Talent files, how to make a difference!

[Doug46]

Can some one tell me if altering the talent files makes much difference , and if so what figures are the ones that make the difference, thanks.

 

[schlitty]

Depends on what you're asking for. Talent files won't revolutionize AI behavior or anything, but you can most definitely get some control of the order the racers finish with them. If you just want certain guys to finish in front of others regularly, talent files can do that. But AMS AI will always be AMS AI.

 

[Doug46]

ok so if altering the speed figure will this make someone in ai faster? than someone with a lower figure? Thanks

 

[muzarati]

Yes they do, test it by setting the speed of one driver to 1.0 and you will see him crawl around at the back of the field

 

[schlitty]

ok so if altering the speed figure will this make someone in ai faster? than someone with a lower figure? Thanks

Yes sir. In fact 'Speed' is pretty much the one setting that will get you results. You could make everybody identical and different speeds if you want to keep things the absolute simplest.

I don't want to pretend to be an expert or know the exact values each entry is multiplied with or anything technical. I don't wanna copy and paste other people's info that might be old or incorrect either. You can search the web for that information. But I have played with talent files in AMS a lot. A little rundown of my experiences...

First up, talent file values are 0-100 for everything. And its usually a percentage representation of something. Like say Speed. The value you pick on that will be the percentage of the optimal AI speed programmed in the track's files (and here I was saying I didn't want to pretend to know what I was talking about... Well, that's the way I understand it anyway! Haha). In simple terms; a guy you you put at 95 is gonna be faster than a guy at 90. And WAY faster than a guy at 20 or something.

But! There's nothing set in stone or the 'perfect values'. There's just too many variables. Different cars, different tracks with different AI, different race lengths, different race rules, different scales, etc etc. It all depends on your needs and wants and you'll have to do test races to dial them in and get them to your liking and needs.

And also a big thing worth noting; They seem to have the biggest results when you're skipping a session. If you click "finish session" it realllllly seems to weigh on the talent files. Almost comically so. I've clicked "finish session" on a race I crashed with two laps left and the whole grid finished changed up insanely from the gaps they were running up to that point. In two laps... And the results were definitely weighted on the talent files. Basically my point is that skipping a session vs letting it simulate/racing in real time are different results. Worth thinking about depending on your wants.

For me, Speed and Aggression are the two big ones;

Speed; This will be your biggest results. Bigger the number, faster they perform. Simple! Bigger gap in speed between two talent files, bigger gap in performances. You can play around with the gaps between the slowest and fastest depending on class and race type you're doing. If you want a close grid you'll want close numbers. If you want the fastest cars 5secs faster a lap than the slowest you're gonna need to make some big number differences. I find the easiest place to start in testing is to put the fastest guys right around 90-95 and then work your way down the grid. That way you leave a little room on top if you happen to get the rest of the grid performing to your liking but need to give the top guy that one little bit of extra. And you can use decimals too if you want things really close, but not identical, between racers. Like 91 and 91.5 or something.

Aggression; What I've read online usually talks about being the passer, but I've also read and agree that it seems to get results with lower aggression and making the AI more willing to allow the pass. "Fast cars high, slow cars low" is the easiest approach with Aggression the way I do it. The blue flag situation in AMS is atrocious but plummeting back markers Agression to single digits while leaving the fast cars way up in the 90s can help ever so so so slightly. Like I said in my first post, AMS AI will always be AMS AI no matter what. But I do it on series I want lapping and pretend in my head it helps some. This all gets muddled with the in-game aggression slider as its supposedly a multiplier. As far as that goes I use low aggression in-game on open wheels and then maybe something higher otherwise.

Then everything else is mostly negligible. I've even read posts flat out saying some settings do nothing! But the two main others I like to set and feel do actually do something are;

MinRacingSkill; Supposedly it is tied to the .PLR "AI Limiter" setting (which in AMS is 0.0) so I very well might be wasting time. Anything multiplied by 0 is 0 afterall. But I personally find it does something and this is a good way to get some variety. It is kind of a modifier for the speed so to speak. Again, I'm not gonna pretend to be an expert. But with Speed your setting the performance based on a percentage of whatever the optimal AI performance programed in for a track. Well MinRacingSkill is a percentage of that percentage the car has a chance of dipping to at any time. The idea is that the game has randomly generated slower pace so lap times aren't identical basically. And this would set the bottom value of the slower pace. So this can be a dangerous one to get too crazy with. And I do think there is already some hardcoded randomized performance too so leaving it alone won't be a complete lack of the little variety AMS provides. I dunno, I like setting it. In short; don't go too low numbers here because it detracts that much more from the pace you already set with Speed. Its just about how consistent you want the guy to be at his speed. But I do like to give all my guys some variable here, especially in scenarios I want some parity in the standing with a handful of drivers at different top speeds. It can get messy though. I tend to be almost identical here across the whole grid in the low 90s somewhere. Then pick out the guys, whether they be fast or slow, that I want to make have less consistency for whatever reason. And knock them down a couple or so.

Composure; Lower the number the more mistakes they'll be told/coded/whatever to make. I keep this close in each file up and down the grid too, but again, pick out some guys that need a little more "personality" or slowing down vs their teammate. Say I got two guys on the same team and give them the same speed. I might give one a little bump in Aggression but I'll take away a notch in Composure too. Seems to add a little variety.

Those four tend to get me the results I want.

Then I still play around with Courtesy and Reputation just for fun. I've never noticed results personally from them. But in my head it adds 'personality' to my boring text file characters. Or something.

CompletedLaps is worth pointing out as it is what percentage of the laps they'll do in a practice/qualifying session if you skip it with clicking that "finish session". 99 across the board for me keeps that simple.

Crash (percentage chance they crash) and Recovery (percentage chance they recover from a crash) I just stick with what you'll see in Reiza default talent files. Very low numbers in close ranges. Often just do it identical. Except that one guy I want to have a chance of crashing more. There's always that one guy... Haha.

Hope that makes vague sense and maybe somebody else can correct anything I got wrong or shed some more light. Good luck!

 

[Doug46]

Schlitty really appreciate your help i really understand now , thanks for taking the time,all the best

 

[Doug46]

Yes they do, test it by setting the speed of one driver to 1.0 and you will see him crawl around at the back of the field

Thanks

 

[Lorencini]

@schlitty amazing post, thank you! I tend to agree to virtually everything you wrote.

EDIT: delete what I've written about MinRacingSkill, that was wrong information.

 

[Lorencini]

Guys, forget what I say about MinRacingSkill. I gonna delete it from the above post.

Please check this link for all talent file parameters explanation. I've tested all of them in AMS, and it's working just as described:

http://www.nogripracing.com/forum/showthread.php?p=1112316