Hey Devs - Own company AI trucks at hand

[mjrDrake]

Hey Devs,

you could actually use the new multiplayer support to physically show our own transport company drivers doing their jobs, maybe we could share the same part of the destination or just meet them somewhere along their way.

They could be loaded as any other traffic from the pool. The technology to physically have them shown in-game for the player. The model is the same as the player's, and since the mp now supports this other player trucks, then when in view, the game could load it for the player to see. The game already tracks the whereabouts of our own drivers on the map, so the system could know when to load them based on player's location and unload when necessary. I think the data is already there but I am no programmer, so take my logic with a grain of salt.

Going further, they could be interwoven with the multiplayer (with a button setting, so if people don't want to share their company drivers, so be it), they would appear for all players in session, if they passed them doing their job! Imagine doing a convoy and saying, "Hey guys, it's Peter, my best driver!". They could even honk when passing by.

But if anytime in the future, this would go into an interwoven "persistent" world (which I doubt will happen, but maybe I am wrong) where you hop seamlessly to servers (or one mega server) full of truckers, the above could become a real problem to implement or keep, so bear that in mind.

Anyways that would be great see implemented in the near future! Apart from multiplayer, that's the only thing I can think of that is missing in this game that would be lovely to see and enrich the company experience.

A great opportunity for the new patch and a really good PR tickle. Keep up the great work!

[Wolfgang]

Has been requested many times (there is a search function). Your hired drivers aren't existing they are only a skript. The position is not constanly calculated but only when you look at the map with your drivers.

Aside from that: It takes a lot of performance to have your drivers physically in the game and for you not seeing your drivers for more than 99% of the time you play.

IMO there are more important things to focus on. And the own drivers on the road is not one of these.

[mjrDrake]

Originally posted by Wolfgang:

Has been requested many times (there is a search function).

True, but with the new MP tech in-game, that's coming with the latest patch, this is really feasible to implement.

Originally posted by Wolfgang:

Your hired drivers aren't existing they are only a skript.

The position is not constanly calculated but only when you look at the map with your drivers.

But that is exactly what I am saying, the game could load another truck only when you are close, which is most likely the same thing it happens now in multiplayer (I haven't tested the boundaries). It doesn't have to be very complex in the beggining, they could just spawn and drive exactly to their destination, then leave with one of the exits just like NPC cars/trucks do. Later on they could just go and scriptly park and so on.

Originally posted by Wolfgang:

Aside from that: It takes a lot of performance to have your drivers physically in the game and for you not seeing your drivers for more than 99% of the time you play.

This wouldn't be loaded anywhere apart from when they are close to you (so you could physically see them). The tech for multiplayer does exactly that, or could make it possible.

Originally posted by Wolfgang:

IMO there are more important things to focus on. And the own drivers on the road is not one of these.

Of course, this is just a suggestion on how this could be possible to implement, rather than me being rude towards SCS' goals and plans. Furthermore, care to elaborate on more important things to focus on? Apart from gameplay balancing and issue fixing?

[Wolfgang]

Originally posted by mjrDrake:

Originally posted by Wolfgang:

Has been requested many times (there is a search function).

True, but with the new MP tech in-game, that's coming with the latest patch, this is really feasible to implement.

Originally posted by Wolfgang:

Your hired drivers aren't existing they are only a skript.

The position is not constanly calculated but only when you look at the map with your drivers.

But that is exactly what I am saying, the game could load another truck only when you are close, which is most likely the same thing it happens now in multiplayer (I haven't tested the boundaries). It doesn't have to be very complex in the beggining, they could just spawn and drive exactly to their destination, then leave with one of the exits just like NPC cars/trucks do. Later on they could just go and scriptly park and so on.

Originally posted by Wolfgang:

Aside from that: It takes a lot of performance to have your drivers physically in the game and for you not seeing your drivers for more than 99% of the time you play.

This wouldn't be loaded anywhere apart from when they are close to you (so you could physically see them). The tech for multiplayer does exactly that, or could make it possible.

Originally posted by Wolfgang:

IMO there are more important things to focus on. And the own drivers on the road is not one of these.

Of course, this is just a suggestion on how this could be possible to implement, rather than me being rude towards SCS' goals and plans. Furthermore, care to elaborate on more important things to focus on? Apart from gameplay balancing and issue fixing?

No, the game doesn't know where your hired drivers are at a given time. They are just a skript that says from where to where with what load and how long until finish. At no point is the actual position of them calculated unless you look at the map with your hired drivers. And it is only then for that moment. As soon as you continue their position is no longer needed and thus not calculated.
The "Mp tech" is just for up to 8 players at the same time who are loaded in at the same time. This already is problematic for lower end hardware. Now imagine that for 340 drivers.
In order for them to spawn (or load) in the game needs to calculate the position of your hired drivers all the time thus greatly reducing the performance.

Edit: The more important parts are getting better Anti Aliasing, rework of the base map for example.

[hackintoshchap]

True, but with the new MP tech in-game, that's coming with the latest patch, this is really feasible to implement.

No it is really very different to map a script that runs your own drivers. The new Convoy system is real players and the AI does vary between players.

[~{DCMT}~ Ryu]

Can you imagine the lag created when 8 (or more) players who each have 300+ drivers all join the lobby and the game attempts to place all 2,000-3,000 driver trucks into the world?

No thanks. ;)

[mjrDrake]

Originally posted by ~{DCMT}~ Ryu:

Can you imagine the lag created when 8 (or more) players who each have 300+ drivers all join the lobby and the game attempts to place all 2,000-3,000 driver trucks into the world?

No thanks. ;)

I'm sorry that you have not read that through. That is a separate thing that could be implemented, but I am aware that having own NPC drivers in a multiplayer game is a challenge.

[MaskMcgee]

Originally posted by mjrDrake:

Originally posted by Wolfgang:

Has been requested many times (there is a search function).

True, but with the new MP tech in-game, that's coming with the latest patch, this is really feasible to implement.

But that is exactly what I am saying, the game could load another truck only when you are close, which is most likely the same thing it happens now in multiplayer

"most likely"
translation:
"I don't have a clue what I'm talking about"

Yea, now there's more than one user controller truck on the map at once. In case you didn't notice each one of those trucks requires an entire other computer to generate. It's not even remotely comparable to just putting 300 of your own trucks in the game.

Originally posted by mjrDrake:

I'm sorry that you have not read that through. .

Actually, he did. He literally wrote about exactly what you suggested.

Originally posted by mjrDrake:

Furthermore, care to elaborate on more important things to focus on? Apart from gameplay balancing and issue fixing?

Might be the dumbest statement I have ever read. "Suggest other things SCS could work on instead, but you can't put any gameplay improvements or bug fixes" so SCS may as well shut down today, since literally everything INCLUDING YOUR IDEA is a gameplay improvement.

[mjrDrake]

Originally posted by MaskMcgee:

Yea, now there's more than one user controller truck on the map at once. In case you didn't notice each one of those trucks requires an entire other computer to generate. It's not even remotely comparable to just putting 300 of your own trucks in the game.

I'm really sad is all that you have read from my post is multiplayer having player NPC truckers going around :( I mentioned this would be nice to have in the multiplayer, but not that this is the sole reason of this post… I am aware this is technically demanding and may require overwriting existing line of codes.

Originally posted by MaskMcgee:

Actually, he did. He literally wrote about exactly what you suggested.

He did refer to the same thing you did — NPCs trucks in multiplayer only. This is disheartening it's all you see from this post.

Originally posted by MaskMcgee:

Originally posted by mjrDrake:

Furthermore, care to elaborate on more important things to focus on? Apart from gameplay balancing and issue fixing?

Might be the dumbest statement I have ever read. "Suggest other things SCS could work on instead, but you can't put any gameplay improvements or bug fixes" so SCS may as well shut down today, since literally everything INCLUDING YOUR IDEA is a gameplay improvement.

My predecessor said that they have more important things to address. I just asked which are these, and they responded afterwards:

Originally posted by Wolfgang:

Edit: The more important parts are getting better Anti Aliasing, rework of the base map for example.

Going too general is not the logic you would like to apply to your responses. You do know there are different teams working on a game, and for example reworking the base map is not the work of a person who works solely on the game code, but the graphics team with the help of programmers? I'm sure you do.

Summarizing, please do not treat this post as "Player-owned NPCs in multiplayer game". This possibly could be implemented into the multiplayer, but I think the multiplayer tech allows that to be implemented into the singleplayer.

Please be nice to each other, rather than being rude. This does not help having constructive criticism and civilized discussions.

[mjrDrake]

Originally posted by hackintoshchap:

True, but with the new MP tech in-game, that's coming with the latest patch, this is really feasible to implement.

No it is really very different to map a script that runs your own drivers. The new Convoy system is real players and the AI does vary between players.

As far as I recall from the patch notes, the models may vary, but this is not finalized yet, doesn't mean this will not be addressed later on.

[hackintoshchap]

It will take some work to sync AI vehicle models, trailers and their respective skins between multiple players. There is also some weather difference.

Some of this may be subject to minor improvements in the future, but I don't think that it requires 100% sync on all items and it is unlikely that SCS would go that far.

That still doesn't alter the fact that syncing all your own drivers from a script to mapping them, to then having a system where the truck and trailer combo for each driver is available to be then generated in with AI traffic so you can perhaps spot them is easy or worth doing.

The computer resources alone in memory and CPU processing power would make the game unplayable for 99.9% of players, which is a pretty big own goal when you have millions of people around the world invested in your game.

[MaskMcgee]

Originally posted by mjrDrake:

I'm really sad is all that you have read from my post is multiplayer having player NPC truckers going around

That's not even close to what I read, I'm well aware you want your AI trucks visible in single player. You say, because now there is multiplayer, they should be able to put these trucks in traffic.

And I'm telling you that the situation is not comparable. The reason why 1 other custom truck can appear in multiplayer mode is because they have their own seperate computing power driving it. In single player mode, having 1 of your AI trucks would require the same amount of computing power, except you'd only have your one PC.