Jump to content

3.025 - Snow breaks line-of-sight


Rotareneg

Recommended Posts

Pretty much what the title says: when there's snow on the ground the line-of-sight gets really glitchy, with tanks able to see and fire one-way through the sides of hills.

In the attached scenario, the M1 has LOS through a hill and is able to fire on the T-62, however the T-62 does NOT have LOS on the M1. The scenario uses the standard realism woodland heavy snow theme, with .33m snow depth, but I'm not certain how or if the depth of the snow has an effect on the problem.

tFUmS2bPVCY

snow_LOS_zip.223c6a8cf94b672b529edf8aff6

snow_LOS.zip

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Moderators
Is Rotareneg in the beta-test team? If not...why?

He's one of the best bugspotters i've seen lately...

A rhetorical question perhaps? You should know who is and isn't on the Beta Team. Also, as for the "why", the beta team is not a conscript army - people have to volunteer for it. Some people just like to find bugs and contribute by letting us know in the Support Forum. Either way, it is appreciated.

In any case, regarding the issue, yes, IIRC this is due to how LOS is determined. Snow is technically a visual thing only, while the LOS is still calculated by the underlying terrain. It has always been that way as far as I can remember. But then again, 1 foot of snow doesn't seem like it should make that much of a difference in that situation, but then again it depends on the distance of target, and location of intervening terrain, but we will have to take a look at it to be sure that is what the explanation is (the known issue of visual vs. physical terrain height, and whether that applies here).

Rotar, can you upload that scenario here?

Edited by Volcano
typo + clarification
Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's attached to the first post.

In that scenario, both vehicles are at an elevation of 26 meters, with a ridge that goes up to about 36 meters along the line of sight between the tanks. Here's two screenshots of the LOS tool from the M1's location, first with snow and then without:

blqOs4p.jpg

DMkCLT5.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Don't wish to hijack the thread but this seems a good time to ask a LOS question. Do the commanders of AI vehicles have 'all round vision' at all times? I have always thought they did. The reason I ask is that during Rolling Thunder I was sneaking around behind enemy lines with a recovery vehicle when an enemy BRDM (IIRC) spotted me at about 1km. My first warning was his icon appearing on the map, and jumping into the 3D view I saw him drive by before disappearing behind a hill. But fortunately he ignored me. So is it possible the AI vehicle commander didn't actually become aware of my presence?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Moderators

Yes, IIRC they do have all around visibility, but unless I am mistaken, they have less awareness to the rear and more effective spotting if they have a CITV or such things. But maybe he did see you and he was on a route that seemingly caused him to ignore you, who knows. And also, IIRC the AI can get fixated on things like humans would (yes, sometimes frustratingly enough).

Also, it is complicated, because if the AI unit is combined into a platoon, then they have better awareness from their wing vehicles, as they will communicate better (quicker situational awareness) with each other. This is intended to encourage units operating in platoons, and to simulate how much easier to is to communicate a contact report when a platoon is together, moving as a combined entity.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

As far as I remember from what I understand that the programmers told me ... the spotting routines for vehicle commanders involve a continuously moving field of view where for each line of sight that exists a die roll is made to check whether the target actually gets spotted. Various factors influence the likelihood of that die roll (like whether the own vehicle is moving, whether the target is moving, skylining against a bright or dark background, dust clouds, ...).

I felt that it was important that computer-controlled units were less than perfect, ideally in a way that would reflect human capabilities.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The reason I ask is that during Rolling Thunder I was sneaking around behind enemy lines with a recovery vehicle when an enemy BRDM (IIRC) spotted me at about 1km. My first warning was his icon appearing on the map, and jumping into the 3D view I saw him drive by before disappearing behind a hill. But fortunately he ignored me.

No he was aware alright (I saw your icon) but killing random recovery vehicles wasn't his job, finding gaps to penetrate the Australian positions was, so he reported you and got on with it. :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

No he was aware alright (I saw your icon) but killing random recovery vehicles wasn't his job, finding gaps to penetrate the Australian positions was, so he reported you and got on with it. :)

For which I am most grateful. :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

As far as I remember from what I understand that the programmers told me ... the spotting routines for vehicle commanders involve a continuously moving field of view where for each line of sight that exists a die roll is made to check whether the target actually gets spotted. Various factors influence the likelihood of that die roll (like whether the own vehicle is moving, whether the target is moving, skylining against a bright or dark background, dust clouds, ...).

I felt that it was important that computer-controlled units were less than perfect, ideally in a way that would reflect human capabilities.

IIRC I was told ages ago that if a line of sight existed between an AI vehicle/person then the AI would always 'see' you. In other words that the Al was 'perfect' in this respect. Obviously duff info. Many thanks for putting the record straight.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...