update: NPC and Critter movement

Movement System Improvements:
- Refactors how both, NPCs and Critters randomly move around, replacing the boring single-tile-paused movement with a more natural, range-based pathing system.
- NPCs now intelligently navigate around obstacles and other entities
- Collision detection overhead with optimized valid direction finding
- Prevents movement patterns from messing with current path finder's target
- Code chore: cached status check consolidation
- Code chore: updated naming conventions for movement variables
- Code chore: TODOs - soft reset (walk) to spawn point and hard reset (warp) when pathfinder is unable to lead back to spawnpoint

New NPC Patrol Patterns:
- Horizontal patrol (left/right from spawn)
- Vertical patrol (up/down from spawn)
- Diagonal backslash patrol (UpLeft ↔ DownRight)
- Diagonal forwardslash patrol (UpRight ↔ DownLeft)
- Patrolling NPCs return to their spawn/patrol point when there's no target left to smack or out of former map

All patrol modes use NPC sight range as patrol distance and track spawn position to prevent drift.

Author: Arufonsu

Intersect (Core)/Enums/NpcMovement.cs

@@ -9,4 +9,12 @@ public enum NpcMovement
     StandStill,
 
     Static,
+
+    HorizontalPatrol,
+
+    VerticalPatrol,
+
+    BackslashPatrol,
+
+    ForwardslashPatrol,
 }

Intersect.Client.Core/Entities/Critter.cs

@@ -15,7 +15,10 @@ namespace Intersect.Client.Entities;
 public partial class Critter : Entity
 {
     private readonly MapCritterAttribute mAttribute;
-    private long mLastMove = -1;
+    
+    // Critter's Movement
+    private long _lastMove = -1;
+    private byte _randomMoveRange;
 
     public Critter(MapInstance map, byte x, byte y, MapCritterAttribute att) : base(Guid.NewGuid(), null, EntityType.GlobalEntity)
     {
@@ -50,65 +53,65 @@ public Critter(MapInstance map, byte x, byte y, MapCritterAttribute att) : base(
 
     public override bool Update()
     {
-        if (base.Update())
+        if (!base.Update())
         {
-            if (mLastMove < Timing.Global.MillisecondsUtc)
-            {
-                switch (mAttribute.Movement)
-                {
-                    case 0: //Move Randomly
-                        MoveRandomly();
-                        break;
-                    case 1: //Turn?
-                        DirectionFacing = Randomization.NextDirection();
-                        break;
-
-                }
-
-                mLastMove = Timing.Global.MillisecondsUtc + mAttribute.Frequency + Globals.Random.Next((int)(mAttribute.Frequency * .5f));
-            }
+            return false;
+        }
 
+        // Only skip if we are NOT in the middle of a range-walk AND the frequency timer is active
+        if (_randomMoveRange <= 0 && _lastMove >= Timing.Global.MillisecondsUtc)
+        {
             return true;
         }
 
-        return false;
+        switch (mAttribute.Movement)
+        {
+            case 0: // Move Randomly
+                MoveRandomly();
+                break;
+            case 1: // Turn Randomly
+                DirectionFacing = Randomization.NextDirection();
+                // Set pause after turning
+                _lastMove = Timing.Global.MillisecondsUtc + mAttribute.Frequency + Globals.Random.Next((int)(mAttribute.Frequency * .5f));
+                break;
+        }
+
+        return true;
     }
 
     private void MoveRandomly()
     {
-        DirectionMoving = Randomization.NextDirection();
-        var tmpX = (sbyte)X;
-        var tmpY = (sbyte)Y;
-        IEntity? blockedBy = null;
-
+        // Don't start a new step if currently moving between tiles
         if (IsMoving || MoveTimer >= Timing.Global.MillisecondsUtc)
         {
             return;
         }
 
+        // No range left: pick a new direction and range
+        if (_randomMoveRange <= 0)
+        {
+            DirectionFacing = Randomization.NextDirection();
+            _randomMoveRange = (byte)Randomization.Next(1, 5);
+        }
+
         var deltaX = 0;
         var deltaY = 0;
-
-        switch (DirectionMoving)
+        switch (DirectionFacing)
         {
             case Direction.Up:
-                deltaX = 0;
                 deltaY = -1;
                 break;
 
             case Direction.Down:
-                deltaX = 0;
                 deltaY = 1;
                 break;
 
             case Direction.Left:
                 deltaX = -1;
-                deltaY = 0;
                 break;
 
             case Direction.Right:
                 deltaX = 1;
-                deltaY = 0;
                 break;
 
             case Direction.UpLeft:
@@ -132,59 +135,37 @@ private void MoveRandomly()
                 break;
         }
 
-        if (deltaX != 0 || deltaY != 0)
-        {
-            var newX = tmpX + deltaX;
-            var newY = tmpY + deltaY;
-            var isBlocked = -1 ==
-                            IsTileBlocked(
-                                new Point(newX, newY),
-                                Z,
-                                MapId,
-                                ref blockedBy,
-                                true,
-                                true,
-                                mAttribute.IgnoreNpcAvoids
-                            );
-            var playerOnTile = PlayerOnTile(MapId, newX, newY);
-
-            if (isBlocked && newX >= 0 && newX < Options.Instance.Map.MapWidth && newY >= 0 && newY < Options.Instance.Map.MapHeight &&
-                (!mAttribute.BlockPlayers || !playerOnTile))
-            {
-                tmpX += (sbyte)deltaX;
-                tmpY += (sbyte)deltaY;
-                IsMoving = true;
-                DirectionFacing = DirectionMoving;
+        var newX = (sbyte)X + deltaX;
+        var newY = (sbyte)Y + deltaY;
+        IEntity? blockedBy = null;
 
-                if (deltaX == 0)
-                {
-                    OffsetX = 0;
-                }
-                else
-                {
-                    OffsetX = deltaX > 0 ? -Options.Instance.Map.TileWidth : Options.Instance.Map.TileWidth;
-                }
+        // Boundary checks
+        var isBlocked = -1 == IsTileBlocked(new Point(newX, newY), Z, MapId, ref blockedBy, true, true, mAttribute.IgnoreNpcAvoids);
+        var playerOnTile = PlayerOnTile(MapId, newX, newY);
 
-                if (deltaY == 0)
-                {
-                    OffsetY = 0;
-                }
-                else
-                {
-                    OffsetY = deltaY > 0 ? -Options.Instance.Map.TileHeight : Options.Instance.Map.TileHeight;
-                }
-            }
-        }
-
-        if (IsMoving)
+        if (isBlocked && !playerOnTile && 
+            newX >= 0 && newX < Options.Instance.Map.MapWidth &&
+            newY >= 0 && newY < Options.Instance.Map.MapHeight)
         {
-            X = (byte)tmpX;
-            Y = (byte)tmpY;
+            X = (byte)newX;
+            Y = (byte)newY;
+            IsMoving = true;
+            OffsetX = deltaX == 0 ? 0 : (deltaX > 0 ? -Options.Instance.Map.TileWidth : Options.Instance.Map.TileWidth);
+            OffsetY = deltaY == 0 ? 0 : (deltaY > 0 ? -Options.Instance.Map.TileHeight : Options.Instance.Map.TileHeight);
             MoveTimer = Timing.Global.MillisecondsUtc + (long)GetMovementTime();
+            _randomMoveRange--;
+
+            // Critter's last step: set an idle pause timer
+            if (_randomMoveRange <= 0)
+            {
+                _lastMove = Timing.Global.MillisecondsUtc + mAttribute.Frequency + Globals.Random.Next((int)(mAttribute.Frequency * .5f));
+            }
         }
-        else if (DirectionMoving != DirectionFacing)
+        else
         {
-            DirectionFacing = DirectionMoving;
+            // Blocked by something: end range early and trigger pause
+            _randomMoveRange = 0;
+            _lastMove = Timing.Global.MillisecondsUtc + mAttribute.Frequency;
         }
     }
 

Intersect.Editor/Localization/Strings.cs

@@ -4582,6 +4582,10 @@ public partial struct NpcEditor
             {1, @"Turn Randomly"},
             {2, @"Stand Still"},
             {3, @"Static"},
+            {4, @"Horizontal Patrol"},
+            {5, @"Vertical Patrol"},
+            {6, @"Backslash Patrol (\)"},
+            {7, @"Forwardslash Patrol (/)"},
         };
 
         public static LocalizedString mpregen = @"MP (%):";