SSE Looking for a basic Navmeshing tutorial

[Omegacron]

I'm working on a large castle mod, and this navmeshing thing is confusing the heck outta me. I've watched a few YouTube videos and gone through the CreationKit.Com tutorial, but I must be doing something wrong. Plus, I'll admit, I don't even understand the concept behind navmeshing (well, the concept, but not the practicality). In Oblivion, NPCs got around just fine without it.

 

Long story short, I created an NPC for my castle steward and dropped him in the main hall. He has an assigned bed, chairs to sit in, and various idle markers around the cell (sweep, read book, lean on wall, etc.). I've given him the basic schedule AI packages (eat, sleep, wander) and auto-generated navmesh for the cell. In-game, though, he just stands there in one place. No matter what time of day I enter the main hall, he just stands in the spot where I dropped him. I'm not sure if he's trapped in place due to a navmeshing error, or if he's just stupid.

 

What I'm looking for is a good guide to using navmesh and setting up NPCs to use it. I followed the various official tutorials on setting up the NPC and his AI, so I'm thinking navmesh is the issue.

 

Using: Skyrim Special Edition 1.5.24, Creation Kit for SE (not sure what build)

[NexBeth]

When you say you gave the NPC an AI package for wandering, did you mean a Sandbox package? Did you create that yourself or just use default packages in the game?

 

How are you testing the movement for your NPC? What energy level is your NPC (AI Data tap).

 

Auto generation is not the best way to navmesh, but that is how it is done in the vanilla game. The problem may not be the navmesh.

[ben446]

if you need a good tutorial on navmeshing, I would highly recommend Darkfox127's tutorials on you tube. He has loads of tutorials and he updates them when he knows he can make them better. I only started modding a couple of months ago and I can honestly say after a lot of research ive not found anyone who does tutorials like he does. I can promise you his tutorials on packages and navmeshes will help you a lot. he takes things slowly, he explains what needs to be known and even some bits that shouldn't be done and why. He guides you through it step by step. I can honestly say when I opened the ck for the first time I was terrified id mess something up, with his tutorials I know prefer the ck to skyrim.

[Omegacron]

When you say you gave the NPC an AI package for wandering, did you mean a Sandbox package? Did you create that yourself or just use default packages in the game?

 

How are you testing the movement for your NPC? What energy level is your NPC (AI Data tap).

 

Auto generation is not the best way to navmesh, but that is how it is done in the vanilla game. The problem may not be the navmesh.

I used default packages from vanilla. I don't have the exact names in front of me but they were roughly:

• DefaultSandboxEditorLoc1024
• DefaultSleepEditorLoc2400x08
• DefaultEatEditorLoc512

As for energy level, it would be whatever the default is (Average?) and as for testing I just load up the game and COC into the cell. The guy is just standing in the middle of the room where I put him, and never moves. He'll turn to face me if I talk to him from behind or the side, but that's as far as he moves.

[NexBeth]

Ben446 is right about Darkfox127 having a lot of tutorials that can guide you through the basics of modding, including on navmeshing. Here is the one on navmesh:

 

 

Also take a look at the Creation Kit Wiki:

https://www.creationkit.com/index.php?title=Category:Navmesh

 

Here is a basic written tutorial very well done at TES Alliance:

http://tesalliance.org/forums/index.php?/topic/6839-ck-basics-lesson-2/

 

Darkfox also has tutorials on creating NPCs, including specific types of NPCs such as merchants, bards, blacksmith, etc. You can visit his YT channel for all of those.

 

For energy levels, that can be set on the NPC (actor) located in the AI Data tab. Set it to 80 or 90. You can play around with that once you get your npc moving. There are also energy levels on AI packages that you can set, if you create your own packages, which I'd highly recommend you do. (Also tuts on that from Darkfox).

 

After you've reviewed the tutorials I've linked above, then go to your navmesh to be sure that it is set up as it should be. Auto-generation is not the best option. You can make manual adjustments to the existing nav you've created. Once done you need to check the nav using the Find Triangle button on the nav toolbar. When pressed, a box will pop up. Press the Check Navmesh button. You will get a popup notification that will let you know if you have errors or if everything is ok. If you do have error(s), then you need to go to the offending nav and correct it. DON'T use Delete Warning Triangle, use, instead, Next Warning. You will be taken to the offending nav where you will need to correct the problem. Sometimes the nav looks perfectly fine but the warning is there so delete the nav, then make a new triangle adjusting the size a bit. Run the Find Triangle again after you have made corrections until you get no warnings. Be sure to clear the numbers listed in the Select Triangle boxes when re-running. When all is done with no more errors, press the Finalize button on nav toolbar. If you come back to navmesh the area and make changes, then this process should be repeated.

 

Try to create some of your own AI packages that can better customize the actions that you want from your NPCs. If the npc has specific furniture that belongs only to him, such as a bed, then assign that furniture to the NPC by clicking on the object (such as a bed or chair) and opening the object's Ownership Tab and assigning the NPC. When using SLEEP AI packages, you can also link the bed to the NPC in the Sleep AI package, and the actor will use that bed. AI packages is something you have to play around with a good deal in order to get NPCs to behave as you want.

 

One thing to note when adding AI packages is that you need to be sure the packages are stacked appropriately. For instance, the Default Sandbox package has the NPC sandboxing 24/7. If that package is at the top of your NPC's AI Packages list then the only thing that NPC will ever do is sandbox and never use the sleep package you gave him. Here is an explanation of this:

 

https://www.creationkit.com/index.php?title=AI_Packages_Tab