AI always either pit on final lap or pit one lap before the end

[JonP01]

Hi, I have a strange problem with at least one of my third party tracks though I suspect it might be all my third party tracks (which are Australian add-on tracks, Oran Park, Sandown, Symmons Plains, etc). The problem is that if I set the race to a time limit (say 20 minutes) then the AI exit the track to the pits immediately before commencing their final lap. And yes, they otherwise would have crossed the start-finish line well before the time was up so they definitely had one more lap to complete.

And if I set the race to a fixed number of laps - say 18 laps, the AI always pit without exception at the end of lap 17. In this instance I did a test where I deliberately let the entire field go by me on the second last lap and I still won because the lot of them pitted with one lap to go!

This issue does not occur with any of the stock tracks.

Thanks

 

[Peppelino]

When looking in Race Results afterwards , was there anything to read about why drivers DidNotFinish, DNF, in the List ?
A screenshot, maybe ?
There are some Fuel problems in the old Game, you know... and TireWear..

 

[Bjarne Hansen]

Guess they are low on fuel?
Check in the AIW file for the below entries, they should be jjust before the WP sections starts.
lap_length=
FuelUse=

Fuel_Use should be ~ 16 times Lap length in Race 07.
I start with (15.5 X Lap_Length) and it works for the most with the cars I prefer in Race 07.

 

[Peppelino]

Thanks Bjarne, for info about it...
I was lucky, finding the magic number in Puebla 2006. Fuel for 7 laps, engine died on the end of 6th.. Made me just rolling ever so slowly over the Finish line. Trying your math on this one. Perhaps adding a bit. Again, Thanks.

 

[Bjarne Hansen]

Always a good idea to add fuel for a couple of laps more than needed as driver fuel use depend a little on how aggressive you drive.
The fuel use ~ 16 times lap length are more for the Ai not to run out of fuel but also not handicap them self with way to much fuel.

 

[Peppelino]

. . it might be all my third party tracks (which are Australian add-on tracks, Oran Park, Sandown, Symmons Plains, etc)...

This issue does not occur with any of the stock tracks.

Thanks

I can understand the waste of 20 minutes or more, seeing the competion give up and go to Pit.. Should have been fixed years ago. In my attempt to help you out, you need to be more specific, about tracks...
My findings about, your said 3 tracks above, is that SymmonsPlains needs some fixing. Sorry, not all third-party tracks might have this problem.

At FuelFactor 14 only, will play havoc with AI.
Quick Fix, for you. Use Notepad on AIW file : *Line 339 says FuelUse=33400.284... Change that to. . FuelUse=39400.284... Save properly. You have now FuelFactor 16.51.
Please JonP01, post your complete list of more fuel problems HERE you might have, including stock tracks. Puebla 2006 is fixed.
Have nice ride.

 

[Peppelino]

Just found this.. PhillEVO ( Phillip Island from "Aussie Tracks pack" ), if you have Fuel problems, do this...

 

[Peppelino]

Hi, I have a strange problem...

Please read above, about Fuel..

It seems, AI can be forced into Pit early. The Player can, by filling only the half amount of fuel needed for Qual, speed up the process.. or going TimeAcceleration.. Cool stuff..

 

[JonP01]

Guess they are low on fuel?
Check in the AIW file for the below entries, they should be jjust before the WP sections starts.
lap_length=
FuelUse=

Fuel_Use should be ~ 16 times Lap length in Race 07.
I start with (15.5 X Lap_Length) and it works for the most with the cars I prefer in Race 07.

Thank you so much Bjarne. Your suggestion worked perfectly! Only downside is that the AI are now even slower but they were already slow on these third party tracks and I have been running these tracks with AI at 105% anyway versus 100% for the stock tracks. I guess there are ways to speed them up but that in the end is a relatively minor issue compared to them pitting before race completion!

Thanks again!

 

[Bjarne Hansen]

Thank you so much Bjarne. Your suggestion worked perfectly! Only downside is that the AI are now even slower but they were already slow on these third party tracks and I have been running these tracks with AI at 105% anyway versus 100% for the stock tracks. I guess there are ways to speed them up but that in the end is a relatively minor issue compared to them pitting before race completion!

Glad it worked for you.
Getting Ai faster is easy. You do not even have to do any editing.
As you get older the AI appears to get faster all the time

 

[cangrejin]

hello, sorry if this question bothers on this site.
(it's a rfactor problem.....but since no one could find the answer...ask in the gtr2 threads and now in race 07....you know: same creators of the graphics engine)

on rfactor, I have a mod...this mod has several problems:

A)- on some tracks, the ai can NOT return to the box AFTER finishing the race (some are stranded after crossing the finish line)

WORST PROBLEM
B)- in QUALIFYING, the ai does ONE lap (fast and strong) returns to the pits, and then does ALL the remaining laps (slow laps...because it has fuel for all those laps)
(I mean...if the qualifier was 1000, they would do it in one try) it seems that they load the fuel to the max.

we all know what qualifying is like (in formula 1)
you leave the box (first lap), QUALIFY FAST (second lap), return to the box (3 lap)
......or ....
2 qualifying laps in a row (in total 4 laps: leave the box, qualify, qualify, and box)

but they do 1 fast lap, and then all the others continuously and slowly.
it seems that .... they load all the fuel possible on their second attempt

C)- problem B produces problem C: in case (very likely) the faster car could NOT make the best lap (on that FIRST try...for various reasons, like having traffic)....any car (even the slowest) COULD COME AHEAD IN THE RACE...making the whole race unreal...very mixed and unrealistic (more in f1)

(I know the ailimiter values...and all the others that help the cars get ahead of each other)...but if the classification was mixed...little can be done in the race.
(the rcds are correctly done...I put the AI RANGE in the aiw...in 1.0...as a test....And you can see the variety and difference between the fast and slow cars...but I would prefer not to touch this )

In addition, the problem of all this is caused by NOT classifying well (problem B)

D)- AI cars do NOT respect the qualifying lap limit. (there are 12 laps distributed in 1 hour)....they try to give more laps so they are disqualified...besides giving ALL their laps continuously (and not distributed during the whole hour) the classification is boring.



Thank you very much... and sorry for all this text

I would be very grateful if someone answered

here I leave more "information of my problem":

https://www.racedepartment.com/threads/rfactor-ia-mod-problems-help.226388/#post-3515691

https://www.racedepartment.com/threads/the-ai-problem-number-1000.226817/

 

[Deleted member 13397]

here my guess:

A. no clue, not even an idea
B. the logic behind this behavier is in the code (or in a script nobody found / decrypted yet)
C. ............
D. never saw this in SIMBIN games, does this happen to vanilia rf1 tracks ?

 

[MJQT]

Copying some ideas I had in another thread, and adding some more thoughts.

A)- on some tracks, the ai can NOT return to the box AFTER finishing the race (some are stranded after crossing the finish line)

My guess – they are running out of fuel before making it to the pits. So FuelUse value in the AIW may be too low. FYI it should be set as 16 x lap length.

B)- in QUALIFYING, the ai does ONE lap (fast and strong) returns to the pits, and then does ALL the remaining laps (slow laps...because it has fuel for all those laps)
(I mean...if the qualifier was 1000, they would do it in one try) it seems that they load the fuel to the max.

I believe GTR2 and RACE 07 have the option of assigning different custom qualifying and race setups to player and AI cars by default. Perhaps you could create a custom quali setup where you set low fuel and change the refueling strategy to what you're looking for (many stops of low fuel)?

I believe AMS1 allows assigning custom quali and race specific setups too. rFactor 1 does not have this option, though, sadly.

(very likely) the faster car could NOT make the best lap (on that FIRST try...for various reasons, like having traffic)....any car (even the slowest) COULD COME AHEAD IN THE RACE...making the whole race unreal...very mixed and unrealistic

I can see how this is frustrating. However, don't forget that some fast drivers being caught in traffic or having a 'bad day' in qualifying is realistic. IMO it only becomes a problem if the race becomes a crash-filled clusterf**k due to all the fast AI being stuck at the back. Is this what's happening?

D)- AI cars do NOT respect the qualifying lap limit. (there are 12 laps distributed in 1 hour)....they try to give more laps so they are disqualified...besides giving ALL their laps continuously (and not distributed during the whole hour) the classification is boring.

As a workaround, you could try lowering the qualifying time or raising the lap limit to a very high value (e.g. 99). An imperfect solution, but it would prevent these annoying DQs! Sometimes you gotta get creative with these old games and learn to live with imperfections.

does this happen to vanilia rf1 tracks ?

In general, @mucho is providing very good advice. Test with your problematic mod on a default content track, and see whether your issues are happening. Then take an original content car of your choice (on the modded track or an original track or both, your choice) and see if your issues are present. As needed, compare settings in the original content to your mods, and see where they diverge.

hello, sorry if this question bothers on this site.

No no no, questions are always welcome! My only advice would be to try to write with more conciseness, directness, and clearer formatting. This would help readers to better understand what you are saying and asking, and thus maybe more people would respond.

Also @cangrejin don't forget that you may have to experiment, investigate, and figure things out for yourself at a certain point! Perhaps you're on your way to discovering something we don't know right now about these games

 

[cangrejin]

Thank you very much for your answers (and patience)

-The fueluse in the aiw...take it into account. (The race ends, everyone crosses the finish line, but most cannot reach the pits... without fuel)

-configuring a file so that the ai does classification (in the classification menu???)... it doesn't seem right... I mean... monza is not the same as monaco... it would have to be YO tell the ia what configuration to use. (I know you're talking about fuel... but surely the configuration includes aero, changes, etc)

- I did it, I put 100 qualifying laps...in an hour they manage to do only 30-50 laps....it's a temporary...solution. (That's where I realized that they only do the FIRST lap fast and hard...and the rest slow and continuously...even if they were 200...they wouldn't stop until they ran out of fuel)

-I will see the original rf1 tracks

 

[cangrejin]

(ia disqualified for doing more laps than allowed)
I think and this is just a wild guess:
I think the ia can't enter her box in the final qualifying lap because her same partner is entering the box...so she necessarily takes one more lap.
(the worst thing is that in some tracks... the cars are mixed in the box)
...and I think this happens (besides that the aiw and the order of cars in the pits is wrong)...mainly because EVERYONE goes out to qualify at the same time.... (in f1 challenge... the cars distribute the 12 qualifying laps in the whole hour...so there is no constant traffic)
mixed ai
I know someone can "have a bad day"...like Schumacher coming out in 5th position...but in this case...everyone at the top of the list had a bad day. in every race.
and no, the rcds are fine (putting the ai range in the aiw to 1.0 clearly shows how well distributed they are). As I said many times, the classification gets in the way A LOT, in the starting order... and in the race.
I forgot something... I almost don't remember anymore... I once had a mod... a long time ago, I saw that they made the classification in an orderly way (exit, qualy, enter). I will also look there

 

[MJQT]

configuring a file so that the ai does classification (in the classification menu???)... it doesn't seem right... I mean... monza is not the same as monaco... it would have to be YO tell the ia what configuration to use. (I know you're talking about fuel... but surely the configuration includes aero, changes, etc)

For GTR2, RACE 07, or AMS 1, my idea was to save a custom setup (including pit strategy for refueling) for qualifying for each track and car. It could be all default values other than fueling strategy if you like to minimize effort, or you could mess with aero etc. Then you would rename and copy that SVM files to the right place so the car (for the player and AI alike) loads them by default when at that track. You'd want to search RD for how to do this in GTR2, RACE 07, or AMS1. But FYI it is impossible in rFactor 1.

I think the ia can't enter her box in the final qualifying lap because her same partner is entering the box...so she necessarily takes one more lap.
(the worst thing is that in some tracks... the cars are mixed in the box)

This makes a lot of sense! Good thinking I think you've spotted what's causing the issue.

I know someone can "have a bad day"...like Schumacher coming out in 5th position...but in this case...everyone at the top of the list had a bad day. in every race.

Very weird... dunno what to say. I've never seen this! (or at least never noticed)