path node culling

[jdoran]

Can anyone tell me the reasoning behind the rules Pathing:CullNodesFromStart and Pathing:CullNodesFromEnd?

I see FindRoute come up with a perfectly good route, and then the culling throws away the first and last nodes in the route. Fortunately there is still LOS from the remaining nodes to the destination -- and the culling logic ensures that there will always be. Is this just path optimization?

I'm tempted to just change the rule values, but without knowing the intent for this culling I'm worried that I will mess something up.

The only reason I ask is that my NPC is having pathing problems once it reaches the last node (after culling), and I suspect it would do better if it were standing at the closer node.