Experimental Code: Stop mobs hopping when pathing - FindBestZ tweaks

[Zandig]

Awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!

I've wanted to see some solid work on this for quite a while.
Excellent job.

Now we need some Windows binaries

[Derision]

Originally Posted by Zandig

Now we need some Windows binaries

I have yet to have any feedback from anyone who has actually said they have compiled and tried this code. If I find time over the weekend, I'll install the necessary software on a Windows box to make some binaries for you to try it out.

[KLS]

Do you have any idea where the crash in question occurs in the code?

Corrupt or not there's probably safe-checks that can be put in place to prevent it if we know where it's at.

[Derision]

Originally Posted by KLS

Do you have any idea where the crash in question occurs in the code?

Corrupt or not there's probably safe-checks that can be put in place to prevent it if we know where it's at.

Hi KLS,

No crashes occur because I copied the check from:

bool Map::LineIntersectsNode( NodeRef node_r, VERTEX p1, VERTEX p2, VERTEX *result, FACE **on)

which is called by the LOS checking code

  unsigned long *cfl = mFaceLists + _node->faces.offset;

        for(i = 0; i < _node->faces.count; i++) {
                if(*cfl > m_Faces)
                        continue;       //watch for invalid lists, they seem to happen

The if(*cfl > m_Faces) checks for the corrupt data that I saw in the eastwastes.map file. I assume this check was put in by FNW when that code was written.

I put the same check in the FindBestZ code to avoid the crash there, so there is nothing else required (other than maybe fixing the program that generates the .map files (azone?).

[rojadruid]

if this does work and stops the mobs from hopping all we need now is the actuallt pathing in "apath" figured out. I have been looking at it for awhile now and I am not making any heads or tails on it and I gave up about a mnth ago figuring it was hopeless.

[KLS]

Yeah it would be azone that generates them, alright I'll look at it when I take a look at the other stuff posted on the forums in the next couple days.

[fathernitwit]

Nice. I have comitted a cleaned up version of this code.... hopefully it still works. I disabled the two old options by default in features.h, but enabled the new "fix-at-load-time" feature, as it seems like a good compromise.

My only real concern about this is the somewhat arbitrary nature of a lot of the constants in there... 10, 20, 45, etc... We might want to either make them a rule, so people can easily change them, or else put some serious thought into deciding on good universal values...

My last thought is that if this in fact turns out to be a rock solid fix for the z hopping problem, then we should prolly take it one step further. One of the things I was trying to accomplish with apathing was to be able to load, fix, and then re-save the pathing data into the database... this way we only consume the CPU time once... it shouldent be all that hard to accomplish, the big concern is how to be sure that it is actually producing the right data... we dont want to run it against the official dbs unless we are quite sure it isnt going to mangle a bunch of paths... one challenge with stuff like this is trying to figure out how to detect such failues... as in most cases the mobs are then just way under the ground, and nobody will ever notice (unless its a named mob).... just a thought.

-FNW

[moydock]

I'm excited about this but man... I've already designed a large part of my DB with grids that won't make npc's go through hills. So much work! At least this will make the rest of my work much easier.

[Rogean]

Http://www.rogean.com/Zone-BestZ.exe

Haven't tested it myself. Test it out and let me know how it works out. If it looks good I'll commit to code.

[Zandig]

Originally Posted by Rogean

Http://www.rogean.com/Zone-BestZ.exe

Haven't tested it myself. Test it out and let me know how it works out. If it looks good I'll commit to code.

Tested various zones and it looks really good so far.
Hopping is gone.
What a sweet fix!

[krusher]

I have created a wiki page listing the new rules required for the pathing Z fix.

Krusher

[Cripp]

to make the rules work(or to even compile properly).. need to add them to the rulesys..

--- ruletypes.h	2007/11/14 06:13:36	1.11
+++ ruletypes.h	2007/12/01 18:11:14	1.12
@@ -84,6 +84,17 @@
 RULE_BOOL (NPC, UseItemBonusesForNonPets, true)
 RULE_CATEGORY_END()
 
+RULE_CATEGORY( Map )
+RULE_BOOL ( Map, FixPathingZAtWaypoints, false )
+RULE_BOOL ( Map, FixPathingZWhenMoving, false )
+RULE_BOOL ( Map, FixPathingZOnSendTo, false )
+RULE_BOOL ( Map, FixPathingZWhenLoading, false )
+RULE_REAL ( Map, FixPathingZMaxDeltaSendTo, 20.0 )
+RULE_REAL ( Map, FixPathingZMaxDeltaLoading, 20.0 )
+RULE_REAL ( Map, FixPathingZMaxDeltaMoving, 20.0 )
+RULE_REAL ( Map, FixPathingZMaxDeltaWaypoint, 20.0 )
+RULE_CATEGORY_END()
+
 #undef RULE_CATEGORY
 #undef RULE_INT
 #undef RULE_REAL

--- waypoints.cpp	2007/11/30 19:06:27	1.6
+++ waypoints.cpp	2007/12/01 18:11:14	1.7
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@
 #include "parser.h"
 #include "StringIDs.h"
 #include "../common/MiscFunctions.h"
+#include "../common/rulesys.h"
 #include "features.h"
 
 static inline float ABS(float x) {

Edit:: im not sure if this was already added to the nightly builds or not.. but it wasnt in cvs.

[Zandig]

Originally Posted by fathernitwit

OK, by popular demand (aka one dude who cant build), I reworked this stuff to be runtime configurable using the rules system.

Originally Posted by krusher

I have created a wiki page listing the new rules required for the pathing Z fix.

Krusher

Thanks all.
Tested with 0.7.0-1068 and it works a treat.

[moydock]

Thanks guys, really excited about this new feature.