AI Line Helper

Apps AI Line Helper 2022.03.08

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The AC Ultimate Edition is currently 50% off on steam in my region, and at $39USD I would say it's a pretty good deal. AC doesn't have a ton of tracks built in, but there are boat-loads of mod tracks (of varying quality, some of them fantastic and many of them completely fine for driving/racing online/offline). So, if you are looking for mod friendly simulator with a healthy community providing add-on tracks, apps, and cars, then AC is a very good choice.

If you are looking for something with more of a career then I'd maybe go the PCars2 route, but it is not without it's flaws.

Hello! Now that i bought the game, the complete collection, could you teach me how to change track limits for the AI?
 
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Hello! Now that i bought the game, the complete collection, could you teach me how to change track limits for the AI?

You'll need to record new "side lines" with the AI Line Helper, which tells the AI where they are allowed to drive, which is not the same thing as "valid track boundaries". Once you've got new side lines (one left and one right), you hold "shift" when loading a session. Holding shift should force the new side files to be "baked into" the fast_lane, and if you turn on the AI dev app you should see the new side files as yellow lines.

This video is not short, but should cover everything you need to know:

Cheers,

Dave\Esotic
 
You'll need to record new "side lines" with the AI Line Helper, which tells the AI where they are allowed to drive, which is not the same thing as "valid track boundaries". Once you've got new side lines (one left and one right), you hold "shift" when loading a session. Holding shift should force the new side files to be "baked into" the fast_lane, and if you turn on the AI dev app you should see the new side files as yellow lines.

This video is not short, but should cover everything you need to know:

Cheers,

Dave\Esotic
Why is my tool different than yours?

When i pressed track right or track left, nothing happened. After that it suddenly started to "track left" and stopped at the number you see in the picture. What's wrong?

https://ibb.co/gWPL7U

Thanks
 
Why is my tool different than yours?

When i pressed track right or track left, nothing happened. After that it suddenly started to "track left" and stopped at the number you see in the picture. What's wrong?

https://ibb.co/gWPL7U

Thanks

The AI Line Helper only updates the app title as you are driving the car, so if you click the button while you're sitting still it will look like nothing is happening. Once you start driving it should say "startTrackingLeft" as you are approaching the Start/Finish line. Once you cross the line it should say trackingLeft and also show the position on track number that it's currently tracking (which goes only into memory at this point). Depending on how fast or slow you drive the track you could end up with a very large number of data points to write into the side file. Also, depending on the speed of the hard disk you are writing to it could take some time when you cross Start/Finish to write the file to disk, and while the file is writing AC will "hang" while it's waiting for the app to complete this work. You can also check the tracks data folder to see if some amount of the side_l.csv has been written. If you force-closed AC before it was done writing the file then you'll probably have to record the line all over again, or you may be able to record a partial line to complete what's missing.

This video should help to explain any changes to the AI Line Helper since I made the initial AI Lines Tutorial

Cheers,

Esotic
 
The AI Line Helper only updates the app title as you are driving the car, so if you click the button while you're sitting still it will look like nothing is happening. Once you start driving it should say "startTrackingLeft" as you are approaching the Start/Finish line. Once you cross the line it should say trackingLeft and also show the position on track number that it's currently tracking (which goes only into memory at this point). Depending on how fast or slow you drive the track you could end up with a very large number of data points to write into the side file. Also, depending on the speed of the hard disk you are writing to it could take some time when you cross Start/Finish to write the file to disk, and while the file is writing AC will "hang" while it's waiting for the app to complete this work. You can also check the tracks data folder to see if some amount of the side_l.csv has been written. If you force-closed AC before it was done writing the file then you'll probably have to record the line all over again, or you may be able to record a partial line to complete what's missing.

This video should help to explain any changes to the AI Line Helper since I made the initial AI Lines Tutorial

Cheers,

Esotic

I finally managed to fix both side lines, but it was created a crossed line between them as you can see in the picture.
How to fix that?

https://ibb.co/hktz3e
 
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For me, the recording of track limits is broken. I record it following the video correctly, a csv file is created, but when i restart the session pressing shift nothing changes, the track limits remains the same old one. Any suggestion?
 
For me, the recording of track limits is broken. I record it following the video correctly, a csv file is created, but when i restart the session pressing shift nothing changes, the track limits remains the same old one. Any suggestion?
For me it worked, you must record both sides in practice mode. After that exit the session and start a new one holding shift, also in practice mode.
 
I still don't know why it was created a crossed line between both side lines just at the start of the track as you can see in the picture i posted. Did it happen to you?
Can you post those side files somewhere (on RD or elsewhere on the internet) where I can download them? I'll take and look and see what I can figure out.
 
Hey there. First of all: Thanks for this wonderful tool, Esotic. Been using it quite a lot actually.

Now to my rather complicated problem: As you might - or might not know, the shaders mod has added functionality to spawn and despawn cars dynamically around your car within configurable distances. This is awesome for all kinds of traffic mods. I've been experimenting doing multilane traffic, where cars actually drive at different speeds on different lanes on the shuto c1 tokyo expressway track. Basically what i did, was recording an AI line that is twice the length of the track, where i go on the left lane in the first lap and the right lane on the second lap. This is achieved by modifying the AC_TIME_L and AC_TIME_R objects to only have the finish line on one lane and later reverting that. I then use an ai hint to tell the cars to go faster on the fast lane on the second lap with a different MAXSPEED_X hint from START=0.5 to END=1.0.

All of that works perfectly fine, but i am not able to fix the tracklimits with ai line helper in combination with that AI line. I use hotlap mode and it picks up the position just fine, but as soon as i cross the start line, it records exactly 1 single entry in the csv file and then immediately stops.

Is there any way to add an overwrite button of some sort that forces it to record and then forces it to stop recording when pressed again?
 
Ok, i somewhat solved it myself by recording 2 sets of tracklimits with the old AI line and then removing the 4th column in the CSV files before combining them. Worked better than expected.
 
Ok, i somewhat solved it myself by recording 2 sets of tracklimits with the old AI line and then removing the 4th column in the CSV files before combining them. Worked better than expected.
Sorry, I've been working on some code and wasn't able to fully comprehend your initial post. :p
 
I finally managed to fix both side lines, but it was created a crossed line between them as you can see in the picture.
How to fix that?

https://ibb.co/hktz3e

After looking at the files I would have to assume there's something wrong with the fast_lane you recorded, as it seems to stop at the start/finish and then pick up again somewhere after pit lane exits onto the track, like maybe you escaped to the pits at some point? In general I'd suggest never using the pits when recording fast_lanes. You can even run a hotlapping session with no fuel usage or tire wear, and plan to run more than just a few laps, and try to do it pretty close to what you'd consider "full speed".

20180929235033_1.jpg
 
After looking at the files I would have to assume there's something wrong with the fast_lane you recorded, as it seems to stop at the start/finish and then pick up again somewhere after pit lane exits onto the track, like maybe you escaped to the pits at some point? In general I'd suggest never using the pits when recording fast_lanes. You can even run a hotlapping session with no fuel usage or tire wear, and plan to run more than just a few laps, and try to do it pretty close to what you'd consider "full speed".

View attachment 271910
I recorded left side from the start line to the start line, (i did never enter the pits) then i did the same with the right side. After that i loaded a new session pressing shift and i saw both sides fixed as it should be. There was no crossed line between both side lines.

After that i put the fast_lane.candidate where it should be. There was also a pit_lane.candidate but i deleted it.

What do you mean with do it at full speed? Should i record side lines at high speed? I did it at very low speed.
I will try again and see what happen

EDIT: Omg

Look at that https://ibb.co/m7wvte

Also when i try to record it stops the recording process at the middle of the track
 
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Sorry, I've been working on some code and wasn't able to fully comprehend your initial post. :p

No problem ;) But forget what i wrote before, i just realized i had that "bug" before on another, more normal track. On Miseluk... the normal layout, non-gp, it's impossible to record the right track limit because of that exact issue. You cross the finish line and it never starts recording.

Is that something ai line helper related, or is something wrong with that track's start/finish line objects?
 
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