[Cichard]

A Navigation Mesh or short NavMesh defines the ground on which the bot can walk. It sits ontop of the level geometry like a second skin and is used for the calculations needed in order to move the bot freely around through the gameworld and to avoid obstacles etc.



A Navmesh is created from multiple Triangles as basis geometry. With the included MeshManager you are able to create and modify the triangles for the navmesh. After creating enough Triangles, you need to save them ( they will be saved inside the \Navigation\ folder as xxx.obj file). When you press the Save button (or when loading the first time a navmesh), the Real Navmesh will automatically build from the Triangles, this Navmesh is beeing used for the bot to navigate on.


In order for the bot to move intelligently over the maps, avoid obstacles or dangerous areas, walk safely on roads without encountering enemies or even beeing able to jump down ledges or over obstacles, the NavMesh/Triangles can be recorded with different Area-Types, which you can see on the screenshot above.

• Road - Use this for safe roads or places that have no enemies around.
  
• Lowdanger - This is the default areatype, use this for most of your parts.
  
• Highdanger - Use this for places which for example have an enemy elite/boss where your bot will probably die when he is alone.
  
• OffMesh Connections - These can be used for letting the bot know that he has to jump from A to B or jump down a ledge (but never try to go up that way). Read more on them below.
  

Create your own navmesh:

1. Click on Advanced Settings.
   
   
2. Click on MeshManager.
   
   
3. Click on the Editor Settings Tab
   
   
4. If you have already a navmesh loaded for the zone you are in, press the Clear Navmesh button to make a fresh start. Next ClickShow Triangles" and Enable "Record Mesh". By default the Record mode areatype is set to Lowdanger. The Record Size is the radius around your player where it will place triangles automatically. Increase/Decrease this according to your needs.
   
5. Now start moving your character and it will automatically place the Triangles around your player. If you continue to record on an already existing mesh or at a different spot, you can force the placement of Triangles by holding down CTRL.
   
   

• CTRL - Force placement of Triangles, be careful in using that, it can produce unusable navmesh connections / triangles which will break the navigation of the bot if your character cant walk along these triangles! So use this only when there is no other way and make sure you cleanup / remove not walkable Triangles!!!
  
  
• Change Mesh, Change Type and Change Size can be used to change the AreaType of already placed Triangles around your player, or Delete mesh around your player if you set it to Delete.
  
• Add OffMeshConnection - Press this button once where you want the bot to start his jump, then move your player where the bot should land, and press this button again. A new connection between these two points will now be shown. Use this to let the bot know where he can jump over or jump down. By default the bot will only jump from start to endpoint, if you want him to be able to jump into both directions, enable the "Bidirectional OffmeshConnection" checkbox, then record the Connection.
  
• Del OffMeshConnection - Walk to either the Start or the End of an OffMeshConnection and press this button to remove the connection. Note: Each Navmesh can hold only a max of 255 connections!
  
• When you are done creating enough Triangles, Stop the recording and press the Save NavMesh button in the MeshManager. The NavMesh will now be build from your Triangles.
  
• Click the "Show Real Navmesh" checkbox to see the new navmesh.
  
• Done! you have created your own navmesh and the bot can now start using it!
  
• You can set your evac point by pressing the evac button.