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Rockstar Games files patent for server controlled NPCs

Iron Eddie

Iron Eddie

Banned
Nov 25, 2019
9,812
Cyanity said:
Sounds like more DRM nonsense, but maybe that's just me
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In the sense of having to be connected to the internet, sure. There are some exciting possibilities that could come with this. Hitman did some live contracts for example.

Sure some people don't like games needing to be connected online but we also shouldn't be pushing technology away.
 

Deleted member 16876

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
39,148
If this means GTA6 single player will be online required then this will be bad. Real bad.

If it just has to do with online then be my guest, do it.
 
Kthulhu

Kthulhu

Member
Oct 25, 2017
14,670
Doesn't Titanfall 2 already do this with Azure? Maybe rockstar has something specific in mind that is different enough to warrant a patent.
 
Kthulhu

Kthulhu

Member
Oct 25, 2017
14,670
Walken said:
In the sense of having to be connected to the internet, sure. There are some exciting possibilities that could come with this. Hitman did some live contracts for example.

Sure some people don't like games needing to be connected online but we also shouldn't be pushing technology away.
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I thought live contracts were just a gimmick to boost engagement? I don't see how that's beneficial to the end user.

A better example is something like No Man's Sky or Elite Dangerous, where the game world is so huge it has to be run off of a server. Otherwise you're just arbitrarily chaining a game to the internet and making it disposable.
 

ChippyTurtle

Banned
Oct 13, 2018
4,773
maybe you could have a base set of behaviors that isn't too intensive for offline, and then online use the offloaded power from the server to do more complex and on the fly stuff?
 
More_Badass

More_Badass

Member
Oct 25, 2017
23,623
PLASTICA-MAN said:
www.vg247.com

GTA 6 could feature smarter NPCs thanks to newly uncovered Rockstar patent

A new Take-Two patent has been discovered that appears based on improving the intelligence and navigation capabilities …
www.vg247.com www.vg247.com



I don't think this would be revolutionary and very noticeable by the majority of people if it is just restricted to something that rarely happens like that but I hope the application will be more substantial than this.
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Hey look, two future bulletpoints for 25 INSANE DETAILS in GTA VI!!
 
modiz

modiz

Member
Oct 8, 2018
17,844
its all fun and games until the server decides that you are a threat and sends the NPCs on you.

Seriously though, the concept is neat, essentially centralizing the AI system to give NPCs virtual awareness of the world, the thing that jumped to my mind as i read this is how modern navigational apps track low traffic and accidents and reroutes the driver to the fastest option before entering the low traffic road, which would be doable with an AI system like this.
With that said, i am not sure of its worth. Rockstar already got excellent AI system compared to everyone else on the market and the uses sound pretty limited for added functionality.
 
digreyfox

digreyfox

Member
Nov 7, 2017
457
T H E
P O W E R
O F
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ヽ(´ー｀)ノ

Honestly after the drivatar pointlessness and whatever crackdown 3 was trying to do I'll reserve judgement for after (if) this is put in motion in a game.
 
Ocirus

Ocirus

Member
Dec 4, 2017
1,541
Really fascinating potential!.. until the servers are overloaded or shut down. I'd imagine they'd have to have a 'lesser' system in place for when that occurs, or to play the game offline.
 
WhtR88t

WhtR88t

Member
May 14, 2018
4,587
If you could teach characters how to play games, for a lot of NPCs, you wouldn't necessarily have to reprogram the NPC "AI" for every game… you would just give them new routines and/or modify their "stories" to fit in with whatever world– you could also put in as many or as little as needed.

Improvements to the cloud NPC AI would also be able to propagate through other games.
 

Bradbatross

Member
Mar 17, 2018
14,219
All I want for GTA 6 is for it to actually fun to get a high wanted level and go on the run. The infinitely spawning police helicopters every 2 seconds just ruin the game. I wish they would really flesh out that part of the game.
 
Wilf Netherton

Wilf Netherton

Banned
Jun 20, 2019
2,638
Ocirus said:
Really fascinating potential!.. until the servers are overloaded or shut down. I'd imagine they'd have to have a 'lesser' system in place for when that occurs, or to play the game offline.
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This system is replacing an existing system of navigation that all previous GTAs use. I assume the game could fall back to the old technique if necessary. Since the new navigation can have gameplay impacts some quests or mini games like street racing might not be available offline.
 
Grifter

Grifter

Member
Oct 26, 2017
2,573
Can we get this defined under the umbrella of MS' XBone cloud secret sauce and open up the idea?
 
Iron Eddie

Iron Eddie

Banned
Nov 25, 2019
9,812
Kthulhu said:
I thought live contracts were just a gimmick to boost engagement? I don't see how that's beneficial to the end user.

A better example is something like No Man's Sky or Elite Dangerous, where the game world is so huge it has to be run off of a server. Otherwise you're just arbitrarily chaining a game to the internet and making it disposable.
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You can use real time weather effects in sports games.
You can put Santa Clause as an NPC in GTA on Christmas day.

The possibilities are endless (as I list 2). Obviously there are far more creative people than I. Using online servers to have live updates could actually have some benefits but like anything people will pick it apart and want things to remain status quo.
 
Gestault

Gestault

Member
Oct 26, 2017
13,371
I'm under the impression both Titanfall 1 and Halo 5 Warzone did this, as a solution to getting tons of AI-controlled units to sync up for all players in larger MP sessions.
 
Owlet

Owlet

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Verified
May 30, 2018
1,931
London, UK
kvn said:
It would mean offloading CPU-heavy tasks such as NPC AI behavior to a server, freeing precious resources of your game console. Very interesting for open world games. If this could be calculated and integrated in real-time with the stuff happening on your screen, this could lead to an immensely more immersive game world. Things such as detailed NPC schedules or driving behavior and stuff like that.
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Wow, thats quite an interesting concept. Hope it pans out.
 
JCizzle

JCizzle

Avenger
Oct 26, 2017
7,302
This is probably a dumb question, but isn't this what MMOs do already? E.g. FFXIV, WoW, etc. are server based?
 
OP
OP

Deleted member 20964

Banned
Oct 28, 2017
467
Zukuu said:
Isn't that the same BS that xbox touted at the start of Xbox One?
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The bullshit MS touted in the beginning of Xbox One was marketing bullshit. This is a patent. You can discuss the content of the patent. I'd also think that veteran software engineers patenting such a concept have probably put at least some thought into the case "wHAT wHEn the coNsOle is oFFLINe".
 
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digreyfox

digreyfox

Member
Nov 7, 2017
457
kvn said:
That is absolutely true but Rockstar deserves a tiny bit of trust into their ability to push forward.
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I get your point and I would agree, if we haven't had the fruits of Microsoft's (of Azure and, well...Microsoft fame) labor into this specific area.

Regardless, always up for innovative aspects, hope it is implemented as something exciting.
 
AndyD

AndyD

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Oct 27, 2017
8,602
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Thinking more on this, it would be neat to have NPC behavior and events without the need for pre-patching the game to make changes.
 
Joris-truly

Joris-truly

Banned
Nov 1, 2017
845
Netherlands
Yo, does this mean no spawn/despawn bubble around the player? I.e: No more quick turnaround and your car is scrapped to save on memory?

If so, great! More persistent feeling world.
 
Kthulhu

Kthulhu

Member
Oct 25, 2017
14,670
Walken said:
You can use real time weather effects in sports games.
You can put Santa Clause as an NPC in GTA on Christmas day.

The possibilities are endless (as I list 2). Obviously there are far more creative people than I. Using online servers to have live updates could actually have some benefits but like anything people will pick it apart and want things to remain status quo.
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You don't need the internet to do a holiday themed event. Games have been doing that long before online play was common on consoles thanks to the internal clock.

People are concerned that yet more games will become unplayable in the future in the service of short term gimmicks. It's one thing for using online dependency to do something a local connection or offline play can't, but otherwise you just turn these games into wasted drive space and useless pieces of plastic.
 
AndyD

AndyD

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Oct 27, 2017
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Kthulhu said:
You don't need the internet to do a holiday themed event. Games have been doing that long before online play was common on consoles thanks to the internal clock.
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What you describe though requires pre-patching. With this approach it seems you may be able to change NPC behavior remotely without any patches. So you can be more responsive to current events, for example daily new interactions and behavior without any need for regular patching or it being pre-scripted. It can also react more in real time to the player's actions vs. being pre-scripted.
 
Sparks

Sparks

Senior Games Artist
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Dec 10, 2018
2,879
Los Angeles
Ohh yesss, this was the most excited I been about something this year. That' sad.

Very promising and also makes me INCREDIBLY jazzed that Rockstar is still considering evolution in these areas and they are still something of a focus. I was worried they'd give up and just cash into the Multiplayer realm exclusively.

The RDR2 NPC life simulation was one of my favorite things, love that attention to detail and strides to improve AI simulations.

Cyanity said:
Sounds like more DRM nonsense, but maybe that's just me
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It was stated that the Console could act as the server, so it's not necessarily an always online type of thing. Just that a portion of your hardware would be dedicated to the server simulation of the AI inhabitants, which would then free up computations from the minute to minute gameplay.
 
mcruz79

mcruz79

Member
Apr 28, 2020
2,795
Wow!!
maybe more realistic human and animal behavior?
that would be truly fantastic.
It's the biggest advance I want for nextgen games.
 
Baked Pigeon

Baked Pigeon

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
7,087
Phoenix
Meanwhile in cyberpunk, every npc on the map squats in position endlessly after hearing a gun shot.

Seriously though, anything to improve npc AI is welcome 🙏
 
hydruxo

hydruxo

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Oct 25, 2017
20,441
Very exciting. With how much interactivity there was with NPCs/random events in RDR2, I'm expecting some crazy shit in the next GTA.
 

Manta_Breh

Member
May 16, 2018
2,539
So does that mean if someone is playing offline then he wont have access to the advanced NPC behavior? how does stuff like this affect online and non-online gamers.
 
TheDeadlyHound

TheDeadlyHound

Member
Sep 22, 2019
255
Wow... after experiencing the NPCs in Cyberpunk I came to appreciate the amount of effort Rockstar puts into their worlds.

No one has surpassed them in this space and yet they are still going further.
 
Ionic

Ionic

Banned
Oct 31, 2017
2,735
Sparks said:
It was stated that the Console could act as the server, so it's not necessarily an always online type of thing. Just that a portion of your hardware would be dedicated to the server simulation of the AI inhabitants, which would then free up computations from the minute to minute gameplay.
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Maybe I'm just reading it wrong, but this doesn't make sense to me. What do you mean the console acts as a server? You say a portion of the hardware could go to simulating the AI which would free up resources, but how is that freeing up resources if your console is still doing the calculations with a portion of the hardware? Why even call it a server at that point if it's all local? What in the world is "the server simulation"?
 
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