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Level Design Red trader pathing effect. Can it be blocked?

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AnderX2000

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May 21, 2009
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#1
I have a few places I want zeds to go but not the player. The red trader pathing effect follows the standard pathnodes through the map. This ends up leading players through obstacles they can not cross. Therefore I want to block the red trader pathing effect which appears to lead the player to the trader in these locations.

I have attempted to block it with the blocking zombie volume with several classes chosen (trader, trader path effect, etc) with no luck. I also did not see anything on the pathnodes themselves that would permit blocking it.

Anyone know if it is possible to do what I want?
 
#2
Once I jumped off the third floor of office because the trader path suggested it was the fastest route. My team mates lol'd when I cratered.

You should try using KFZombiePathNodes or whatever they are called. Under actors->navigation. Use them instead of regular path nodes in the areas you don't want the trader pathing to consider. Now, I don't know if that works exactly, (maybe the ZombieNode is for something else, or bugged, who knows). You should try it out though and share with us what you find out.
 
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#3
You can proscribe the paths into the area you want to exclude. Just enter the destination pathnode's name into the proscribed path field in the properties of the pathnode outside.
This makes UnrealEd think it's not a valid path to take. Characters can still stumble over it in-game, e.g. if they are at one end, get into a fight, move a little dynamically because of the fight and end up closer to the other pathnode so they continue from there. But maybe it blocks off the trade-route-pixie.
 
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#4
Thanks for the responses. I appreciate any and all help.

driftwood: I forgot to mention I did try the zombiepathnodes and they more or less acted just like the regular pathnode. The difference is you tell it which zeds can use it. The trader pathing uses any pathing it can find it seems. So it didn't stop it.

Murphy: Thats not a bad idea Murphy. It could be a decent compromise to the problem. Basically I have 2 barricades that I want zeds to cross but not the players. I know that is a "wtf" for some people as to why they can't cross it if the zed can. It is more for the rush of feeling trapped while the zeds rush from everywhere. It works out to be fun in playtesting I just don't like the trader pathing using it. So the compromise.. if I proscribe just the pathnode on either side of my barricades to the center pathnode they will not follow it over but if they see a player they should skip the pathnoding and just climb the barricade. I think I will have to try this tonight and see the results.
 
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#7
Yeah I tried the zombiepathnodes before. Perhaps I will give that a shot again. I have had so many versions of these barricades in attempt to thwart the trader pathing I may of just did something wrong. I will try again.

As for the proscribing.. just finished trying that on my lunchbreak and the trader pathing still used it. It seems to ignore flags/attributes on the pathnodes.
 
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#8
Ok I just finished trying zombiepathnodes again, verifying there were no other paths over or through the barricade other than the zomebiepathnode and the trader pathing still took that route.

Oh well, it seems it was not an intended gameplay element to have places zeds can go that players can not, other than one-ways out of a closet.

Maybe someone can come up with a slick way to do this. Unfortunately I do not know enough about unrealEd to do so.
 
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#10
It seems like shoddy design, yes, but I haven't seen it in action so I won't judge it.
You can add "extra costs" to path nodes. This is a numerical value that tells UnrealEd the distance to the pathnode is it's actual distance + the extra cost. Maybe you can tweak that so the trader pixie thinks the way around is shorter than the way through your zombie-area. I suppose specimen would think the same ingame then but it could be worth a try. If they see a player maybe they run straight towards him anyway and don't care for that anymore. I don't know. Just an idea.
 
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#11
consider this: your zombies jump over the barricades to get to the player. Is that trip a one way ticket for the zed, or do you want him to be able to go back the way he came aswell?

If it is meant to be a one way ticket, tweak it so that the path between the two nodes is one directional. Can you proscribe the other direction without proscribing both directions? You can tell I haven't worked with much of this stuff yet, but I'll get there soon too :)
 
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#12
Ok, I have tried proscribing, zombiepathnodes, door nav points, extra costs, real mover doors and just plain removing any node from the top of the barricades. None give me the desired effect.

Proscribing: Doesnt work, trader pathing ignores flags/attributes and takes most direct pathing available.

Zombiepathnodes: Doesnt work, trader pathing ignores flags/attributes and takes most direct pathing available.

Door nav points: Closed, blocked or otherwise.. Doesnt work, trader pathing ignores flags/attributes and takes most direct pathing available.

Extra costs: It does obey this method but the cut-off is the same. When the trader path stops using it, so do the zed. (1749 they both use it, 1750 they both stop using it)

Real mover door: Just like any other door closed or what not in a map the pathing is still active. But I had to try. I even tried using a triggeredplayerstart as a pathnode. Of course I can toggle off the playerstart portion of this but not the pathing part. It was always active.

No path node: I thought this might work but the zed I dont think can see well enough beyond the barricades to just run over them to the player. They need a pathnode of some sort there.

I did find a simple change to the unrealscript for a blockingpath to make it possible to toggle it but I cant use anything custom without disabling perks. I have to mention here I dislike the constraints put on making any changes and it disabling perks. It's just silly.

Anyhow I have tried all I can think of plus a few oddball things. I will accept that my design is unconventional and may be disliked by some, but I like them being zed only barricades. I hope most people feel the same after playing the map.

Thanks for all the suggestions!
 
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#13
The Blocking Volume contains a BlockedClasses list, which includes the TraderPathEffect. You should be able to put a blocking volume over the paths and add the TraderPathEffect to the list of blocked classes. Give that a go and see if it works.

EDIT: Don't forget to mark ClassBlocker as True.
 
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#14
I wonder, can you set the Blocking Volume to block only the TraderPathEffect, allowing everything else? I suspect I'm going to run into a similar problem with my map, as it has several areas you can enter but cannot leave via the same route, to combat kiting and make things generally more interesting.
 
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#15
IrritAnt said:
The Blocking Volume contains a BlockedClasses list, which includes the TraderPathEffect. You should be able to put a blocking volume over the paths and add the TraderPathEffect to the list of blocked classes. Give that a go and see if it works.

EDIT: Don't forget to mark ClassBlocker as True.
Click to expand...

Yeah that was the first thing I attempted (mentioned in the original post). I used a zombieblocking volume but thats just a subclass of blockingvolume with human_pawn class already selected.

It does seems logical that this would do the trick but from my experience the trader path effect just is not coded to obey the rules of pathing. Just not something TWI had a use for so it was probably not coded. If you look under the class listing for blockingvolume it is just listing every class in the game with no real connection to any of them being usable with a blockingvolume.

I am sure it would be trivial for them to change the code to take advantage of this but I would not expect them to do so just for my idea of a map. Though I wouldn't complain if they did either. :p lol

Thanks for the input and trying to help me out. I would love it if someone came in and posted a magic bullet fix for this. Just don't think it's possible with the current setup of the game.
 
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#17
AnderX2000 said:
Yeah that was the first thing I attempted (mentioned in the original post). I used a zombieblocking volume but thats just a subclass of blockingvolume with human_pawn class already selected.
Click to expand...

D'oh! Sorry, got so caught up in your later posts I forgot to check the original one. It did seem like an obvious thing to do :p

I reckon the solution has to be in that list somewhere though. The TraderPathEffect just might not be the right class to block. You said you tried various classes, which ones? I'm thinking there has to be an AI associated with the effect that does the actual pathing.

If you canc rack this one it'll be a big benefit to mappers everywhere :p
 
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#18
I don't think the trader path even checks volumes for it's pathing. I did try all the logical classes. I even looked into the UC files. The trader path is an extension of the WillowWhisp class from UT. Which is an extension of xEmitter. Blocking all 3 of those does nothing.

The only things the trader path seems to obey are things in the pathnodes. Proscribed Paths, Forced Paths, Extra cost etc work . Unfortunately I can't make a solution with just those few fields.

Honestly it would be awesome if TWI just patched the ZombinePathNode to have an extra field. BlockTraderPath = True/False. Simple solution. Wonder if we could convince them to do that? lol
 
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