Balancing dynamic spawn rates - User input wanted

B

Buttface

OpenDayZ Rockstar!
I have heard from users that dynamic spawns are too frequent (or too few) so I would like some more direct feedback to help me fine-tune some settings. Presently there is an upper limit of 10 spawns per 5-8 minute cycle so there isn't an overload of spawns, but there isn't a lower "floor" of spawns in case the server population is extremely low. So, if a single person is online, they will always be chosen for potential dynamic AI spawns, and this is what I'm trying to avoid.

What I am trying to do is to set up a formula to calculate the "sweet spot" where there isn't too many or too few spawns.

So what I would like to ask all users or players of servers with DZAI is:

1. Do you feel that dynamic AI spawns are too frequent or too infrequent as of the current version (1.9.4)? Or is it "just right?"
2. What is the usual player population of your server?

The end goal will be to ensure that each player has a consistent chance of being selected for dynamic AI spawns, regardless of how many players are online at the time.
 
To give a visual aid, this is a graphical representation of the % probability of a player to be selected as a possible target for dynamic AI spawns:

The first image is the current % probability of being selected according to how many players are currently online (note the high spikes at very low player population). The second image is my revised formula, which provides a constant % probability.

The steady decrease in selection probability at the end past 40 players is when the 10 spawn cap is being hit, so a higher number of players online no longer produces an increase in the number of dynamic spawns being created.



Note: This is only a graph of the % chance to be selected for the possibility of a spawn, not for the actual spawn to happen. Before the actual spawn can happen, several things need to be checked (and pass):
  • Player is on foot or in a land-type vehicle
  • Player is not in a blacklisted area
  • Player is not on water (ponds don't count as water)
  • Player is not in debug area
  • Player is not within 100m of a plot pole (for Epoch players)
  • Note: Even if all these conditions pass, the chance is reduced if a spawn has recently happened for the player, and is capped at 95% maximum probability.
 
I only have data for low pop as my server usually has 1-3 players and I think it is just right. That's just my opinion of course and I like it a little more hard core than most.
 
The revised formula is already in 1.9.5+ so if there are no complaints then I think everything went fairly smoothly. All that I'm concerned about is whether the dynamic spawns are too rare now since the changes have only decreased spawning probabilities without any increases to balance it out. From here on it should be easy to rebalance since the player selection probability should remain the same no matter the server population.

The current probabilities should be about the same as a 20-player server population before I changed the calculations.
 
Hi
Im new to all this so please bear with me.
I have on average 7-11 players on my server and we've noticed that the DZAI missions have got a little awry.
In Novy Sobor the DZAI missions are spawning x 6 and sometimes x 9 with the average AI group being between 3 -20 there could be as many as 150 AI in this 1 location.

Then as the server draws to an end we see missions as close as 50-500 meters throughout most of the towns and villages droping the fps down by 8/10's from average 107 fps to just 4 fps.

Is there any way of manually reducing the amount of AI spawn locations or at least cap the amount of spawns to 1 for each player that joins the server

Any helpful suggestions would be gratefully received
 
A friend and I played for a few hours last night on 1.9.5.1 and it was very noticeable that there was less AI about. It was less fun because there wasn't much of a threat/challenge to just running around the world. This was with never more than 3 players on the server, which I understand is an edge case. Very few people want to play DayZ on mercenary difficulty with hard AI it seems. Is this new formula something you can allow us to tweak? How do I get back to the old numbers? Thanks!
 
No worries, I was prepared raise the probability cap if needed.

Edit your dynamicSpawn_manager.sqf in the scripts directory and look where SPAWN_CAP is defined. Change its value to 0.4 to have the same probability as before. Only difference is that the probability won't be 100% if only one player is on. This will cap it at 40%.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
 
Since I have Ai in every city on the map, I am having to change the dynamic settings to an upward of 15 mins so players arent just killing AI all the time. I like the dynamic aspect, but I really miss the dynamic marker versus player selection. I will more than likely be turning off dynamic spawns soon.

Player pop from 3-7 usually at any given time.

EDIT: I was thinking it would be cool to have the option to have the old school way with the dynamic markers or select the new way in the config.
 
With the old system, I had to keep dealing with people constantly b*tching about:

  • Area blacklists not working properly
  • Spawns too frequent
  • Spawns too rare (at the same time as above)
  • Spawns happening in cities/towns/trader areas/grandma's front lawn.
With the new system, I have greater control over where and when spawns happen while I was powerless to do anything effectively with the old system. I for one, am glad to be rid of the old system.
 
Well I am finding out as more people join that you cant make everryone happy heh, but with so many other options I am makn it work very well :)

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Buttface said:
Edit your dynamicSpawn_manager.sqf in the scripts directory and look where SPAWN_CAP is defined. Change its value to 0.4 to have the same probability as before. Only difference is that the probability won't be 100% if only one player is on. This will cap it at 40%.
Click to expand...

Cool, thanks, I will try that. EDIT: The variable is CHANCE_CAP on line 12 if anyone else is looking for it.

Last night we had a really cool experience but unfortunately I wasn't streaming at the time so there is no video. One of the AI was in a treeline and used a tree and some bushes so effectively that we thought it was a player until we checked the player list and saw it was just the 2 of us on. He would go prone under a tree to engage and then back off behind the trees/bushes to avoid our fire. Very cool stuff.
 
My bad on the setting name. Can't alt tab with a smartphone.

And yes, the default Arma2 AI can do some awesome things. I've had crazy situations where AI have actually snuck up on me while camping in buildings by climbing up ladders from behind. Its amazing what the Arma2 AI is capable of without using any AI-enhancing scripts.

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I tested a certain other popular AI package and the AI did stupid things like stand and stare at a wall while you killed their squad mates. Their behavior was pathetic. I've never seen that with this package so props for using the default ArmA AI correctly I guess. :)
 
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