Thread for discussing all aspects of Artificial Intelligence

While I know that there are a few threads discussing various aspects of using AI in a map, I have noticed that this information is difficult to locate primarily due to the short nature of "AI". Therefore, I have decided to use the full term :) to ease the search process and to encourage people to contribute to create a centralized database for anyone seeking to use AI in a map. I have to admit that my motives here are partly selfish as I am quite a novice at manipulating the AI in Guerilla and I don't know much about scripting. My first contribution is largely comprised of the knowledge previously published by KiLla-something and adumbass. I thank you two for the help you have been in my learning how to use AI. The following list is made up of observations of mine I have noticed while playing with my pet bots :D

1. AI like to follow command lists and scripts very closely, and can get very stupid when there is even a small mistake, as is the way with any programming. If your AI is behaving strangely, it is probably due to a mistake in the command list or script.

2. AI drivers like to fly, although in some cases I have noticed little adverse effect upon unchecking the 3d-firing positions option.To get your AI to "floor it" make sure they think they are flying. Otherwise they'll just sit in the driver seat and play with the wheel.

3. Some of the things from the tutorial at this link
http://hce.halomaps.org/index.cfm?fid=2298
do not have the effect described when I used them. Namely, improving the AI intelligence using the ai throttle and steering controls. I still don't understand what those options do.

Later, I will be posting a list of the functions options in the .actor, .actor_variant, and .vehicle tags which will be as complete as I can make it (which, apologetically, is not saying much).

I would also like to know where I could find a good primer for scripting halo AI as many bits of script I have seen on the forums seem to show that scripting is the way to go.

Thats Ki11a_FTW :)

In the 3rd statement, with the ai driving hogs, i recommend you don't use that method mainly because, well, in short terms,they are "out of control", the person who made that has AI flying enabled, which means the ai always have to move no matter what circumstances, he did do some modifying to make them less crazy, but i still don't think its to much of a good idea to use that if the player is going to be near them and on the same team.

I think having the AI think they're flying isnt a good idea.... Here's why.


(Almost done with level Halo)

(AI is flooring it)

Yes! I've died so many times and (drives off cliff)
WAIT, WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING? WHAT THE FUCK? I HATE YOU MOTHER (dead)

Well, then just don't do it in a level where you can fall off a cliff more than 70% of the time. If i have time later, i think i'll screw around with the hogs. High five, reiper! good topic.

God, Halo CE AI :O.

Scripting with AI, not sure I take it you've got the basics of AI working. Scripted AI cant do a hell of alot, so dont expect some ultra advanced AI 'thinking for themselves'

it can do a lot :|, way better without any scripts for them at all

Upon attempting to upload images, I discovered that the images did not appear. As a result, I will be slowly converting the content of those images to text and will be updating this post as I do so.

.actor_variant tag

flags

can shoot while flying - Can shoot while in a vehicle
interpolate color in HSV - No clue
has unlimited grenades - has unlimited 'nades
moveswitch stay w/ friends - Not entirely sure, but likely changing the movement type between running and crouching for actors in the same squad or encounter to stay close to each other
active camouflage - AI uses active camo. I have never seen this work personally.
super active camouflage - Better camo? This never seemed to work.
cannot use ranged weapons - can only melee
prefer passenger seat - prefer passenger seat

actor definition - defines tag explaining general unit behavior
unit - allows for the physical structure of the unit to be selected
major variant - occasionally, the engine wil decide to spawn a different version of the unit. This is where the major variant.actor_variant is chosen.

movement switching

movement type - run, crouch, or switch between the two
initial crouch chance - chance to crouch (when spawned?) 0 = never. 1 = always
crouch time - How long crouched
run time - how long running
(Personally, I have never been able to see any change when altering these values. This could be that the bipeds or actors I used were unsuited for movement switching.)

ranged combat

weapon - allows for the actor's weapon to be chosen. Choose from the weapons folder instead of the items collection, contrary to how a map is populated with arms
maximum firing distance - max firing range
rate of fire - number of times trigger is pulled per second
projectile error - How many degrees from crosshair center projectile flies
first burst delay time - Time before AI will shoot after acquiring target
new-target firing pattern time - Time before AI will shoot at a new target after losing a previous one
surprise delay time - Time before AI will react to stimulus of the surprise. This is probably in addition to the times above
surprise fire-wildly time - Time that AI will shoot without aiming after being surprised
death fire-wildly chance - Chance that AI will shoot randomly around while in the throes of death. 0 = never. 1 = always.
death fire-wildly time - Time AI will shoot wildly while dying for
desired combat range - AI will try to fight within this combat range, moving to stay within it. I have noticed that AI tend to to shoot at all when outside this range.
custom stand gun offset - No clue
custom crouch gun offset - No clue, but for crouching rather than standing :P
target tracking - How well the AI tracks its target. 0 = not at all. 1 = perfectly
target leading - How well the AI predicts the movement of target and the positioning of the crosshair to match. 0 = not at all. 1 = perfectly
weapon damage modifier - How much the damage of the weapon is multiplied by upon impact
damage per second - How much damage a target will receive, regardless of shots hit

Interpolate color in HSV sets an alternate way of blending (in hue-sat-val rather than red-green-blue) the change-color settings in the bottom.

So what happens when it is enabled? A different color set or texture pattern or something? I am very curious to see what effect this option has on a model. I will go and see if I can use this properly as it seems very interesting.

Edit: I have no clue on how to use this option. :(

I will be adding the next tag information in a few hours.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Reiper

So what happens when it is enabled? A different color set or texture pattern or something? I am very curious to see what effect this option has on a model. I will go and see if I can use this properly as it seems very interesting.

Edit: I have no clue on how to use this option. :(

I will be adding the next tag information in a few hours.

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In the change-color settings, you set two values - an upper bound and a lower bound - for the game to randomly assign to the unit if it supports change-color in its shaders. (This also applies to effects, lights, light volumes, lens flares, and anything else that takes color parameters). It's just an alternative way of selecting between them. The flag named "...across the long hue path" in similar tags has a similar function - it causes the random assignment to happen in colors the *other* way around the color wheel.

Take this rough representation, with orange as the lower bound and purple as the upper bound.

|_____LOWER|__________________________|UPPER|___|

Normal blending would assign a color somewhere in the green/blue range between the two colors, but having the "long-hue-path flag" checked would assign it somewhere in the red range between them.

HSV blending is the same idea - if you understand how the HSV color palette works, you can use that flag to get blending that RGB normally wouldn't let you have. For example, blending between yellow and blue, with no green in the middle.

I guess my few hours became dragged out a little. I'll now post the rest of the tag.

burst geometry

burst origin radius - How far from the start of the burst does the crosshair drift
burst origin angle - If not zero, burst may drift up or down. Magnitude depnding on value.
burst return length - How far back towards the target the burst travels
burst return angle - Same as origin angle, but from the point at which the return begins (Apparently)
burst duration - How long a burst is fired for. Affects speed of burst movement
burst separation - How long between bursts.
burst angular velocity - How fast actor can turn while firing
special damaga modifier - Any additional damage shots do. Added (or multiplied) to standard error.
special projectile error. Additional error added to projectiles.

firing patterns

Details of "new-target", "moving", and "berserk" are at the top of the section on the tag.
burst duration - How long a burst is fired for
burst separation - Time between bursts
rate of fire - Times per second trigger is pulled
projectile error - angle from intended projectile destination

So new-target burst duration would be the burst duration when a target first appears.

Special-case firing properties

super-ballistic range - The range at which the AI begins to aim at the sky, hoping to land the shot in a large arc.
bombardment range - AI adds error to burst targets to show bombardment inaccuracy above this range
modified vision range - How far actor can see when in the special-case
special-fire mode - What the AI will do when in a special-fire situation: overcharge weapon or pull secondary trigger
special-fire situation - What triggers the special-fire situation
special-fire chance - Chance of the situation occuring if appropriate conditions arise. 0 = never, 1 = always.
special-fire delay - Minimum time between allowed instances of special-fire

berserking and melee

melee range - Range within which unit will try to melee enemy
melee abort range - Range outside which unit will cease to attempt to melee target
berserk firing ranges - Berserking actor will try to maintain this distance or closer
berserk melee range - Range when actor tries to melee enemy when berserking
berserk melee abort range - Range outside which berserking AI stops trying to melee enemy.

grenades

grenade type - Type of grenade thrown, sticky or frag
trajectory type - How 'nade is thrown: toss (what is this?), lob (what's the difference?) bounce (AI will try to bounce the grenade to reach the target)
grenade stimulus - What triggers a grenade throw
minimum enemy count - How many enemies have to be present within "enemy radius" for the AI to consider throwing a 'nade
enemy radius - Radius of circle indicating which enemies count toward the "minimum enemy count"
grenade velocity - How fast the 'nade travels
grenade ranges - Ranges between which grenade throws will be attempted
collaterla damage radius - If there are friendlies within this area, 'nade will not be thrown.
grenade chance - Chance of grenade when all criteria are met.
grenade check time - How often AI checks for grenade throw conditions
encounter grenade timeout - How long after another member of the encounter has thrown a 'nade before another 'nade can be thrown

items

equipment - What is equipment?
grenade count - Number of 'nades AI carries. Number that it drops if "unlimited grenades" is checked
dont drop grenades chance - How likely grenades WILL NOT be dropped, even if actor still has 'nades
drop weapon loaded - Fraction of clip already loaded in dropped weapon
drop weapon ammo - How much total ammo a dropped weapon has. Chosen randomly between two values

unit

body vitality - Amount of health unit has
shield vitality - Amount of shields unit has. 0 = no shields
shield sapping radius - No clue
Forced shader permutation - No clue

CHANGE COLORS - Changing the color of the actor. I have found that this method does not seem to work for me. I use the color permutations in the biped tag instead. If anyone can suggest something to make this method work, I welcome it, as it would make changing actor colors much easier.

This concludes the options in the actor_variant tag. I will be dealing with the actor tag in the next post.

Fuck, I hate all of you because you're making tagging AI for dummies like me easy, while my comp is dead. :P

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Reiper

items

equipment - What is equipment?

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"Equipment" in Halo 1 is a tag that defines a grenade or powerup pickup.

To FlamingRain, don't worry, this will probably still be here and continue to be updated when your computer is fixed.

To p0lar_bear, thanks for that definition. Does that mean that the actor will possess active camo, or overshield, or special grenades or something if you set it as such?

Sorry for the delays in posts. Here is the .actor tag. I will not be posting the whole thing at once, as the last time I got logged out and lost everything :(

.actor tag

flags
can see in darkness - actor can see in the dark. (What is considered dark and not dark and how can you tell?)
sneak uncovering target - actor sneaks when uncovering its target
sneak uncovering pursuit position - actor sneaks when searching at a pursuit position
unused - unused (what is the use of the unused things?)
shoot at target's last location - actor shoots at the last place a target was seen
try to stay still when crouched - actor tries not to move when it is crouched
crouch when not in combat - actor will crouch when it is not in combat mode
crouch when guarding - actor will crouch when it is in guard mode or alerted
unused - unused (again)
must crouch to shoot - actor must crouch before shooting
panic when surprised - actor uses panic behavior when it is surprised
always charge at enemies - actor will always run at enemies even if not attempting a melee or berserking
gets in vehicles with player - actor gets into vehicles with the player
start firing before aligned - actor fires at targets before locked on with crosshair
standing must move forward - either: actor must be standing to move forward , or actor must move forward when standing
crouching must move forward - either: actor must be crouching to move forward, or actor must move forward when crouching
defensive crouch while charging - actor uses defensive crouching behavior when charging at an enemy
use stalking behavior - actor uses stalking behavior
stalking freeze if exposed - actor freezes when its cover is blown rather than immediately doing something else
always berserk in attacking (mode?) - actor always uses berserk behavior when in attack mode
berserking uses panicked (mode?) - actor uses panic behavior when berserking
flying - actor is flying. this means it uses 3d firing positions and move positions instead of just 2d. (I would appreciate more details of this flag)
panicked by unopposable (enemy?) - actor panics when faced with an unopposable enemy
crouch when hiding from (unopposable enemy?) - actor crouches when it has sought cover from an unopposable enemy
always charge in 'attacking' (mode?) - actor always runs at the target when it is in attack mode
dive off ledges - actor is allowed to dive off ledges
swarm - defines different sets of behaviors than non-swarms. (I would appreciate more information here as well)
suicidal melee attack - actor melees despite certain death
cannot move while crouching - actor cannot move while crouched
fixed crouch facing - actor cannot change facing while crouched
crouch when in line of fire - actor crouches when it is in the line of fire. (I am unsure if this applies to enemies or friends or both)
avoid friends' line of fire - actor will not move into an ally's line of fire.

more flags

avoid all enemy attack vectors - actor avoids all places the enemy is attacking in
must stand to fire - actor must stand to shoot
must stop to fire - actor cannot shoot while moving
disallow vehicle combat - actor cannot fight while in a vehicle
pathfinding ignores danger - actor's pathfinding disregards hazards when deciding on path
panic in groups - actor can still panic when in a group
no corpse shooting - actor will not shoot at a corpse of an enemy

type - this determines how units interact with each other. I don't know much about it besides that. I would like more details about this option.

perception

max vision distance - how far the actor can see in its main POV
central vision angle - horizontal angle at which the actor can see. (think player's POV)
max vision angle - horizontal angle at which the actor can see. (I don't know how this differs from the central vision angle. Perhaps it should be the total of the central and peripheral. Someone please confirm this.)
peripheral vision angle - horizontal angle at which the actor can see targets out of the corner of its eyes.
peripheral distance - distance at which the actor can see targets out of the corner of its eyes
standing gun offset - no clue
crouching gun offset - no clue
hearing distance - how far the actor can hear
notice projectile chance - chance of actor noticing dangerous projectiles within its senses
notice vehicle chance - chance of actor noticing dangerous vehicles within its senses
combat perception time - how long the actor takes to acknowledge the presence of a new object or projectile when in combat
guard perception time - how long the actor takes to acknowledge the presence of a new object or projectile when alerted
non-combat perception time - how long the actor takes to acknowledge the presence of a new object or projectile when not in combat or alerted

movement

dive into cover chance - chance of running a dive animation when the actor is moving for cover
emerge from cover chance - chance of running an emerge animation when uncovering a target (think elite)
dive from grenade chance - chance of running a dive animation when the actor is moving away from a grenade
pathfinding radius - how far the actor looks to find the best path to move
glass ignorance chance - chance that actor does not notice that breakable surfaces have been broken
stationary movement dist(ance) - distance which actor is allowed to move while still being consider stationary
free-flying sidestep - distance that a flying actor can sidestep
begin moving angle - actor must be facing far from the target before it can move forward

looking

maximum aiming deviation - How far the actor can turns its weapon
maximum looking deviation - How far the actor can turn its head
noncombat look delta L - How far the actor can turn its head to the left from where it is aiming when not in combat
noncombat look delta R - How far the actor can turn its head to the right from where it is aiming when not in combat
combat look delta L - How far the actor can turn its head to the left from where it is aiming when in combat
combat look delta R - How far the actor can turn its head to the right from where it is aiming when in combat
idle aiming range - range within which the actor will randomly choose points to aim at
idle looking range - range within which the actor will randomly choose points to look at
event look time modifier - multiplier for how long the actor looks at interesting events. 0 = unchanged
noncombat idle facing - How often the actor changes facing when not in combat
noncombat idle aiming - How often the actor changes aiming point when not in combat
noncombat idle looking - How often the actor changes where it looks when not in combat
guard idle facing - How often the actor changes facing when alerted
guard idle aiming - How often the actor changes aiming point when alerted
guard idle looking - How often the actor changes where it looks when alerted
combat idle facing - How often the actor changes facing when in combat
combat idle aiming - How often the actor changes aiming point when in combat
combat idle looking - How often the actor changes where it looks when in combat
DO NOT USE - DON'T DO IT!
DO NOT USE - PLEASE DON'T USE THIS!

unopposable

unreachable danger trigger - if an enemy is unreachable and doing what is selected here, retreat will be triggered over time
vehicle danger trigger - if vehicle-based enemy is doing what is selected here, retreat will be triggered over time
player danger trigger - if player enemy is doing what is selected here, retreat will be triggered over time
danger trigger time - how long before a retreat is trigger when actor is faced by an unopposable enemy at a specified danger level
friends killed trigger - retreat is triggered if this many friends are killed by an unopposable enemy. 0 = this is not used as a condition for retreat.
friends retreating trigger - retreat is trigger if this many friends are retreating from an unopposable enemy. 0 = this is not used as a condition for retreat.
retreat time - how long actor will retreat from unopposable enemy for

panic

cowering time - how long actor hides after being panicked
friend killed panic chance - chance of panic when a nearby friend is killed by an enemy and it is looking at the actor
leader type - type of unit the actor considers as a leader
leader killed panic chance - chance of panic if leader is seen to be killed
panic damage threshold - how much damage can be taken in a short period of time before panicking
surprise distance - distance at which new objects are considered close enough to surprise the actor
defensive
hide behind cover time - how long the actor will hide behind cover after seeking it
hide target-not-visible time - actor will only seek cover if target has not been seen recently
hide shield fraction - actor will seek cover if its shields fall below this amount
attack shield fraction - actor will emerge from cover only once its shields are above this amount
pursue shield fraction - actor will only pursue a target once its shields are above this amount
defensive crouch type - crouch in defensive mode under this condition
attacking crouch threshold - when in attack mode, actor will crouch if shields are below this number or if danger is above this number, depending on what crouch type is based on
defending crouch threshold - when in defend mode, actor will crouch if shields are below this number or if danger is above this number, depending on what crouch type is based on
min stand time - minimum time actor must remain standing before crouching again. 0 = default
min crouch time - minimum time actor must remain crouching before standing again. 0 = default
defending hide time modifier - how much longer actor hides behind cover when defending. 0 = unchanged
attacking evasion threshold - actor will consider evading when danger gets this high when in attacking mode
defending evasion threshold - actor will consider evading when danger gets this high when in defending mode
evasion seek-cover chance - chance of seeking cover rather than just evading
evasion delay time - minumum period of time between evasive moves
max seek-cover distance - maximum distance actor will consider going for cover. 0 = default
cover damage threshold - how much damage actor must take before being allowed to consider taking cover. 0 = always allowed to
stalking discovery time - if target sees actor for this long while actor is stalking it, actor's cover is blown and it must do something else. 0 = never stop stalking
stalking max distance - distance from target beyond which actor will not stalk it.
stationary facing angle - angle outside of which actor must abandon stationary facing direction and suffer any penalties (can someone please explain this better)
change-facing stand time - how long actor must stand for after changing facing.

pursuit

uncover delay time - how long the actor looks at the target's position
target search time - how long the actor will search at its target's position
pursuit-position time - how long the actor will search at a pursuit position
num positions (coord) - number of pursuit positions when actor is in a coordinated group search
num positions (normal) - number of pursuit positions when actor is searching normally

berserk

melee attack delay - how long between melee attacks the actor must wait for
melee fudge factor - distance from target that the melee attack begins. A negative value makes the actor aim the melee through the target
melee charge time - how long actor can be in the charging state while trying to get close enough to melee the target
melee leap range - actor can leap at target to melee it (think flood and elites) 0 = actor cannot leap
melee leap velocity - how fast the actor moves while leaping
melee leap chance - chance of leaping at a ground-based melee target. actors always leap at flying targets
melee leap ballistic - fraction controlling how ballistic the leap trajectory is
berserk damage amount - amount of damage actor can take before it enters the berserk state
berserk damage threshold - how low actor's health must get before it can consider berserking
berserk proximity - if actor ever comes this close to a target, it will berserk
suicide sensing dist(ance) - when actor comes this close to a target and sense it's trying to get away, it blows up (think carrier forms)
berserk grenade chance - chance of actor berserking when it has a dangerous projectile stuck to it (think needler)

firing positions

guard position time - time after which the actor will change guard positions. 0 = never change positions
combat position time - time after which the actor will change combat firing positions.
old position avoid dist(ance) - how far from the previous firing position the actor must stay
friend avoid dis(ance) - how far the actor tries to stay away from friends

communication

noncombat idle speech time - time between idle vocalizations when not in combat
combat idle speech time - time between idle vocalizations when in combat
DO NOT USE - NO! DON'T DO IT!

Okay. Sorry about taking so long to post the vehicle tag. Here it is now.

The thing about the vehicle tag is that most of what is there refers not only
to how AI drive the vehicle, but also to the vehicle in general. For these
purposes, I shall only deal with the options that apply to artificial
intelligence. Perhaps in the future, I will update everything on the vehicle
tag, but I don't see that happening unless someone really wants it.

flags
not a pathfinding obstacle - AI will not see this vehicle as something to
consider when determining the best path to a location. (I've found that the AI
aren't very good at determining if a vehicle is in the way or not, even if
this option isn't checked, as they are often seen getting stuck on an
warthog.)
$$$ VEHICLE $$$
flags
ai weapon cannot rotate - Weapon on the vehicle cannot turn
ai does not require driver - Vehicle can drive without an AI driver
ai unused -
ai driver enable - AI driver can use the vehicle
ai driver flying - AI driver is flying (uses 3D coordinates)
ai driver can-sidestep - AI driver can strafe (facing one direction and moving
side to side rather than turning and moving)
ai driver hovering - AI driver does not register as contacting the ground
type - type of vehicle (this does have an effect as standard AIs already seem
to have preprogrammed ways to drive different types of vehicles)
ai sideslip distance - how far the AI diverges from a path
ai destination radius - how far from the destination point the AI can go to
ai avoidance distance - how far from obstacles (and maybe dangerous things)
the AI will keep
ai pathfinding radius - how far the AI looks to pathfind
ai charge repeat timeout - how long between charges the AI has to wait
ai strafing abort range - how far away the AI has to be before it abandons
strafing
ai oversteering bounds - how much the AI oversteers (I believe it's like
attempts to slide)
ai steering maximum - fraction of the maximum steering the AI can turn at
maximum
ai throttle maximum - fraction of the maximum throttle the AI can turn at
maximum
ai move-position time - how long the AI waits between move positions

Once again, if anyone finds errors, please feel free to correct me.

I made a topic like this, I just hope this helps with the thread [Not threadjacking]: http://modacity.net/forums/showthread.php?t=14727
I hope that will bring some ideas out

I made a topic like this too. I was proposing collecting info like this in a wikia, so anyone could contribute freely to a central reference set, but no one took interest.

That would be a good idea. Do you know how to make a wikia? I don't have the time or knowledge at this point in time.

Heh, we had a wiki on this site way back when (I do believe we also had a forum games section with tetris and the pac-man I am still waiting for that to come back!!!). Nobody really used it though. You'd probably have to get a lot of people interested in maintaining it for it to really mean anything.

Is that local wiki revampable?

Anyone can work on a wiki, if they know how to look stuff up :p

I bombed the actual wiki installation iirc, so we could start fresh, and since spambots went all apeshit like with it.

But yeah, look where we are now. :saddowns:

Too few too late? Could still be good, doing a wiki for each CE engine, the old H1CE having an abundance of unorganized references to practice this with for the succeeding engines and their potentially larger userbase, as H2EK features become available, or "unlocked"

regarding ai driving warthogs, I think their delta-look angles is what makes them drive in random directions, given the way steering is handled in Halo. Hope I'm not being redundant, I know I've said that before. So with those zero'd, they should drive straight to whatever their look-at target is. Theoretically

Quote:

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Originally Posted by bobbysoon

the succeeding engines and their potentially larger userbase, as H2EK features become available, or "unlocked"

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That made me laugh.

A fully moddable Halo 2 might attract people. However, I do agree that the engine is pretty bug-ridden and nothing is gonna fix it.

The engine AND the tag set.

Also the game has like 15 players online at any give time.
While it is a fun game it's deader than a brick. Or nox....

So will the wiki be revived? I wouldn't mind paying some attention to look after the wiki myself if someone could tell me what that entails.

and a community tags folder wiki too plz :p, with online HEK tools and a server that automatically rotates to the next map build. Sry, I'll delete this off-topic post if yous like

ahh...I remember the old original halo-wiki...
That's how I started out really, way back when the HEK was released, and everyone was excited to learn and share knowledge...good times..
But yea, I think it's a great idea, there's alot more knowledge out there just needs to be organized, and published..

would a modacity wiki use the same language seen in wiki?

If we can't set up a wiki on modacity, maybe we could stick stuff on the existing halo modding wikia.

http://halomods.wikia.com