ALiVE.OS · ALiVE 3 Development
Virtualisation & Spawning
How ALiVE runs a whole battlefield in the background and brings units into play near you, rebuilt for smoother performance and faster spawning.
Recently rebuilt
ALiVE 3 is in active development. This briefing describes work in progress, and the behaviour it covers is subject to change as testing continues. Check the changelog at the foot of the page for what has moved recently.
On this page
Overview
What Virtualisation & Spawning does
ALiVE runs most of a mission's units as lightweight background 'profiles' rather than full AI, so an entire map's worth of forces can move, fight and hold ground at once without grinding the mission to a halt. When a player gets close, the relevant profiles are spawned into real, playable units; when everyone moves away again, they hand back to the background. This is the engine that lets ALiVE simulate large, persistent battles.
The part that decides which units to bring into play, and when, was rebuilt recently. Instead of one routine handling everything, spawning is now split into independent 'activators' that each lay claim to the units they care about, with a central coordinator managing them and the spawner simply carrying out the spawn and despawn. What you see in game should behave the same as before, but the foundation is cleaner and the performance is better.
How it works
How groups spawn and despawn around players
Most of an ALiVE war is virtual: groups are kept as data, moving and fighting on paper. Only groups near a player become real soldiers, and they turn back into data once nobody is near.
- VirtualThe group is data. It still follows its orders at Virtual Unit Speed and fights other virtual groups within Virtual Combat Range (255 m) at Virtual Combat Speed.
- ClaimedIt comes within Spawn Radius (1500 m) of a player on foot, in a land vehicle or in a boat, within Spawn Heli Radius (1500 m) of a player in a helicopter, within Spawn Radius plus 800 m of a connected UAV, or near the Zeus camera while Zeus Spawn Virtual Groups is on. A unit a Zeus is remote-controlling counts as a player too, so it isn't put away under them. A player in a plane spawns nothing unless Spawn Planes Radius is raised from 0.
- Waiting for a slotAt most Active Limiter groups (144) are real at once, all sides together; vehicles don't count. The rest stay virtual and the nearest goes first when a slot frees.
- SpawningSoldiers appear one at a time, Smooth Spawn (0.3 s) apart. A new vehicle can't be damaged for Vehicle Spawn Settle (15 s) while Arma settles it.
- RealOrdinary Arma soldiers and vehicles, fighting with the game's own AI.
- LingeringOnce no player is within 1.2 times the radius it would despawn, but it waits while a player got out of its vehicle less than Player Occupant Grace (300 s) ago, or a player died within Post-Death Radius (500 m) less than Post-Death Grace (120 s) ago, plus Mid-Combat Extension (60 s, up to 5 times) while it's still fighting. A group whose leader is in the air stays real until it's back on the ground.
- Virtual againIts position, damage, ammo and orders are written back into the data and the soldiers are removed. It carries on at step 1.
Worth knowing. The Active Limiter is one pool for every side, not per faction. And a group only turns back into data at 1800 m, not 1500 m, so walking in and out of the radius doesn't make groups flicker.
Capabilities
What it handles
A whole battlefield at once
Most units run as lightweight background profiles, so large forces operate across the entire map without the frame cost of full AI everywhere.
Units appear as you approach
Profiles near a player are brought into the world as real units, then hand back to the background once players move away.
Modular spawn control
Spawning is now driven by independent activators that each claim the units they want kept live, coordinated centrally, which makes the system far easier to extend.
Smoother and more responsive
The rebuilt pipeline is lighter on frame rate and brings units into play more promptly than before.
Survives save and load
Virtualised units can carry through saving and loading a mission, so a battle in progress is still there after a reload: groups carry on along their saved route, vehicles keep their fuel, damage and ammo, and aircraft remember what's on their pylons. This needs the Persistent setting turned on (off by default) and the ALiVE Data module set up to save.
Room to grow
The modular design is what made the longer-range Air Combat Spawn possible, and it leaves room for more spawn modes to be added alongside it later.
Flying against a living battlefield
An optional second spawn mode built for pilots. With it on, while a player is in a plane or helicopter, any aircraft that is genuinely airborne stays real no matter how far away it is (friendly or enemy), anti air vehicles stay real everywhere so they can threaten you at range, and ground traffic comes into play in a wide circle around your aircraft rather than at the usual walking distance. Off by default. A KILLBOX map marker can also keep the AI in an area spawned for aircraft to attack, once Kill Box Markers is ticked.
Anti-air that can hit an AI Commander's aircraft
While an AI Commander's aircraft is in the air, the enemy's anti-air vehicles within Air Defence Radius (4000 m by default) of it are spawned with their crews and shoot at it, with no player nearby. Only the anti-air is spawned, and it goes back to virtual about a minute and a half after the aircraft has gone. On by default (Air Defence Spawning).
Routes round terrain, water and trouble
Virtual groups route around terrain, water and dense areas, and boats follow rivers as well as open sea. With Route Memory turned on (Low or High, off by default), routes on foot and by land vehicle also steer round places their side has lost men or vehicles or come under attack, for a few hours.
Groups wait for a slot
The Active Limiter caps how many groups are live at once. A group that doesn't fit stays virtual and spawns when a slot frees up, nearest a player first. Nothing is deleted.
Virtualise on the fly
A Zeus can hand live AI groups over to the background system in the middle of a mission, straight from the Zeus module list, as long as the Virtual AI System module is already in the mission. ALiVE's other Zeus modules, for tasks, air strikes, reinforcements, IEDs, civilians, hubs, FOBs and rally points, are on Zeus Modules.
Keep units out of it
Units you want left as full AI can be kept out of virtualisation, either by syncing them to the module in Eden with Synchronisation Options set to "Virtualize all editor placed units except synced units", or by marking them from a script.
How to use it
Getting started
- Decide what gets virtualised at mission startPlace the ALiVE Virtual AI System module and open Synchronisation Options. On the default, "Only virtualize synced units", only the groups you sync become profiles. "Virtualize all editor placed units except synced units" does the reverse; it's quicker on a mostly ALiVE mission with a few scripted set pieces you want left as full AI.
- Keep specific units out of itFor units placed in Eden, use the setting above: on "except synced units", synced groups stay out for the whole mission. For script-created groups, set
ALIVE_profileIgnoreto true on the group and every virtualisation skips it, mission start and Zeus included, so setting it ininit.sqfworks. ALiVE marks its own combat support vehicles and house garrisons the same way. - Hand units over in the middle of a missionOpen the Zeus create panel, go to the modules tab and look under ALiVE for "Virtualise Groups In Radius". Place it where you want the centre of the circle, type a radius in metres and confirm. Distances are measured flat, so height above the ground makes no difference. Leaving the box empty cancels without doing anything, and a radius of zero is refused.
- Check what the Zeus module takesIt takes AI groups with at least one living member inside the radius, plus empty vehicles inside it. A group counts as inside if any single member is, so a patrol straddling the edge goes over whole. It skips anything with a player in it, anything a player is riding in, anything already virtualised and anything marked to be ignored, and reports how many groups and vehicles it took.
- Troubleshoot a missing or idle Zeus moduleZeus only lists modules from the addons the curator has been given, so if it's not in your list, check the Game Master module's addon setting first. It also needs the Virtual AI System running and says so if it isn't. It only takes groups that aren't already profiles, so where ALiVE already owns everything nearby it can correctly report taking nothing.
- Check the Active Limiter if groups don't appearThe Virtual AI System module's Active Limiter caps how many AI groups can be live at once (groups, not men; default 144). When it's full, a group without a slot stays virtual and the one nearest a player takes the next free slot. Nothing is deleted, and the server log says how many are waiting. Raise the limiter if your server can carry it, or place fewer groups.
- Make vehicles spawn further out, or keep an area live for aircraftSet Vehicle Spawn Radius (m) above Spawn Radius (m) so ground vehicles are seen driving in. To keep an area's AI spawned for aircraft to attack, tick Kill Box Markers and place a map marker whose text starts with KILLBOX, with a radius after it if you like (KILLBOX 2km, at most 5 km). Delete the marker to end it.
Settings
Every setting, and what it does
These settings decide when ALiVE's virtual AI turns into real, spawned soldiers and vehicles, how far from players that happens and how many groups can be live at once. They also control how virtual groups move and fight while nobody's near, how long spawned AI hangs around after players leave or die, and whether virtual AI is saved to the database.
Presets that use this module: Air war: NATO and CSAT fight for the sky, Combat support: CAS, transport and artillery on call, Combined arms assault: guns, armour and infantry, Defensive: CSAT invades, NATO holds, First steps: one enemy commander, Forward bases: build and hold FOBs, Ground convoy: transport, escort and recruits, Hearts and minds: NATO wins over the towns, Hunt the recruiters: NATO against FIA, Insurgency: FIA against NATO, One area: NATO holds an area you mark, Whole island: NATO takes and holds an island, Offensive: NATO attacks CSAT-held ground, Outbreak: zombies hold an area, Persistent campaign: a war that carries on where you saved, Special operations: a small team against a held town, Three-way war: NATO, CSAT and AAF. Place one in the editor to see it set up.
Quick setups
Better server performance on a big map
- Active Limiter: 80
- Spawn Radius (m): 1000
- Pathfinding Grid Size/Resolution: Auto - Performance
Fewer live groups, a tighter spawn bubble and a coarser pathfinding grid all cut the work the server does every second.
Air-heavy mission with jets and attack helicopters
- Air Combat Spawn: Ticked
- Spawn Planes Radius (m): 3000
While a player is in an aircraft, every aircraft already flying and every anti-air vehicle that can fire is spawned wherever it is, and a player flying a plane spawns AI within 3000 m, so pilots have threats and targets.
Zeus-run mission where the Zeus shouldn't wake up the AI
- Zeus Spawn Virtual Groups: No
Only players, UAVs a player has connected a terminal to, and anything the mission adds as a spawn source wake the AI, so moving the Zeus camera around leaves it virtual.
Firefights that don't vanish when a player dies and respawns far away
- Post-Death Grace (s): 300
- Post-Death Radius (m): 800
AI near where a player died stays spawned for 5 minutes, so the fight is still there when the squad comes back.
Checking what the virtual AI is doing without showing it to players
- Debug Virtualised Profiles: Yes
- Enable Debug: No
Admins and Zeus see every virtual group on the map while regular players see nothing.
General
6 settings
Choices: Yes / No
Logs extra detail to the server log and, in singleplayer or on a listen server, puts a marker on the map for every AI group (side colour, spawned groups solid, virtual ones faded) whenever the host opens the map. On a dedicated server no markers appear; use Debug Virtualised Profiles for that.
AffectsSeparate from Debug Virtualised Profiles; with both on, a host sees two overlapping sets of markers.
TrySet Yes when testing a mission on your own, then back to No before anyone else plays it.
Choices: Yes / No
Shows map markers for every virtual and spawned AI group, refreshed every 5 seconds, but only to logged-in admins and Zeus. Regular players see nothing, and it costs nothing when it's off.
AffectsTurn Enable Debug off if you only want this admin-only view.
TrySet Yes on a live server so an admin can watch the AI without spoiling it for players.
Choices: No / Yes
Saves the virtual AI to the ALiVE database and loads it back when the mission restarts, so groups keep their positions and losses between sessions, and vehicles keep their fuel, damage and ammo.
AffectsNeeds ALiVE's database persistence set up for the mission to have anywhere to save to.
See it inPersistent campaign: a war that carries on where you saved (true)
Choices: Only virtualize synced units / Virtualize all editor placed units except synced units
Decides which of your own editor-placed units ALiVE turns into virtual AI at mission start. Either the groups of the units you sync to this module, with the vehicles they sit in, so syncing one soldier takes their whole squad, or every placed group and vehicle except the ones you sync.
TryPick the second option and sync the editor groups you want left as normal AI, a scripted base garrison for instance; every other placed group goes virtual. A group holding a player's slot is never made virtual at mission start either way, except with Enable AI off: the slot stays empty until its player joins, so leave the players' squads unsynced on the first option and sync them on the second.
The most AI groups that can be spawned at once. It counts groups, not individual soldiers; once the cap's reached, further groups stay virtual until a slot frees up, with the ones nearest players spawning first.
AffectsWorks with the spawn radii and Smooth Spawn, which decide which groups want to spawn and how quickly they appear.
TryLower it to around 80 if the server frame rate drops in big firefights.
Choices: Yes / No
When on, an active Zeus counts like a player for spawning, so virtual groups near the Zeus spawn in. When off, groups near the Zeus but far from any player stay virtual.
AffectsOnly affects normal proximity spawning; Air Combat Spawn reacts to players in aircraft, never to Zeus.
TrySet No if your Zeus flies the camera around a lot and you don't want AI waking up all over the map.
Profile Spawn Modes
7 settings
Virtual AI spawns into the world when it's within range of a player, and the range can differ depending on what the player's in. It's always on and the box can't be unticked.
AffectsThe five radius settings below set how far that range reaches.
How close, in metres, a player on foot or in a ground vehicle has to be before virtual AI spawns in.
AffectsAlso sets the UAV radius when Spawn UAV Radius is left at -1.
TryDrop it to 1000 on a busy server, or raise it to 2000 if players are using long-range optics and seeing empty ground.
The spawn range used instead of Spawn Radius while a player is in a helicopter. Setting 0 effectively stops helicopters spawning anything.
TryRaise it to 2500 so door gunners and helicopter pilots see enemies before they're right on top of them.
The spawn range used while a player is in a plane. At the default of 0, players flying planes don't spawn any AI.
TrySet it to 3000 if players fly close air support and need targets on the ground.
How far from a player on foot vehicles, and the groups riding in or crewing them, spawn. Infantry still spawns at Spawn Radius.
AffectsSet it above Spawn Radius so vehicles are seen driving in rather than appearing with their crews climbing aboard. Blank, or no higher than Spawn Radius, spawns vehicles at Spawn Radius as before. It only applies to players on foot: a player in a car or truck uses Spawn Radius for vehicles too, a player in a helicopter or plane uses that aircraft's spawn radius, and a drone operator uses the UAV radius.
TryWith Spawn Radius 1500, try 3000.
Choices: Ticked / Unticked
Lets players keep an area's AI spawned for aircraft to hit. A map marker whose text starts with KILLBOX keeps everything around it spawned while it's there and a player is within 10 km of it. KILLBOX 2000 or KILLBOX 2km sets the radius (at most 5 km); without a number it uses Spawn Radius. The radius comes from the text, not the marker's shape. Delete the marker to end it.
AffectsEvery group inside a box is spawned, so a big one costs as much as a player standing there with that spawn radius. A marker from any side counts.
TryTick it for a mission with player pilots, then mark a target area KILLBOX 1500 before take-off.
The spawn range around a UAV a player has connected to with a UAV terminal. Leave it at -1 to use Spawn Radius plus 800 m, or set 0 to effectively stop UAVs spawning anything.
AffectsAt -1 it follows whatever you set for Spawn Radius.
Air Combat Spawn
3 settings
While a player is in a plane or helicopter, every aircraft of any side that is already flying, plus every anti-air vehicle that can fire, is spawned wherever it is on the map. Once the player's aircraft is airborne, vehicles around it spawn out to the two radii below.
AffectsWorks alongside normal proximity spawning rather than replacing it; the two radius settings below only apply when this is ticked.
TryTick it for missions built around jets or attack helicopters so pilots always have threats and targets.
How far around an airborne, player-flown plane vehicles of any side spawn, with their crews. Infantry on foot aren't covered by this; they only spawn inside the normal Spawn Planes Radius. Set 0 to turn it off.
AffectsOnly used when Air Combat Spawn is ticked.
How far around an airborne, player-flown helicopter vehicles of any side spawn, with their crews. Infantry on foot aren't covered by this; they only spawn inside the normal Spawn Heli Radius. Set 0 to turn it off.
AffectsOnly used when Air Combat Spawn is ticked.
Air Defence Spawn
2 settings
While an AI Commander's aircraft is in the air, the enemy's anti-air vehicles near it are spawned with their crews so they can shoot at it, with no player needed nearby, as the Active Limiter allows. Only the anti-air is spawned, and it goes back to virtual a minute and a half after the aircraft has gone. Without this, anti-air nobody is near stays virtual and can't touch a flying aircraft.
AffectsSeparate from Air Combat Spawn, which reacts to player-flown aircraft. The radius below only applies when this is ticked.
TrySend a commander's jet over an enemy anti-air site with no player nearby and watch it get shot at.
Choices: 0 or more
How close, in metres, an enemy anti-air vehicle has to be to an AI Commander's aircraft in the air to be spawned. Set 0 to disable.
AffectsOnly used when Air Defence Spawning is ticked.
Spawn Pacing
2 settings
The pause, in seconds, between each soldier appearing when a group spawns, so a big spawn doesn't cause a stutter. Type a plain number with a full stop, like 0.3; anything else is ignored with a warning in the server log and 0.3 is used instead.
AffectsAlso sets how often ALiVE checks for the next group to spawn, which never goes faster than every 0.05 seconds even at 0.
TryRaise it to 0.5 if players notice frame drops when large groups appear.
Choices: A number of seconds
How long a newly spawned AI vehicle can't be damaged, so it can settle on the ground without exploding on a rock or wall. If it has taken more than 10 percent damage or is under the ground when the time's up, it's frozen and removed 5 minutes later.
AffectsHigher values are safer for vehicles but mean freshly spawned enemy vehicles shrug off hits for longer.
TryDrop it to 10 seconds if players complain that enemy armour ignores their first shots.
Despawn Linger
4 settings
How long an AI vehicle stays spawned after the last player gets out of it, so it doesn't vanish under players who borrowed it. While a player is actually inside, it never despawns.
TryRaise it to 600 if players often park captured vehicles and walk off to clear a town.
How long AI near where a player died stays spawned, even if that player respawns far away, so the rest of the firefight can play out.
AffectsPost-Death Radius sets which AI counts as near.
TrySet 300 if your respawn is far from the action and the squad usually heads straight back.
How close to a player's death AI groups have to be to get the Post-Death Grace linger.
AffectsOnly matters together with Post-Death Grace. It's also how close an enemy has to be for Mid-Combat Extension to keep a group spawned.
Keeps AI that's lingering after a player death spawned for this many more seconds while it's still fighting, and again while the fight goes on, up to five extensions in all.
AffectsA group counts as still fighting while its leader is in Combat or Stealth and a living enemy is within Post-Death Radius, whether or not it has seen that enemy. Crews fighting from vehicles count too. Set 0 to turn it off.
Virtual Combat
3 settings
Choices: Fastest (2.00) / Faster (1.75) / Fast (1.50) / Quick (1.25) / Regular (1.00) / Slow (0.75) / Slower (0.50) / Slowest (0.25)
How fast virtual AI moves across the map while no player is near. 0.50 means half its normal speed.
AffectsChanges how quickly the AI commanders' groups reach objectives and reinforce, so the front line moves faster or slower.
TryPick Slow (0.75) on a small map so enemy groups don't arrive before players are ready.
Choices: Fastest (1.75) / Faster (1.50) / Fast (1.25) / Quick (1.00) / Regular (0.75) / Slow (0.50) / Slower (0.35) / Slowest (0.10)
How quickly fights between virtual groups are decided. Higher values mean each side takes losses faster, so battles away from players end sooner.
TryPick Slower (0.35) if you want off-screen battles to drag on long enough for players to join in.
See it inAir war: NATO and CSAT fight for the sky (Regular (0.75)), Combat support: CAS, transport and artillery on call (Regular (0.75)), Combined arms assault: guns, armour and infantry (Regular (0.75)), Defensive: CSAT invades, NATO holds (Regular (0.75)), Forward bases: build and hold FOBs (Regular (0.75)), Ground convoy: transport, escort and recruits (Regular (0.75)), Hearts and minds: NATO wins over the towns (Regular (0.75)), Hunt the recruiters: NATO against FIA (Regular (0.75)), Insurgency: FIA against NATO (Regular (0.75)), Offensive: NATO attacks CSAT-held ground (Regular (0.75)), Persistent campaign: a war that carries on where you saved (Regular (0.75)), Special operations: a small team against a held town (Regular (0.75)), Three-way war: NATO, CSAT and AAF (Regular (0.75))
How close, in metres, virtual groups have to be to each other before they start fighting.
TryRaise it to 400 on open desert maps where real firefights start at longer range.
Pathfinding
6 settings
Choices: No / Yes
Virtual groups route around terrain, water and dense areas to reach where they're going. Set No and they travel in straight lines instead.
AffectsThe grid size and the two draw settings below only do anything when this is Yes.
TrySet No if you run into problems with virtual movement and want the old straight-line behaviour.
Choices: Auto (size to map - recommended) / Auto - High detail / Auto - Balanced / Auto - Performance
How fine the pathfinding grid is. Every choice sizes the grid to the map automatically; High detail gives more accurate routes and Performance saves server load.
AffectsAuto uses the Balanced setting for the map's size.
TryPick Auto - Performance on a large map if the server's struggling.
Choices: Off / Low / High
Routes on foot and by land vehicle avoid, for a while, places where their side lost men or vehicles or came under attack, and vary slightly so groups don't all walk one line. Low is a little variation, with dangerous ground up to three times dearer to cross; High is more variation, up to five times. Lost groups and land vehicles count most; aircraft and boat losses don't count. A group stuck for 90 seconds (150 on foot) gets a detour.
AffectsNeeds Pathfinding on. The memory is kept for each side separately, fades by half every two hours and starts empty when a saved game is loaded. Off routes exactly as before.
TrySet High, then wipe out a patrol on a road and watch later groups of that side go wide of the spot.
See it inGround convoy: transport, escort and recruits (Low)
Choices: No / Yes
Draws the pathfinding grid on the map as coloured sectors showing land, water, coast and bridges. It's separate from Enable Debug, and an admin can also switch it on or off live from the ALiVE menu.
Choices: No / Yes
Draws each route a virtual group asks for as a line on the map, coloured by side. It's separate from Enable Debug, and an admin can also switch it on or off live from the ALiVE menu.
Choices: Auto (faction boats only) / Always (generic boat fallback) / Never (infantry stay on land)
Lets virtual infantry cross open water by boat when there's no land route. Auto gives a group a boat only if its faction has one (civilians always get a generic boat); Always gives every group a generic boat when the faction has none; Never means no boat is ever added. A group that's already spawned when it reaches water gets the generic boat under Auto as well.
AffectsNever doesn't stop virtual groups being moved across water; they just cross without a boat.
TryPick Never if you don't want ALiVE adding boats to infantry.
Outbreak Game Mode
12 settings
Choices: Faction classnames
Faction classnames, separated by commas, whose groups are zombies. Any faction works, a civilian or compiled one included: each man is made a zombie as he spawns, keeping his clothes and losing his guns. Only used when Game Mode on ALiVE Required is Outbreak; see Zombie Outbreak.
AffectsWhich groups are zombies.
TryWBK_AI_ZHAMBIES, or CIV_F for townsfolk.
See it inOutbreak: zombies hold an area (WBK_AI_ZHAMBIES)
Choices: A number, 0 or more
Damage one zombie does each round of virtual combat against an infantry group. 0.015 matches a rifleman; 0 means zombies never hurt anyone in virtual combat. Zombies can't hurt anyone inside a vehicle.
AffectsVirtual combat only.
Try0.02 for a deadlier horde.
Choices: Metres, 0 turns it off
How far in metres a real zombie group looks for people the zombie mod won't attack: civilians, players in civilian slots and humans on the zombie side. A soldier nearby still comes first. 0 turns the hunt off.
AffectsSpawned zombie groups only.
Try200 for zombies that notice people from further off.
Choices: 0 to 1
Damage each bite does, from 0 to 1. A zombie within about 2 m bites every 1.5 s. The zombie is named as the killer.
AffectsPeople bitten by real zombies.
Try0.15 for seven bites, so people have time to get away.
Choices: Yes, No
Anyone a zombie kills outside a vehicle gets up again as a zombie a few seconds later, in the same clothes: civilians, soldiers of any side and players. A player still respawns as the mission is set up, and the zombie of his body can go after other players.
AffectsWhether the horde grows.
TryNo for a fixed horde.
Choices: A number
The most risen zombies at once, counting the dead about to rise, so a burst of deaths can't go over it. Risen zombies are not Virtual AI groups and are never put away when players leave, so this keeps a long fight from filling the map. While the cap is reached, the dead stay dead.
AffectsRisen zombies only, not placed groups.
Try20 on a busy server.
Choices: No, Yes
Hides supply crates in houses in the towns for players to find: a gun or two from the AI Commanders' own factions with magazines that fit, first aid kits, food and water, and now and then a backpack. One town holds one cache at most, and none is hidden within 300 m of a player. Needs a Civilian Placement module for the towns and an AI Commander for the guns. See Zombie Outbreak.
AffectsOutbreak game mode only. Runs on the server.
TryYes for a scavenging mission.
Choices: A number, 1 to 50
How many caches are hidden at once. Anything outside 1 to 50 is held to that range, and a value that isn't a whole number falls back to 12 with a line in the RPT.
AffectsNever more caches than there are towns to hide them in.
Try6 to make supplies scarce.
Choices: Fallen Towns, Any Town
Fallen Towns hides caches only in towns that have fallen: fewer than a quarter of the people counted there are left, or zombies are within 250 m of the town centre and fewer than 60% are left. A town stays fallen once it falls, so caches appear as the outbreak spreads. Any Town hides them in every town from the start.
AffectsCounting people needs a Civilian Population module. Without one, a town counts as fallen only once zombies are in it.
TryAny Town to give players supplies from the first minute.
Choices: A number, 0 to 1440
Minutes after players empty a cache (fewer than 30% of its items left) before it's taken away and a new one is hidden in another town. It's only taken away while no player is within 300 m. 0 leaves an emptied cache where it is and hides no new one.
AffectsHow fast supplies come back.
Try0 for a fixed number of caches over the whole mission.
Choices: Once Found, Never, Always
When a cache shows on the map as a green "Supply cache" marker: Once Found shows it after a player has come within 12 m of it, Never shows no markers, and Always shows it as soon as it's hidden. A shown marker turns grey, "Supply cache (empty)", once the cache is emptied.
AffectsMap markers only; the crates are there either way.
TryAlways while testing.
Choices: Class names, comma separated
Leave it empty for the automatic loot. Or list what every cache holds, separated by commas, as a class name or class:min-max, for example arifle_MX_F:1-1, 30Rnd_65x39_caseless_mag:3-6, FirstAidKit:2-4. A list replaces the automatic loot completely. Classes this game doesn't have are left out, with a line in the RPT.
AffectsWhat's in every cache.
TryA short list of the mission's own kit.
Overhaul
What changed
- Anti-air shoots at AI Commanders' aircraftAnti-air that no player was near stayed virtual, so an AI Commander's jets and helicopters flew over enemy anti-air untouched. The new Air Defence Spawning setting (on by default) spawns the enemy's anti-air vehicles with their crews while such an aircraft is within Air Defence Radius of them. A radius of 0 turns it off.
- Route MemoryA new setting (Off, Low or High). Routes on foot and by land vehicle remember where their side lost men or vehicles, or came under attack, and go round those places for a while. Each route also varies a little, so groups sent the same way don't walk one identical line. A group that makes no headway for 90 seconds (150 on foot) gets a detour.
- The Active Limiter holds groups backWhen the limiter was full, the next group due to spawn was deleted along with any vehicle it was commanding, and it never came back. Now it stays virtual and spawns when a slot frees up, nearest a player first. The log gives the number waiting and the limit. A mission that relied on the limiter thinning it out now carries its full placed count.
- Vehicles can spawn further out, and Kill Box MarkersVehicle Spawn Radius lets ground vehicles spawn further out than infantry, so they're seen driving in. Kill Box Markers lets a map marker whose text starts with KILLBOX keep the AI around it spawned for aircraft to attack.
- Saves keep more and are smallerVehicles keep their fuel, damage and ammo across a save and reload, and a damaged vehicle stays damaged when it spawns again. Groups carry on along their saved route, looping patrols included, and a patrol keeps going round while no player is near. Placed groups no longer carry a full copy of their objective, which took one small mission's save from 1.79 million characters to 32,000.
- Air Combat SpawnA second spawn mode for pilots, off by default. While a player is in a plane or helicopter, airborne aircraft of any side and anti-air vehicles stay real at any distance, and ground vehicles spawn in a circle around the aircraft, 7000 m for a plane and 5000 m for a helicopter by default (0 switches it off).
Status
Where it stands
Rebuilt spawn architecture
The modular activator-and-coordinator design is in and driving spawning now, with the same visible behaviour as before.
Performance and reactivity gains
Smoother frame rate and quicker spawning across the board.
Air combat spawning
The longer-range activator this page listed as planned is now in. Airborne aircraft and anti air vehicles stay real regardless of distance, and ground traffic is brought into play in a wide circle around a player's aircraft. Optional, and off unless you tick it.
Air Defence Spawning and Route Memory
Anti-air spawns against an AI Commander's aircraft with no player near, and routes can remember dangerous ground. Both are settings on the Virtual AI System module.
Speed pass across the spawning core
Profile storage and lookup rebuilt on faster foundations, repeated calculations cached, and much less work done while the game is paused. Behaviour is meant to be unchanged, so anything that spawns or despawns differently after this is worth reporting.
Settling-in period
The rework is fresh. Anything that spawns, despawns or behaves oddly is worth reporting so it can be caught early.
Air combat spawn, fresh and wanting mileage
This is new and benefits from being flown hard. Worth watching for: units that should be real at range but are not, anti air that engages from implausible distances or not at all, ground vehicles that appear or vanish in obvious blocks under a flight path, and any frame rate cost when the mode is on compared with the same mission with it off.
Room for more spawn modes
The settings are now laid out as a list of spawn modes rather than a single radius, so further modes can sit alongside proximity and air combat as they arrive.
Testing
How you can help
Play a large mission and watch how units come and go around you. The behaviour should feel the same as before, just smoother. Flag anything that looks off around spawning: units that fail to appear when you approach, units that linger or vanish oddly when you move away, groups that spawn in the wrong place or empty, a clear delay before units appear, or any change in performance either way.
When you spot something, note the map, roughly where you were, what the units were doing, and whether the mission had been loaded from a save. A game log from that session is a big help.
For Air Combat Spawn, tick it on the Virtual AI System module and give yourself a plane and a helicopter against a force that has both aircraft and anti air. Fly high and well away from the enemy and see whether airborne enemy aircraft are really there, on radar or in the sky, when they would previously have been out of range. Fly toward known anti air and check it can engage you from far beyond the usual spawn distance. Cross an area of enemy ground forces at altitude and watch traffic come into play well ahead of you rather than underneath you. Then sit on the runway with the engine running and confirm distant ground vehicles stay virtual until you actually lift off. Finally set Plane Vehicle Radius to 0 and confirm the ground circle stops while aircraft and anti air still behave as before. Comparing the same mission with the mode off is the most useful single thing to report, both for behaviour and for frame rate.
For Air Defence Spawning, give an AI Commander a force with aircraft and keep a player well away from an enemy anti-air vehicle. When the aircraft comes within Air Defence Radius of it, the anti-air should appear and fire, then go virtual again about a minute and a half after the aircraft leaves. For Route Memory, set it to High and watch whether routes bend round ground where one side has just lost groups. To check the Active Limiter, set it low (say 10) on a busy mission: no groups should be missing afterwards, and the log should report how many are waiting.
A few defaults worth knowing before you test: Spawn Radius and Spawn Heli Radius are 1500 m, but Spawn Planes Radius is 0, so plane proximity spawning is off out of the box unless you raise it or use Air Combat Spawn instead, and Spawn UAV Radius is -1. On despawn, Player Occupant Grace, Post-Death Grace, Post-Death Radius, and Mid-Combat Extension all have their own default delays under Despawn Linger, worth checking if units seem to disappear too soon or linger too long.
Spotted a problem? Please report it on the ALiVE issue tracker on GitHub, with the map, rough location and what the units were doing so it can be reproduced.
Changelog
Updates to this page
- 2026-11-02A parked reserve vehicle whose crew group had been removed no longer fills the RPT with hashSet and HashGet errors every time it wakes; it's handled like one whose vehicle was destroyed.
- 2026-11-02Headless clients no longer count as players, so they stop keeping the area round their slot spawned. With Zeus Spawn Virtual Groups on, a Zeus module only keeps its area spawned while a player is in it.
- 2026-11-01In Eden the Outbreak settings only show in an Outbreak mission (Game Mode on ALiVE (Required)), and the pathfinding, air and cache rows wait for their switches.
- 2026-11-01The spawn spot check that moves vehicles to a road side or open field no longer moves a static weapon a player built at a FOB.
- 2026-11-01A drone group spawns in its drone, crewed by its own men, and comes back the same after a despawn.
- 2026-11-01Faction Compiler groups now wear their compiled kit every time they spawn, not only the first time. Attacking groups had come back in stock kit.
- 2026-10-31In Outbreak the Virtual AI module can hide supply caches in fallen towns for players to find. Off by default.
- 2026-10-30A unit a Zeus is remote-controlling counts like a player for spawning, so it isn't put away while the Zeus is driving it.
- 2026-10-30Pathfinder routes hand a group far fewer waypoints: points along a straight stretch are merged, about half as many on a test route, without cutting across water.
- 2026-10-30A group whose leader is gone no longer jumps to the bottom-left corner of the map. Its last good position is kept instead.
- 2026-10-30A hosted mission sets up ALiVE's forces while the host is still on the briefing screen again, instead of waiting for Continue. StartisTest is ready in 17 seconds, down from about a minute or more since 28 Oct.
- 2026-10-29Virtualise Groups In Radius now only answers a player who really has Zeus; a request made in another player's name is refused.
- 2026-10-29New Outbreak section at the bottom of the module, used only when Game Mode is Outbreak: Zombie Factions, Zombie Melee Damage, Zombie Hunt Range, Zombie Bite Damage, Zombie Infection and Zombie Infection Cap (see Zombie Outbreak). Zombie groups follow a Runner rather than a Walker, and garrisoned zombies chase prey near their post, then go back to it. The Proximity Spawn heading is the same size as the other headings again.
- 2026-10-28A static gun spawned from a vehicle profile on a low, uneven bank such as a paddy dyke is now made on flat ground nearby. On SOG Khe Sanh, 29 of 36 had come up tilted, most of them wrecked; now all 36 come up level and whole.
- 2026-10-26A vehicle kept on its exact spot (a Player FOB helicopter on its pad or plane on its taxiway, or a Spearhead vehicle) now finds a clear spot nearby when a car or wreck stands where it was, instead of being made inside it.
- 2026-10-23An aircraft hit by an enemy and crashing within 2 minutes is credited to that enemy instead of its own pilot, in the RPT's loss line and for a Destroy AA task.
- 2026-10-19Typed number settings now show their unit in the label, for example Air Defence Radius (m) and Virtual Combat Range (m).
- 2026-10-17New Air Defence Spawning setting (on): while an AI Commander's aircraft is in the air, the enemy's anti-air vehicles within Air Defence Radius (4000 m) of it are spawned with their crews and shoot at it, with no player needed nearby.
- 2026-10-17With Route Memory on, a spawned group that makes no headway towards its next waypoint for 90 s (150 s on foot) marks the ground ahead as blocked for its size and gets a detour laid in front of that waypoint; its orders are never touched (#1086).
- 2026-10-17A spawned group walking a looping patrol now takes an order put in front of its route instead of adding it after its CYCLE, where it was never reached. Groups no longer pile up 50 and more waypoints.
- 2026-10-17New Route Memory setting on the Virtual AI System (Off by default): routes on foot and by land vehicle steer round places their side has lost men or vehicles or come under attack, for a few hours, and each route varies a little so groups sent the same way don't all walk one line. On Altis an 18 km route took 3 to 3.5 seconds on High and on Off alike (#1086).
- 2026-10-15Virtual groups can now be kept out of simulated combat for a set time. C2ISTAR attack waves use it for 15 minutes, so they aren't wiped out before players get near.
- 2026-10-14Vehicle spawn settle time is now a typed number of seconds instead of a few fixed choices (#1083).
- 2026-10-14Clearing a group's orders also cancels the routes still waiting on the pathfinder, so re-tasked groups no longer pile up waypoints.
- 2026-10-11Boats spawn on the water instead of in the air (Davis).
- 2026-10-11A vehicle synced to the Virtual AI System but driven by units ALiVE doesn't manage, such as a player's own AI, is no longer put away from under its crew a spawn radius from where it started: its profile now follows it.
- 2026-10-10New Kill Box Markers: a map marker named KILLBOX keeps the AI around it spawned for aircraft to attack.
- 2026-10-10New Vehicle Spawn Radius lets vehicles spawn further out than infantry, so they're seen driving in.
- 2026-10-09Groups riding in vehicles keep their vehicle's speed after a save is loaded, instead of moving at foot speed.
- 2026-10-09Changing a group's unit classes now updates its unit count as well.
- 2026-10-09A mission whose profiles have all been destroyed can be saved, and reloading it no longer brings back the starting forces.
- 2026-10-09On-spawn code set to run once runs on the group's first spawn only, not again each time it respawns.
- 2026-10-09Saves are far smaller: placed groups no longer carry a full copy of their objective into the save (1.79 million characters down to 32,000 on a small Stratis mission).
- 2026-10-09Vehicles keep their fuel, damage and ammo across a save and reload, instead of coming back full, whole and re-armed.
- 2026-10-09A vehicle with a player in it is profiled once. Each Profile Non-Profiled Units pass used to add another copy of it.
- 2026-10-09A damaged vehicle stays damaged when it goes virtual and spawns again. An MRAP with its engine at 0.6 and a wheel at 0.8 used to come back as good as new.
- 2026-10-07Long campaigns no longer throw "0 elements provided" errors from getNearProfiles and the profile grid now and then. A lookup could pick up a group that was being deleted at that moment; it now skips it.
- 2026-10-07A looping patrol keeps going round while no player is near. Before, it walked its loop once off-screen and then stood still until somebody came close.
- 2026-10-06Groups keep their route through a save: after a reload a patrol walks on from where it had got to, loops included, instead of standing where it was saved.
- 2026-10-05Boats follow rivers: a virtual boat takes a water route along rivers as well as open sea, and stops at the furthest point it can reach when no water route goes all the way.
- 2026-10-03Soldiers on the mission's unit blacklist (
ALiVE_PLACEMENT_CUSTOM_UNITBLACKLIST) now stay out of placed groups, and the rest of each group still comes. - 2026-10-03A group whose dead leader's body was cleared away stays where it was, rather than turning up at the map's corner when it next spawns.
- 2026-10-03Soldiers deleted with Zeus stay gone: they no longer come back when their group next spawns, and a group deleted whole is no longer left behind at the map's corner.
- 2026-10-03A Virtual AI System made by script now gets the editor's Active Limiter of 144 rather than 30.
- 2026-10-03A Virtual AI System made by script now uses pathfinding, as one placed in the editor does.
- 2026-10-03A player's squad keeps the vehicle its AI sit in at mission start. It used to be taken over and deleted whenever the player wasn't aboard, leaving the squad on foot.
- 2026-10-03A player's squad is no longer made virtual at mission start while an AI keeps the player's slot (Enable AI on), so it no longer comes back at base as a separate AI squad after every load.
- 2026-10-03AI keeping a player's slot that nobody takes now stay as normal AI for the whole mission rather than going virtual.
- 2026-10-03The Synchronisation Options tooltip now says what each choice takes over, and how to keep players' squads out when Enable AI is off.
- 2026-10-01With AI Distribution on, a group run by a headless client now gets into a vehicle the Virtual AI System puts it straight into, such as one spawning for it. The men were left standing beside it.
- 2026-09-30A vehicle dropped by parachute now lands in one piece. One that came down on a wall, a shed or a roof used to be wrecked or left sitting on top of it; now it's moved to clear ground nearby.
- 2026-09-29Vehicles from a loaded local save now spawn without script errors, and restored groups no longer each log a combatScanPending line. Worth retesting any persistent mission saved since July.
- 2026-09-29A group riding in a vehicle destroyed while virtual now loses the men it had aboard, as the crew does, and a group with nobody left is killed; a squad in the back used to walk away with everyone.
- 2026-09-29After a saved game loads, the first groups and vehicles made no longer take the place of loaded ones; a loaded group used to freeze where it stood while the AI Commander still counted it.
- 2026-09-29Loading a saved game now clears every profile the mission already had first; every second one used to be skipped and stayed in play beside what the save brought back.
- 2026-09-29A group whose men got out of their vehicle and then despawned now walks on at foot pace while virtual; it used to stay put, still listed as riding, while the AI Commander gave it orders.
- 2026-09-28Save and Exit now saves the AI forces every time, even within 5 minutes of an autosave. Roadblock and Garrison Obj. guards stay put after a persistent reload instead of being pulled away by the commander, and a locked reserve vehicle stays locked. A blank Virtual Combat Range now means 255 m rather than no virtual fights.
- 2026-09-26Soldiers from ORBAT Creator factions exported since late July now spawn with their proper ranks, without an "Unknown enum value" error in the RPT for each one.
- 2026-09-26Virtual Combat Speed left at its default now runs at Regular (0.75). Saved empty, as a preset or an unconfirmed module left it, it stopped virtual fights doing any damage; never saved at all, it ran at Quick (1.00).
- 2026-09-25Mid-Combat Extension now works: AI still fighting when Post-Death Grace runs out stays spawned for another extension, and again while the fight goes on, up to five in all.
- 2026-09-25Crews fighting from a vehicle get the extension too.
- 2026-09-24Assigning a live group to a vehicle by script (
ALiVE_fnc_createProfileVehicleAssignment) now puts the men in it. Before, it threw script errors and the vehicle stayed empty. - 2026-09-23A mistyped Smooth Spawn no longer switches spawn pacing off. Anything that isn't a number, like 0,3 with a comma, used to become 0 and run the spawner every frame. It now falls back to 0.3 and tells you.
- 2026-09-22Picking Fast (1.50) for virtual unit speed gives you 1.50. It was handing out 1.75, the same as Faster, so virtual groups crossed the map quicker than the label said and 1.50 was the one speed you could not actually select.
- 2026-09-22Groups the Active Limiter can't fit are no longer deleted. They stay virtual and spawn when a slot frees up.
- 2026-09-22When more groups are waiting than there's room for, the nearest one to a player goes first.
- 2026-09-22The log now gives the number waiting and the limit, instead of reporting groups thrown away. A mission that relied on the limiter thinning it out will now carry its full placed count.
- 2026-09-17When the AI group cap is full, the next group due to spawn is thrown away rather than held back for later, along with any vehicle it was commanding.
- 2026-09-17The log now says so, naming the limit and counting what was lost, so missing units no longer look as though they were never placed.
- 2026-09-17That message appears once every 10 seconds rather than once per group.
- 2026-09-17If you see it, raise the Active Limiter on the Virtual AI System module, or place fewer groups.
- 2026-09-17
ALIVE_profileIgnorenow keeps a group out of the Virtual AI System at mission start too, not just during a mission. - 2026-09-17It drops anything carrying the marker whichever way your Synchronisation Options are set, and the marker beats being synced, so a group you both synced and marked is left alone.
- 2026-09-17Nothing changes for a mission that never sets it.
- 2026-09-16Units that arrive missing a field are simulated again instead of erroring. On a shortened unit that's 347 errors in 40 seconds before, none after.
- 2026-09-16A tester hit this on a load after a scheduled server restart.
- 2026-09-16What produces a unit missing the field still isn't known, so the log now names the unit, what it is and the fields it carries.
- 2026-09-12Boats in a group of two or more no longer sit under the water or in the mud. Every boat is put at the waterline as it appears.
- 2026-09-12Boats behind the leader follow the channel it's travelling along, instead of landing twenty metres off on one bearing, which on a river narrower than forty metres is the bank.
- 2026-09-12A boat under way below the surface and a boat carried on a deck are both left alone.
- 2026-09-12Reported on a Vietnam river map, and worth a look on any mission with boats, on a river or at sea.
- 2026-09-12Virtual units cost a lot less to run, and missions start quicker.
- 2026-09-12Nearby-enemy checks, combat scans, unit registration and vehicle creation are all cheaper, and the air combat rule only runs while a player is flying.
- 2026-09-12If you've been seeing the game pause when units are killed, or on a large mission generally, that's what this targets. A before and after from your own mission helps most.
- 2026-08-30Profiles spawn faster and with less stuttering: a group appearing no longer brings a pause with it. Players in the same group are now held as one profile, and vehicles no longer spawn with a damage value the engine doesn't understand.
- 2026-08-28The four Despawn Linger settings on the Virtual AI System module now do what they say. All of them had no effect: set the post-death grace to zero and AI near where you died still hung about for two minutes.
- 2026-08-28A crewed vehicle keeps the height it was placed at. Anything raised off the ground used to arrive on the terrain underneath instead. Affects every module that places a crewed vehicle.
- 2026-08-23A large speed pass through the parts of ALiVE that run every frame. Nothing about what spawns or when should look different; it should simply cost less.
- 2026-08-23A paused mission no longer costs what a running one does, so a sluggish pause menu in single player or the editor should be gone.
- 2026-08-23Profile storage and reads are faster, and repeated work like a group's side, a vehicle's parts and whether a position sits on an airfield is worked out once and remembered.
- 2026-08-20Air Combat Spawn arrives, a second spawn mode aimed at pilots: airborne enemy aircraft and anti air vehicles stay real at any distance, and ground traffic comes into play 7000m around a plane, 5000m around a helicopter. Off by default.
- 2026-08-19Aircraft armed in the editor keep their weapons across a saved mission. A rocket-armed version of an otherwise unarmed airframe came back looking unarmed, so the air commander left it unused. Missions saved before this are unaffected either way.
- 2026-08-15Groups from a faction built with the Custom Faction Compiler now reach whoever asked for them; they never did, in any mission, since the compiler arrived four months ago. What it looked like: units that exist but take no patrol or garrison orders.
- 2026-08-14Profiles were moving without a route. They now get the route they were meant to have. Worth reporting any group that still moves in a straight line through terrain it should be going around.
- 2026-08-13Entity profiles were losing their object type when a save was reloaded, falling back to a default. The saved type is now kept. Worth watching on a persistent campaign that reloads entities.
- 2026-08-07Units that were given a move order but never set off now move. The route appeared on the map and the group stayed exactly where it was.
- 2026-08-06Several spawning faults fixed: an air asset could freeze the whole simulation, a vehicle profile could crash the spawn, and delivered drones crashed with nobody at the controls. Aircraft spawning in the air now keep clear of nearby traffic.
- 2026-07-27Page first published, covering the rebuilt profile-spawning architecture.