Water's Edge - Advanced Pathing Showcase

Samantha5422

I just recently decorated Water's Edge as a home for my character Cinda and her companion Mirri. Love the property and was very happy with the outcome; In most of my homes I hit inventory cap before I feel like the place is finished, but here I still have 100+ slots free and the place feels right.

However, the exterior felt cold and dead. You are in the heart of a city, but the streets are deserted. So...

I added some people! Specifically, Mirri, Nuzhimeh, Tythis, Erilthel, Prince Irnskar, & Narboth. I didn't just place them out of bounds but actually was able to path them around the city a bit. In addition, I figured out a way to get Mirri to path from the exterior of the house, on the city streets, to the front door and then into the interior of the house, where she mills around a bit and then heads back outside to continue deeper into the city.

You can check out this video to see this in action.

I'm sure other people may have pathed their house guests out of bounds but not sure if anyone else has figured out how to get the path to continue across load screens, so I thought I would share some details.

• I started by pathing in the exterior of the property.
• Make a plan/diagram to figure out how many path nodes you will need before you get started and determine the speed and wait times for each node before you place them because once they are out there it is a nuisance to adjust them later.
• Drop all the nodes in bounds and then move each node in order out to the correct position.
• You can use the "Set Destination" tool from the "Retrieve" Tab to check the position of the nodes or houseguests on the map. In this way I could check the position of nodes that are hidden by buildings.
• I placed 2 additional nodes behind the door for when she enters and exits the house while she is in the exterior space (make sure they are sequenced properly).
• I also dropped an additional node (sequenced between the two nodes above) on the ground. This node is the key to getting the path to continue inside the home.
• Confirm the path and then head into the interior.
• Go back into the editor and select this node from the "Retrieve" tab and select "Modify". This will bring the node to you where you can drop it at your feet.
• You can now add additional nodes to this one and arrange them in the interior as you like.
• Add 2 more additional nodes and place them behind the door for when she enters and exits the house while she is in the interior space (make sure they are sequenced properly).
• The interior space is actually deep below the exterior space; In this case, the first floor of the house is approximately 80m below the bridge at the front door. Because of this I set the speed at the nodes behind the doors to "Sprint" to minimize the time she spends in 'limbo'.
• For this house I had to adjust the interior hidden nodes to push them out because Mirri would fall through the roof, the third floor, and second floor on her way down to the front door.
• Test. Test. Test. And then test again.

This technique can now be applied to any home that has an interior and exterior space.
And now that you all know how to do it, I can't wait to see what the community comes up with!

PS
This home is on the PC NA server and all are welcome to come visit.

katanagirl1

Wow I bet that took a lot of work! Pretty amazing!