Patrol not working properly for A* Pathfinding Project Pro Integration

[snarlynarwhal]

The randomPatrol bool does not seem to get taken into consideration (always random) and the agent occasionally gets stuck at path nodes. I just noticed that putting the agent in the same location as the first waypoint game object makes them stay stuck there on start.

 

[Justin]

Are you able to reproduce it within the demo scene? The demo scene should have the agent continuously moving from one waypoint to the next.

 

[snarlynarwhal]

It works fine in the demo scene. I have been tweaking variables and cannot get it to work, but it did work for me in the past. I only recently revisited patrolling enemies. I linked to a gif of the broken AI Path and the Inspector for the Patrol Task. I am using the A* Pathfinding Project Pro Integration and RVO Controllers in case either of these matters.

AI keeps trying to go to a (usually the wrong) waypoint.

PS - I just realized this forum does not automatically redirect from http to https and allows insecure logins D:

 

[Justin]

What is your arrived distance on the Patrol task? You may need to increase this value.

 

[snarlynarwhal]

That seemed to help prevent the agent from getting stuck, but he's still going to random nodes. I put a log in Target() and it seems that it gets called anywhere from 1 to 15 times in sequence when the agent reaches a given waypoint. It appears to cycle through them in rapid succession for a split second hence choosing the next waypoint "at random."

I put a log in IAstarAIMovement.HasArrived and sure enough that's also firing multiple times in sequence. That should not be happening right?

 

[Justin]

Calling HasArrived every tick is correct. In version 4.2 of the A* Pathfinding Project Aron added a new property which should help with this situation. Try changing the HasArrived method of the IAStarAIMovment to:

return agent.reachedDestination;

The agent will now use that new property and it'll hopefully detect when the agent has arrived better.

 

[snarlynarwhal]

Ahh it worked thank you very much! Just to clarify, did you mean replace the entire function body like so:

And you'll update with next release too, right?

protected override bool HasArrived()
{
    // The path hasn't been computed yet if the path is pending.
    float remainingDistance;
    if (agent.pathPending || agent.reachedEndOfPath) {
        remainingDistance = float.PositiveInfinity;
    } else {
        remainingDistance = agent.remainingDistance;
    }

    return remainingDistance <= arriveDistance.Value;
}

protected override bool HasArrived()
{
    return agent.reachedDestination;
}

 

[snarlynarwhal]

Hello Justin,

I had issues when I added an arrive distance, so I modified the function like so:

protected override bool HasArrived()
{
    return agent.reachedDestination || agent.remainingDistance < arriveDistance.Value;
}

Any subsequent updates will have the new correct check, right? Don't want to upgrade and have to remember why the AI broke haha.

 

[Justin]

You should only need agent.reachedDestination - it is up to A* to determine if the destination has been reached. Now that version 4.2 of A* is released I'll ensure this is included in the integration.

 

[snarlynarwhal]

Thanks Justin I appreciate it!

 

[snarlynarwhal]

Hi Justin,

I recently upgraded Behavior Designer, Behavior Designer Movement Pack, and the Behavior Designer Movement Pack A* Pathfinding Project Pro integration and the patrols in my game stopped working since IAstarAIMovement got reverted.

The current package has:

protected override bool HasArrived()
{
    // The path hasn't been computed yet if the path is pending.
    float remainingDistance;
    if (agent.pathPending || agent.reachedEndOfPath) {
        remainingDistance = float.PositiveInfinity;
    } else {
        remainingDistance = agent.remainingDistance;
    }

    return remainingDistance <= arriveDistance.Value;
}

which does not work (patrols just stand still), at least for me.

I had to revert back to the change I made awhile back in order for it to work again:

protected override bool HasArrived()
{
    return agent.reachedDestination || agent.remainingDistance < arriveDistance.Value;
}

I was hoping the package could get updated with this fix so I do not need to remember to manually update it next time I update Behavior Designer.

 

[Justin]

Thanks for the reminder - I just updated the integration.

 

[snarlynarwhal]

Awesome, thank you!