Bot navigation meshes!

mdawgmike

L1: Registered
Jun 7, 2009
40
18
I know at least a few here have visited my Steam forum thread on the subject, but I thought it would be very useful to post a tidbit here as well. I don't know if this technically fits under TF2 "mapping" or not, but it closely relates to it. I am not a level designer for TF2.

Anyways, myself, and a few others in the Steam forums have been compiling meshes for many popular maps. I'll never say that bots will be a complete replacement for real players, but they are very useful for testing and when you want to play on a map but can't find a server running it. Most of the meshes I made have been optimized to some extent (much more work put in than a simple nav_generate). This means that bots will get stuck less, and overall behave better on a lot of maps. I don't know when or if it will get to a point where level designers include an optimized mesh with their map, but AI is something I love and this is something I enjoy doing.

I currently maintain two functional packs:
King of the Hill
Attack/Defend

For the most part I only bother to optimize non-WIP releases...in order to avoid redundant work. If anybody wants to coordinate a mesh to go with the final release of their map, just let me know and if interested I'll do it. Oh, and the Steam forum thread gives some additional details:
http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1264447

How I learned to do this (probably also useful info for mappers):
http://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Navigation_Meshes
 
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Tapp

L10: Glamorous Member
Jan 26, 2009
776
215
Looks great, but keep in mind that the reason most people don't use navigation meshes (except on listen servers) is that it crashes linux based servers, so anybody using these should check with the server operator first. Great work though!
 

mdawgmike

L1: Registered
Jun 7, 2009
40
18
Looks great, but keep in mind that the reason most people don't use navigation meshes (except on listen servers) is that it crashes linux based servers, so anybody using these should check with the server operator first. Great work though!
Actually, the "Linux server crashes when bots change class" bug was fixed awhile back...at least I haven't had any issues in months with my home (Arch Linux) SRCDS install. I know a lot of players hate bots with a passion, though. They don't seem to go over very well on public servers, unless people expect them when they come in. It doesn't matter how good they play :D.
 
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J4CK8

L11: Posh Member
Mar 4, 2009
820
243
I'm not too keen on public servers running bots. When I play only, it's usualy so I can play against people that can talk and coordinate. If I want to play with bots I will start my own server, that way I can even play my own map (Using your created mesh for Courtyard :p )

But yeah, nice work on the collection. Must have taken some time to do them all.
 

PMAvers

L6: Sharp Member
Jan 29, 2008
389
142
Very nifty. I always like to put some bots on for those nights when there isn't really enough people in the server to make a satisfying game. They're good *enough*.