How do i make pathfinding NPC move to players towards them smooth without stopping

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#1

Hello dear developers. I’m trying to build my own horror game to make players have fun.

I’m building a killer that chases nearest players to kill them. I scripted the NPC with my own pathfinding code.

local PathfindingService = game:GetService("PathfindingService")
local Players = game:GetService("Players")

local NPC = script.Parent
local NPCHumanoid = NPC.Zombie
local NPCHRP = NPC.HumanoidRootPart

local CurrentTarget = nil
local CurrentPath = nil
local IsFollowing = false

function GetNearestPlayer()
	local NearestPlayer = nil
	local ShortestDistance = math.huge

	for _,v in pairs(Players:GetPlayers()) do
		if v and v.Character and v.Character:FindFirstChild("Humanoid") then
			local Distance = (v.Character.HumanoidRootPart.Position - NPCHRP.Position).Magnitude

			if Distance <= 100 and Distance < ShortestDistance then
				ShortestDistance = Distance
				NearestPlayer = v
			end
		end
	end

	return NearestPlayer
end

function ComputePath(Pos)
	local Path = PathfindingService:CreatePath({
		AgentRadius = 2,
		AgentHeight = 5,
		AgentCanJump = true,
		AgentJumpHeight = 7,
		AgentMaxSlope = 45
	})

	Path:ComputeAsync(NPCHRP.Position, Pos)

	if Path.Status == Enum.PathStatus.Success then
		return Path
	else
		warn("Path could not be computed")
		return nil
	end
end

function FollowPath(Path)
	IsFollowing = true

	for _, Waypoint in ipairs(Path:GetWaypoints()) do
		NPCHumanoid:MoveTo(Waypoint.Position)

		if Waypoint.Action == Enum.PathWaypointAction.Jump then
			NPCHumanoid.Jump = true
		end

		local Success = NPCHumanoid.MoveToFinished:Wait()
		if not Success then
			break
		end
	end

	IsFollowing = false
end

task.spawn(function()
	while task.wait(0.1) do
		if not IsFollowing then
			local Player = GetNearestPlayer()

			if Player and Player.Character and Player.Character:FindFirstChild("HumanoidRootPart") then
				local TargetPosition = Player.Character.HumanoidRootPart.Position
				local Path = ComputePath(TargetPosition)

				if Path then
					if CurrentPath then
						CurrentPath:Destroy()
					end

					CurrentPath = Path
					FollowPath(Path)
				end
			end
		end
	end
end)

but the main problem is the ai only chases old waypoints but not new way points.

for an example when player moves far away from the NPC the NPC only walks to old waypoints to reach the player. this almost becomes impossible for NPC to kill players.

if you guys still do not understood, heres an example of video:

1 Like
#2

Once you have computed the path, the NPC then sets on it’s course and the path is never updated until the NPC reaches the end at which point it recomputes.
You have a couple of options:

  1. SIMPLE - Only ever navigate to the first 1 or 2 waypoints before ending and allowing a re-compute of the path. There will still be inaccuracies in this method
  2. COMPLEX - Use the above in combination with a Magnitude check. If the target is further than 30 studs, then calculate a path. If less than, then attempt to move directly towards the target.

Option 2 becomes more complex as you will need to deal with obstacles in the way, so raycasting is necessary for the avoidance. Id recommend using a tutorial as this function has been done by multiple people, multiple times, better than most of us can. Don’t try to re-invent the wheel

#3

Thank you for your helping but i still could not find a tutorial regarding to my issue. Id you can find, can you send it from here? I believe nobody shared something like this.

#4

A really good one that I found sometime ago was from GnomeCode on YT:

If you aim to have multiple NPCs then it will need some changes to perhaps use CollectionService to control them, but it is a good framework to lean and build upon.