AI Overhaul Update Official Launch
Another huge overhaul is coming out today on Steam where AI is the main focus – but tons of other stuff added too. Command new vehicles in both sea and air where AI are finally worthy foes. Careful though, their land tactics have been updated too. I’ll give a quick rundown of all the cool changes coming in this version.
AI Self-Preservation
NPCs are no longer target practice for the hardened criminal. They coordinate movement, take cover, use smokes, and can fight in tight apartments or wide open airfields. They pose a substantial threat but you also have some backup. Players can recruit a follower from the streets of BP. Your loyal follower will defend you and attack your targets. More control over followers will come in future updates but for now you can finally have a competent NPC covering you.
New Flyable Jet – the F-16
Aircraft up to now were limited to crude transports – for both technical and gameplay reasons. Now with longer render distances and improved mounted weapons, combat jets are finally here. Enter the F-16 – in 2 variants. For a cool $10K at the military base, it’s yours – just hope you have a hangar you can save it in.
Air Combat
What good would jets be without air combat? AI have new capabilities with aircraft in both Air-to-Air and ground attack roles. Dogfight agile F-16s or evade prowling Apaches. Even if you manage to shoot one down, the pilot could survive and hunt you down on foot. Homing missiles and countermeasures will likely be added too but for now, cannons and rockets are a fun challenge.
Police Boats
Until now, the open sea has been a safe haven for wanted criminals. With the addition of armed Police Boats, escapes to international waters have been made more challenging. Boat physics have been made more stable – a far less nausea-inducing experience for players in the Coast Guard. A free Police Boat as well as a seaside repair/rearm zone has been added to the portside industrial area.
Other Changes
Other changes included boosted gun accuracy, mobile aim and button fixes, and more server modding options with menus and player display names. AI can aim projectiles properly over a distance – used for leading targets with grenades, rockets, or bullets. Get the new update today on Steam and keep your head low.
Here’s the full v1.11 changelog:
v1.11 The AI Overhaul Update
- New usable and armed Police Boat and F-16s (2 Factions)
- Can now recruit an AI follower who will defend you
- Fixed boat stability and many physics bugs
- New boat with Rearm and Repair zones at the Default Port
- Much extended network view/spawn distance
- New AI system (major rewrite)
- New air combat AI (ground attack and air-to-air)
- Improved NavMesh generation
- Added NavMesh caching
- AI can path across water and apartments
- Improved ladder usage for AI
- Improved AI vehicle chase behavior
- All gun accuracies boosted
- AI can now shoot from vehicles and use tanks turrets/mounted weapons
- AI will flank and find alternate paths to targets
- AI will bunch up less and move more fluidly
- AI will suicide much less frequently
- AI will take cover if suitable
- AI will use available projectiles like grenades, flashes, and smokes
- AI will now lead targets and adjust for gravity with all weapons
- More reliable unstuck behavior from AI
- New spawn vehicles/boats/aircraft for Police and SpecOps
- Added Smoke to default SpecOps loadout (AI can use them)
- Cleaned up GameSource using new helper functions to filter entities
- Faster serverside entity cleanup
- Fixed some consumable item sounds
- PacketFlags are const now (plugins sending packets must rebuild)
- Fixed server crash on invalid itemIndex with CheckEquipment/StartItems
- Fixed auto-aiming at own feet
- Added DisplayName event to GameSource for customizing chat/overhead/playerlist names
- Player display names can be scripted with new SvUpdateDisplayName() function
- OptionMenu labels now support rich text and color codes
- NPC respawn timers increased to 40 seconds
- Slightly moved camera origin closer to actual eyepoint
- Added character animation masks to BPResources
- Added Fog option to Settings
- Removed -nographics argument from server startup to fix video mods
- Mobile button stuck fixes
- CanSeeEntity() now works against fires
- Removed Show Health for dead players
- Don't allow invite/kick if Restrained (GameSource)
- More sanity checks on server against invalid inputs
- Fixed and optimized broken Spline loading/rendering
- Fixed occasional heightmap corruption
- Support for larger map file transfers
- Fixed Attachments unbinding when dropping items
- Fixed hit registration for ballistics
- Server network rate boosted to 50hz (from 25hz)
- Update to latest Engine patch
- Update LiteDB to latest patch
- Update Networking to latest patch
- Update to latest Chromium Embedded Framework (much faster on startup)
See you!
-Benz