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Benjamin Staneck edited this page Feb 18, 2021 · 2 revisions

Welcome to the NPC-AI-Kit wiki!

NPC AI Kit v0.11.2 - 2021/01/15 by: standardcombo

This package is work in progress.

NPC tutorials at: https://youtu.be/fz5y8MRXM7w

Setup

  1. To get started, look at the dependencies and add one of these templates to the hierarchy:
  • Waypoint Example
  • Ambush Camp Example
  • MOBA Example
  1. Then, add to the hierarchy a copy of:
  • Combat Dependencies

  1. NPCs can drop loot when they die. To enable this: a) Go to Community Content and import "Loot Drop Factory". b) Add a copy of the Loot Drop Factory template to the hierarchy.

  2. NPCs can navigate indoor environments with a Navigational Mesh. a) Go to Community Content and import NavMesh (by Waffle) or DDPathfinder (by truedarkdev). b) Follow instructions in the imported component to set it up for your game. c) NPCs will automatically check for the existence of a NavMesh and use it if available. NOTE: Both components solve the same problem, but are implemented differently. Test to see which is best for your game.

Known Issues in This Version

  • Consumes a large amount of the networking budget.
  • Ranged NPCs may try to attack through walls and don't adapt to obstacles when targeting.

Combat

The package also comes with a Static Player Equipment that grants players "Destructible Rifle". This is needed to fight against the NPCs. The Destructible Rifle template has a script called DestructableWeaponServer that is what makes it deal damage to NPCs. Add that script to any Core weapon to make it compatible with the NPC Kit.

For more info on adapting weapons to this system, see the following tutorial: https://youtu.be/Dc9C13w1Lz8

For melee combat against NPCs, download "The Carlos Blade" from Community Content as a starting point. The Carlos Blade comes with a script called MeleeAbilityServer that is what makes it deal damage to the NPCs. Add this script to other melee weapons to make them compatible with the NPC Kit.

NPC Camps & Spawn Points

Each NPC example has a set of Spawn Points and a combination of spawn scripts that determine when/how the NPCs spawn. Each minion Spawn Point has a list of possible NPCs it can spawn, added to it as custom properties. To change which NPCs spawn, configure the spawn points. You can add or remove spawn points to increase/decrease the amount of NPCs spawned at each camp.

You 'can' add NPCs directly into the hierarchy and they will work, but won't respawn if killed. That's what the camps and spawn points are for.

See comments in each of the spawn scripts for details about their specific spawn behaviors.

Teams & Factions

NPCs have a Team property. If their team is the same as a player, they will treat that player as an ally. If they are a different team they will be treated as enemies. NPCs that are on different teams will attack each other.

Creating Your Own NPCs

Video tutorial here: https://youtu.be/w_TEyDWqGy8

  1. Select an existing NPC as a starting point. Add it to the hierarchy.
  2. Right-click and create a new template. Give it a unique name.
  3. Customize it visually. See the RPG Skeletons for examples of this.
  4. Customize the Collider. Change the Collider's Visibility to see it in relationship to the rest of the NPC.
  5. Customize its properties, such as movement speed, damage and health.
  6. Right-click the NPC in the hierarchy and "Update Template From This".

Adding NPCs to a Game

  1. You can position your NPCs directly in the game to test their behaviors. However, they won't respawn if killed.
  2. Add a spawn camp, such as the Ambush Camp Example.
  3. Right-click the camp and "Deinstance" it.
  4. Select one of the camp's spawn points where your NPC should appear.
  5. From Project Content, drag your NPC template onto the Properties view to add it as a custom property on the spawn point.
  6. Delete your NPC templates from the hierarchy. They should be spawned with Camps and Spawn Points instead of being directly placed.

Navigational Meshes

NPCs can use navigational meshes (NavMesh). In Community Content you can find implementations from Waffle or DarkDev. NavMesh implementations register themselves into the global table _G.NavMesh, from where the NPCs can find them.

If a NavMesh is not provided the AI falls back to default pathing, which works great for open games on terrain. The default pathing does not work indoors. For indoor games use a NavMesh.

(based on work with the NavMesh by Waffle:)

The NavMesh can be broken into separate "islands", disconnected from each other. To form a NavMesh island all planes should be in the same group/folder.

Edit the NavMesh by duplicating the planes, scaling and positioning them. Planes must touch each other to form valid paths for NPCs.

NavMesh shapes appear in the editor but do not appear for players.

Debugging:

Search project content for NavMeshGenerator. Select it and in the Properties view enable the SHOW_DEBUG flag. This has a heavy performance cost and should only be used for verifying connections in the mesh. Connections appear as red circles and lines.

The easiest way to see the connections is to run a multiplayer preview, but set it to zero players. Also, you can disable terrain visibility after preview begins, to better see the mesh.

NavMesh Zones

For games that have both indoor and outdoor sections, either define a NavMesh for the entire game (easier with the component by DarkDev) or use NavMesh Zones to specify the areas where NavMesh should be used. Without them, NPCs have no way to understand the difference between the two types of gameplay areas--where to use NavMesh pathing and where to use default pathing. When using NavMesh Zones NPCs understand that if they are not in a Zone then it's default pathing.

If a NavMesh Zone is placed, but there is no NavMesh inside, then it behaves as a barrier--NPCs are not able to enter.

To create new NavMesh zones simply add triggers to any sub-folder under the ServerContext. Triggers can be Box, Sphere or Capsule types, however Boxes work better in complex situations.

NavMesh data inside a NavMesh Zone works best if it "bleeds" outside the zone a bit. This reduces cases where NPCs float off the ground or get stuck.

Multiple overlapping Zones for a single NavMesh is supported, but untested at this time. Only the NavMesh solution from Waffle has been tested in conjunction with Zones at this time.

More Comments

See comments in the different NPC AI scripts for more details about their behaviors.

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