AI pitting for no need

Mattie941 · Nov 24, 2022

Hi,

I have read posts of players asking to increase the number of AI pitstops. However, I could like to do the opposite. I am using the CTDP 2005 mod. Tyres changes are not allowed and I've ensured the AItirewear is enough for them to complete the race. Based on fuel consumption, it should be a 1 or 2 stop race for 100% race distance. In the 2nd half of the race, the AI pit 2-3 times to complete a 3-5 stop race. I have the rF log analyser and it shows me that the AI are pitting and not refueling and not changing tyres.

Therefore, my question is, why are they pitting? Does anyone know what might be causing the AI to pit?

jgf · Nov 24, 2022

They are probably taking body damage from minor bumps during the race. Are their laptimes slowing at this point also?

Speednut357 · Nov 24, 2022

Yea they tend to hit each other in the breaking zone of corners and wings fall off.

Mattie941 · Nov 24, 2022

I run with 25% damage and it happens to the whole field, even the cars that are running alone, so I don't think it can be damage, every car is pitting needlessly. Also, you can see example lap times below.

I've circled a few examples on the line graph, after the first scheduled pit stop, cars are pitting despite being in space on track.

MJQT · Nov 25, 2022

I'm quite curious to know what's going on. To my knowledge, rFactor AI pit logic is based only on fuel level and damage (and its decisions to pit based on damage can be weird). So if there's something else leading them to pit, it might mean there's something we've been missing about how rF AI works.

Mattie941 said:
I run with 25% damage and it happens to the whole field, even the cars that are running alone, so I don't think it can be damage, every car is pitting needlessly. Also, you can see example lap times below.

The AI slowdown bug due to damage could perceivably still happen at 25% damage, and could affect all cars. Especially given rF's AI pit logic for damage is buggy – Reiza had to implement fixes related to this for the AI in AMS1. So it's not inconceivable that (for example) the AI in rF are not be fixing what needs to be fixed, but are still somehow choosing to come in because they're broken.

First step, I'd try again with 0% percent damage. If the issue persists...

Not sure if this bug happened while using the AI Improvement plugin (I assume not) but if it did, I'd turn it off and try again. If that hasn't helped, try changing the FuelUse value in the track's AIW file to 16x the lap_length value – the AI could make weird decisions if that value is somehow messed up.

If nothing else helps at all, maybe ride around with them during that part of the race, and try to spot whether anything happens to them before they pit?

Mattie941 · Nov 27, 2022

I've been running some tests. I have run 3x 100% races:

rF AI installed with "AIFuelStrategyOnOff=On" and "GAMEOPT_damagemultiplier=0"
rF AI installed with "AIFuelStrategyOnOff=Off" and "GAMEOPT_damagemultiplier=0"
rF AI uninstalled and "GAMEOPT_damagemultiplier=0"

All three tests did not change the AI behavior and the AI continued to make 1-3 pit-stops in the 2nd half of the race after their first scheduled pit-stop (see image of test 3). I had a look at the replay files to see if there was an accident but there was not. Any idea what else could be causing this?

Worth noting again that this is CTDP F1 2005 mod. Do you know of any settings within the vehicle files that could drive this behavior?

Mattie941 · Dec 17, 2022

I fixed the issue. It's specific to the CTDP F1 2005 mod. The rules of this mod do not allow tyre changes. The AIWear in the .tbc file is set too high, meaning the AI puncture their tyres before the end of the race. The rules allow the AI only to change the damaged tyre, but, sure enough a few laps later, another tyre punctures and they need to pit again. Decreasing the AIWear in the .tbc file fixed the issue.