Pathfinding NPC follows eachother

Help and Feedback Scripting Support
1

Hello Robloxians, I am trying to make multiple NPCs follow the closest thing which is a humanoid, but it cannot detect if the thing with a humanoid is an NPC or player, how do I make it so they do not follow each other and can detect if they are following an NPC?

Here is the script:

local NPC = game.Workspace.NPC
local pathfinding_service = game:GetService("PathfindingService")

function getClosestPlayer()
	local closest_player, closest_distance = nil, 200
	for i, player in pairs(workspace:GetChildren()) do
		if player:FindFirstChild("Humanoid") and player ~= NPC then
			local distance = (NPC.PrimaryPart.Position - player.PrimaryPart.Position).Magnitude
			if distance < closest_distance then
				closest_player = player
				closest_distance = distance
			end
		end
	end
	return closest_player, closest_distance
end

while true do
	local path = pathfinding_service:CreatePath()
	local player, distance = getClosestPlayer()
	if player and distance > 10 then
		path:ComputeAsync(NPC.HumanoidRootPart.Position, player.PrimaryPart.Position)
		local waypoints = path:GetWaypoints()
		for _, waypoint in pairs(waypoints) do  
			NPC.Humanoid:MoveTo(waypoint.Position)
			while true do
				local distance = (NPC.PrimaryPart.Position - waypoint.Position).Magnitude
				local distance_from_player = (NPC.PrimaryPart.Position - player.PrimaryPart.Position).Magnitude
				if distance < 5 then
					break
				end
				if distance_from_player < 10 then
					NPC.Humanoid:MoveTo((NPC.HumanoidRootPart.CFrame*CFrame.new(0,0,-3)).p)
					break
				end
				wait()
			end
		end
	end
	wait()
end
2

You need to check if the character model has a player associated with it. An alternative is:

local playerService = game:GetService("Players")
local playerList = playerService:GetPlayers()

Then inside your loop, use the player list instead of the workspace objects. Doing it this way guarantees that you only get the players, and it’s faster. Using the workspace to get the characters will work, but you will get everything in the game, and it takes longer because it must look at every object in the workspace.

3 
local NPC = game.Workspace.NPC
local pathfinding_service = game:GetService("PathfindingService")

local Players = game:GetService("Players")

function getClosestPlayer()
	local closest_player, closest_distance = nil, 200
	for i, player in pairs(workspace:GetChildren()) do
		if player:FindFirstChild("Humanoid") and Players:GetPlayerFromCharacter(player) then -- Check if character has a player
			local distance = (NPC.PrimaryPart.Position - player.PrimaryPart.Position).Magnitude
			if distance < closest_distance then
				closest_player = player
				closest_distance = distance
			end
		end
	end
	return closest_player, closest_distance
end

while true do
	local path = pathfinding_service:CreatePath()
	local player, distance = getClosestPlayer()
	if player and distance > 10 then
		path:ComputeAsync(NPC.HumanoidRootPart.Position, player.PrimaryPart.Position)
		local waypoints = path:GetWaypoints()
		for _, waypoint in pairs(waypoints) do  
			NPC.Humanoid:MoveTo(waypoint.Position)
			while true do
				local distance = (NPC.PrimaryPart.Position - waypoint.Position).Magnitude
				local distance_from_player = (NPC.PrimaryPart.Position - player.PrimaryPart.Position).Magnitude
				if distance < 5 then
					break
				end
				if distance_from_player < 10 then
					NPC.Humanoid:MoveTo((NPC.HumanoidRootPart.CFrame*CFrame.new(0,0,-3)).p)
					break
				end
				wait()
			end
		end
	end
	wait()
end