Raycast and Dot acting weird (in NPC code)

[thebxzr (bxzr)]

Hi,

I’m trying to make a monster/enemy in Roblox. The basis of how it works is this:

1. randomly pathfinds between points on map (already coded; no issues)
2. if it sees a player. note conditions include:
   • the player must be in a degree range infront of it (for now it’s 135)
   • the player must be close enough (for now it’s 64 studs)
   • the player must not be hiding (a BoolValue in the character)
3. it walks towards the last position it sees the player
4. if it goes to the last position and it doesn’t see anyone, it stops chasing and goes back to pathfinding

For some reason, I’m experiencing weird things, like being infront of the NPC and it saying there’s a wall between us, or i’m 152 degrees to the side when im directly infront. Here is an abridged version of my code, cutting out all of the normal pathfinding:

-- init variables

local sightRange = 64
local sightAngle = 135

local targetPlayer = nil
local targetPosition = nil

local chasing = false

-- plus more for pathfinding

local function getVisiblePlayers()
	local sightPlayer = nil
	local sightPlayerDist = math.huge

	local lookVector = script.Parent.HumanoidRootPart.CFrame.LookVector --gets this look direction

	for _, plr in pairs(game.Players:GetPlayers()) do
		local char = plr.Character

		if char == nil then --make sure the player exists
			continue
		end

		-- get the direction of how far the player is around
		local charVector = CFrame.lookAt(script.Parent.PrimaryPart.Position, char.PrimaryPart.Position).LookVector

		-- find the dot angle
		local dot = lookVector:Dot(charVector)
		local dotAngle = math.deg(math.acos(dot))
		print(dotAngle)

		if dotAngle < sightAngle then --if the player's visible, it's time to strike
			local filter = {script.Parent}

			-- set raycast params
			local raycastParams = RaycastParams.new()
			raycastParams.FilterType = Enum.RaycastFilterType.Exclude
			raycastParams.CollisionGroup = "Entity"

			for i, v in pairs(workspace.map:GetDescendants()) do --makes it able to look through invisible parts.
				-- i have lots of invisible parts (i.e. boundaries) for things like map gen, this is to stop it from getting caught on them
				if v:IsA("BasePart") and v.Transparency == 1 then
					table.insert(filter, v)
				end
			end

			raycastParams.FilterDescendantsInstances = filter

			-- find direction
			local origin = script.Parent.HumanoidRootPart.Position
			local target = char.PrimaryPart.Position
			local direction = (target - origin).Unit * sightRange

			local ray = workspace:Raycast(origin, direction, raycastParams)

			if ray then print(ray.Instance) end

			-- if the player's close enough, get ready to chase it!
			if ray and ray.Instance:IsDescendantOf(char) then
				if sightPlayer == nil then
					sightPlayer = plr
					sightPlayerDist = (script.Parent.HumanoidRootPart.Position - char.PrimaryPart.Position).Magnitude
				elseif (script.Parent.HumanoidRootPart.Position - char.PrimaryPart.Position).Magnitude < sightPlayerDist then
					sightPlayer = plr
					sightPlayerDist = (script.Parent.HumanoidRootPart.Position - char.PrimaryPart.Position).Magnitude
				end
			end
		end

		return sightPlayer
	end
end

local function chase()
	local visible = getVisiblePlayers()

	print(visible)

	if visible then
		targetPlayer = visible
		targetPosition = targetPlayer.Character.PrimaryPart.Position
		chasing = true
	end

	if targetPosition then
		local char = targetPlayer.Character

		script.Parent.Humanoid:MoveTo(targetPosition)

		if (targetPosition - script.Parent.HumanoidRootPart.Position).Magnitude < 6 then
			targetPlayer = nil
			targetPosition = nil
			chasing = false
		end

	end

	task.wait(0.5)
	chase()
end
-- pathfinding code

coroutine.wrap(chase)()

-- more pathfinding code

The thing is that whenever I isolate the code, in a baseplate with 1 or 2 walls it works with no issues. However when I bring it into my game, it becomes really bugged. If anyone can help me fix issues and make this work, it would be much appreciated.

Thanks!

[thebxzr (bxzr)]

it might be in setting the layer of Entity – i’ll check tmrw