      stream->writeFlag(mFalling);

stream->writeFlag(mSwimming);//yorks start
stream->writeFlag(mJetting);
stream->writeInt(mPose, NumPoseBits);//yorks end

      stream->writeInt(mState,NumStateBits);
      if (stream->writeFlag(mState == RecoverState))
//...

//player.cpp
//in unPackUpdate() function
//...
   // MoveMask
   if (stream->readFlag()) {
      mPredictionCount = sMaxPredictionTicks;
      mFalling = stream->readFlag();
	  
	  //calls to update animations correctly
		mSwimming = stream->readFlag();//yorks start
		mJetting = stream->readFlag();
		mPose = (Pose)(stream->readInt(NumPoseBits));
		//yorks end
      ActionState actionState = (ActionState)stream->readInt(NumStateBits);
      if (stream->readFlag()) {
         mRecoverTicks = stream->readInt(PlayerData::RecoverDelayBits);
         setState(actionState, mRecoverTicks);
      }
      else
         setState(actionState);

      Point3F pos,rot;
//...

And now for AiPlayer.cpp and AiPlayer.h, we add the poses to getAiMove where the Player code cannot overwrite them.

//AiPlayer.cpp
//near the end of getAiMove() function
//...
     else
         if (!mTargetInLOS) {
            throwCallback( "onTargetEnterLOS" );
            mTargetInLOS = true;
         }
   }

	Pose desiredPose = mPose;//yorks in

	//yorks select for Ai using mAiPose
   if ( mSwimming )
		desiredPose = SwimPose; 
	else if ( mAiPose == 1 && canCrouch() ) 
		desiredPose = CrouchPose;
	else if ( mAiPose == 2 && canProne() )
		desiredPose = PronePose;
	else if ( mAiPose == 3 && canSprint() )
		desiredPose = SprintPose;
	else if ( canStand() )
		desiredPose = StandPose;

	setPose( desiredPose );//yorks end

   // 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);
//...

And finally add functions which allow us to control the pose via script.

//AiPlayer.cpp
//below getAiMove() function

//yorks start
void AIPlayer::setAiPose( F32 pose )
{
   mAiPose = pose;
}

F32 AIPlayer::getAiPose()
{
   return mAiPose; 
}
//yorks end

//...

//and somewhere below in the engine defines

//...

//yorks start
DefineEngineMethod( AIPlayer, setAiPose, void, ( F32 pose ),,
   "@brief Sets the AiPose for an AI object.nn"

   "@param pose StandPose=0,CrouchPose=1,PronePose=2,SprintPose=3.  "
   "Uses the new AiPose variable from shapebase (as defined in "
   "its PlayerData datablock)nn")
{
	object->setAiPose(pose);
}

DefineEngineMethod( AIPlayer, getAiPose, F32, (),,
   "@brief Get the object's current AiPose.nn"

   "@return StandPose=0,CrouchPose=1,PronePose=2,SprintPose=3n")
{
   return object->getAiPose();
}
//yorks end

//AiPlayer.h
//in public at the bottom
//...
   Point3F getMoveDestination() const { return mMoveDestination; }
   void stopMove();
	void setAiPose( const F32 pose );//yorks
	F32  getAiPose();//yorks
};

#endif

And the whole thing is controlled like this:

//0 = stand
//1 = crouch
//2 = prone ... which has no stock animations
//3 = sprint
//fall, swim, etc are taken care of automatically by the engine

%your_aiplayer_name_or_id.setAiPose(%pose_number);
bob.setAiPose(1);//sets AiPlayer Object named 'bob' to crouch pose

And there you go, a proper working AiPlayer pose system without hacks. Without the interference of Player updateMove() the AiPlayer's poses do not time-out or get overwritten at low fps.


A polycount of 86 million ... and no "bobbing", jumping or losing the crouch pose which was set via script.

And that's the end of my 50th resource post. :)