Boids Entities
Boids exist only as an atmospheric entity, to add life and ambiance to the level. Boid entities simulate living animal objects that have simulated group behavior and obstacle avoidance. Their complex behavior arises from the interaction of an individual agent (Boid) with other agents and the environment that they are moving in. For information on setting up Boids from an Asset Creation perspective, see Boids (animated). Alternatively, you can place the Boid as an Entity from the Entity tab. Within the Create Object → Legacy Entities, open the folder that contains the animal you want and drag it to the scene. If the animal isn't displayed immediately, move the camera a good distance away from the Archetype Entity and then zoom back in. If this also fails to display the animal, save and reload the level. Ambient animals cannot be directly controlled, but the player can interact with them. They come complete with sound effects and a simple flocking behavior. It is important to note that when referencing the available parameters below, that not all of them are available for all boid classes. For example, Behavior classes are only needed for the Bugs boid class and don't appear in other Boid properties. Property Description Animation Deprecated Behavior This sets the movement behavior for the boid entity. Count The Count number specifies how many individual objects will be spawned. gravity_at_death Gravity acceleration that affects the body of the killed boid. Invulnerable Specifies whether the boid can be killed or not. Mass Mass of each individual boid. Model Geometry for the boid, can be a character (.CHR) or static geometry (.CGF). Model1-5 Additional geometry for the boid can be a character (.CHR) or static geometry (.CGF). If you specify more than one option the geometry will be selected at random. Property Description AttractDistMax Maximum distance at which one boid can see another boid. Boids that are too far away will not be interacted with. AttractDistMin Minimal distance that boids are comfortable with to stay close to each other before the separation force starts to affect them. EnableFlocking When enabled, the rules of the emergent flocking behavior will be calculated on the whole flock of boids. FactorAlign Steer towards the average heading of local flock-mates. FactorCohesion Steer to move toward the average position of local flock-mates. FactorSeperation Steer to avoid crowding local flock-mates, only when closer then AttractDistMin. FieldOfViewAngle Field of vision of the boid to consider other boids as flock-mates. Note that these properties only apply when boids are walking on the ground. Boids will only be able to land in game mode and not while editing. Property Description FactorAlign FactorCohesion FactorOrigin FactorSeparation HeightOffset OnGroundIdleDurationMax OnGroundIdleDurationMin OnGroundWalkDurationMax OnGroundWalkDurationMin WalkSpeed WalkToIdleDuration Property Description FactorAvoidLand Force coefficient to divert boid from the land or water. FactorHeight Controls the force that is applied to keep boids at the original height for the flock. FactorOrigin Controls the force that attract boids to the origin point of the flock. FactorTakeOff Vertical movement speed scale during take-off. FlightTime Approximate flight time before attempting to land. HeightMax Maximum height boids can fly to (Height above land). HeightMin Minimal height boid can fly at (Height above land). LandDecelerationHeight Height at which boids will start to decelerate when landing. MaxAnimSpeed If the boid had animations, then you can use this variable to control the speed of the animation SpeedMax Maximum speed that the boid can move with. SpeedMin Minimal speed that the boid can move with. Property Description Activate When checked, active boids are visible and move from the start of the level. Alternatively, boids can be activated at a later stage with the activate event. AnimationDist Maximum distance from camera at which animations will update. FollowPlayer When checked, boids will only wrap around the current player position, flock origin point becomes the player position. NoLanding Turns landing for bird flocks on/off. ObstacleAvoidance Boids will sense the physical environment and be diverted from the physical obstacles. Radius Maximum radius the boid can move from the flock origin point. SpawnFromPoint If set to true, all the boids will spawn at the boid entity position. StartOnGround If true, boids will spawn on the ground, otherwise they will spawn in the air. VisibilityDist Maximum distance from which the whole flock can be visible. Property Description EffectScale Scale of the particle effect to be played. waterJumpSplash Particle effect to be played when the boid splashes into the water.Overview
Placing Boids as an Entity
Boid Entity Properties
Boid
Flocking
Ground
The alignment calculation tries to ensure that all boids move in roughly the same direction. The cohesion calculation tries to ensure that boids group together. This origin factor controls how much boids are attracted to their point of origin. The separation calculation tries to ensure that boids avoid one another. Vertical offset of boids from the ground. Maximum time boids will spend in idle state. Minimum time boids will spend in idle state. Maximum time boids will spend in walk state. Minimum time boids will spend in walk state. Walk speed when boids land. Time it takes for boids to transition from walking to idle state. Movement
Options
If the boid flies too far away from the player, they will reappear on the opposite side.
This option adds heavier physical checks on the boids and should be used carefully, only when really needed.
If player camera is further away from flock origin than Visibility Distance, boids will not be simulated or rendered.Particle Effects