npc_f_combine bug?

[muhail2]

I've noticed that friendly combines (only friendly!) that run low on ammo and try to reload just get stuck - they repeat reloading animation until they die because of well-placed headshot.
I've experimented with different models (hgrunts for example) - same result.
With developer mode on, it writes "Unhandled animation event AE_NPC_RIGHTFOOT for npc_f_combine".
Is there a way to solve it?

_{p.s. i'm very sorry for my bad english, but it's late night and I just can't rememeber all the grammatic rules}

[veteran_gamer]

your english is perfectly fine friend, you don't need to worry about that sort of thing here regardless.

as for your question..

it's most likely because of the combine models, i share the combine_soldier npc models with the combine_f npc, i did this mainly so that if someone tried to spawn combine_f's, they wouldn't get a read "ERROR" spawned.

also, the combine models were compiled incorrectly (by me) back...when...whenever it was i released the non-existent imaginary demo, thats why you might notice they dont throw grenades (i think).

i've made perfect carbon copies of the combine soldier since, and it -MIGHT- solve the infinite reload issue, but there's a possibility that the combine_f's need Citizen anims/events, and if that is the case...well...who knows.

another possibility is that the world Weapon model could have errors in it as well, the mp5 crashed 2/5 times on pick-up if i remember correctly, who knows

wait...another thing could be the weapon script itself, its possible i messed that up somehow...
the version you have...was compiled when i was at my beginning stages of...everything, so i could of done a bunch of stuff wrong

[veteran_gamer]

i just tested them out..

they are still doing that...sorry man :[

the npc_f_combine wasnt really part of the plan when i started the project...

[clatus]

Keep em in tho if ya can, thier still good allies, you just got to know the right weapons to give them. And if you move them around right, they "reset" when seeing new enemies, thus! They have new "clips" when engaging...

[veteran_gamer]

wait, clatus, you mean they only do the reload animation bug with Certain weapons?

would you happen to know which??

[clatus]

Gah, sorry bud I really don't haven't played the mod in quite sometime, I'm pre postive they are good with the shotgun and one other, but I'd have to go back and see to be sure, I member I did some trick that made them always "re-engage" a target, which gave them full ammo everytime.

[veteran_gamer]

yeah, i know what you mean, makes sense...well..hey...ill do what i can at the end you know? but the main concern is making sure they are vicious ass combine soldiers....besides, so much on my plate right now, every hour is precious...after release...then i can take it easy, and sort out the little stuff, thanks anyway

[clatus]

Indeed, tis no concern to me, its just cool to have a couple friendly npcs in there that actually have uniforms and move swiftly. I think they work fine, and yes the regular combine are all good with the w models...and I'm glad your making them vicious, I like the soldiers being deadly

[veteran_gamer]

yeah, these bastards carry up to 4 grenades on them, and toss em like it's nothin, their aim has been increased, and i raised the combine_aggressiveness value to 2 i think, so they move around a lot more, its a great balance with the current damage system.

you'll often encounter squads of 4...maximum 5, and on more than a handful of situations i had to duck my ass into some cover, and kill 1 or 2 of them by -leaning- from cover before i could safely engage the rest.

also, the "firevolume" has been increased for all of the weapons to a nice health "5000" distance, so if you shoot anywhere within ...i dunno a hundred yards of them, they are now alerted to your presence instantly, rather than standing still when far away like the regular hl2 combines

blahblahblah

it's lookin good, this reload anim is bothering me though.

[veteran_gamer]

ive decompiled the latest (compatible, ep1) animation batches for the combine_soldier, human maled shared anims, gestures, and even tried scavenging through the SDK templates...just to push my luck, and no success.

fuck, this is bothering me

[IneptGuard]

I've got 2 cents to through at this, but first i have to do 7 pages worth of paper work so I might just pic up this topic tomorrow.

[veteran_gamer]

yeah, its definitely not a priority, the cause of it is just killing me...but then again, we arent even using that npc, along with the rest of the npcs we X'd out..

but yeah man, any support is appreciated as always

7 pages?

fuck me.

[IneptGuard]

ya, I've been slacking. Any ways I am beginning to think that this is an smod bug and not something that you created. Tactical used to do the same exact thing. I even ran into a similar error in HL2 vanilla. I was testing an underground base map I was working on and decided that I should fight the rebels and the combine should be my allies. I used an AI_goal_follow enitity and an AI_realtionship entity to do the dirty work and after I got into the ware house i noticed a bug. While the combine where following me, I noticed that when they stand still and take aim they simply won't fire. They just stand there. Sometimes they start the reloading bit as well. I think that it's either has to do with the skeleton or the author took a regular combine soldier and merged some of his AI script with that of an NPC_citizen. Seeing as how the combine like all npcs are capable of following the player I don't think altering the AI script would have been all that hard. I believe that valve was lazy and left an event out that allowed the combine soldier to fire while his AI is focusing on where the player is. The reason i think this is the case, well as soon as I start moving he follows and while he is moving he seems to be able to fire just fine. It’s as if his standard PVS or whatever it is (NPC AI to do list) is being overridden by the follow command and while he is sitting idle he can’t seem to engage targets. He sees them and aims at them but can’t blow his load

[veteran_gamer]

my god, you're absolutely right about the targeting while focused on the player, i could never put it into words, but that is the exact behavior i have witnessed with the soldiers, especially when multiple enemies are around

for example, a zombie classic hoard is approaching a few combine, and their aiming, but nothing happens, it's like they're focused else where...which is most likely what you said, the player

i mean if it was the world model, which i checked earlier, i would have detected it, like the old crashing mp5 w_model

i mean i literally made a -carbon copy- of the original combine_soldier, attachments, hitbox info, scaled them down to size to match the originals, and even used the default hl2 collision smd and hitbox info

this was before i even put the ep1 combine_soldier_anims.mdl into the smod dir, so they are STILL doing this now, even with the most updated batch of animations, which has nearly 200kb in extra sequences/act stuff

i wonder if thats the case...

sometimes, it can be small shit, like enemy_weapon_accuracy for example, and tweaks the behavior and can cause possible issues, but in this case, i am almost 99% certain it has nothing to do with it

ill tweak the ai settings in a moment here, and test them...but again...the accuracy and "aggressiveness" settings have nothing to do with reloading....bah, im going in circles, we will get to the bottom of this, because by solving this issue, it will most likely solve the "blank stare" combine soldier behavior that occasionally pops up..well..maybe..we'll see...we'll see

[mikeynshelby]

You can do it! I believe in you!

But I just experienced this in my mod the other day. ;_; I was like. WHAT THE F^$& are you doing?! RELOAD. But nope.. they just stood there.. aiming.. but not shooting.. =\ We all died.

[lxHowlxl]

God damn combine_f's! I was nearly killed in ravenholm when I spawned them for some help. Oh well... I'll just have to use rebels and citizens. *Curses under breath*