Maze builders: a question

notaurious

What is your maze strategy for building and troubleshooting walls?

I have a maze that no matter what I do, mobs aggro from some spot(s) and pull the whole thing. I haven't seen any gaps in walls, no rounded wall meeting rounded wall... I notices places where the screen flickers when I walk by, but that even seems to happen on solid wall components.

cipher9nemo

It's not your fault. Aggro and pathing AI in Neverwinter is atrocious. It's especially bad when you mix in height (eg: Y axis in external map).

They'll often aggro through Foundry-placed walls, etc. Your best bet is to user larger maps and treat point to point range as the aggro range from the blue aggro sphere, ie: circle. Even then I've seen mobs not aggro until very close to them or aggro from too far away. Aggro is just a PITA in the foundry.

But there is hope! Your best work-around is to not show the encounter until the player reaches a certain spot. Spawning triggers are your only salvation there.

yospeck

I thought this was only an issue in the Foundry, but when you publish it then they dont clip through walls?

notaurious

cipher9nemo wrote: »

It's not your fault. Aggro and pathing AI in Neverwinter is atrocious. It's especially bad when you mix in height (eg: Y axis in external map).

They'll often aggro through Foundry-placed walls, etc. Your best bet is to user larger maps and treat point to point range as the aggro range from the blue aggro sphere, ie: circle. Even then I've seen mobs not aggro until very close to them or aggro from too far away. Aggro is just a PITA in the foundry.

But there is hope! Your best work-around is to not show the encounter until the player reaches a certain spot. Spawning triggers are your only salvation there.

I didn't think it was so much my design. When I first made the map, it was fine. Then I discovered where I placed a mob in the wall, ergo had issues. I also fixed any rounded-rounded edges. Perfect. Then last night someone commented on aggro issues. I go in today, get to one point, and for the first time ever, EVERYTHING aggros. I just deleted the maze and am rebuilding it with wider halls.

Excellent idea on the pathing/spawning... however, what is your strategy for this if you do not want to set objective components? They need a spawn button that doesn't require objective pathing, or perhaps I am missing that...

notaurious

NM, am tinkering with the marker now.

ranncore

One of the things I learned when I made my first maze is that tight corridors are not a good idea. Place it in a nice, big, outdoor map and make sure the corridors are plenty wide. This should eliminate at least some of the pathing and aggro problems.

cipher9nemo

notaurious wrote: »

Excellent idea on the pathing/spawning... however, what is your strategy for this if you do not want to set objective components? They need a spawn button that doesn't require objective pathing, or perhaps I am missing that...

Just add a marker to your map, set its location and radius. Set the encounter to be visible when the player "reached" that "component".

notaurious

yospeck wrote: »

I thought this was only an issue in the Foundry, but when you publish it then they dont clip through walls?

I think it was the inverse for me. I had nothing going on in foundry, then when I played the quest in-game, I hit all the mobs. I had a guy that could not trigger a door for the same reason. I am going to put a bypass option in this maze just for safety measures.