Aliens: Colonial Marines AI fixed by a single letter | ResetEra
Holy shame this is hilarious. How was this not noticed?!
Quote
In a recent thread recommending the PC version of Aliens: Colonial Marines for less than $3, a post happened to single out an announcement made on the ModDB page for Aliens: Colonial Marines.[/size]
A passionate modder who has made it his mission to overhaul aspects of the absolutely dreadful Colonial Marines was working on tinkering his highly regarded overhaul mod known as TemplarGFX's ACM Overhaul when he stumbled upon something interesting in the games .ini files.I think I'll let him explain...
QuoteA new update will be coming soon with this change included, however after getting reports back from several players on how much this effects the game, I just had to post it nowKnowing full well how absurd this sounds on the surface, I took it upon myself to reinstall the PC version of the game, look at the .ini file and check myself. Sure enough, a single letter typo was found exactly where he claimed. I was in disbelief. As recommended, I fixed the typo, saved it in Notepad and booted the game up.
Inside your games config file (My Document\My Games\Aliens Colonial Marines\PecanGame\Config\PecanEngine.ini) is the following line of code :
ClassRemapping=PecanGame.PecanSeqAct_AttachXenoToTether -> PecanGame.PecanSeqAct_AttachPawnToTeather
Im sure you'll notice the spelling mistake
ClassRemapping=PecanGame.PecanSeqAct_AttachXenoToTether -> PecanGame.PecanSeqAct_AttachPawnToTether
If you fix it to look like the above and then play the game, the difference is pretty crazy!
Why is this line important? There are two reasons :
1) AttachXenoToTeather doesn't do anything. Its basically empty or stripped
2) AttachPawnToTether does ALOT. It controls tactical position adjustment, patrolling and target zoning
When a Xeno is spawned, it is attached to a zone tether. This zone tells the Xeno what area is its fighting space and where different exits are. In Combat, a Xeno will be forced to switch to a new tether (such as one behind you) so as to flank, or disperse so they aren't so grouped up etc. (*disclaimer* this is inferred opinion, I cant see the actual code only bits)
Whenever the game tried to do this, nothing happened. Now it does!Click to expand...
The improvement is immediately recognizable in your first encounters with the Xenos. While they still charge you perched on their hind legs, they now crawl far more often, flank you using vents and holes in the environment and are generally far more engaged and aggressive. Five years after release, a single letter managed to overhaul the entirety of the enemy AI behavior in the game.
While I am still a vehement detractor of Gearbox and the game itself and would recommend against picking this up for any price, if you already own the game on Steam I wholeheartedly recommend trying this out yourself. Also consider enhancing your experience with the TemplarGFX ACM overhaul mod as it brings a host of other small but noticeable improvements to the game. And while I'm here, don't forget to give this ol' gem a watch.
UPDATE:
JigglesBunny said: ↑QuoteFor those who were asking for it, PC Gamer put up an article with comparison videos and a firsthand account of their experience with the fix.
Spoiler: They also noticed the improvement.Click to expand...
Holy shame this is hilarious. How was this not noticed?!