Meaning of 64-bit AI flags

Heya,

I thought I'd share something. The infamous 64-bit structure known in ToEEWB as "64-bit AI flags" (the one that shows up as a combination of 0's and 1's) actually comes from Arcanum and has similar, if not the same, meaning as there. In fact, only the first twelve bits are used. So, from left to right, they would be:

1. Finding help -- the NPC is trying to find some help in a battle
2. Waypoint delay -- the NPC is waiting for a delay to finish for his waypoints.
3. Waypoint delayed -- the NPC has completed his delay to finish for his waypoints.
4. Running off -- the NPC is running away.
5. Fighting -- the NPC is fighting.
6. Check Grenade -- the NPC has to check if he can throw a grenade (Arcanum leftover, most surely not used in ToEE anymore)
7. Check Wield -- the NPC has to check what he has in his inventory to dress up, and dress up afterwards.
8. Check Weapon -- the NPC has to check its weapon and possibly choose something else to wield.
9. Look For Weapon -- (Arcanum leftover??) the NPC will look around its vicinity for a weapon and go grab it.
10. Look For Armor -- (Arcanum leftover??) same for armor.
11. Look For Ammo -- (Arcanum leftover??) same for ammo.
12. Has Spoken Flee -- (Arcanum leftover??) the NPC has screamed about fleeing.

Most of these flags are internal and should not be set in the editor. Instead, they are set/reset in the game process automatically. However, the flag that is of particular interest is flag #7 (Check Wield), which is very often set for human NPCs. It is usually set so that the NPC will dress up as soon as its created. So, setting this flag is often a good idea.

Now please, someone tell me what should we do so this information is not lost. May I suggest Ted to add this to one of his future tutorials?.. I don't want to *sticky* this post because it's minor compared to what should be stickied, yet it's important enough so I don't want this information to be lost in the course of time...

Thanks go to Steve Moret for certain clarifications on this field.

- Agetian

 

Yes there is, because Agetian did it with the mob breakdown thread. And well done Agetian!

Interesting... but my efforts to create NPCs in KotB who DIDN'T have weapons equiped (a pet grievance of mine, every NPC standing around with weapons drawn) by assigning slots to their weapons (in inventory not equipped slots) did nothing, or was instantaneously overridden. But certainly I did not have this flag (or any others) set.

Agetian: what would a script to change these flags on the fly look like? Can we change them on the fly, by 'and'ing certain bits, for instance? And now I think of it, is there a way to 'equip' unarmed combat?

 

The possibility is that in fact this flag is also automatically controlled and is set by the game as soon as the NPC is created. I don't really know about whether it's true or not... If that's the default behavior, then probably this flag is internal too.

I'm not sure if this flag would be editable manually in the script. Anyway, you *can* try this:

<object>.obj_set_int(obj_f_ai_flags64, <value>)

But the trick is - obj_set_int sets a 32-bit value, while obj_f_ai_flags64 is a 64-bit struct. I'm not sure if this would work or not. Of course, <value> is free to be operated with - you can ADD/OR bits there and so on.

- Agetian

Edit by SA: reading this flag (which is actually obj_f_npc_ai_flags64) causes a crash :/

 

Hmmm...

@Bluey - yes i have thought of that thanks, and its probably a direction I will go in if I decide to, ummm, bother. I think there is something to be said for merchants being emptyhanded (until attacked), guards and monsters walking around with weapons, and the quickdraw feat being of value.