{"id":129,"date":"2025-01-06T16:06:22","date_gmt":"2025-01-06T21:06:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kushaltimsina.com\/blog\/?p=129"},"modified":"2025-01-20T09:32:15","modified_gmt":"2025-01-20T14:32:15","slug":"how-to-script-npc-pathfinding-on-roblox","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kushaltimsina.com\/blog\/2025\/01\/06\/how-to-script-npc-pathfinding-on-roblox\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Script NPC Pathfinding on Roblox"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
If you want to script NPC Pathfinding on Roblox, it’s is actually very simple. In this blog, you’ll learn how to script NPC Pathfinding on Roblox in an easy way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What is NPC Pathfinding?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
NPC Pathfinding is when you have an NPC, and you’d like it to travel to a destination, avoiding objects along the way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
How to Make NPCs Walk in Roblox<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
To make NPCs walk to a certain destination, you can use the Humanoid:MoveTo function.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Let’s say that we want the Noob to travel to the SpawnLocation. How would we script this?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Well, it’s easy enough: <\/p>\n\n\n\n
local noob = workspace.Noob \nnoob.Humanoid:MoveTo(workspace.SpawnLocation.Position)<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
In here, all we’re saying is “Let the Noob walk straight to the spawn location”<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
And it manages to walk straight to the SpawnLocation. Just as we wanted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But what if there’s an object in the way?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
What do you think will happen? <\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Well, the Noob gets stuck, because, well, there’s a giant red block in the way. In particular, when you use the MoveTo<\/code> function, Roblox just makes the Noob travel straight to its destination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But we can do better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
How to Make NPCs Avoid Obstacles in Roblox using PathfindingService<\/strong> <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
To make NPCs avoid objects in Roblox, you’ll want to use something called PathfindingService.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
PathfindingService has functions that do a whole bunch of calculations to get your NPC to a destination, while intelligently avoiding obstacles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Earlier, when the NPC tried to go to the SpawnLocation, it got stuck! But, with PathfindingService, we can get past this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We have to start by telling the PathfindingService that you want to create a new path.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
local PathfindingService = game:GetService(\"PathfindingService\")\n\nlocal path = PathfindingService:CreatePath()<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
Here, we’ve told PathfindingService that we intend on creating a new path, and stored it in the variable “path.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
local success, errorMessage = pcall(function()\n\t\t path:ComputeAsync(workspace.Noob.HumanoidRootPart.Position, workspace.SpawnLocation.Position)\n\nend)<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
All NPCs have something called a HumanoidRootPart, which is an invisible block in their torso. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Here, we’ve told Roblox that we want that path to compute a path (using ComputeAsync<\/code> from the position of the Noob’s HumanoidRootPart to the position of the SpawnLocation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Remember that now, since there’s an obstacle in the way, the Noob can’t just walk straight to the SpawnLocation. It has to take a detour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
In the illustration above, we can see that in order to avoid the red block, the Noob has to sequentially walk to the various blue blocks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This means that we have to call :WalkTo<\/code>, not straight into the SpawnLocation, but straight to the position of every blue block. In other words, the Noob has to :WalkTo the first blue block’s position, then the second blue block’s position, etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Note that this is a list of positions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Remember the ComputeAsync<\/code>? That line of code basically told Roblox to run an algorithm to figure out a list of positions to go from it’s current position to the SpawnLocation, while avoiding the red block.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And now, we need Roblox to actually give us that list of positions (the positions of the blue blocks).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
if success and path.Status == Enum.PathStatus.Success then\n\t-- Get the path waypoints\n\twaypoints = path:GetWaypoints()\nend<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
So here, we check to make sure that the path was successful, and we get that list of positions by using path:GetWaypoints()<\/code>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
So now, we have a list of positions that the Noob has to walk to, in order to avoid that red block (as well as any other obstacles in the way).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And we just have to cycle through every waypoint and make our Noob move to that position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
local PathfindingService = game:GetService(\"PathfindingService\")\n\nlocal path = PathfindingService:CreatePath()\n\nlocal success, errorMessage = pcall(function()\n\t\t path:ComputeAsync(workspace.Noob.HumanoidRootPart.Position, workspace.SpawnLocation.Position)\n\nend)\n\nif success and path.Status == Enum.PathStatus.Success then\n waypoints = path:GetWaypoints()\n \n for i, waypoint in next, waypoints do\n workspace.Noob.Humanoid:MoveTo(waypoint.Position)\n workspace.Noob.Humanoid.MoveToFinished:Wait()\n end\n \nend<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
And there you have it! The Noob has successfully gotten around the red block.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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