convoy moving problems

[garret64]

Ok, I have 2 convoys.  both consisting of 2 hummers, 2 5ton trucks, then one hummer in the rear.

Convoy2 follows convoy1, getting them started and going is working fine.  When they get to the first turn convoy1 does it just fine.

Convoy2 gets all screwed up, the vehicles go off the road, and swerve around for a while, then they look like they get into a v-type formation, and continue along the path, but since some of the vehicles are off the raod, convoy2 is pretty slow.

I checked all the waypoint markers, and there is now formation set, and each vehicle is set to 'none' in the special field.  And all the driver's skill are set to full.

Convoy1 goes just fine to the city, and then wehn it turns into the city the lead vehicle takes the turn fine, the second cots the corner, and the 2 trucks cut the corner even more, and get side by side then stuck, while the last vehicle parks itself by a building, and if i wait 5-10 mins convoy1 will get to the location in the city, but will be spread out.  But convoy2 is still waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay behind.

any help with this would be greatly appreciated.

[garret64]

I've tried changing their behavior, ive tried changing the amount and placement of waypoints, ive tried all i can think of......

doesnt anyone even have an ideer?

[Dubieman]

Firstly vehicles have more incentive to use roads when in SAFE or CARELESS mode. This way, really one move waypoint is needed at the target location. I'd suggest another waypoint inbetween if your driving very long distances or especially twisty roads.

It shouldn't matter if the special is none but maybe try different formations, a column might work best.
Looks like this
                                     H
                                       H
                                      H
                                     H
Something resembling a line. The only reasn the vehicles swereved off the road is because they are moving too fast and the leader stops short or convoy one is going to stop short. I'd suggest messing with speeds. On the corners put speed on both convoys at norm or limited. Then the vehicles "should" be more sensible and turn. AND NOT be like 16year olds who just got their liscence.
                         

[gadolinite]

convoy tips:

It is impossible to get a convoy to travel absolutely perfect at all times.  Look at the single missions.  They are no better then unofficial mission possibilities.  Anyway the tips...

1. Slower vehicles (like tanks) go up in front.  Faster vehicles in the rear will travel in synch with the slower vehicles.  
2.  Set 'one waypoint path' from start to finish.
                    -Set behaviour to SAFE
                    -Set speed to limited
                    -Set formation to column

Even if you do it right, there are buggy stretches of road where all the vehicles go berserk.  (Nogova has one really bad spot, right down the road from the bridge.)

[nEO iNC]

Hey all, you could maybe also try assigning the vehicles in the convoy ranks. Start with the first vehicle at the highest rank followed by the second at the next rank down, and so on...

Also some vehicles don't like occupying certain positions in a convoy and will break formation to get to where the AI believes they should be. This is predominatly armour, but you may have a similar issue with the HUMMVs. It's normally best to have any heavy stuff at the front both for the AI to cope (it's dumb) and because its maybe more realistic, (just in case the convoy runs into anything)  

gadolinite is right about Nogova, the bridge is poop, armour/ trucks/jeeps that are AI controlled have a tendancy to fall through it if you approach it from the east, yet comming from the west it's fine... Go figure...  

[garret64]

thanks guys, im trying all this out now.

[Wadmann]

I usually try to use as few waypoints as possible when I have convoys on the road. But if you want to get the two convoys reach a destination at the same time, you could sync two waypoints together (one from each convoy) at a position that will allow them to arrive at their destination at the same time.

                                                                Wadmann

[Casino]

Hi all,

im new to this board and im not *that* excperienced in mission editing at all. I faced some simmiliar problems with creating a convoy, so i found this thread here to post my questions about it.

My general idea is following: The Player(s) has/have to protect a convoy. Containing about some support trucks and some "guards" (armed) vehicles. The mission objective should be that all of the support trucks reach theire destination. The other vehicles should engage the enemie while the support trucks break through and continue on. How do i realize this? I tried around and everytime the convoy gets attacked, all vehicles get stuck. The guarding vehicles start to attack the enemie but the support trucks stand still.

Another problem i faced is, that i cant add tanks to the convoy. Everytime i put a Tank into it, the Tank won't move! All vehicles proceed their waypoints, but the tank just stands still at his starting point.

So in genereal my questions are:

1) How to realize that the support trucks "brek through" while the rest engages the enemie?

2) How do i add some Tanks? My idea is one Tank in the front (behind the leader) and one in the back as "rear guard".

Would be pretty cool if someone's out there with some suggestions about that! You know this Mission called "Desert Ambush"? I think its a basic Multiyplayer Co-Op Mission from OFP Resistance. The convoy the players have to ambush is simmiliar to that, what im trieng to do. The 3 Trucks just move ahead if the dont get stopped. Hopefully someone got some help for me!

Thanks in Advance & sorry for this bad piece of english im speaking, hehe

Cheers,

-Cas

[nEO iNC]

Hey Cas, no problems re the description, I think I got the idea...

OK, so you want to have a convoy that when attacked will split into two parts, the trucks that move on to the objective and the defending vehicles that stay behind and engage the enemy... The easiest way to do this is with a trigger...

Create a trigger that has the following in it's 'condition' field.

behaviour veh1 == "combat" or  behaviour veh2 == "combat" or behaviour veh3 == "combat" etc...

This will look for the behaviour status of the vehicles in the convoy, the moment they go into combat mode the trigger will activate. Obviously you will have to have the convoy start with a behaviour mode of something other than combat, safe or aware should be fine...

OK, now you have the condition sorted... You now need to sort out what happens to the vehicles when they get attacked. To do this you need to split the group up. I'm going to assume the armour makes up the smallest part of your convoy... Say two vehicles at the front... (I recommend you put the armour at the front, see above post)

To split the group, put the following in the on activation field;

[veh1,veh2] join grpnull;

Then to make the two vehicles join each other to form the rear-guard force add the following;

[veh2] join veh1;

OK, you now have two groups, but what about the trucks..? Well, you can now get them to move away in what's left of the group they make. To do this add the following;

"_x domove (getpos *objective*) foreach units group veh3;

*("objective" can be anything you can name so a man/vehicle/gamelogic etc... DON'T use quotes)*

The trucks should move off and leave the armour to defend itself... Hope this helps, I've not tested it, but I have used something very similar. You may have to tweak the AI/rank settings for the vehicles, but you should be OK...

As for the armour at the rear of the column you can try it, but like I say I've had problems with it moving to the front of the convoy as it moves. The AI likes it there, something to do with having the strongest units at the front...  

[Casino]

Hi

Thanks for your reply. I tried around with your suggested commands. I am now one step further, hehe... but still facing some problems. If i put the

Code: [Select]

_x domove (getpos target) foreach units group veh3;into the triggers "OnActivation" it gives me an error occuring, telling me "local variable in global space"  

[deleted] Okay, i discarded "my" solution here... hehe... it didn't work at all. So i tried again the code above (the "_x doMove getPos...) but it keeps telling me "local variable in global space"... the "behaviour vehicle1 == "COMBAT" or behaviour vehicle 2 == "COMBAT" etc." code seem to work. If im not sure if my triggers work i allways let me display a message (via the "effects" menu) for activation notice. So it works.

My convoy is now containing of one Tank and a Jeep with MG. The tank is driving on the front. Both vehicle seem to engage the enemie, means they open fire. The trucks stand still...

Cheers,

-Cas

[nEO iNC]

Hey Cas, the problem is that the 'what you want the things to do' part of the line isn't in quotes, see below...

"_x domove (getpos target)" foreach units group veh3;

Just add the quotes as shown... That should sort it...  

My fault for not being clear...

[Casino]

Hi and Thanks again,

gonna try this. Sorry for the confusion! ;-)

By the way, i found the reason why the trucks allways stoped moving in the beginning... *cough* the drivers got shot...  

But anyways, the stop until the leader say's "clear" or they start moving again if they are not under fire. I handled it without the tanks engaging. Now i'm gonna try your suggestion, thanx!

Cheers,

-Cas