Spawning AI

modkit.ai puts AI creatures into the world. You can feed a hungry corner of the map, run an event with a pack of hostile dinosaurs, or clean up when the server gets slow.

What you can spawn

print(table.concat(modkit.ai.species(), ", "))

The list has dinosaurs, the small animals (boar, deer, goat, rabbit, chicken, crab, bullfrog, lizard, sea turtle) and four kinds of fish. A spawned dinosaur is a full AI dinosaur with the game's own behaviour for that species. Fish only make sense in water.

A complete resource

resources/wildlife/manifest.lua

name "wildlife"
server "server.lua"

resources/wildlife/server.lua

local FEEDING_GROUNDS = {
  { species = "deer", x = -180000, y = 52000, z = 1500, count = 4 },
  { species = "boar", x = 96000, y = -41000, z = 900, count = 3 },
}
local MAX_SCRIPT_AI = 40

local function restock()
  if modkit.players.count() == 0 then return end
  local alive = 0
  for _, creature in ipairs(modkit.ai.list()) do
    if creature.alive then alive = alive + 1 end
  end
  for _, spot in ipairs(FEEDING_GROUNDS) do
    if alive + spot.count > MAX_SCRIPT_AI then return end
    local ids = modkit.ai.spawn(spot.species, spot.x, spot.y, spot.z, { count = spot.count, behavior = "passive" })
    if ids then alive = alive + #ids end
  end
end

modkit.events.add("serverStarted", function()
  modkit.setInterval(20 * 60 * 1000, restock)
end)

modkit.commands.add("spawnai", function(player, species, count, behavior)
  local x, y, z = player:pos()
  if not x then player:message("You need a dinosaur to mark the place.") return end
  local ids, why = modkit.ai.spawn(species or "", x + 1000, y, z, {
    count = tonumber(count) or 1,
    behavior = behavior or "default",
    yaw = player.yaw + 180,
  })
  player:message(ids and (#ids .. " spawned") or ("Failed: " .. why))
end, "ai.spawn")

modkit.commands.add("hunt", function(player)
  local x, y, z = player:pos()
  if not x then return end
  local ids = modkit.ai.spawn("carnotaurus", x + 6000, y, z, { count = 2, growth = 0.8, behavior = "aggressive" })
  if not ids then return end
  modkit.world.announce("Two hungry Carnotaurus were seen near " .. player.name .. ".", "Hunt", 10)
  modkit.setTimeout(10 * 60 * 1000, function()
    for _, id in ipairs(ids) do modkit.ai.despawn(id) end
  end)
end, "ai.spawn")

modkit.commands.add("aicount", function(player)
  local counts, total = modkit.ai.census()
  for species, n in pairs(counts) do player:message(species .. ": " .. n) end
  player:message(total .. " AI in the world, " .. modkit.ai.count() .. " from scripts")
end, "ai.spawn")

modkit.commands.add("aiwipe", function(player)
  player:message(modkit.ai.wipe() .. " AI removed")
end, "ai.wipe")

The coordinates are placeholders. Use positions from your map.

Things to know

• A creature spawns 5 m above the position you give and drops to the ground. Pass the ground height as z, for example from player:pos().
• Several creatures are placed in rows of five, 3 m apart, starting 6 m to the side of the position.
• behavior = "passive" makes the creature flee from everything. "aggressive" stops it from fleeing and puts it into the attack state. "default" leaves the behaviour of the species alone.
• The first spawn of a species loads its blueprint, which can cause a short hitch. Spawn rare species once after the server started if that bothers you.
• Handles from spawn belong to creatures your scripts made. The game's own AI has no handle. census and wipe see all AI.
• census and wipe walk through every object of the game. Run them from a command, not from a fast timer.
• Scripts can keep 500 creatures alive at once. A server gets slow long before that, so set your own limit like MAX_SCRIPT_AI above.
• Creatures are gone after a restart. There is nothing to clean up.

Spawned creatures behave the way the game made their species. To decide yourself how they sense, hunt and flee, give them a brain. The custom AI guide shows how.