So what's up with the NPC pathfinding?

Tricky · Post by **Tricky** » Sat Nov 04, 2006 9:55 am

Worse than KOTOR and definetly bad enough to make me doubt they ever playtested the game. Moving through a dungeon is like playing chess, you almost have to move your party members around one by one. They get stuck at even the most simple of turns, seemingly when there is just slightly too much distance between the party leader and them. And all the clutter makes certain dungeons a nightmare to complete.

No wait, I have a better question. Why do so few people seem to be bothered with this? I checked a number of forums and they all seem relatively unphased by this. I have a feeling it may have something to do with the camera position most people use. I never liked the traditional isometric, which is why I like the -almost but not quite- KOTOR camera.

Does anyone know if this is being fixed or what?

Xandax · Post by **Xandax** » Sat Nov 04, 2006 12:11 pm

I do not have many problems with my NPCs getting stuck in dungeons other then at chokepoints such as doorways, when combat gets initiated (either by mobs or by me). But that is to be expected because the characters block each others paths, and thus the complexity of calculating paths increase dramatically - from a programming point of view. (Heck, one could even argue that *this* specific instance is almost realistic

)

Where I'm mostly annoyed with the pathfinding issues is in combat where my characters/NPCs will either a) stand still, doing nothing. b) run around like headless chickens provoking many AoO's. c) run the longest possible way towards the enemy they target, taking long time to get there.

Tricky · Post by **Tricky** » Sat Nov 04, 2006 2:35 pm

Mine often get stuck in straight corridors. Once I'm moving in another direction and they're trying to take a shortcut -straight through the walls. Not that they manage, which I would far prefer from having to pick them back up all the time. Once they have distanced themselves from the player they completely loose their marbles. The only reason I come up with is that this game isn't traditionally meant to be played like KOTOR (drag left (+right in KOTOR) mousebutton to steer), which forces it to follow the player all the time. Perhaps the AI only knows how to follow up on point-click movement.. or whatever that is called.

I guess it really doesn't help that I never liked NWN gameplay.

I am tempted to play with just a single character.

Tricky · Post by **Tricky** » Sat Nov 04, 2006 5:05 pm

OK, I think I'm obliged to add something I just discovered to this thread, incase I just scared people away from the game. My suspicions were correct, the characters getting stuck all the time across the most rediculous of obstacles was indeed due to my preference to the 'KOTOR' playstyle. You can still use that camera without much trouble, as long as you also click on the ground every now and then, like when you can see on the map someone behind you is getting stuck. The AI can't follow you blind all the time, but this will help unstuck them.

I wanted to test my theory a couple of times, so I went to a dungeon and walked around a bit until everyone got stuck (harder said than done). I clicked on the ground right infront of me and everyone suddenly found their way around the various obstacles, which more often than not included straight hallways with no obstacles whatsoever..

NWN2 is not KOTOR. I learned my lesson.

Fljotsdale · Post by **Fljotsdale** » Sat Nov 04, 2006 5:07 pm

I remember that from NWN. I was always having to go back to pick up a companion. It's much easier without 'em, imo.

Hm... I may be thinking of another game - it's been ages since NWN - but wasn't there a 'wait here' command, and an 'attack' command, and a 'come on' command? Or something similar?

Or was that PS:T?

EDIT: Just read the above post, Tricky. That's helpful.

Xandax · Post by **Xandax** » Sun Nov 05, 2006 2:31 am

Fljotsdale wrote:I remember that from NWN. I was always having to go back to pick up a companion. It's much easier without 'em, imo.

Hm... I may be thinking of another game - it's been ages since NWN - but wasn't there a 'wait here' command, and an 'attack' command, and a 'come on' command? Or something similar?

Or was that PS:T?

EDIT: Just read the above post, Tricky. That's helpful.

Well - you did not have to go back in NwN to pick up companions. They would 99% of the time "teleport" to you on save/load or transitions or simply if you were far away from them, if they were stuck somewhere far away from you (most of the time, lest the game was bugged for you).

And yeah, there is wait, come here etc commands in NwN1 + 2.

Fljotsdale · Post by **Fljotsdale** » Sun Nov 05, 2006 7:50 am

Xandax wrote:Well - you did not have to go back in NwN to pick up companions. They would 99% of the time "teleport" to you on save/load or transitions or simply if you were far away from them, if they were stuck somewhere far away from you (most of the time, lest the game was bugged for you).

Ah! Yes, you could, couldn't you? *remembers!* But reloading to get 'em back wasn't always convenient, was it? Of course, you got 'em back if went from one area to another - but sometimes it was just simply easier to go back, tag the stray, then return to where you needed to be.
Of course, I could have games mixed up in my head...:laugh: