Misc True to Life AI 2013 Season 1.4

[Andrés Guti]

great job with ctfiles
good times in qualy.(Pole 1.25:353 Vettel)
and good race pace of the top teams (average around 1.29s)



pd: braking mod + ctfile and your ai mod

 

[Blakx]

Just looked at the Legend Extreme AI mod and my CTF files are basically the same. AI has grip levels of front: 1.1 and rear 1.2 in Legend Extreme. In mine the AI has 1.05 and 1.15, but along with adjusted aerodynamics (thanks to Johnny Dangerously).

The only reason I would recommend using my CTF files is because I've corrected the issues where the Player is notably faster than the AI at specific tracks (see the overview page for details). But hey if you're happy, I'm happy

Thanks for the positive feedback!

Oh I got an old version without the CFT files. So is the AI faster in the new version than the old version + Legend Extreme AI?

 

[snthennumbers]

Oh I got an old version without the CFT files. So is the AI faster in the new version than the old version + Legend Extreme AI?

I'm not 100% sure since Legend Extreme has slightly higher grip than my CTF files, but my CTF files have adjusted aerodynamic values as well as increased grip...but just not quite as much as Legend Extreme (only a 5% difference between the two mods). I also never used the Legend Extreme mod.

The goal of my CTF files was to incorporate closer to real life top speeds at each track, but without losing the balanced feel of grip levels front to rear. Also to decrease the performance gap between Player and AI at specific tracks, rather than potentially raise it for all tracks like the Legend Extreme mod does. In other words, I'm striving to maintain balanced competition, rather than give a distinct advantage to the Player or AI individually.

 

[snthennumbers]

Quick update after a weekend of testing...a bit wordy but there's solid information in here so please read lol...

I've been looking at adjusting acceleration of the cars as some people have brought to my attention that the acceleration in F1 2012 is not as close as it should be to real life for gears 1-4. While I have technically been able to increase the acceleration by adjusting the gear ratios in the CTF files, the problem I'm running into is making these changes notable enough so that the Player can pick up on them.

Certainly I can lower the gear ratios for gears 1-4 to make the car accelerate faster, but then you run into an issue of there being this huge shift from 4th to 5th gear...to the point where the engine actually bogs down as the RPM shift from 4th to 5th is so dramatic. Normally you'd shift at let's say 18,000 rpm's, and when the next gear engages the rpm's drop to somewhere around let's say 16,000 rpm's (for simplicity's sake). With the adjusted ratios the rpm switch from 4th to 5th gear is more like going from 18,000 rpm's to 10,000 rpm's...you see what I'm getting at.

Now on the other hand I can adjust all gear ratios slightly so as to maintain being in the power band for all gear shifts. but in doing so you lose the sensation that the car is, in fact, accelerating any faster than it does with the default ratios since the changes to each gear ratio is so small.

I run into the same issue from the previous paragraph if I only adjust the ratios for gears 1-4 slightly so as to prevent a giant shift from 4th to 5th gear. In other words, it's proving difficult to get any notable effects of faster acceleration while still maintaining the power band from shift to shift.



Lastly, I started checking into braking distance issue. This one is going to be very difficult to correct, if possible at all. I can raise the brake strength (brake_torque value in the CTF files), but then the wheels lock up too easily. I can adjust the inertia of the tires (wheel_inertia_front/rear), but then steering becomes a problem as the tires have too much "weight". I don't want to have to adjust the weight of the cars as this will lead to numerous issues.

Now here's the interesting part, and I could use some other people to verify this:
According to the F1 website (http://www.formula1.com/inside_f1/rules_and_regulations/technical_regulations/8695/), a Formula 1 car is roughly 463cm (~15.19 feet) long. This means, when you do the math, that your Formula 1 car should be able to fit into a 150 meter braking zone about 33 times (32.8 to be more exact). I went to the big straight in Abu Dhabi and counted how many car lengths it took for me to get from the 150m board (with my rear tires at the 150m board) to line my front tires up with the apex of turn 8 at the end of the straight. Obviously I can't be precise down to the centimeter, but I didn't get 33 car lengths. I got 30. This means there appears to be a discrepancy of roughly 42.5 feet (12.95 meters) in measured length.

So either the cars are too big, or the circuits are too small...or both for that matter. My guess is different departments at CodeMasters worked on designing the cars vs designing the tracks...

At any rate, assuming I'm not losing my mind at midnight on a Sunday, this may be at least one reason why we see differences in braking distances in the game when compared to real life.

Any feedback or confirmations would be greatly appreciated

 

[Luke Weston]

Or the 150 board isn't in the right place

 

[snthennumbers]

Or the 150 board isn't in the right place

Or that...we'd know for sure if the above applies on other tracks.

 

[Blakx]

I noticed something after further testing.

Sometimes the AI tries to defend before a corner and taking the inside line even if there is no danger from behind. Let's say the AI overtakes me in the DRS Zone in Malaysia way before Turn 1, he still stays on the inside line instead of switching back to the racing line (even if I'm already 30 metres behind him).


So they lose time because they are not switching back. I don't know if this is a specific track problem or an AI problem. Is there a value in the configs which controls this kind of situations?

And can you tell me if there is a value which makes the AI block and defend later before a corner? I looked at your description but I didn't find these values..

 

[snthennumbers]

I noticed something after further testing.

Sometimes the AI tries to defend before a corner and taking the inside line even if there is no danger from behind. Let's say the AI overtakes me in the DRS Zone in Malaysia way before Turn 1, he still stays on the inside line instead of switching back to the racing line (even if I'm already 30 metres behind him).


So they lose time because they are not switching back. I don't know if this is a specific track problem or an AI problem. Is there a value in the configs which controls this kind of situations?

And can you tell me if there is a value which makes the AI block and defend later before a corner? I looked at your description but I didn't find these values..

I've noticed this too at times. It's on my to-do list. Since they're ahead of you, it will have to be one of the <bl parameters since the <df (drafting) parameters apply to the car behind.

<blMinValidBlockingMovement
<blMinIntersectionTime
<blMaxIntersectionTime
<blMaxSpeedDifference

are the ones that may handle this.

I don't think <blOffsetMergeFactor will change what you're seeing, but that's another one to check for.

Let me know if you find anything!

 

[Blakx]

Thanks for the answer. And what is about the AI going too early in defense position? Is there a value for that?

 

[snthennumbers]

Thanks for the answer. And what is about the AI going too early in defense position? Is there a value for that?

Pretty sure that's one of the <bl intersectiontime parameters. not in front of my PC right now so can't remember for sure off the top of my head. The overview page will tell you the default values for all parameters, so feel free to play around.

I'll check it out when I get home from work unless you've found a fix before then

 

[Deleted member 137812]

Dude you are a beast, how many hours a day you spend on modding?
I'm a bit retired at the moment but you go girl!

 

[snthennumbers]

Dude you are a beast, how many hours a day you spend on modding?
I'm a bit retired at the moment but you go girl!

Lol thanks bud
I spend as much time modding as I feel like per day...maybe an hour or 3. I'll go do a race for fun, find problems, mod, test, do another race for fun, find more problems...etc etc
I've been finding it fun actually figuring out how to tweak everything to my liking and make it better overall...getting so tired of racing games that never give legitimate competition...that's the ultimate goal here.

Just hoping to get as many downloads and views as your 2012 AI mod...maybe then I can take the pressure off of you LOL

Thanks for that pat on the back

 

[Luke Weston]

This is now epic! Just done a 50%er at china and the racing is immense. Finished seconding the Lotus, set the fastest lap of 1:39.6 which coincidentally the fastest lap from the real life race last year.

I'm still using my database though but it works great.

 

[camopi]

Or the 150 board isn't in the right place

This is my impression. It seems like that all three boards (150, 100, 50) in some tracks aren't in right place. On the other hand, i also believe that the proportions of the car not match with the different views, especially the cockpit-view. These two things together make it difficult to find the right braking point. (In-cockpit view it is different to T-cam view, but this is only my impression)

 

[monkiman]

I did one 50% race yesterday at Malaysia, starting from the Pole on a Force India, but arrived 3rd behind Hamilton and Grosjean. Your mod is really good mate, thanks!!!.

 

[snthennumbers]

snthennumbers updated True to Life AI with a new update entry:

Shanghai grip levels & minor tweaks

Version 1.5 release notes:
I'm probably getting annoying with all these updates coming out so frequently...sorry

Database.bin: I have increased the wear rates of the tyres by 30% to reflect closer to real life wear rates as we see in 2013 (this sounds dramatic, but any less and you really don't get the sensation that anything is different). You should now see 2 stop 50% races rather than 1, and 4 stop 100% races rather than 2 or 3. Please note that this is not scaled...

Read the rest of this update entry...

 

[Andrés Guti]

What tab you edited for wear rates of the tyres?
Found it. TYRES tab

 

[GUISEPE]

A really great job Snthenumbers ! A lot more fun with your mods guys ! You should be working for codemasters because their F1 2013 surely's not gonna be as good as your F1 2012/2013 !

 

[monkiman]

snthennumbers updated True to Life AI with a new update entry:

Shanghai grip levels & minor tweaks

Read the rest of this update entry...

Now I'm thinking in not buying F1 2013 on the release date and keep playing your mod.
Man, you're a legend.

 

[Florin Diaconescu]

Now I'm thinking in not buying F1 2013 on the release date and keep playing your mod.
Man, you're a legend.

I approve that the F1 2013 mods are very good, but the game released by Codemasters will probably have some other additions, not just some database and graphic changes. But, until the release of the game, this database, in combination with Mr Pibbs's Mod are very good.