Talk:Navigation Meshes (L4D)

Well, I tried. Have no idea how to use this wiki efficiently, but hopefully this article will be useful if not well worded. --Alfonzo 07:03, 25 March 2009 (UTC)

If anything, it's a good start, lots of useful info. Btw, did you see this page? There's a lot of similar content there as well, you can add it into this page here if you want. --brandished 17:07, 27 March 2009 (UTC)

I am trying to merge some of this info with the 'Navigation Mesh Attributes (L4D)' page. I intend to reference it once I am done, since both pages are essentially the same thing right now. Of course, I will only be touching the main attributes section. Hopefully this page will be a full-on description and resource center for understanding Left4Dead Nav Meshes soon. Be on the lookout for other pages that would better fit 'Navigation Meshes (L4D)' - or could be added here. --TheFixer333 16:44, 14 July 2009 (UTC)

I have finished the merging and reference, 'Navigation Mesh Attributes (L4D)' should be the new master Nav-attribute reference-list. The list now reflects numerous MAJOR changes, including wording, details, and some formatting.--TheFixer333 19:06, 14 July 2009 (UTC)

The reference was causing the attribute page's "see also" to be duplicated here. Since the majority of this page is just the contents of that attributes page, I merged it back into this one and set the other to redirect. -- Corion 04:12, 5 August 2009 (UTC)

HUGE .nav file generated

Does someone already faced this problem when the .nav file is like 5 MB wide after the nav_generate and 90 MB after the nav_analyze? It's a hell of a big .nav file, I'm surprised it doesn't cause any trouble to load it, but I'm also surprised that the file grew 18 times during the nav_analyze. It's a large map with a rough terrain, using many displacements and a great playable surface, but still... is there a way to optimize it? Am I missing something? I don't feel like merging all of these thousands of little squares at hand... Left 4 Dead maps like the last map of Death Toll (garage, town, boathouse) are similarly complex and the .nav file doesn't exceed 20 MB if I remember correctly. --NykO18 14:59, 15 April 2009 (UTC)

Merging areas together really is the best option, especially if they each have multiple attributes each. You can also try to remove any extraneous areas which are way past the boundaries of the paper where infected can spawn. Sometimes it generates a bit too far out. --Remmiz 16:55, 15 April 2009 (UTC)

Yep, I was afraid of this. I'm doing a little lifting right now. There's something like 6,000 nav squares on l4d_smalltown05_boathouse and 11,000 on our map, so I'm aiming to reduce it by approximately 3 or 4,000. I'll report there once done... even if zip-compressed .nav files can be reduced by 700% --NykO18 17:01, 15 April 2009 (UTC)

Spawning zombies before leaving "the safe room"

In the first map of my campaign, I want the camera to zoom backwards like in Death Toll, revealing a bunch of wandering infected in an open area.

However, the zombies only spawn after leaving the (PLAYER START CHECKPOINT EMPTY) nav square. And because you can see the middle of the open area when leaving it, the zombies spawn in the far left and right sides of the area.

Which brings me to my question: How can you make the zombies spawn before you leave the safe area, so that they show up on the intro? HTML Earth 00:49, 7 August 2009 (UTC)

Are you sure you need the CHECKPOINT tag in the PLAYER START nav square? I think I read somewhere it should be surrounded by CHECKPOINT, not be also labelled it. Have you opened up the Death Toll 1 VMF file to see if they use any special tricks to do it? I've had zombies spawn right next to me prior to spawning (out in the open where I can see them too) in custom levels that don't have the checkpoint properly laid out, so I dont think its anything other than a basic nav issue. This would be a good question to ask to the Left 4 Dead Mapper distribution list, or on l4dmaps.net - Corion 07:29, 7 August 2009 (UTC)

Yeah I just tried removing CHECKPOINT from PLAYER START and placing it around it, but that resulted in the custom music not working. I checked the nav for Death Toll 1 and it had PLAYER START and the area around it marked as CHECKPOINT. And after starting the map a couple of times, I noticed that either the zombies spawn right away in areas that the survivors can't see. Or they first spawn after leaving CHECKPOINT in areas that the survivors can't currently see. So what I need is a way to spawn the zombies in an area that the survivors can see, but the intro camera can't. HTML Earth 07:25, 8 August 2009 (UTC)

Maybe it's just the director doing random spawning that never seems to fit your liking? It should be able to spawn infected at the start of the round (prior to the camera doing anything) even if players are able to see them. Try looking for a logic_auto or an info_director output that triggers some zombie spawning. - Corion 19:07, 10 August 2009 (UTC)