Post by mthomson on Jun 23, 2016 9:18:35 GMT -5
Thought I would share some tips on making the AI realistic as possible, it makes for better racing and if you have the trouble of the AI being too easy it can be useful if you are doing offline racing against the AI. I found by default the AI needs adjustments at least on the default tracks Papyrus have gave us. But by now if you are racing on new series like the Sprint Cup Series there are newer tracks that are better optimized.
What you need:
Text Editor to edit the Track.ini
Nascar 2003 Season Editor
Lastly you need Patience
One other good tool is Nratings, you can import ratings for each race but I wont go over that here.
Step 1
Run the practice sessions before the next race, this will input the Track you will be racing at in the Nascar 2003 season editor, you can then open the season editor "Auto AI editor". In my seasons I always use AUTO AI and not manual so I can adjust it every week using this tool.
In the tool you will see Auto AI strength at the bottom, usually for me I set it to 94% as a starting point then hit apply, then save.
Step2
Go to the championship season, and go to warmup to test your own lap times with the AI.. Ideally I like to have my fast lap around top 10 or midfield against the AI.. You can fine tweak the AI to your liking using the Season editor... But you have to close the game then edit the Auto AI strength each time... You can even set 1/2 percentages like 94.5 etc... Usually I increase or decrease by a 1/2 percent depending on how fast or slow the AI are.
Step 3 (Edit the Pit times for AI)
I found some tracks the AI are just way too fast coming off and onto pit road, I found out each time I was losing 10 spots each time I pit.
Go to the track, and run 2 full laps take notice of the lap time... Then go to pit road but DO NOT stop in your pit stall just make a run through pit road. Then go back out to full speed as you would in a race.
Take notice of the Lap time when you pit and the lap time right after you came out of the pit. Basically you need to do some math to get the right time.
here is an example
Normal Lap 32.30 seconds
Lap when you went to pit: 40.3 seconds
Lap after you came out of pits 42.3 seconds
So if you calculate those 2 laps from your normal lap speed you get an additional 18 seconds... Basically the time lost for pitting.
Open up the track.ini for the race you will be racing, its a good idea to make a backup of this file.
Track.ini would be located in the track directory usually Papyrus/Nascar 2003 season/Tracks/Daytona/track.ini
Look for this Line:
strategy_base_pitting_cost = 49.947
If you did calculations as I mentioned about you would put 18 seconds in my example instead of 49... This just tells the Game how much time the AI will lose for a stop and go pitstop. Generally I found they are too quick at most tracks.
If you want to take it another step further, you can make changes then look at replays of the AI to see their lap times before and after (2laps) from pitting to see if it matches close to your test.
Step 4
Pitroad speeds are often wrong in Papyrus default tracks, the AI speed is higher than the users:
Look for:
speed_limit_MPH = 55.0 (this is the actual pit road speed for you)
pace_speed_limit_mph = 65 (this is the AI pit speed)
So you can see above the pit speed for AI is 10mph quicker, change one or the other so they are the same.
Step 5 (Tires for AI)
AI losing speed too quickly from tires, this is a big issue for me. AI will be on pace with me for 5 laps then I start blowing by them.
Look for this line:
strategy_lap_time_wear_loss = 3.472
Usually I take off a second as I dont feel like spending a lot of time testing, I can usually tell in a real race how slow they are on longer runs and can adjust for the next race at that track. Try running 10 laps at a track, are you losing much time off lap speeds from worn tires? In my case usually the time lost is not very much on most tracks. But 3.4 seconds would be the case of red tires about to blow.. Most tracks around 2-3 seconds seems competitive.
Step 6 (Fine tuning tweaks)
The last part involves AI braking and Drag, some tracks like at Pocono I found my top end speeds were much quicker then the AI. On straights if you are always blowing by the AI it might be because of their drag setting. But first make sure its drag and not the AI strength %... If you are even with them in corners but blow past them in the straights then its drag.
Look for this line to adjust drag:
ai_drag_modifier = 1.065
Increase this to make them slower on straights, or decrease to make faster... You can look at replays to compare top end speeds on straights of the AI in comparison to yours. Only adjust in small increments or decrements, in this case I would do 1.062 and test that until I get it just right.
The last one I just used at Indianapolis, which was their braking.. If you find the AI is braking up too abruptly and causing you to crash into the back of them look for this line:
ai_dlongpad_scale = 5.0
Decrease this line if you want them to brake more gradually instead of very quickly.
If you follow these steps you should have more competitive and enjoyable races with the AI. The good thing is if you take the time to edit these to your own racing style it will be there for multiple seasons if that is what you look to do.
What you need:
Text Editor to edit the Track.ini
Nascar 2003 Season Editor
Lastly you need Patience
One other good tool is Nratings, you can import ratings for each race but I wont go over that here.
Step 1
Run the practice sessions before the next race, this will input the Track you will be racing at in the Nascar 2003 season editor, you can then open the season editor "Auto AI editor". In my seasons I always use AUTO AI and not manual so I can adjust it every week using this tool.
In the tool you will see Auto AI strength at the bottom, usually for me I set it to 94% as a starting point then hit apply, then save.
Step2
Go to the championship season, and go to warmup to test your own lap times with the AI.. Ideally I like to have my fast lap around top 10 or midfield against the AI.. You can fine tweak the AI to your liking using the Season editor... But you have to close the game then edit the Auto AI strength each time... You can even set 1/2 percentages like 94.5 etc... Usually I increase or decrease by a 1/2 percent depending on how fast or slow the AI are.
Step 3 (Edit the Pit times for AI)
I found some tracks the AI are just way too fast coming off and onto pit road, I found out each time I was losing 10 spots each time I pit.
Go to the track, and run 2 full laps take notice of the lap time... Then go to pit road but DO NOT stop in your pit stall just make a run through pit road. Then go back out to full speed as you would in a race.
Take notice of the Lap time when you pit and the lap time right after you came out of the pit. Basically you need to do some math to get the right time.
here is an example
Normal Lap 32.30 seconds
Lap when you went to pit: 40.3 seconds
Lap after you came out of pits 42.3 seconds
So if you calculate those 2 laps from your normal lap speed you get an additional 18 seconds... Basically the time lost for pitting.
Open up the track.ini for the race you will be racing, its a good idea to make a backup of this file.
Track.ini would be located in the track directory usually Papyrus/Nascar 2003 season/Tracks/Daytona/track.ini
Look for this Line:
strategy_base_pitting_cost = 49.947
If you did calculations as I mentioned about you would put 18 seconds in my example instead of 49... This just tells the Game how much time the AI will lose for a stop and go pitstop. Generally I found they are too quick at most tracks.
If you want to take it another step further, you can make changes then look at replays of the AI to see their lap times before and after (2laps) from pitting to see if it matches close to your test.
Step 4
Pitroad speeds are often wrong in Papyrus default tracks, the AI speed is higher than the users:
Look for:
speed_limit_MPH = 55.0 (this is the actual pit road speed for you)
pace_speed_limit_mph = 65 (this is the AI pit speed)
So you can see above the pit speed for AI is 10mph quicker, change one or the other so they are the same.
Step 5 (Tires for AI)
AI losing speed too quickly from tires, this is a big issue for me. AI will be on pace with me for 5 laps then I start blowing by them.
Look for this line:
strategy_lap_time_wear_loss = 3.472
Usually I take off a second as I dont feel like spending a lot of time testing, I can usually tell in a real race how slow they are on longer runs and can adjust for the next race at that track. Try running 10 laps at a track, are you losing much time off lap speeds from worn tires? In my case usually the time lost is not very much on most tracks. But 3.4 seconds would be the case of red tires about to blow.. Most tracks around 2-3 seconds seems competitive.
Step 6 (Fine tuning tweaks)
The last part involves AI braking and Drag, some tracks like at Pocono I found my top end speeds were much quicker then the AI. On straights if you are always blowing by the AI it might be because of their drag setting. But first make sure its drag and not the AI strength %... If you are even with them in corners but blow past them in the straights then its drag.
Look for this line to adjust drag:
ai_drag_modifier = 1.065
Increase this to make them slower on straights, or decrease to make faster... You can look at replays to compare top end speeds on straights of the AI in comparison to yours. Only adjust in small increments or decrements, in this case I would do 1.062 and test that until I get it just right.
The last one I just used at Indianapolis, which was their braking.. If you find the AI is braking up too abruptly and causing you to crash into the back of them look for this line:
ai_dlongpad_scale = 5.0
Decrease this line if you want them to brake more gradually instead of very quickly.
If you follow these steps you should have more competitive and enjoyable races with the AI. The good thing is if you take the time to edit these to your own racing style it will be there for multiple seasons if that is what you look to do.