![]() |
|
I. Some notes for old PODBOT 2.5 waypointers If you are familiar with making waypoints for PODBot 2.5, you won't need to read the following two sections that are meant as an introduction for people who are new to waypointing. However, make sure you have a close look at the new console commands and
the new waypoint menu - there have been loads of changes there!
Most of the waypointing is done via the menu now, and almost all console commands have disappeared entirely. You will not be able
to use your old configs/binds with this editor. But you will love all the new features and possibilities! Note On Compatibility: New Button Code: |
II. Waypoints, what are they ? Unlike humans, bots cannot see a map and analyze what they see. If you see a building with a door, you can walk straight to the door,
open it and enter the building. Besides, you don't have to worry about every little detail. The editor that comes with this bot version will do lots of the work for you,
and besides, it's graphical and easy to use (no programming/coding skills or anything required). You may very well discover that making
waypoints can be fun, especially when you see bots roam through the entire map without problems - and you made it possible!
|
III. What do waypoints look like in the game ? When you are playing a normal game on a waypointed map, the waypoints will of course be invisible so that they don't distract or annoy
you in any way. |
IV. How can I access the waypoint editor ? The waypoint editor is not a separate program, it is included in the bot dll (or .so, if you are using linux).To open it, create a LAN\Listen Server game, select the map you want to waypoint and start the game as usual. As soon as you are in the map, you can activate the editing mode from the console by typing pb wpmenu or if you have bound a key for it, simply by pressing that key. |
V. Adding waypoints Adding a waypoint is really easy. Just walk to the position where you want a waypoint to be inserted, bring up your waypoint menu: This is the main Waypoint Menu. To add a waypoint, simply select "1. Add." A new menu will appear, the "Add Waypoint" menu. All waypoint types described below can be added by using this menu. The "Add Waypoint" menu. Once you have selected a waypoint type from the "Add Waypoint" menu, you will hear a sound,
and the selected waypoint will appear in the map, at the exact position where you stood when you pressed the key. Now that you know the basic method used to add a waypoint, let's have a closer look at the waypoint types that exist. |
VI. Types of Waypoints Normal waypoints Normal waypoints are the points you need in order to make bots walk through the map. They are used for navigation only and will not trigger any particular behaviour. You can add a Normal waypoint by selecting "1. Normal" from the "Add waypoint" menu. The colour of Normal waypoints is green, as you can see in the picture below. A Crouched Normal waypoint (left) and a Normal waypoint (right) Terrorist Important waypoints This type of waypoints can be navigated just as a Normal waypoint by all bots, but it has one additional function. It marks strategically important points for a Terrorist team. Adding a Terrorist Important point in a room will tell Terrorist bots to go to the room and check it frequently. You can add this type of waypoint by selecting "2. T Important" from the "Add Waypoint" menu. The colour of Terrorist Important waypoints is red, as you can see in the picture below. A Crouched Terrorist Important waypoint (left) and a Normal Terrorist Important (right) IMPORTANT: The use of Terrorist Important points depends on the map type! Counter-Terrorist Important waypoints The function of this waypoint type is exactly the same as the Terrorist Important waypoint described above. The only difference is that a Counter-Terrorists Important waypoint obviously marks strategically important places for the Counter-Terrorist (CT) team. You can add this type of waypoint by selecting "3. CT Importanat" from the "Add Waypoint" menu. The colour of Counter-Terrorist Important waypoints is blue, as you can see in the picture below. Two Counter-Terrorists important waypoints, normal (right) and crouched (left) IMPORTANT: As with the other team specific waypoints, Counter-Terrorist Important waypoints should also be placed
according to the map type. On maps where the Counter-Terrorist team is forced to move out and reach a certain goal - either hostages
to rescue or a VIP escape zone to reach safely. Counter-Terrorist Important points can be useful to make
a particular route more attractive. You DON'T need to place Counter-Terrorist Important points near
a map goal (hostages on CS_ maps, VIP escape zone(s) on As_ maps), Counter-Terrorist bots will go there anyway. It's the most important
point for them, and adding several other important waypoints right next to it doesn't yield any benefit. Ladder waypoints Ladder waypoints are only used for waypointing ladders, as you possibly guessed. To enable your bots to use a ladder, simply walk up to the ladder until you get "stuck" on it (you will see your crosshair grow wider once you are on the ladder). Now place one Ladder waypoint at the bottom of the ladder. Then climb up the ladder until you are almost completely over the edge. Place a second waypoint here and make sure that the two ladder waypoints are connected, (This should have happened automatically if the Ladder waypoints aren't too far away from each other, if not you can creat a connection manually), That's all! You can add this type of waypoint by selecting "4. Ladder " from the "Add Waypoint" menu. The colour of Ladder waypoints is pink, as you can see in the picture below. A waypointed Ladder, one Ladder waypoint at the bottom, the other near the top Some general hints and notes concerning ladder waypoints:
Rescue waypoints Rescue waypoints are only needed on Cs_ type maps (hostage rescue scenarios). They mark the zone where
the Counter-Terrosist team must bring the hostages, the rescue zone. Place one of these waypoint inside each rescue zone there is. If there is
only one, you only need one Rescue waypoint. Placing more points in one rescue zone is unnecessary bulk
and will rather cause problems than improve anything. A Rescue point. You can also make this point Crouched, of course. Camp waypoints As the name suggests, Camp waypoints are used to mark good sniper spots. They can be navigated by all bots. However, whether a bot may camp there or not is determined by the flag you can add to the camp waypoint. You can make Camp waypoints team specific or leave them "open" to any team. The colour of Normal Camp waypoints is cyan. Terrorist specific camp waypoints have a reddish hue, Counter-Terrosist specific ones are a bit blueish, as you can see in the pictures below. Two Normal Camp waypoints, Standing (left) and Crouched (right). Team specific Camp waypoints: Although there are two entries in the "Add Waypoint" menu (" Camp start" and "Camp end"), the Camp waypoint is in fact only one point. However, it carries two "markers" that tell a camping bot where to look while camping. When you are camping yourself, you will monitor a certain area. If you wanted to define this area, you could describe it as an angle. This angle would be specified by two lines going out from your position: One that marks the left edge and another one for the right edge. The monitored area would be between these two lines. The mentioned "markers" fulfill exactly this function. They are displayed as more or less horizontal beams going out from the top of a Camp waypoint. The Camp start marker is yellow, the Camp end marker orange, as you can see in the picture below. A Crouched Normal Camp waypoint with Camp start (left, yellow) and Camp end (right, orange) markers. When a bot approaches the depicted Camp waypoint, it will turn to face the direction of the Camp start marker (the yellow beam to the left) first. Then it will slowly scan the area between this marker and the
Camp end marker (orange beam to the right). An enemy moving outside the two markers may escape the
bot's attention, unless it hears the enemy coming. In the piture above, both markers are pointing to the same height. However, you can also
specify different heights for each marker. This is very useful for making bots monitor a ramp, a slope, a stairway or other uneven surfaces.
That's it! Unless you want to make your Camp waypoint team specific or add another flag (see: Waypoint Flags section), you are done! In fact, it sounds much more complicated than it actually is. Some quick notes and hints about Camp waypoints:
Map Goal waypoints This waypoint type obviously indicates the Map Goal. On an As_ map, the Map Goal waypoint tells the bots where the VIP escape zone is. Make sure the escape
zone symbol is visible on your HUD when you place a map goal waypoint there. Otherwise the VIP may end up reaching the point and running
away again just like you would do with Rescue waypoints. The purple waypoint on the marked spot is the Map Goal, in this case a bomb spot. Jump Connections Jump is not actually a waypoint but a connection between waypoints. (see: Waypoint Connections) So now we've seen what type of waypoints the bots use, we can see how we can string these waypoints together to make a gaint web to cover
the map with |
VII. The Radius The Radius of a waypoint is indicated by means of horizontal blue beams that go out in all directions from the position of a waypoint. Viewed from above, the beams form a pattern that is like the spokes of a bycyle wheel or the like the petals of a flower. The photo below was taken from above, we are looking down onto a waypoint, and you can see the colour of a Radius is Blue, as you can see in the picture below. A Normal waypoint and its Radius indicators viewed from above. These Radius indicators are a great means to see how big the radius of a waypoint actually is, it ends exactly
where the beams end. Setting or Changing the Radius: The good news first: You don't have to set every single Radius manually, the editor will do much of
the work for you! It will automatically calculate the Radius of a waypoint depending on the area around it.
If the editor detects higher (~more than knee-high) obstacles like walls nearby, it will automatically adjust the Radius to reach up to the wall, not further. However, the maximum Radius is limited to
96 units. This means that even on a totally open plain, where the nearest obstacle is hundreds of distance units away, the
Radius will not exceed 96. The Radius menu with all options between 0 and 112. Simply select an option by pressing the corresponding key, and the radius of the currently active waypoint will be changed to the selected value. You will quickly get a feeling for these numbers if you play around with them a bit. Waypoints with fixed radii Note: |
VIII. Connecting Waypoints Waypoints alone aren't sufficient to make bots move the way you want. They must be connected with other waypoints in order to let bots reach
their goal. By default, connections up to a certain distance will be made automatically. The Waypoint Options menu. Now select the entry "6. AutoPath Max Distance". The following sub-menu will appear: The APMD (AutoPath Max Distance) menu. Select the desired distance from this menu. After selecting a distance, connections up to that distance will be drawn automatically, of course, you can also add and remove connections manually.
However, this needs a little bit more explanation, and it's better to explain if you know the different connection types. Two-way (bidirectional) connections The vast majority of all connections in a waypoint set will be bidirectional. Obviously, these connections enable bots to walk both from point A to point B and back from point B to point A. The colour of bidirectional paths is yellow, as you can see in the picture below. A 2-Way connection between the two depicted waypoints. One-way connections One-way connections enable bots to walk from point A to point B, but not vice versa. They can be useful
to make bots drop down a wall or a high crate, but prevent them from attempting to get up. Of course, there may be more places at which a
1-way connection can make sense, but that depends on the map. An Outgoing 1-Way connection, The picture below shows the same two waypoints and the same connection, but this time I took the screenshot while I was standing near the second waypoint.The incoming 1-way connection displayed in teal as you can see in the picture below. An Incoming 1-Way connection The fact that 1-way connection are shown from both involved points is a great feature. It makes spotting errors very easy and saves you the trouble of running around to check if there is a connection TO the point where you are standing. Jump connections Jump connections are a bit special as they cannot be drawn like any other connection. But that's not all,
apart from that, Jump connections can also be one-way or two-way connections.
To make matters even more complex, their 2-way version can come in two flavours: A "pure" two-way jump connection,
i.e. a Jump connection from A to B and another Jump connection back from B
to A or a "mixed" two way connection, with a Jump connection leading from A to B and a regular one-way
connection back from B to A. The latter version will be very rare, though. Now once again, this sounds more complicted than it actually is. An Outgoing Jump connection, it will make bots jump to the waypoint in the background. Here is the same connection viewed from the waypoint where bots will land after their jump. As you can see, it is shown as a incoming 1-way connection (displayed in teal). From this side, you cannot tell whether this incoming connection is
a Jump connection or a 1-way outgoing connection. Given the fact that there's
a gap where bots can fall down, it had better be a Jump connection... An Incoming Jump connection, bots start their jump at the waypoint in the background and land here - hopefully. Now look at the pprevious screenshot, I could add a regular 1-way connection back to the waypoint in
the background. (I know it wouldn't make sense at this spot, but let's just pretend there were no gap between the waypoints.) |
IX. Adding / Removing connections manually and Special Cases Now you know the most important things about connections in general and the different types of connections. You also know how to adjust
automatic connection lengths and how to add a jump connection by hand. But how do you add or remove a connection by hand? Here's how it works (Look at the screenshot below), let's pretend we wanted to delete the connection from the waypoint where we're standing to the left waypoint near the wall, aim at the waypoint with your crosshair. As soon as the waypoint is selected, it will become bigger, and a little blue cross will appear on top of it. NOTE 1: The left waypoint is selected, although the crosshair isn't exactly on it. You will see that the crosshair doesn't have to be exactly on the waypoint, it's usually enough if you aim somewhere near the point. Sometimes you will even have to aim a little bit away from the waypoint in order to activate it. Simply move your crosshair around the waypoint until you see that it gets bigger and has the blue cross on top of it. Leave the crosshair where it is and perform whatever action you want to perform. If you have problems activating a waypoint, you can also try changing your position a bit, Walk a step forward or to the side, aim at
the desired waypoint from a slightly different angle. You will get a feeling for it quickly! Despite the crosshair being nearer to the right waypoint, the left one is selected! In the screenshot below, I stood at the exact same position and aimed until I had the right waypoint activated. As you can see that the crosshair is off to the right quite a bit. But you can also see how well the activated waypoint is visible even from such a large distance. Normally it would be even slightly thinner than the left waypoint, as it is a little further away. But here it is nice and fat, easy to tell apart from unselected waypoints. Now aiming at the right waypoint, the crosshair is a bit off, but the waypoint is selected. Now you know how to activate a waypoint by aiming at it. In order to add a connection now, bring up the main menu and select "6. Add Path". The following sub-menu will appear: The "Add Path" menu where you can select which type of connection to add. Well, this is almost self-explanatory, Select the connection type you want to add, and it will be drawn. You have read about the available
connection types above, so this should be no problem. Removing connection manually is even easier, but works slightly different because you don't have to choose what to remove. Just aim at
a waypoint and select "6. Delete Path" from the waypointing menu. Special cases: Adding connections with the waypoint cache function In some cases, especially with Ladder waypoints, you may run into serious problems to aim at a waypoint. Let's say you want to connect two Ladder waypoints. You're standing at the lower end of the ladder, but you just can't get the upper ladder waypoint activated. In such a case, simply bring up the waypointing menu and select "9. Options". The Waypoint Options menu. Select "7. Cache this Waypoint". You will see a message on your HUD: "Waypoint #node
has been put into memory", where "node" is the number of the waypoint you're standing at. But back to the example: You are still standing at the lower ladder waypoint and have just cached it. Now you can climb up to the upper ladder
waypoint and add a 2-way connection. This new 2-way connection will
automatically be made between your current position (the upper ladder waypoint) and the cached waypoint (in this case, the lower ladder waypoint). |
X. Waypoint Flags Waypoint flags are anything that makes a waypoint "behave" in a special way and serve for more (or different) things than mere
navigation purposes. Well, exclusive flags are flags that exclude each other - a waypoint carries EITHER one flag OR another, but never two at the same time.
Such a flag will change the type of a waypoint. For example, if you have a Normal waypoint and add
a "6. Rescue" flag to it, the waypoint will turn into a Rescue
waypoint, with all its functions. It cannot be a Normal waypoint AND a Rescue
waypoint at the same time. Cumulative flags are flags that don't exclude each other, i.e. a waypoint can carry one of these flags AND a another one at the same time.
For example, a waypoint can be Team Specific (CT or T) AND carry a
Button flag at the same time. It can mark a strategically important position for one of the teams
and at the same time tell all bots to push a nearby button. Bring up the main menu and select "4. Set Flags ". The following sub-menu will appear: The Waypoint Flags menu. The following list will show the effects of each flag in detail: Use Button (cumulative) This flag will tell bots that they need to push a nearby button every time they come past the flagged waypoint. You can add this flag to any waypoint type. This flag is not necessary for button-triggered doors, because bots that are about to go through a closed button-triggered door will "see" that their path is blocked and automatically look for the button that opens the door. However, there might be situations where the bots can't detect an obstacle in their path but still need to push a button in order to reach their goal. Imagine a deadly laser beam that can be temporally deactivated with a button, for example. Bots won't be able to detect the laser beam as an obstacle and thus ignore the button and die. But if you add a button flag to the waypoint next to the deactivator button, all bots will be forced to push the button before they continue.The Use Button is shown as a little green cross near the top of a waypoint as you can see in the picture below. This Normal waypoint is marked with a Button Flag. Lift (cumulative) You won't be too surprised to read that a Lift flag is used to enable bots to use lifts. Lift flags must be applied to the waypoint inside
an elevator shaft. Imagine a normal elevator that can move between ground level and 1st floor. You will have one waypoint inside the elvator
cabin at ground level, and another one you added inside the elevator cabin when you were at the 1st floor. Both waypoints will be connected
to each other. If there were no connection, bots wouldn't know that one possible path to get from one storey to the other leads through the
elevator. Now the problem is that bots are supposed to hit the button, walk into the elevator, stand still until they have reached the other
storey and walk out of the elevator. This is where the Lift flags are needed: They tell your bots to hold their position until the elevator
has reached the other storey. This Normal waypoint is marked with a Lift Flag. Crouch (cumulative) Adding this flag to a waypoint will not change the waypoint type (e.g. Normal, Goal, Ladder etc.), but it will make the selected waypoint a Crouched waypoint.
You will see the effect when you look at the waypoint to which you applied the flag. I.e. It will be smaller, just as if you had made it a
Crouched waypoint in the first place. Map Goal (exclusive) This flag will turn any waypoint into a Map Goal waypoint. It can be quite useful if you waypointed the area around the map goal with Normal waypoints and then realized that you would rather have a Map Goal waypoint in place of one of the Normal waypoints. Instead of deleting the Normal waypoint and inserting a Map Goal waypoint, you can just use this flag. Ladder (exclusive) A Ladder flag will obviously turn the waypoint it's applied to into a Ladder waypoint. If you accidentally added a Normal waypoint where there should be a Ladder waypoint (for example when jumping to a ladder), this flag can come in handy. Rescue (exclusive) Forgot to add a Rescue waypoint in the rescue zone? There are already so many waypoint around that you don't want to add yet another one? Well, this flag will turn any waypoint into a Rescue waypoint. Also handy when your Rescue waypoint isn't far enough in the rescue zone that bot's only rescue half the hostages and run back to the enemies with the hostages tagging along. Just make your previous Rescue waypoint into a Normal and change another Normal deeper in the zone to a Rescue Camp (exclusive) This flag will turn any waypoint into a Camp waypoint. Right after adding the flag, however, this freshly made Camp waypoint will not have its Camp start and Camp end markers correctly set. You must do so manually by selecting "6. Camp start" and "7. Camp end" from the "1. Add" menu, just as you'd do with any Camp waypoint. No Hostage (cumulative) This flag is only needed on CS-maps, but there it's absolutely important! It will block a waypoint for a CT bot that's leading hostages towards the rescue zone. By using this flag you can prevent bots from choosing paths where the hostages cannot follow them (up a ladder or through a narrow vent, for example). The "8. No Hostage" flag must be applied to the first waypoint that should NOT be reached with hostages. In order to make it easier for you to keep an overview over which point are blocked and which aren't, the No Hostage is shown as a little red cross near the top of a waypoint as you can see in the picture below. This Normal waypoint carries a No Hostage Flag. Counter-Terrorists bots with hostages won't be able to use it. Team Specific (cumulative with Camp waypoints, else exclusive)Upon selecting this flag, you will be prompted with a sub-menu where you can choose for which of the two teams the waypoint will be specific. This menu will appear when you select the flag "Team Specific". When applied to Normal, Ladder, Rescue or Map Goal waypoints, this flag will turn the waypoint into a Team Specific one. A Counter-Terrorist Important waypoint if you selected "2. Counter-Terrorists" and a Terrorist Important one if you selected "1. Terrorists". With CT and T Important points, you can use this flag to change the team the waypoint is associated with. For example, you can use it to turn a CT Important waypoint into a T Important one. If you select the third option, "3. Both Teams", you can turn any CT or T Important waypoint into a Normal waypoint. With Camp waypoints, however, this flag works a bit differently. You can add it to any Camp waypoint to turn it into a Team Specific Camp waypoint. Only bots of the associated team will be allowed to camp there. Of course, you can also change a Team Specific Camp waypoint back to a normal Camp waypoint by selecting the third option "3. Both Teams".
|
XI. Waypoint Debugging pb debuggoal Waypoint debugging is a way to send the bots to specific waypoints to see how well they will navigate to them. To debug your waypoints add one bot to you map when
you are waypointing. You then issue this command in the console to direct the bot to navigate to the specified waypoint. Setting the debuggoal waypoint to waypoint 66 Bot navigating to waypoint 66 This command is also on the waypoint Options menu which makes it easier to set the debug waypoint. Instead of going to the console and typing "pb debuggoal 66 to direct the bot to go to waypoint 66 you can bind a key like this:bind "i" "pb wpmenu;menuselect 9;menuselect 8" An then all you have to do is point to the waypoint you want the bot to navigate to and press the key in your bind. key i for this example. To cancel the debuggoal waypoint select the waypointing options menu 9 "Debuggoal off"
|
So there you go, that covers everything you need to know about waypoints, paths connections, radii, waypoint flags, in order to waypoint a map and some nice little tips and tricks you can use. But there's one more thing you need to read before you start making a name for yourself in the world of waypointing, the next part contains some breifing on the common errors new waypointers make as well as some more tips and tricks to help you become a pro waypointer faster, like using bindings instead of menu's. So click on 'Waypoints - Common errors' and get into it! |