waypoints problem
 

I have having a problem with Waypoints
i typed this #grid add 100 2 2 right in frunt of the NPC i wanted to move, then i typed #gassign 100, then typed #repop and when it reload he started walking in to the wall so then i typed #wp add 100 1 2 and Repoped the zone now he will walk to that waypoint. So then i tired to add another grid like #grid add 101 2 2, then type #gassign then made a waypoint like #wp add 101 1 30 after i did this i repoped the zone and it crashed now i cant load into it any more
if any knows how i can fix the zone so i can load back into it and tell me what i did wrong that would be really great! lol

This is what i type in the chat room...

tell me if there is some i am doing worng?


#1 Frist i do this:
I find a Non-Moving NPC in the zone. I put the name in my taget box, then i find the spot that i want him to be then i type #spawnfix then #Repop to bring him to

#2 Second I do this:
I type #gird add 100 2 2. Then i type #wp add 100 2 1. Then i put the NPC that i Move in my taget box then type #gassign 100. Then i type #repop, WooT it moved to that spot where i set the waypoint. (cool BUT)

#3 Third I do this:
I walk a few more steps then type #wp add 100 2 2. Then type #repop. The NPC goes to waypoint 1 then just stands there. I wait 2 mins and nothing. wait 5 Mins and nothing. Waited 10 nothing. Waited 15 and nothing. Dont know whats wrong......

#4 fourth I do this:
I find another NPC, then pick a good spot to put it, The i used #spawnfix to put it in ist new spot then i used #repop and boom he in the spot.

#5 Fith I do this:
I type #grid add 101 2 2. Then i type #wp 101 2 1. Then i type #gassign making user i have thr right NPC in my taget box.Then i type #repop and the zone crashes and cant log in to it unless i go in to FQadmin tool and get 0s for the 101(grid i just used) waypoins. then i have to into spawns a get the NPC grid that i change back to 0


CAn some please tell me what i am doing wrong any heal would be really great


#PS i a new to this and i have been working on for almost a full day lol

What exe's are you using, the ones from the website for moving DB has recompiled exe's that allow the random grids to move , but there is a bug that stops patrol and circle types at 1st waypoint.
The regular 044 exe's allow the patrol/circle types to move , sometimes , but also freeze the random at 1st waypoint.
Still trying to get some help with the bug.
I am not a programmer so have to wait until someone decides that it's important enough to look at.

What about when i try to a sign a grid to a NPC why do the zone crash see my second post.

this is the last problem after i get this fixed i should beable to start working on some zones

I feel your pain my friend!
 

greetings !! just to start off, shadajriel here ! finally graduated from the support and server howto forums (endless days of reading *laughs in hindsight :)* to the world building ones !! much more enjoyable i can now say ! ANYWAY

i'm doing my reading here about adding the grids and all, been doing what you have all day ! you've gotten more luck then me :)
for me, i cannot even get my little npc to move at all ..
i'll give you an example in hopes that in answering this good mans question mine perhaps gets answered as wel1l ! (btw read all i can about this topic :) haven't found the answers yet, if i'm overlooking something I apologize greatly ! )

I made my AWESOMe little imp guy named "Groul"
put him at one end of the field of bone.. figure i love kunark it's a great place to practice for a straight line right?
he's all added to my DB now, and when i #repop he does his little happy dance ! then I typed
#grid add 1 0 2
then I targeted him, and typed #loc, and then used #goto to get right on 'em then I typed
#wp add 1 2 1
then flew *glee* yes flew ! about half way across the pit in front of him, straight line so as i could see him ya ? turned off flymode so i set the waypoint on the ground, and did this
#wp add 1 2 2
then, with great glee, I click my lil groul, and typed #gassign 1
#repop
poor groul, looks around then flaps in place, then reading about this thing maybe being funky with 0.5.0 (not dev one, but now the one they just released as finished product ! ) and added another grid (2) and put a wp, in front of his spawn point, he didn't move at all, now when i read this post, i saw how your monster walked in place , so i made a big orc guy somewhere else, called Kronk hehe (i love little kronk) then i put a waypoint in front of him on grid#3
using
#grid add 3 0 2
#wp add 3 2 1
(target kronk)
#gassign 3
#repop

and he did what yours did, stood in place but walked in place or like rotated his cool self ! i'm still having a blast just making the npc's and spawning them and experiementing, and flying around my world !! MY WORLD !! *glee*
but it would be awesome if I could get some assistance, and this guy too :) cause if you got one, you've got them all :)

rock on !!
Shadajriel (the stupid) hehe (at least lovingly so)

OH !
 

almost forgot, i've ran into the problem where my zone crashes after messing with the grid assignments, what i do is this, i go into the admin tool, and erase all the accounts of the creatures i assigned to it, then there is no interference between what the spawn is doing and what it's doing on the grid, then i go in, and delete the grid, and start over, tedious, but at least you can get back in right ?

Wahoo
Shadajriel

really really easy..

Target NPC;
- you need to add a movement grid to hold the waypoints for the npc to follow: #grid add 1000 2 2

- now you need waypoints (the points the npc travel between).. this can be tricky on hills, be careful: #wp add 1000 10 1 (adds a step of movent to grid #1000 with a pause of 10 and it's #1.)

move forward a little the type #wp add 1000 10 2 forward a little #wp add 1000 10 3 forward a little and so on...all the way up to a maximum of #wp add 1000 10 50.

once you're satisfied with the npc's path, assign the grid you just made to the npc. Do this by targeting the npc and typing #gassign [grid_num] which, in this case would display as: #gassign 1000

type #depopzone to deop the zone, then type #repop.
after a second, you're npc should be walking a random wandering path. hope this helps a little bit.

yup!
 

yeah man, that's exactly what I have been doing !, but should i use those circuit types ? 2 ? and are the errors known with the other path types still existant in 0.5.0 release?
thanks for your reply, but that is EXACLTY what i have been doing :)
the concept of the waypoints, is very clean cut , and fun imo, ashame it's not working ! hehe , anyone else have suggestions?

~shadajriel

I've noticed, with any other path type (at least right now) unless initially set to random, the npcs run the path for a second, then just keep on running then dissapear, yet can still be targeted. When this command #grid add 1000 2 2 is implimented, you can still vary movement with the #wp commands to cause different variances of pauses.

In other words, yes... there are "known" problems with the other path types. At least, after all the hundreds of hours I've spent on waypoints... I've noticed.

I don't know how it is now, but it used to be you had to reboot the server to actually see your guys move, if that's where you're having problems.

now, you just #repop the zone and they move.

doh ! :p
 

ok, I tried for testing purposes, your exact input, that you used for example with #grid add 1000 2 2
and even reloaded my server, and tried to get it to work, they don't even move for some reason ! it's odd, I think i might post this where more people can read. i'm still going to fiddle with it, and I think I might just dump my DB now, and start fresh, try again and then report back what happens, I don't THINK that my past stuff is causing a problem, but you shouldn't THINK with this sort ofthing (especially being an amateur :) ) so I'll let you know, but either way, it's still not working :D

~shadajriel

well, that was only an example, sorry I should have been more clear. You typically need to start with a high value to be safe, such as 10000 or so.

Target npc

Stand dead near npc

Type #grid add 10000 2 2

(without moving from that spot) Type #wp add 10000 10 1

Move in the direction you want the npc to go, one space at a time.
Each step, type #wp add 10000 10 2, #wp add 10000 10 3, #wp add 10000 10 4, #wp add 10000 10 5 (all the way to #wp add 10000 10 50)

Once you have all the movement you want, turn around and face the npc (making sure the npc is in sight) and type #gassign 10000

Now type #repop

Keep track of the numbers you use (I jot them in excel.. it's nice to know what npc does what).

To add the next movement, target the next npc.

Then repeat the step, but incriment the number one value;
#grid add 10001 2 2
#wp add 10001 10 1
#wp add 10001 10 2
#wp ... etc
#gassign 10001
(see the convention? :) )

This sets up "random" movement, which is typically used for wandering. I couldn't tell you too much about named npc movement (with definable pauses, timed movements in towns, etc), as it's really tricky and not fully bug-free. If you follow the above steps exactly, you will at least have one wandering npc, and thus have a foundation to build from :) good luck.

ok cool
 

alright, i'll go ahead and try thattonight and report back tomorrow what went down, I'm curious as to why the grid #'s start so high ?
and also what is their limit ? :). this might sound nagging of me, but I do so like to understand everything :D hehehe, that's what happens when you're none to bright bwahah

~shadajriel

BLAARGG !
 

where's trogdor when you need him eh !!
i need him to burninate this damnable junk :P (j/k , it's great fun :))
alrighty went to a fresh zone spawned and added an npc to my db, reloaded repoped just to make surehe was hunkered down used
#grid add 10000 2 2
#wp add 10000 2 1
(moved over some)
#wp add 10000 2 2
(rinse and repeated a few times)
Selected npc (bob_the_big)
#gassign 10000
#repop
/sigh
/roar!
/poke @ computer screen
heheh
still appeared not to work, i'm oing to dump my current db, and start completely fresh with the pallete, try it again, if no results, then i'll dl 5.1 db, and go from there ! let you know what happens, anyone know a common error i'm doing ? then let me know, i'd more than appreciate it !!

~Shadajriel
the stupid :D

I've followed this post and attempted the exact things, to exactly the same result. I cant get my guys to move. they just stand there and walk in place. Any other ideas?

And this is on a fresh db with 5.1 db.sql the 5.1 2k update and dumpeditems.sql

spawned a skelly
targeted him
#npcspawn create
#npcspawn add
Close it all down
boot it all up
get back in
#grid add 100 2 2
go up to mr.skelly
#wp add 100 10 1
move back a few steps
#wp add 100 10 2
move back a few steps
#wp add 100 10 3
move back a few steps
#wp add 100 10 4
Target mr skelly
#gassign 100

Shut it all down <even the puter , i needed coffee>

boot it all up log in and theres mr skelly walking in place. What'd i do wrong?

Asumption
 

I'm guessing by the sudden vacation of this forum thread, that someone has gotten the problem to work ? If you have, I implore you to share the idea, and not just leave having your problem solved. I don't write this in any sort of attacking manner, I'm simply asking (if the case fits) to share the knowledge of the solution to the problems! I appreciate any further information on this problem.

regards~
Shadajriel

What is it that you need to know? Waypoints are tricky to say the least, but not out of reach -- especially to beginners.

Things it'd do you a lot of good to keep in mind:

Random pauses seem to be the only 'working' solution in eqemu 5x atm.. Creating full pause grids will only cause your npc to run off into 'the great beyond' and dissapear once one waypoint has been reached.

Example: (target npc and type folowing) #grid add 11100 2 2 (adds grid #11100 to your 'grid' table in your db, with random wandering and random pause ) this is used heavily for wandering npcs. To decide what range of grid numbers to use, use some type of db frontend (eg, mysqlfront or control center), click on the table 'grid' and you will see a bunch of 'id' values on the first column in the table. Sort these in ascending order and go to the last used (highest) number in that table. Make your number higher than the highest value to make sure you don't try to add grids already there. (this will cause you to not be able to zone into that zone) ie: zone unavailable errors.

After I add my grid, what then?

You must now define the waypoints your npc will travel. Waypoints are x,y,z coordinates that an npc looks for in movement. This is a common 'grey area' for people animating npcs... In hilly/mountainous terrains this will be a pain in the ass.. in other words, plan on using all 50 waypoints on each npc if you don't favor watching a zone full of mobs 'hop up and down' when it comes to travelling anywhere near a hill (or even flat terrain that warrants a +/-1 Z coordinate value).

Example: After having added your #grid , you make sure you target the npc and type the following to add your waypoints.. #wp add 11100 10 1 (move to next point of movement) #wp add 11100 10 2 (and on, up to 50..) eg: #wp add 11100 10 50.
#wp [the waypoint command] add [you're adding a waypoint] 10 [if using a random pause timer like I did in the previous example, this is how many seconds npc waits to travel another random path] 1 [what waypoint number is this?]

Finally, assigning movement:

Your 'grid' table should now have 11100 defined (or whatever number you chose) and in that 'grid' table, you should see 'wp1','wp2','wp3' and on.. those are the fields that were populated when you typed #wp add 11100 10 1. Now let's assign that gridnum to the npc so the npc knows what grid number [11100] you've created for it.

Example: Target npc, type #gassign [grid number you created] in my above example, this would be #gassign 11100. This will add that grid number [11100] to a field called 'pathgrid' in the npc_types table for that npc.

Now, the big dum dum dum.... type #repop (or, if your computer is slower, type #depopzone ... wait a minute, then #repop). If you immediately notice your npc moving after he repops, then good job. Make sure you watch the npc to be sure it isn't walking off its path... if it continues its path, you have just animated 1 npc! Think of the other billion of them you have to do now :D

As newer innovations become of the waypoint/grid system, i'll post an updated tutorial. Would pictures make this easier perhaps? :P

LOL!
 

kroeg my friend, this whole process is easy, I can't imagine the time it took you to type all of that jazz out. AND it's what everyone else has already said ~ :D
I"M DOING all of those things !! lol, that's where the problem comes in, I know what the functions are, I know what the grid is, I type everything correctly, but they're still not working, I even just used your exact example down to the T, just incase i was overlooking something! :D still not working.. thanks a ton though for at least having the kindness to reply :P, and no i'm not THAT dense that i need pictures LOL, or maybe i am ?


P.s.



psst! add pictures me no understand! j/k

In sincerity
shadajriel!