How to fix patrols that don't patrol?

varkhus2013 · July 2013

Well my first quest finally published, and I see that several mobs I had to set to Looping Patrol just stay in one spot, without patrolling. They work properly when I run the map in the editor, but not in the live version. I thought maybe they were getting stuck on something so I shortened their patrols (even though it works in the editor) and republished, but that did not fix it.

In fact one OTHER set of mobs that did patrol properly, now does not! Only one patrol does work in the live quest, which is an important one, but still...anyone know of a fix? Thanks.

eldarth · July 2013

Did you have more than one patrol point?
The NPC position is not a starting patrol point - you need to add point at least twice to get a full patrol path.

mosby1 · July 2013

Avoid changes in elevation if possible. Traps can cause them to stop moving. Also I've seen them stop for water. If they work in the editor though, it should work as well or better once published. Let us know if you figure it out.

visigoth18 · July 2013

~_~ I have this same problem too "I've been trying to fix it for over a week with no luck" it's very annoying...

visualkeiuk · July 2013

yes and I also, i think its he foundry, as there ok till i pub to live. and there is noting in there way

raphaeldisanto · July 2013

Mob pathing AI nodes change when you hit publish and they won't always end up where you've placed them in the editor.

I was actually driven to build a custom street map from base assets precisely due to this error. My one-way patrol mobs' pathing nodes changed between dev and live and on live they kept walking into the buildings and getting stuck on the prebaked terrain, whereas they worked just fine in the toolset.

As soon I created an entirely custom street and placed the patrol nodes down on that, it's worked flawlessly since then, on both dev and live.

Yet another reason not to use prebaked terrains.

narayansingh · July 2013

The problem I have had lately is mobs disappearing during patrolling. I start out with 3 or 4 mobs and as I watch them they all disappear except one. What's with that?

swordsworn · July 2013

I had this problem too in my infinity chest worked fine in editor broken in publish.
After carful review I relized my patrols are by defaul set to altitude zero. my room was +20ft so after raising my patrols to 20.5 feet. they worked again in publish. the editor dosnt get hung up on if it can get to the way point, but in publish it they cant becuse its a few feet bellow floor they get stuck. Another thing you will see id the dust trail breaks easy in edit but is very bullish in publish.

In my other dungon I had a wall that disapeared 1/2 threw qwest but the dust trail refused to take the shorter rout. after a day of trying to fix it. i spen the next day adding a npc and making up a whole reson they were there just so you would go strait 3 extra feet and get a new dust trail taaking the short cut instead of following the dust trail to the left threw now empty rooms. After publish the the dust trail was much more bullish. going threw things it went around in the editor. ignoring items dropped near the dust trail that broke it in edit but were ignored in publish. I spent two days trying to fixit in the editor. On the bright side I got a really fun drunk npc for comic relief mid qwest. But she came about as a patch to a broken dust trail that wasn't broken after pulish.

zbkolde · July 2013

I had the same issue with my first quest. I have NPCs that patrol up hill, through trees, over rocks... rough ground. Here's what i did:

1. Set the Y coordinate for both the NPC and the patrol points to relate to Zero Altitude (basic rule of thumb for like everything really).

2. Set the Y values high, higher than the landscape. Good way to find out the height of the landscape: fence posts. Grab a wooden fence post, set it where you want it in 3D mode. Back in the 2D editor, just look at the Y value of the post. (When you move it around in 3D mode, it should automatically switch to have Y relate to Zero Altitude.) Set the Y value for the NPC and the patrols to something at least 10 higher than the actual terrain. Be careful if it's under trees that you don't set it higher than the trees, or your NPC jumps up into the tree. Aside from trees or other overhead obstacles, higher height doesn't matter, as the NPC always walks on the geometry under it.

3. Make sure your paths are clear of obstacles. Seems like NPCs are better adept to going over or around obstacles on the foundry side than on the live side. Grab some fence posts again, set them exactly where you want your NPC to walk, then put your patrol points on those exact locations in the 2D editor (remember to set Y value high and in relation to Zero Altitude). Try to veer around obstacles as much as possible, and up-hill walks work better going straight up hill, not at an angle.

4. Publish it when you think it's right, test it on the live side, take notes of where you need to make adjustments. It will work differently on the live side, period. Go back to the foundry and make the necessary adjustments, and publish again, then test again. It took me about a week to get my NPCs to patrol correctly, and one of them never did work and became stationary.

lolsorhand · July 2013

Yeah most of the times it's the Y cordinates, which can be quite tricky. Though sometimes it isn't. (Atleast from what I can gather.)

How to fix patrols that don't patrol?

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