[WIP] Making BDArmory AI work with Atmosphere Autopilot

[UndeadFirefly]

I've been using BDArmory and Atmosphere Autopilot for some time. Recently I was able to make some changes to how BDArmory AI work to make it feed its inputs to Atmosphere Autopilot. Basically I moved BDA's autopilot from the OnFlyByWire layer to the OnPreAutopilotUpdate layer, which is before AA's director in the OnAutopilotUpdate layer. I also disabled the autopilot's  turning on SAS every update tick so AA can work.

The results are quite promising for my use case at the very least, which is mostly just 1v1 dogfights and some BVR fights. AI planes seem to be much more stable now and I don't have to spend hours tuning the PID values now that AA can keep the plane stable and within physical limits automatically. I can just make a plane, tune AI values a little bit and start fighting.

I have not tested these changes with other aspects and systems of the mod (VTOL pilot for example) so I can't say if it breaks anything else, especially since SAS is turned off the make AA functional.

Credits to the BDArmory Plus team, Bors-Barboris, author of Atmosphere Autopilot for coming up with the idea here: 

You can check out the edits here: https://github.com/ko-82/BDArmory/commit/955a73340c6d08cc0e96f1320ead25e1b7adde54

Let me know what you think. I personally am having much more fun than before, since BDArmory AI can be frustrating at times on inherently unstable/maneuverable aircraft in my experience.

 

 

[Boris-Barboris]

Oh wow, it actually works) Congrats! Amazing what stuff can resurface after so many years.

Yeah, makes sense since AA makes planes feel very much alike, abstracts away their airframe particularities. With that in mind you can tune PIDs just once for a generic AA-controlled fighter and use this tuning in most of your designs.

Edited May 25, 2023 by Boris-Barboris
semantics