Pathing Theory

[Tyr]

Hardly, eq2 map gets the information for where the zone walls are by using three macros, one is a “startâ€

[oghog]

You, tornar, are the only person left on the planet without a viable internet connection.

He and I both
I live in the sticks and until they get broadband by tree i'm stuck with suck ass satellite internet. So until Minilogin I just get to troll the forums...

[John Adams]

Hah, sorry to hear you guys. I guess I can admit to being "in the sticks" for a while too last year... tho there isn't a stick for 100 miles out here in the freakin desert.
Tyr, I think you are onto something tho... if I remember, the EQEmu has a command for setting "waypoints", that you can use in game. Wherever you are standing, the WP Add command would insert an x,y,z,heading coordinate. I like the idea of visually setting wandering paths.
One other problem that comes into play is those "groups" of wandering mobs I had discussed with LE a while back. I think he has some provisions for group wanderers... but we also have to consider those NPCs that stop to talk to you (Find NPC) while their buddies wander away. But that's another subject.

[Andrew]

Sorry for chiming in late on this..
The best way to implement AI movement would be to generate a file using a flooding algorithm and the eq2 map file. Since the data it generates would be under our copyright we can distribute that.
We could then use A* on the file to find where the mob can move to.
I suggest to use this with nodes as there may be areas you don't want the ai to move. Also with node you can do cool things like make the AI jump across a ledge or something.
So to sum up. Big outdoor areas, A* with flooding and nodes. In door, mostly nodes, maybe some flooding on the open areas.