Weird settler pathing: AI package, Navmesh issue or something else?

[ghozt24]

Hi everyone!

 

I have a question: have you ever tried to follow a provisioner across the map after having set a supply line?

He rarely reaches his destination: he starts to travel around, he takes other directions, or he stops at some point and goes back to the initial place (seen along the supply line between Tenpines Bluff and Sanctuary).

It's the same for a settler that is sent to another settlement by "Move" command. We find him at the destination settlement only if we fast travel to that.
However, this is not the case for few specific NPCs: I tried to send Preston to another settlement, I followed him, and he goes straight to the destination without any strange behaviour.

 

Is there anyone can explain why this happens? How can I replicate Preston's behaviour on common provisioners and settlers?

[kitcat81]

I think it mostly depends on location and path. Some routes are bad and lead to weird wandering while others work just fine. In any case comparing NPC is only useful if they are sent from the same point A to the same point B. Then it's possible to make some conclusions about their AI packages etc.

[ghozt24]

Hello! Thanks for the reply!

 

I did a test on some bugged cells and the result makes me think the cause could be an incoherent navmesh area that interferes with the NPC pathing.

I opened the CK's Navmesh Toolbar and ran "Balance for Optimization", then "Finalize Current Cell's Navmeshes" on one of these cells. It seems the commands fixed the issue: now the settlers travel with no interruption from the start to the destination!

I can't explain why Preston - on the same path / same cell - already did it right before the fix...

Edited January 29, 2018 by ghzfba

[llamaRCA]

nevermind since you solved it.