Raise the default value of pathfinding!
CrevsDaak
Member Posts: 7,155
Wouldn't it be better if the
'Program Options', 'Path Search Nodes', '%numeric_value%', option in the baldur.ini is set to 400,000 by default instead of the actual 32,000? 3
Comments
'Game Options', 'Enhanced Path Search', '1',with a default value of 1. This should cause the game to periodically recalculate the path of moving characters. This would eliminate situations where a character starts taking a drastically less than optimal route due to a temporary blockage at some narrow gap, and then continues along the sub-optimal route even if the blockage has since cleared.Both these changes should significantly improve path finding/negate situations where a character starts walking all the way around a large building/object to get on the other side of a temporary blockade. I can somewhat understand not doing this for tablet devices as this probably raises the minimum CPU requirements a bit.
Computers nowadays have more than the 16 MB of ram and 0,4 GHz required to play BG1, so I don't know why that couldn't be set to 400k instead, but that option revamps the way pathfinding is implemented (and really, it doesn't improve much) in the game, making it more (as you guessed) cpu and ram consuming.
As for why we don't automatically set the pathfinding nodes to 400,000, Franpa has it more or less correct, that doing so would cripple the iOS version's performance.
I do think this function would be more beneficial then increasing the number of nodes used, as it essentially refactors the existing path every so often which mitigates a lot of the issues involving taking a long route with few path finding nodes, as well as dealing with the previously mentioned bottleneck issue. So as the character nears their destination the pathing becomes more and more optimal as it periodically recalculates the progressively shorter path to the destination.
I would say a default of around 120,000 search nodes and the corrective pathing option enabled would resolve many issues with the path finding without drastically increasing the system requirements. Anything beyond this wouldn't yield anywhere near as much of a benefit, even for long journeys, it would however drastically increase the system requirements.
Also, is the enhanced path search a feature request, or something I should be adding to my .ini file today?!
As a side note, this option only appears to improve pathfinding for regular party members. Familiars and controlled creatures are left out for some reason.
Baldur's Gate: The Original Saga which is the main game and the expansion pack packaged on to 3 CD's, and Baldur's Gate II both increased the maximum value for the search nodes setting (Beyond 32,000).