CS - Oblivion - NPCs Not Following Path Grids. Help!

[fridjhon]

I have been searching the internet for anyone experiencing the same problem as me, but it seems that I am alone in the world (shame) and am now pulling out what's left of my hair.

 

I have only just started modding and I'm loving it. Following all the rules and advice when it comes to creating a clean, well-structured and friendly mod, but I cannot get my new NPCs to follow any of the path grids that I have so meticulously laid out (interior and exterior). Herewith, some specs :

 

I have created a very small village in cell 20,-2

Used SideWalk01 pieces for my walkways

Created a new path grid, blue nodes for the main route along the sidewalk, supported by a mesh of red nodes on either side.

All nodes are joined by the yellow lines.

Blue and red nodes are eventually connected to the game-generated orange nodes.

All nodes are at ground-level (have ensured this by using F-key to drop them).

No nodes are 'buried' or underground.

Nodes at buildings begin at teleport marker.

Have not used blue nodes for interiors, only red.

 

My new NPCs follow the schedule and instructions of their AI packages perfectly, but won't follow path grids. It seems that they are intent on taking the shortest possible route between two points and get stuck by walking into walls, or swimming to reach their destination.

 

As a green newbie to modding, I am willing to concede that I am probably doing something idiotic, but none of the many, many tutorials and postings that I have studied have suggested that such an issue could be a possiblity.

 

I would be very grateful for any help, or advice.

[David Brasher]

Be sure that the nodes are not close to walls and the lines between them are not close to walls.

 

Be sure that your mod loads later in the load order than any other mods that edit those same exterior cells. It very well could be that the program is not using your custom path-grid because it is using the custom grid found in another mod in your load order.

 

Actors using follow packages and combat packages will ignore path-gridding unless they realize they are stuck and can't take their current route to get where they want to go.

 

Path-gridding is just a guide. The program does not follow it very closely. Like you can't make an actor follow an exact line on the ground. Your actor will walk to the left of it, or the right of it, or get distracted and leave the path for a bit before returning to it.

 

Blue nodes are not very powerful. When blue nodes are present, actors will still spend a lot of time on red and orange nodes.

 

Be sure that you deleted the old path-gridding in the area. If you have two systems in one area, the actors get confused.

[falcont]

Hi fridjhon -- No you are not alone.

I have just built a large Ayleid Palace and have spent hours following the npc guards around just to see what they do, and what I have seen is the same thing.

So then I would go back to the CS and change Something and just make things worse. Then I rememberd some one saying to go to another cell wait 24 hrs and give your NPC time to sort them selves out a little, and it did help. I have also noticed that they seem to take one command at a time to learn and each command improves over time. Dont Know if this will help Hope so.falcont

[fridjhon]

Be sure that the nodes are not close to walls and the lines between them are not close to walls.

 

Be sure that your mod loads later in the load order than any other mods that edit those same exterior cells. It very well could be that the program is not using your custom path-grid because it is using the custom grid found in another mod in your load order.

 

Actors using follow packages and combat packages will ignore path-gridding unless they realize they are stuck and can't take their current route to get where they want to go.

 

Path-gridding is just a guide. The program does not follow it very closely. Like you can't make an actor follow an exact line on the ground. Your actor will walk to the left of it, or the right of it, or get distracted and leave the path for a bit before returning to it.

 

Blue nodes are not very powerful. When blue nodes are present, actors will still spend a lot of time on red and orange nodes.

 

Be sure that you deleted the old path-gridding in the area. If you have two systems in one area, the actors get confused.

 

 

Hi David

 

Thank you for taking the time to reply. Went back to CS and OBMM to consider your suggestions. Ensured that my mod loads last in OBMM, nodes or lines don't seem to be touching buildings and there are no other grids around mine. Even went deep 'underground' in the CS to make sure I hadn't overlooked any game-generated orange nodes. Still no luck. I took an in-game screenshot of my path grid (console TPG) for you to look at. Once again, many thanks. Will keep you posted if I solve this mystery.

 

[fridjhon]

Hi fridjhon -- No you are not alone.

I have just built a large Ayleid Palace and have spent hours following the npc guards around just to see what they do, and what I have seen is the same thing.

So then I would go back to the CS and change Something and just make things worse. Then I rememberd some one saying to go to another cell wait 24 hrs and give your NPC time to sort them selves out a little, and it did help. I have also noticed that they seem to take one command at a time to learn and each command improves over time. Dont Know if this will help Hope so.falcont

 

Hi Falcont

 

Just me and you then. Thanks for taking the time to reply and for your suggestion. Will try it and let you know. I'll try anything at this stage!

[David Brasher]

At a glance, the path-gridding looks okay, but it is pretty sparse and incomplete. When actors want to go into or across an area with no path-gridding (like part of the field, the shore, and the road at the bottom of the screen) then their performance will not be as good and they will run into obstacles and get stuck. With no path-gridding, they just make a bee-line for their destination, no matter what happens to be in the way. So it would be best to pathgrid all the accessible areas in your town. If it is possible for an actor to walk on a piece of ground (if it is level, and free of obstacles and traps) then the area should be path-gridded.

 

You might want to remove the node connection by the house on the left going around the corner. Someone might bump into the corner. In my opinion, squares paths are better than curves for going around obstacles.

 

Which areas in the screenshot are those where the actors crash into walls?

 

I would say that changes to path-grids take place immediately. There is no need to wait 24 hours. In my modding and play-testing, I have witnessed positive changes immediately after fixing a pathing problem.

Edited August 16, 2011 by David Brasher

[fridjhon]

At a glance, the path-gridding looks okay, but it is pretty sparse and incomplete. When actors want to go into or across an area with no path-gridding (like part of the field, the shore, and the road at the bottom of the screen) then their performance will not be as good and they will run into obstacles and get stuck. With no path-gridding, they just make a bee-line for their destination, no matter what happens to be in the way. So it would be best to pathgrid all the accessible areas in your town. If it is possible for an actor to walk on a piece of ground (if it is level, and free of obstacles and traps) then the area should be path-gridded.

 

You might want to remove the node connection by the house on the left going around the corner. Someone might bump into the corner. In my opinion, squares paths are better than curves for going around obstacles.

 

Which areas in the screenshot are those where the actors crash into walls?

 

I would say that changes to path-grids take place immediately. There is no need to wait 24 hours. In my modding and play-testing, I have witnessed positive changes immediately after fixing a pathing problem.

 

Aha! Thank you. Based on the tutorials I have been following, I thought my gridding was satisfactory, but I will take your suggestion and expand it further using a lot more red nodes. With regard to the screenshot, my NPCs bump into every obstacle, not a particular one. The ground is level and sidewalk pieces are sunk into the ground. Will grid more when I have time and let you know. I really appreciate your help.