small editor's tool: count units on map

**Homer Johnston** · 02-15-2009, 10:50 PM

hi guys, since this seems to be a bit of an issue for us with our "large" missions ... i decided to make a quick thing to help mission makers find out how many AI are on the map. it is simply an empty mission on Rahmadi you'll need to merge into your own mission.

http://rapidshare.com/files/19862178...nits.Intro.zip

To use:

1)unzip it into your mission editing directory (you know ... the one with your mission folders)
2)load up your mission in the editor
3)using the MERGE command, find CountUnits on Rahmadi and merge it.
4)note the huge triggers now on the southwest of your map. anything inside of the 10km diameter circles, can be counted by this. reposition/resize them if you have to.
5)preview your mission, go to your radio menu and hit '5'

6) !!!DELETE the triggers it added before you release your mission to the public if you don't want to look unprofessional

example of use: after playing BigC's airport raid mission tonight and experiencing a bit more lag than I expected (still quite playable, but usually the server is really good!), i made this. Loaded BigC's mission into the editor & merged it, and it counted about 520 to 650 units including players (he has it randomized), ... that's a lot of AI brains!

another example: GeneralCarver's PerfectUtopia has 270 units (including players).

BigC/Carver NOTE: those are the only two "commonly played" missions I have in my missions folder to test -- I'm not cursing OR praising either of you

however, I would suggest that if any author is going to break the 300 barrier, you might want to seek some ways to dynamically create AI.

P.S. BigC: your mission had about 250-300 AI before U.P.S. spawned in extras. It IS very easily possible to delay the start of the UPS on certain groups until players are near, and thus delay creation of maybe as much as 100-200 AI in your mission if you'd be interested... although, players flying over them could also cause the creation so perhaps no real benefit

Would people be interested in me writing up a short (i.e. long) guide on setting up the overcomplicated DAC (Dynamic AI Creator, by mapfact) into your mission? Anyone who has played mine & Macolik's mission recently knows how much it can kick ass when it's done right...

**nthamma** · 02-16-2009, 01:25 AM

Thank you, Homer.

**Mimir** · 02-16-2009, 09:56 AM

Cool tool, thanks. BTW, my mission was never designed for the amount of peeps we had on it. The original ones fell through at the last minute and I had to convert mine in a hurry. But yes it would have been nice to know how many AI spawned, the way I set up UPS I never actually know!!

**Homer Johnston** · 02-16-2009, 12:33 PM

ah, it's cool bigC ... btw, two small "offtopic" hints to consider for your mission: change the MIN: # and MAX: # UPS values for all civilian groups to 0, 0 ... will mean less civilians, but that is what I'd rather see as a soldier -- how many civs are going to wander around outside when they hear an abrams and 4 strykers rolling in?

2nd ... when you're done making UPS zones, change the zone marker color from "Default" (black) to "ACE_Transparent". That way players won't see the zones on the map during the briefing. *thumbs up*

I would have just done some of this thread in P.M.'s but they are topics that other people might be able to read and learn from too.

**GeneralCarver** · 02-16-2009, 01:03 PM

270 in Perfect Utopia? wow. i get carried away. lol. And WOAH! 500 in Big C's potentially? thats actually good news. because it means that spreading out 200 or 300 units over a large mission area is very playable with 40 people!

**Mimir** · 02-16-2009, 01:13 PM

Originally Posted by Homer Johnston

ah, it's cool bigC ... btw, two small "offtopic" hints to consider for your mission: change the MIN: # and MAX: # UPS values for all civilian groups to 0, 0 ... will mean less civilians, but that is what I'd rather see as a soldier -- how many civs are going to wander around outside when they hear an abrams and 4 strykers rolling in?

2nd ... when you're done making UPS zones, change the zone marker color from "Default" (black) to "ACE_Transparent". That way players won't see the zones on the map during the briefing. *thumbs up*

I would have just done some of this thread in P.M.'s but they are topics that other people might be able to read and learn from too.

yeah, the markers pissed me off. I hate the way that you have to make them transparent or thy will show up int he briefing screen. I remember the old days when all you used was "hidemarker", that was so much easier.

**Homer Johnston** · 02-16-2009, 01:34 PM

hahah yeah, if you need to find them again it's the BIGGEST pain in the butt ever. I usually just end up going into the mission.sqm and replacing ACE_Transparent with ColorRed or something.

I was wondering why people only had probably 150-250 total scoreboard kills by the end of last night, until I realized we probably killed 100 civilians/friendlies in the process too

**whitelancer11** · 02-16-2009, 01:42 PM

thanks a lot homer..

**nthamma** · 02-16-2009, 01:55 PM

How many units do you usually want that will not lag the server in a certain mission? The mission I'm editing right now has around 120 enemy units... is that a good amount?

**Mimir** · 02-16-2009, 04:50 PM

The server can handle most of what we thow at it as far as AI. It is when all the other stuff comes in that you have issues. But as a normal rule of thumb, stick with 2 times forces. Basically if you have 60 peeps, keep it around 120 AI. Just for simplicity.

**Homer Johnston** · 02-16-2009, 07:27 PM

It completely depends on the size/length of the mission but I would say 120 AI vs 60 players would suit a very short mission (maybe a 15-20 minute defense scenario...)

most of the missions we seem to play, I'd guess are between a 5:1 and 10:1 ratio. As BigC's mission demonstrated though, the server CAN handle 500 AI alright if it needs to. But I think it's getting into the yellow zone around 300-400... it may not get laggier, but the AI will start to have a lower IQ!

The mission Macolik and I are almost ready to submit is roughly a 4:1 to 6:1 ratio, but it is still going to be a really long gruesome mission because we used DAC and players are separated... the AI radio each other over for mutual support a lot, and they enter buildings, so you can't just hide and pick them off like normal dumb ArmA AI. Plus I figured out an interesting scripting 'hack' to make AI soldiers see as well at night, as they do in the day

makes things much more interesting...

BigC, what kind of FPS was the server running on your mission? I tried to ask you in-game but I think you were alt-tabbed out, or something... this is the important info that honestly dictates how many AI we should consider "okay".