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Mar 28, 2024, 9:55 AM

NFSHS: Hardening Hot Pursuit Mode?

This is a discussion for the topic NFSHS: Hardening Hot Pursuit Mode? on the board General NFS.

Author Topic: NFSHS: Hardening Hot Pursuit Mode?  (Read 10351 times)

11 Replies on NFSHS: Hardening Hot Pursuit Mode?
on: Apr 19, 2021, 5:43 AM
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Posts: 8 Joined: April 18, 2021

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I've been playing NFSHS since it came out in. First, Hot Pursuit mode was really "Hot" until I got better at the game. Currently it barely offers any challenge sadly  :(

One of the biggest reason is a strange bug with AI police cars which I haven't really proved until yesterday. Let me explain:

Normally when they aren't pursuing someone, they always adopt the speed limit to a specified section. You can see that they won't shift up to the next gear, so they go with eg. steady 50. It feels like they always try to hold some distance from your car and not try to pull you over than during first two laps.

When AI starts pursuing you for the first time, they use full speed depending on their car abilities. After 2-3 laps or after being ticketed for the first time or other events (I don't have enough experience yet) AI police cars seem to get stuck into their idle mode. From that point whenever you encounter them, they start pursuing, but will not shift above gear 3 and will pursue racers with that max allowed speed. This makes them useless, especially in a 8 lap race. (can win easily with B class cars against BMW cops  :P)

I've checked the problem with me playing as the cop and the same happens. If I select the Police La Nina and let the AI control it, it will start pursuing McLarens with 50-80 km/h which is a joke after 1-2 laps passed.

I have the standard US edition and already tried out FR,DE version too and they produce the same AI problem.

Possible solution: In the EP there is a batch file which makes non-european police cars super fast. That's a half-solution, because I have no idea what has been changed, but works so far. The modified cars will always pursue racers with maximum possible speed. The only drawback is that the AI can't handle that fast cars so it often crashes them and after accumulating too much damage, they will go into the disabled state. So for instance on Kindiak Park the super fast cops are basically disabled after 3-4 laps. It's better than default, altough still not perfect.

My goal would be eliminating this nuisance and making pursuit mode challenging. I have very basic modding knowledge, tho I believe this problem is maybe related to how the AI part of the carp.txt is configured  ???

Has anyone else also noticed this or can try it out? Or is there already a solution?

Reply #1
on: Apr 19, 2021, 8:59 AM
Sr. Member
Posts: 163 Joined: March 22, 2014

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Hello zokni,

I have encountered this bug many times as well.

Fortunately, someone made a patch a while back that fixes this problem.  IIRC, the author of this patch is Fox. The link is still available here on their google drive: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B8y8z35Y1fY_SDNpM1JUZGkzdlE

1. Open the folder labeled "Need For Speed High Stakes" folder and download the "NFSHS Crap.7z".

2. Extract the file and open the readme for further instructions. NOTE: You will only need the files found in the folder labeled "Patch -  Difficulty Selection" and don't forget to make a backup of your originals just in case.

BTW. It is recommended to use the VEG modern patch with this patch.

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EDIT: I misunderstood your post. Sorry. I thought you were trying to fix the problem where AI cops drive slow at night (especially after breaking their headlights) during a pursuit. That is what Fox's patch fixes. It does not however fix the issue with cops driving the speed limit when not engaged in pursuit.

AFAIK, I don't think there is any fix or patch that exists for the non-engaged cops driving the speed limit. I'm sure it's possible to make one, but that would most likely require reverse engineering the nfs4 executable where possibly all AI data is stored. :-\
« Last Edit: Apr 19, 2021, 10:02 AM by Zalcus20 »

Reply #2
on: Apr 19, 2021, 2:25 PM
Rookie Member
Posts: 8 Joined: April 18, 2021

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Hi Zalcus20,

Thank you for your reply  ;) It was indeed what I was looking for.

I haven't noticed that cops driving slow is connected to night mode and headlights. It also happened when the track direction is set to backwards. So them driving slow uncommited I don't mind as long as they go after me with full speed  >:D

There are a few other things I'd like to change too, but they are probably hardcoded as you said or would take too much effort to uncover. One of those is cops utilizing help more frequently like in NFSIII  ::)

In HS the chatter goes inactive after the ~3rd cop joins the pursuit. So no more roadblocks or spike strips get requested. In NFSIII they always requested both no matter how many car were after you. The other is when you play as a cop and request a roadblock, your AI wingman won't abandon it even after the target vehicle is caught. When you play as a racer and get a ticket the roadblock called against you will be abandoned (the flares go dark slowly). This doesn't happen if you request the roadblock and one cop always remains busy guarding it  :P

All in all the above listed minor problems are not as important as the difficulty thingy was, but I hope they will be fixed in the future somewhen.

Thank you for solving the problem!

Reply #3
on: Apr 19, 2021, 5:10 PM
Sr. Member
Posts: 163 Joined: March 22, 2014

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That's great, zokni! I'm happy this solved your problem as it did mine.  ;)

I've noticed those problems as well. The one that annoys me the most is the 'tunnel bug', where the cops don't turn around and chase you while going in a tunnel, especially a long one, like the Neptune Tunnel in Aquatica.  >:( I still have some hope that someone, someday will undertake this task, too.  ::)

I don't care that NFSHS is over 20 years old.  :P


Anyway, I see you are very interested in increasing the AI Cops difficulty.  :)
A few years back, a member, DrSpeed found a way to use NFSHS ghost files (.gst) to edit a race which required hex editing. We collaborated and made a cheat engine table to make it a little easier for everyone else to do on their own.
Using this method, we were able to increase the max amount of AI cops from 5 to 8. You can even specify which vehicle they drive!  We were able to do a few other things, too.  ;)
 
I'm posting the link to that topic if you are interested. Be warned that it is a bit finnicky to begin with, but with a little time and patience, you will get the hang of it: https://www.nfsaddons.com/forums//index.php?topic=1831.0

Actually, this is the only way I play NFSHS now.  =D

EDIT: Forgot to mention: Welcome to NFSaddons!  :D
« Last Edit: Apr 19, 2021, 5:28 PM by Zalcus20 »

Reply #4
on: Apr 20, 2021, 10:16 AM
Rookie Member
Posts: 8 Joined: April 18, 2021

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Yeah, the tunnel bug is very annoying indeed  ::) It also happens when there is an obstacle in the middle like the divided section on Durham Road.

I think old NFS games aged well. I still enjoy HS as much as 15 years ago  :D

The topic you linked is very interesting. Too bad that VEG is not into coding NFS anymore. I don't know much about programming, but I guess with his help we could be able to implement some of those findings into the game. Maybe as an additional menu switch or linking it to difficulty. Eg: On champion level there are 8 cops and they drive better cars then your current class. This would make the game even more enjoyable for everyone. Probably add longer spike strips too as it was in III.  8)

I'm still thinking of how we could increase the number of utilized jersey barriers. Instead of the default 5/2 use 5/5, cause by default only the first 2 roadblocks have them and the other 3 use slightly lighter flares and acts as a dummy roadblock. And then the 6th starts over and replaces the first set somewhere else. And be honest, w/o barriers it's as uneffective as in NFS3.  >:(
Interesting that I had a bug once when cops utilized 3 set of barriers on a track at a the same time. No idea how that happened. Checked it many times and it's for real, three sets. It proves that using unlimited sets is possible.  ;)


A default difficulty increase pack would be nice too. We could start with Fox's patches and on top of that edit how the AI controls race cars too. So it would offer a much much more difficult challenge than the default champion level does. Of course it takes time to experiment with carp features, tho I firmly believe that the effort would be well received in the community that still plays/mods HS. This game has lots of potential if we can ever find out how and what to do.  =D

Reply #5
on: Apr 21, 2021, 9:49 AM
Sr. Member
Posts: 163 Joined: March 22, 2014

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Quote
Too bad that VEG is not into coding NFS anymore. I don't know much about programming, but I guess with his help we could be able to implement some of those findings into the game.     

Funny you mentioned this because when VEG was working on his modern patch, I asked him if it was possible to implement these options into the game. While he did say yes, he mentioned that he did not have plans to do this anytime soon.  :P

I only know very basic hex editing. Definitely nowhere near VEG's level, lol.

I'm still hoping that he will return and add the widescreen support for NFSHS like he did for NFS3.  :)

Reply #6
on: Dec 26, 2022, 9:07 AM
Rookie Member
Posts: 8 Joined: April 18, 2021

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Hi Zalcus,

(Bumping my old topic... but I think it still adds here)

While the above patch fixed the cop behavior in Classic and Time Attack mode, Getaway mode is still useless :D

The cops always try to keep distance from me. I tried all track options (forward, backwards, night, mirrored, weater in every possible version), but seems like a general issue. Now it's no challenge to get away. Literally with 10 mph also works since the police is never really going to use force, catch up on you etc.

Do you have any ideas how this could be fixed?

Reply #7
on: Dec 26, 2022, 10:05 AM
Sr. Member
Posts: 163 Joined: March 22, 2014

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I know this issue way too well...  :D  EA holds our hand too much with NFSHS as opposed to NFS III.  EA, we're not babies for crying out loud!  ::)

Unfortunately there's no patch that exists to correct this issue. But maybe the guys at discord could figure out a way.

It should be possible. ;)

Reply #8
on: Mar 03, 2023, 4:39 PM
Rookie Member
Posts: 6 Joined: January 17, 2023

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Hello zokni,

I have encountered this bug many times as well.

Fortunately, someone made a patch a while back that fixes this problem.  IIRC, the author of this patch is Fox. The link is still available here on their google drive: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B8y8z35Y1fY_SDNpM1JUZGkzdlE

1. Open the folder labeled "Need For Speed High Stakes" folder and download the "NFSHS Crap.7z".

2. Extract the file and open the readme for further instructions. NOTE: You will only need the files found in the folder labeled "Patch -  Difficulty Selection" and don't forget to make a backup of your originals just in case.

BTW. It is recommended to use the VEG modern patch with this patch.

--------
EDIT: I misunderstood your post. Sorry. I thought you were trying to fix the problem where AI cops drive slow at night (especially after breaking their headlights) during a pursuit. That is what Fox's patch fixes. It does not however fix the issue with cops driving the speed limit when not engaged in pursuit.

AFAIK, I don't think there is any fix or patch that exists for the non-engaged cops driving the speed limit. I'm sure it's possible to make one, but that would most likely require reverse engineering the nfs4 executable where possibly all AI data is stored. :-\

Google Drive won't allow downloads of this file because it says there's a virus and only the owner can download. Do you have another link or way way to receive this patch from Fox? Thanks.

Reply #9
on: Mar 15, 2023, 9:58 AM
Rookie Member
Posts: 6 Joined: January 17, 2023

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I found this archive which it looks like it may be the same patch. Worked for me.   :D

https://github.com/alexstrout/NFS4/tree/master/Patch%20-%20Difficulty%20Selection

Reply #10
on: Mar 28, 2023, 8:23 AM
Hero Member
Posts: 263 Joined: February 04, 2009

  • *****
The disable slow cops on Night Driving patch only changes at position 0x000A4C from 7409 to EB09?
Get T3ED, Stock & Expansion Pack from Magenta Cloud.

Reply #11
on: Apr 30, 2023, 3:13 AM
Rookie Member
Posts: 23 Joined: November 03, 2005

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If you want harder cops, use this opponent acceleration tables:

For standard pursuit cars ( BMW, Caprice, Suv, Sedan and Hatchback ):

Table 1:     8.4,8.8,9.2,9.6,9.92,10.24,10.48,10.72,10.88,11.04,11.2,11.28,11.36,11.44
Table 2:     11.44,11.36,11.36,11.28,11.2,11.04,10.96,10.8,10.64,10.4,10.24,10,9.76,9.44
Table 3:     9.2,8.96,8.64,8.4,8.16,7.92,7.68,7.52,7.28,7.04,6.8,6.64,6.4,6.24
Table 4:     6,5.84,5.6,5.44,5.28,5.04,4.88,4.72,4.56,4.4,4.24,4.08,3.92,3.76
Table 5:     3.6,3.44,3.28,3.12,2.96,2.8,2.72,2.56,2.4,2.24,2.16,2,1.84,1.76
Table 6:     1.6,1.52,1.36,1.28,1.12,1.04,0.88,0.8,0.64,0.56,0.48,0.32,0.24,0.08
Table 7 and 8:     0.0,0.0,0.0,0.0,0.0,0.0,0.0,0.0,0.0,0.0,0.0,0.0,0.0,0.0

For interceptors ( Diablo, Porsche, Corvette, Camaro and La Nina ):

Table 1:     12.2,12.7,13.2,13.7,14.1,14.5,14.8,15.1,15.3,15.5,15.7,15.8,15.9,16
Table 2:     16,15.9,15.9,15.8,15.7,15.5,15.4,15.2,15,14.7,14.5,14.2,13.9,13.5
Table 3:     13.2,12.9,12.5,12.2,11.9,11.6,11.3,11.1,10.8,10.5,10.2,10,9.7,9.5
Table 4:     9.2,9,8.7,8.5,8.3,8,7.8,7.6,7.4,7.2,7,6.8,6.6,6.4
Table 5:     6.2,6,5.8,5.6,5.4,5.2,5.1,4.9,4.7,4.5,4.4,4.2,4,3.9
Table 6:     3.7,3.6,3.4,3.3,3.1,3,2.8,2.7,2.5,2.4,2.3,2.1,2,1.8
Table 7:     1.7,1.6,1.5,1.4,1.2,1.1,1,0.9,0.7,0.6,0.5,0.4,0.2,0.1
Table 8:     0.0,0.0,0.0,0.0,0.0,0.0,0.0,0.0,0.0,0.0,0.0,0.0,0.0,0.0

Cops will be still dumb, but fast as hell.
Dont use it if you like be a cop. AI opponents almost never finish the race ( even on tracks with my AI ).
If you prefer AA, AAA class racing, you can use Interceptors table for all pursuit cars. And offcourse night cops patch is required.

DON'T FORGET TO MAKE A BACKUP!

 


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