Evil_bOb1Join Date: 2002-07-13Member: 938Members, Squad Five Blue
You need a pathing_settings entity, tweaked to your map. Alternatively copy one from an official map. Use the nav_debug command in console to see whats up.
Evil_bOb1Join Date: 2002-07-13Member: 938Members, Squad Five Blue
edited February 2013
In game; once you have a pathing_entity in your map, spark engine will generate a pathing mesh on loading the map. To activate the nav_debug command in console you probably need to type dev 1 and cheats 1 too. When you type it, you will see some kind of blue mesh over the floors. You might notice that it breaks in some areas and it that case you will need to go back to the editor and change some of the values in the pathing_settings entity. Start buy copying one from another map it will give you pretty good values but there might just be a few tweaks so it fits the particularities of your layout.
Edit: I don't think a universal setting has been found. You'll have to see if there are any breaks in the mesh and understand why. Also props have an effect on the pathing mesh, they have a setting which makes them or not part of it.
Evil_bOb1Join Date: 2002-07-13Member: 938Members, Squad Five Blue
By modifying how it is generated through the settings in the entity. The mesh is basically where AI can go. No mesh, no go. Just play with it. Most labels are pretty self explanatory.
messing around. dont know what im doing. lets hope i can figure it out.
i have no clue what any of this means lol
Cell size
Cell Height
Agent height
Agent Radius
Agent Max climb
Agent Max slope
Region min size
Region Merge Size
Edge Max Len
Verts Per Poly
Detail Sample distance
Detail sample Max Error
Tile Size.
can any1 explain these things? does any1 know what they mean? My map has a large amount of pathways and ramps and stairs. not like a normal ns2 map. actually its a SANITY mod map.
Evil_bOb1Join Date: 2002-07-13Member: 938Members, Squad Five Blue
Tile size is the size of the mesh's tile. The agent runs around seeing where he can go. Just by looking at how the mesh superimposes onto the map and where it breaks you should be able to identify what you need to do. I don't really know much more, that's enough to get it to work.
you know im not totally sure what weld verts does and how it works....
If you select two vertices that are in the same position and weld them it becomes one vertex and all line segments connected to the previous vertices will now be connected to the new vertex at the same coordinates.
Evil_bOb1Join Date: 2002-07-13Member: 938Members, Squad Five Blue
There's different schools of thought but I like my geometry well welded. I have no idea but I think it is best for the engine as it is less data to handle. I also wish to believe that it just makes everything, such as AI pathing and general collision, work better. But I have no idea if this is true. I also purposely cut the geometry-mesh between some rooms and corridors to help with occlusion but I have no idea if this actually helps.
It might help you, it might not, but I've never had weird issues with pathing, only things like missing props from the pathing-mesh or a pathing-mesh not tight enough to cover an area tighter than the geometry-mesh itself. :-/
How have you built your geometry up to now? Do you use independent faces?
i have never used the line tool. everything is independent faces and extrude. I also never used weld. because i never knew how too. Those settings you gave me did not work either btw.
i have never used the line tool. everything is independent faces and extrude. I also never used weld. because i never knew how too. Those settings you gave me did not work either btw.
The best method (though its also very tedious) is to connect sections using the line tool, rather than trying to weld. Ideally, if the vertices line up exactly, everything will weld together properly, however its common for this not to be the case.
Evil_bOb1Join Date: 2002-07-13Member: 938Members, Squad Five Blue
Ok, from little things big things grow, so just start by welding your floor faces where it doesn't work and do a quick check to see if it has an effect already.
Evil_bOb1Join Date: 2002-07-13Member: 938Members, Squad Five Blue
I don't know where you're at so i'll start from the beginning. Vertices are what you weld. Vertices are the points which are joined by lines allowing the definition of a face. Geometry is just that. Shapes, made of faces, made of lines, made of vertices. You need a minimum of three points to have a face, common sense, and this is what spark will do to your level. Spark divides all faces into triangles. If you have more than three vertices to a face, you have to make sure all the vertices are on the same plane.
Welding is the action of merging two or more vertices. There are two main situations where you may want to use it.
-If you have a rogue vertex in the middle of a straight line. You select one of the edges and the middle vertex and click on 'weld selected' in the edit tools. You can also use , as a shortcut but it will only work in select mode. The shortcut to select mode is spacebar which is handy to know. Also note that when you do this, the resulting vertex will be in the middle, and so it probably will need to be replaced to it's position.
-If you have two touching faces but each have their own vertices. Resulting in overlapping vertices. You can select all the vertices and click on 'weld close vertices,' that way you can merge multiple overlapping vertices in one click, but this will only work for vertices that are overlapping, common sense. Shortcut for that is Ctrl+W.
All this is much more useful if you use different scales of the grid as there is more of a chance that vertices overlap on whole number coordinates.
If 'select all' crashes spark. You can limit your selection to vertices by deselecting lines, faces, props, lights, and entities in the bottom right. Then go into one of the orthogonal projections (top view maybe the easiest to do this in) and select across the whole level. And then apply 'weld close vertices. If this still crashes spark, work on smaller sections.
Comments
Edit: I don't think a universal setting has been found. You'll have to see if there are any breaks in the mesh and understand why. Also props have an effect on the pathing mesh, they have a setting which makes them or not part of it.
i have no clue what any of this means lol
Cell size
Cell Height
Agent height
Agent Radius
Agent Max climb
Agent Max slope
Region min size
Region Merge Size
Edge Max Len
Verts Per Poly
Detail Sample distance
Detail sample Max Error
Tile Size.
Edit. This is what I'm using for turtle, maybe this helps:
Cell size / 0.3
cell height / 0.2
Agent height / 2
Agent radius / 0.6
Agent max climb / 0.45
Agent max slope / 45
Region min size / 8
Region merge size / 20
Edge max height / 12
Vert per poly / 6
Detail sample distance / 6
Detail sample max / 1
Tile size / 36
It might help you, it might not, but I've never had weird issues with pathing, only things like missing props from the pathing-mesh or a pathing-mesh not tight enough to cover an area tighter than the geometry-mesh itself. :-/
How have you built your geometry up to now? Do you use independent faces?
Welding is the action of merging two or more vertices. There are two main situations where you may want to use it.
-If you have a rogue vertex in the middle of a straight line. You select one of the edges and the middle vertex and click on 'weld selected' in the edit tools. You can also use , as a shortcut but it will only work in select mode. The shortcut to select mode is spacebar which is handy to know. Also note that when you do this, the resulting vertex will be in the middle, and so it probably will need to be replaced to it's position.
-If you have two touching faces but each have their own vertices. Resulting in overlapping vertices. You can select all the vertices and click on 'weld close vertices,' that way you can merge multiple overlapping vertices in one click, but this will only work for vertices that are overlapping, common sense. Shortcut for that is Ctrl+W.
All this is much more useful if you use different scales of the grid as there is more of a chance that vertices overlap on whole number coordinates.
If 'select all' crashes spark. You can limit your selection to vertices by deselecting lines, faces, props, lights, and entities in the bottom right. Then go into one of the orthogonal projections (top view maybe the easiest to do this in) and select across the whole level. And then apply 'weld close vertices. If this still crashes spark, work on smaller sections.