Information for Customizing AI drivers in AMS2

I'd love for a developer to respond to this. Seems pretty significant to me given that it's a racing game and all...

 

The AI was a complete mess when game was in early access and in first builds after release. Completely blind for player's position, pretending on a certain line and ramming human driver off track. This was fixed or is at least much better than before.

But their overtaking towards each others still is in some kind of beta state. With custom files, you can make drivers quicker/slower, but their driving style does not change.
- No idea of slow in/fast out in corners
- Not able to come out of slipstream and cut slower car off on the inside before corner on most of the tracks
- Car driving on the outside before a chicane rather cuts corner than stepping back
Was reported quite often in the AI thread, without any result.

 

I tried Imola '88 with a Carrera Cup 3.8L grid of 10 and saw similar behavior to what you described. I then tried a grid of 25 Fiat Unos. The lowest AI race speed driver started 7th and finished 24th, just ahead of an equally slow AI driver. I think that pretty much bears out what I was saying: the AI parameters do make a difference, BUT, different track / car combos yield different results.

In addition, I am skeptical that the slipstream effect is working correctly, or maybe not even working at all. If it were, then perhaps the Porsches @ Imola would have been overtaking each other more often.

 

Oh, and I also agree with your comments about AI behavior. Definitely needs more work.

 

Try driving there with Formula Cars and see how cautious they race each others even with custom AI with extrem differences in skills.

 

In the cars I drive most of the time, the slipstream seems to work somehow , but the AI pulls out too early and loses the advantage that way. Or they stay within the stream without pulling out at all, just following slower car and ramming a bit.

 

Yeah, I think Imola needs the AI behavior worked on.... but that doesn't mean the AI
parameters don't do anything, it just means they can't overcome the specific issues AI have running at Imola (especially noticeable in faster cars, it seems).

 

You can observe the stupid way of driving of the fellow AI on almost every track of the game. Just had a race with the Carts 98 at Hockenheim 2001. When I watched the replay, there was not a single overtaking of the AI on track for 30 laps, only due to pitstops. Just the usual going side by side and then step back before corner. On a fast track like this, the quick AI had even problems with lapping the backmarkers and were driving behind them for quite a while. And I have a customised AI (like in all classes I drive), where there are some really slow and some pretty fast cars.

 

AI overtaking really is an issue, it becomes quite clear that improvements are needed in multiclass races, faster classes will stay stuck behind slower classes lap after lap. Its so easy to lose a chasing car just by passing some slower cars.

I have also experienced the issue of AI of the same class simply not overtaking each other at all throughout the course of a race. They will get up along side and then just back out again.

So yeah hopefully this is all being worked on a lot in the background and that at some stage we'll see a significant breakthrough in the way we have with the recent physics updates, because to be honest I think it's just as critical an issue especially if single player is the main focus of the game, just having ok AI won't cut it. They lack instinct and I realize a lot of work is involved in believably faking this hopefully we'll get there eventually.

 

I used three drivers, Max Throttle, Willy Swerve and Peter Out (guess where I started my sim racing career) and set all attributes to 1.0 for Max Throttle, all to 0.5 for Willy Swerve and all to 0.0 for Peter Out but set all three drivers to 1.0 for race_skill and qualifying_skill. I monitored their practise for one hour.

At Silverstone 1967 in the GT1 Porsches they clocked 1:16.080, 1:16.060 and 1:16.060. By lap 32 they were all down to 1:16.7s. On lap 40, with 0 for stamina and consistency, Peter Out topped the times with 1:15.976.

With only those three drivers I went to Monza 1967 for a one hour race, no practise or qualifying. I followed them for about ten laps watching them drive neck and neck with no passes. I passed Peter Out who then dropped back significantly and his lap times, er, petered out. Then I passed Willy Swerve who did the same.

The pit stops came around 40 minutes in. I stopped last, a lap after the last one pitted and came out over a lap ahead at which point it wasn't worth continuing. Max Throttle and Peter Out retired. Willy Swerve kept going but was nearly two laps down. They can't pass each other and they can't pit.

In my pitstop - my first in AMS2 - my tyres weren't changed. They were still worn and I was getting more and more understeer in the 'bolica.

Watching them off the line I can't tell the difference between a start_reaction of 1.0, 0.5 or 0.0; they all start faster than I do.

The only attributes that seems to make a difference in any series I run is race_skill and qualifying_skill.
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I use the default schema to import the xml files into Excel and export them back out. Once an empty xml file has been generated I can edit them quickly and easily in Excel with no faffing around. I typically set the top driver to 1.0 and the slowest to 0.9 and spread the field out depending on the class size. I set all attributes to match the race_skill of each driver ('cause it's easy) and see no reason yet to change it.

I look forward to hearing from anyone with different experiences.

 

Yes, I also made the experience that race and qualifying skills are the important ones.
As I mainly do races with open wheelers and full grid, a difference of just 0.1 (from 0.9 to 1.0) is by far not enough to portray certain seasons, because in this case, a Minardi of 2002 would not lose much time compared to a Ferrari and the field would form a huge train on track.

 

So it's pretty much like rFactor 1/AMS1 were? Only the overall speed rating matters, everything else is pointless?

 

In the current version and with the cars I've tested yes, the race and qualifying skills are all that have a noticeable effect.

I'll continue to monitor the situation with each update but I imagine there are far more important things to fix with the AI than their customised attributes.

The Stock Cars from 2019 to 2021 still continue to show what the game can do but even they can be awkward at some tracks. With a skill rating from 1.0 down to 0.9 and even into the 0.8s they still race well and make good competition but the Opponent Skill Level (OSL) has to be raised for 2020 on - I do wish I could see the skill level without having to go into the Opponent Settings dialog box to check the settings.

The Lancers need their OSL lowering. Lowering the level of the drivers in the custom file is too dynamic and randomly variable.

 

Supposedly though, these AI attributes are at the core of the 'driver personalities' that the stock AI grids are made up of. For that reason I would think Reiza has a definite interest in making sure they work as intended and that they influence the outcomes on track at least somewhat realistically. The no overtaking thing is a real pain right now.

 

So far I've not come across anything in the default AI that would lead me to consider them having anything tangibly different from each other save an order of speed. The program itself applies randomness to any values I've assigned in a custom file and since I've had drivers with all values set to 1.0 being variously beaten by and unmatched by Malyuev, Rampanelli et al I've yet to see any indication of any specific attributes being applied.

In the Stock Cars, the best racing classes in the game in my experience, I've noticed no behavioural differences between Casagrande, Serra or Barrichello before or after I've customised them to suit the current state of the championship.

The lack of overtaking is a temporary thing. They haven't been this way for long so I'm sure it won't stay this way. The whole program is making progress and its path has often had the appearance of two steps forward and one step back as some steps have had unforeseen repercussions as the developers find quirks in the engine. I suspect the overtaking issue has been caused by something similar and will be resolved in due course with their behaviours reflecting the values applied...just not for the time being.

 

I am really loving to mess with these files, but it would be PERFECT if we could somehow use these to choose which cars we want to use in a given class when there are more liveries available than cars in the race.

For instance: in a multiclass race, if I have, let's say, 6 cars in one class and 15 liveries available, I would make custom entries for only 6 cars, and the sim picks these liveries for the race.

 

You can already do this. Search this thread for my earlier posts. I've explained it a couple of times.

 

THIS IS SO COOL!

I search for this but could not find at first, thank you so much @chonk.

EDIT: Actually, I think this is so relevant it had to be in the OP.

 

You're very welcome, and yes it is really cool!

 

I still have a problem where I sometimes get some default AI drivers in my race rather than only my custom AI drivers.

The specific problem is with GT4s, where there are 5 cars to choose from.

If I set up my custom AI file GT4.xml to have 31 AI drivers, all assigned to various default liveries across all 5 cars, then start a race with 31 AI opponents, I usually get about 10 of my custom AI drivers and about 20 default AI drivers appearing in that race.

If I add 4 more custom AI drivers to my GT4.xml file, so I now have 35 custom AI drivers in my GT4.xml file, then start the same race against 31 AI opponents, all 31 opponents are from my custom AI file. But I don't seem to be able to control which 31 of my 35 custom AI drivers will be in the race. If I reduce my GT4.xml file to have only 31 drivers again, it reverts to using only 10 of my custom AI drivers and 20 of the default AI drivers.

Is it possible to create a custom AI file for GT4s with exactly 31 drivers (spread across all 5 car manufacturers) and then have the race use all 31 and not use any default AI drivers?