Two waypoints questions.

Custom Code and Mods Custom Code and Requests
1

Hi, I’m f3ar, first post as you can notice. /emoticons/default_smile.png I want to start with the fact, that I’m very noobish, talk to me like you talk to a monkey, please. /emoticons/default_smile.png

I’m sorry if one of the following questions has been already asked, but I could not find anything related to exactly those two things via the search.

My first question:

I noticed it on a custom waypoints NPC, but it’s the same way to Orgrimmar cruising guards for example. When I interact with such NPC, it stops for around 3 minutes and than starts to walk again. Can this be changed so they don’t stop at all, even if you talk to them? And if it’s possible, can it be done for one or two NPCs only?

My second question (I included a video so you can understand me better)

I have added a few custom NPCs with waypoints. This happens ONLY with custom waypoints. The NPCs are not custom though. First is in Testing. The NPC is supposed to cruise around the platform in a circle. Well, it’s doing it fine, except the first time any player from the server “loads” it for the first time after a server restart. It’s serverside for sure, since if I go there and it fixes, than another player comes (even if I’m not there anymore) he sees it fine. As you can see on the video it always starts from the same location, no matter where it was before the restart. You can see from where his waypoints start, that exact location is his first spawnpoint too.

After a few tests I noticed also that he don’t start “fixing” when somebody loads the map, he does when somebody loads him directly. In the second case in the video, the second shade always goes from the same location too, different from his first waypoint or his original spawnpoint, different from where he was before the server restart.

Can anyone explain this to me? And possibly tell me a fix?

Video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48ECG07mMMo

Thank you for your time and attention!

f3ar

2

ooh oooh ahhh ahh oooh ahh ahhh aaaaahhh oooh

but, seriously, this is the wrong forum for this. please read the rules and the stickied topics if you wish to interact properly with this community.

3

All right, I’m sorry then. I searched for this issue but to be honest I did not search for a rules topic, my bad here, but if it’s for “Custom Code and Requests” may a moderator move the topic for me please? And out of 36 views - one reply, telling me I post in the wrong section, I mean seriously? :confused:

If my questions are too dumb to be answered (I don’t think they are), may you at least point me from where to start reading to find the answers myself if you want to torture me with silence?

p.s. Yes, I read the pinned topics in both forums, here and in custom code and requests and I did not find anything similar to what I asked.

4

Your first question is easy. I would have to dig through the movement gen code to find it, but there is a fixed value for how long an NPC that has gossip will pause when you talk to them. In current TC code, you can’t have them not stop or they will get out of range, and your gossip window may stay open, but you will not get a reply.

You second question has to do with grid loading / unloading. You have grid unload turned on. That means if there are no players on the grid, it will unload. When it reloads, it spawns the creatures exactly as they would if the server was just started – that means they will start at the first waypoint.

The simplest fix is to turn grid unload off. When a player visits a grid, it will stay active and the NPCs will continue to walk their waypoints. Obviously this consumes more memory, but you get a much better experience. Way back when, me and Rat were going to add a conf option to have all grids active at server load – but we never got around to it.

– Brian

EDIT: also, even with grid unload turned off, if an NPC has waypoints that cross into grids that you haven’t visited, they get really wonky. That doesn’t appear to be the case from your video, but I just wanted to point it out.

5

Very informative reply, thanks!

I’m going to search for that and if I can’t find it I will reply again. Can grid unload be turned off only for specific zones or subzones or maps? /emoticons/default_tongue.png Thanks for the edit aswell, good to know!

6

The entire grid monster needs to be rewritten in a way that allows all high priority events, such as pathing and effects from things such as completing quests or defeating a certain boss, take place without necessarily loading the grid, and continue to work properly, even when the grid unloads.