Is there a way to implement this? I would like to try having guns hanging off the ceiling that shoot at the opposite team member, but I also want them to be destroyable. Would this be possible in multiplayer?

No, it wont sync.

Not in multiplayer, but it would in SP, or MP maps you play by yourself. Simply put a turret vehicle on the ceiling, make an invisible AI, and make a command list that makes the AI enter said turret.
Edited by CorruptedHalo on Jan 14, 2010 at 07:17 PM

Or, in the turret, add a built in gunner as the invisible AI. The AI will automatically spawn inside the vehicle.

or just use the turret as your AI...

you could set weapons to fire automatically and place them strategically....but they would do that endlessly even without a target....nevermind, it was more fun when i did in HMT but still a pretty bad idea.

I like my idea better :(
Edited by Gamma927 on Jan 14, 2010 at 08:27 PM

But your idea requires 1 more tag, a vehicle tag.

So? It allows for easier scripting for scripted effects, instead of continuously having to do a (list_get (ai_actors [AI]) [INDEX])

AI do not sync across the network in Multiplayer games.

that'd look pretty stupid. my suggestion would be to make your turret the model for your AI and maybe make the gun section turn as if its looking around (the normal character's head moving animation) and have the markers set up so that the gun is held right where you want it to shoot from. then make a weapon with just the main frame, the ground point, and the primary trigger and maybe primary ejection depending on what kind of gun it is. but dont actually make any model geometry for the weapon. then set it up so the AI cant move, it spawns in that position, and its holding that modelless gun.

i was actually thinking about doing this a while ago so if this isnt clear PM me and il describe it in more detail.

PS. this would only work on SP maps..

maybe it doesn't matter if it syncs

Or you could leave AI out of multiplayer as 90% of AI maps suck as they are just boxes with random biped placed everywhere....

The reason AI does not synchronize over netplay stems from the sole fact that AI behavior is based on randomly generated values. Remove the 'randomness', then you have syncing AI. For example, the AI security camera on The Pit was set to target the first player that entered its field of view. Therefore, the camera's aiming was based on player position (something that does sync) rather than inherently random AI behaviors. It has synced perfectly every playtest so far.

Implement something similar with your automated turrets and it should synchronize over netplay.

So:
create a trigger volume where want the turret to fire.
Create a script that makes the Ai only attack/see players in that trigger volume.

?

Although your solution allows for suitable net-game play it in fact does not synchronize across the network. No data about its status, position or activity is transmitted across the network. All it does is operate similarly on each client PC but is totally reliant upon each client PC operating at the same speed in the same way.

For example: Assume that he made a destroyable turret to lock onto and shoot at a person that was within a volume area. If someone destroyed the turret on his PC when he stepped into the area the gun will not shoot him, but on another PC the gun will be firing because its status (destroyed/active) is not transmitted from server to client. It is not syncing, however if you limit the results of the actions and possible status, being triggered by a player position that does sync, it may still enable sufficient game play since the result of the action is dependent on only one player position.

AI, device machines and animated scenery do not sync over the network since no information about their status position or activity is transmitted between client and server.

Edited by Dennis on Jan 16, 2010 at 03:05 AM

Yes, I am aware of this. While each client is effectively generating its own set of properties for the AI turret object, the elimination of the randomness associated with AI behavior can (arguably) be considered an effective solution to this (barring latency, and other related issues).

On the matter of "synchronizing" object state (intact, destroyed), some clever scripting would have to be involved.
Edited by CtrlAltDestroy on Jan 16, 2010 at 03:15 AM

what if we made a cannon that shot small bullets which were vehicle tags. (lol killed by a vehicle) or maybe a biped that exploded on contact.... (lol killed by gardians). and make the AI controlling the cannon infinet helath, but the vehicle not infinite health.

Don't vehicles and bipeds sync?

That would mean continuously attaching and detaching a possessed biped (biped attached to an AI encounter) to a vehicle would sync.

In fact, that idea would be better than your idea, because the vehicles have to be in the globals to sync properly. The problem is, neither idea works.

What heavy tank chaingun-like mechanism...?

curious question though since were disscussin ai syncing. can ai sync over lan instead of net?

No.

I used to do it the same way the one guy did with hmt but I have a new idea. it will make the turret spin and shoot and sync online. btw does animated scenery work online?

They don't. You have to use biped crush scripts and they can only sync device machines.

-_- I dont know how to make a device that moves up and down left and right lol only scenery

The current position of the animated scenery is one of the things that can't be transferred over Halo CE's netcode.

hm.. maybe I can make a pillar that gos up and down but opens the door at the same time right? device or a machine??

The AI don't sync, however, if players on two different machines approach a stationary AI firing a turret, each player will see the turret firing at them. This of course is not in sync, but there is the illusion that the AI operated turret is in sync.

I have the above by loading a warthog with AI on the server PC (player 1), and watched the AI gunner fire at the client (player 2) on both the server and client machine. It looked pretty good for a while, however, when another AI actor approached the warthog on the Client PC (not on the server), the gunner started firing at the approaching AI on the Client PC, but continued firing at the Client (player 2) on the server PC.
Edited by Mysterion on Jan 19, 2010 at 09:14 PM

I am making it a .weapon and it fires automaticly and over heats unlimited ammo of course. but gotta fix up some bugs right now

Weapons don't normally fire of their own accord.

ya I just realised that. :/ can a vehicle fire by its self XD never really tried it

No. Your best bet is to use an AI.

:/ but it has to shoot the weapon by itself somehow on the ground

Make an AI with the model of a weapon, similar to how CMT used turrets on the pelicans.