                   MauveBib's Squad AI Thing
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Version 1.4 - 12/02/2011


Welcome, traveller, to the fifth release of my Squad AI Thing. The purpose of this DarkPlaces 
Quake Mod is to recreate a squad based AI similar to the Marine combats found in Half Life.
It is a techdemo, and in no way a complete mod.


Controls
--------

There is only one weapon, an MP5-alike, which has infinite ammo, but must be reloaded every 
30 shots. Reload is bound to the 'R' key.

This is a slow-paced, tactical style thing, so make use of cover and crouch using the 'C' 
key.


The AI
------

The whole point of this techdemo is the AI. The soldiers should act in a relatively 
coordinated manner. The following are some of the current features of the AI, which will be 
expanded upon as time goes by:

Navigataing the map using an A* algorithm
	A Powerful and efficient waypoint navigation technique

Flanking and surrounding the player
	By manipulating the costs of the waypoints, squad members can be forced to find
	alernative paths, which lead them around and behind the enemy.

Taking cover when appropriate
	Sometimes when shot, when the player has the soldiers in his sights and when in need of 
	reloading. They also hug cover as much as possible, and rotate between firing and taking 
	cover as a squad, trying to maintain even numbers of each in order to simulate covering 
	fire. This function has been significantly improved.

Finding good fire points
	The soldiers constantly move from one firing point to another, and search for new
	firing points when the player takes cover etc. They tend to avoid dangerous fire 
	points, learning from friendly damage and deaths. This function has been significantly 
	improved.

Using grenades to flush the player out of cover
	This needs work, they're currently a bit too happy to use this, though they should
	now avoid grenades on the ground fairly well.

Squad communication
	The squad communicate with each other to keep firing lines clear, to update each 
	other on the player's location etc. Much of this communication is expressed vocally.


Bugs
----

The main bug I'm aware of is that the soldiers sometimes freeze mid-animation. I'm working 
on fixing it. They also sometimes stand still and do nothing for no obvious reason. 

The industrial map is missing several textures and probably some shaders. I'll see if I 
can find them.


Running
-------

The mod is run like any Darkplaces mod. Install to a 'squad' subdirectory of your Quake 
directory, and run with the commandline:

darkplaces -game squad +map industrial

Or

darkplaces -game squad +map city


Changes Since v1.3
------------------

New second enemy, armed with a pistol
New sound and graphical effects
lots of AI tweaks.
Fixed ammo bug
model-based hit detection for guns.
Enemies register as monsters when you press TAB

Changes Since v1.2
------------------

Better cover and firing spot finding routines, A-Star based.
Enemies using cover more often, and providing covering fire. 
"Hugging cover".
The soldiers try to keep equal numbers shooting and taking cover.
Deactivated the light code due to major bugs.
Bugfixes

Changes Since v1.1
------------------

New grenade model
New funky DP particle effects
High-res textures for city.bsp, with normal and specular maps.
Understanding of light and dark. The player can now hide in shadows, though firing will give away his 
location. The enemies update each other on their last seen location of the player. The enemies will also 
use dark areas as cover.
"Searching" animation for when they can't see the player,
Screen blood splatter when injured
Funky new player death effect
New muzzle-flashes, shell casings and other shiny new graphics.
Loads of stuff I've inevitably forgotten in the big gap between coding and releasing this.
Various tweaks.


Changes Since v1.0
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Strafing to avoid player's firing line
Greater use of danger allocation for waypoints (death, pain, bullet impacts, grenades etc).
Camping behaviour
Damage skins (just for fun)
Footstep sounds.
Sounds alert nearby guys.
Many AI tweaks.
New level, city.bsp by Harb.
Support for DiD2 format (prelinked) waypoint files as well as Nexuiz format (autolinked). Both need an END line added.

Credits
-------

The MP5 and both soldier models come from JBallou's FBI Quake.

The Crate model is retextured from a model by Chris. My modelling program was on the fritz so I grabbed his.

industrial_nex_r1.bsp is Industrial by Hipshot. Big props to him for a great map.

city.bsp is an unfinished DiD2 map by Harb. Textures by Lemog. Skybox by Hipshot.

iD Software for Quake.

LordHavoc et al for DarkPlaces.


Contact
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enail: skinski@email.com
website: http://www.electronicliberationfront.co.cc

I can also be reached by pidgeon post, stripogram and telepathy.

Cheers,

MauveBib
