Pathing Issues

Critters get stuck on their way to battle

from Demigod Forums

I've been playing RTS games since they existed.  I created my first home-based network solely to play RTS games when they came out in the early 1990s (Dune II, Warcraft, Command and Conquer, etc.).

I am seeing a bug repeated here that has existed in many RTS games I've played - a pathing issue where critters can't find a correct path, and so get stuck on each other, terrain, or graphics which they mistake for terrain.  I also notice the train-track syndrome a lot (where a bunch of creatures only want to follow a thin path like a train on a track, rather than riding shoulder-to-shoulder).

I made a video which shows creatures stuck this way.

Sometimes I'll be out on the forefront, fighting wave after wave of enemy creatures, and I'll be wondering where mine are.  I'll zoom out on the map and see them all stuck on my end of the world, nowhere near where I'm fighting.  They're all stuck on a wall, or facing each other, or just standing there dumbly.  When I trail some enemy by them, they'll snap out of it and start attacking enemy.  When the enemy is dead, they will then continue on their intended path (they don't return to being stuck).

 

 

3,427 views 20 replies
Reply #1 from Demigod Forums Top

How are you recording the game to a movie file?  Thanks.

Reply #2 from Demigod Forums Top

I used the only method that I know of which can record in real-time, without causing fps loss or skipped frames.  I recorded it handheld with my camera.

Does it look OK?

Galactic Civilizations IV
Reply #3 from Demigod Forums Top

It's a well-known issue. Pathing is being redone.

Reply #4 from Demigod Forums Top

Yeah it looks really good.  I wouldn't have known that it was done with a handheld.  Loooking back it seems obvious though.

Reply #5 from Demigod Forums Top

Cuz you can see the monitor when I zoom out? :)  Or cuz of the shakiness due to handholding?

I used to use a 3mp camera sitting on a box on my table to record raids in my EQ guild and that was pretty amazing looking.  This is a camera that records in higher resolution than my monitor is capable of showing it, though, so it's even better looking.  I should put it on a tripod or something for recording, but this was kinda mid-game and I didn't want to fumble with it.

Reply #6 from Demigod Forums Top

What kryo didn't say is that our new pathing system is epic, epic win.  I don't want to spoil the fun, but it's some of the most fluid and organic looking pathing I've ever seen in a game of this scale.

Reply #7 from Demigod Forums Top

Big endorsement there Eric.  Looking forward to seeing it,.... soon?

Reply #8 from Demigod Forums Top

Quoting EricW., reply 6
What kryo didn't say is that our new pathing system is epic, epic win.  I don't want to spoil the fun, but it's some of the most fluid and organic looking pathing I've ever seen in a game of this scale.
End of EricW.'s quote

will we see this back-ported to SupCom for the dubiously expected next patch?

 

[EDIT:] WTF? quoting is borked too?

Reply #9 from Demigod Forums Top

Quoting BulletMagnet, reply 8
Quoting EricW., reply 6
What kryo didn't say is that our new pathing system is epic, epic win.  I don't want to spoil the fun, but it's some of the most fluid and organic looking pathing I've ever seen in a game of this scale.
End of EricW.'s quote


will we see this back-ported to SupCom for the dubiously expected next patch?

 

[EDIT:] WTF? quoting is borked too?
End of BulletMagnet's quote

 

works for me.

Reply #10 from Demigod Forums Top

Quoting Trigeminal, reply 9

Quoting BulletMagnet, reply 8
Quoting EricW., reply 6
What kryo didn't say is that our new pathing system is epic, epic win.  I don't want to spoil the fun, but it's some of the most fluid and organic looking pathing I've ever seen in a game of this scale.
End of EricW.'s quote


will we see this back-ported to SupCom for the dubiously expected next patch?

 

[EDIT:] WTF? quoting is borked too?
 

works for me.
End of Trigeminal's quote

i 2nd that

Reply #11 from Demigod Forums Top

>>What kryo didn't say is that our new pathing system is epic, epic win.  I don't want to spoil the fun, but it's some of the most fluid and organic looking pathing I've ever seen in a game of this scale.

 

Eric, I'm looking forward to this.  Can you tell us when we'll see the new pathing?  I'd love to test it out and provide feedback!

Reply #12 from Demigod Forums Top

By the way, I notice that it does bog the computer down when that happens, too.

I have a 8800 GTX 768, 4 gigs of RAM on Vista 64, with Intel Core2Duo 6600.  Raptor RAID0 boot drive.  I don't overclock anything, and it was formatted just a week ago, so it's a clean test bed.  When these pathing bugs happen for 2 or 3 generations of critters, my system will bog down.  No amount of lowering graphics settings will do it.

Also, the later in the game we get, the more likely things are to get bogged down.  I think we either have a memory leak, lack of compression, or something not being cleared as things die or old data scrubbed.  Perhaps after a creature dies, the graphics aren't being cleared for its rotting corpse, or something along those lines ... just thinking in type.

Also, it way more frequently happens on that second map.

Reply #13 from Demigod Forums Top

Quoting cheeop, reply 12
By the way, I notice that it does bog the computer down when that happens, too.

I have a 8800 GTX 768, 4 gigs of RAM on Vista 64, with Intel Core2Duo 6600.  Raptor RAID0 boot drive.  I don't overclock anything, and it was formatted just a week ago, so it's a clean test bed.  When these pathing bugs happen for 2 or 3 generations of critters, my system will bog down.  No amount of lowering graphics settings will do it.

Also, the later in the game we get, the more likely things are to get bogged down.  I think we either have a memory leak, lack of compression, or something not being cleared as things die or old data scrubbed.  Perhaps after a creature dies, the graphics aren't being cleared for its rotting corpse, or something along those lines ... just thinking in type.

Also, it way more frequently happens on that second map.
End of cheeop's quote

 

This is a known bug.  All of the creeps are constantly recalculating the pathing when they get stuck and as they build up the computer gets slower.  The path recalculation eats CPU cycles.  If the creep creatures don't get stuck as above, slowdown will not be seen.  This can be seen as the Sim Speed on the Score page.  As the sim speed drops below zero the game secs become slower than real world seconds.

Reply #14 from Demigod Forums Top

Quoting Trigeminal, reply 13
This is a known bug.  All of the creeps are constantly recalculating the pathing when they get stuck and as they build up the computer gets slower.  The path recalculation eats CPU cycles.  If the creep creatures don't get stuck as above, slowdown will not be seen.  This can be seen as the Sim Speed on the Score page.  As the sim speed drops below zero the game secs become slower than real world seconds.
End of Trigeminal's quote
Yeah, I've noticed the response on this and other RTS.  In Total Annihilation or Supreme Commander, it's very obvious because there's high unit caps in the game.

Play on an island map against a computer.  The computer equally deploys air, mech, vehicles, and navy.  The air and navy punish you, but their mech and vehicles clog up along their coastline, trying to drive to you to shoot you.  After a bit, this slows the game wayyyyy down (like 1/10 normal speed).  The best way to speed it back up is to drop a nuke on their coastline.  Less stuck units = faster game.

Reply #15 from Demigod Forums Top

Quoting BulletMagnet, reply 8
will we see this back-ported to SupCom for the dubiously expected next patch?
End of BulletMagnet's quote

No.  Demigod has vastly different pathing requirements than Supreme Commander - the new pathing system is tailored specifically for Demigod and wouldn't work for Supreme Commander.

Quoting cheeop, reply 11
Eric, I'm looking forward to this.  Can you tell us when we'll see the new pathing?  I'd love to test it out and provide feedback!
End of cheeop's quote

You will not see it in the next beta version, which is soon.  The version after this upcoming one will have it.

 

 

Reply #16 from Demigod Forums Top
Quoting EricW, reply 16

You will not see it in the next beta version, which is soon.  The version after this upcoming one will have it.

End of EricW's quote

 

Boo!!!  Well, you could make up for it by releasing beta 1c (or 1b depending on who's counting) early next week.

 

P.S. The "." in your name breaks the mb quote code.

 

 

 

Reply #17 from Demigod Forums Top

The slowdown/pathing issue is annoying, and has made me less interested in playing this version.  If other people are the same, that means fewer bug reports for you guys.  Is there any possibility of a quick temporary fix?

Reply #18 from Demigod Forums Top

I think that and real items are part of what Beta 1.x will be about (next week)

Reply #19 from Demigod Forums Top

Quoting Ke5trel, reply 18
I think that and real items are part of what Beta 1.x will be about (next week)
End of Ke5trel's quote

 

Is that what you think it SHOULD be about?  I ask because it looks like from above, that eric says we will not have a pathing update in beta 1next.

Reply #20 from Demigod Forums Top

I'm thinking they will have quick and dirty fixes for current slowdown issues that don't involve a new pathing engine...otherwise I don't see why they would have another Beta before 2.0.