Improved NPC interaction with doors

Discussion in 'NPCs and Creatures' started by Silveracecard, Dec 10, 2013.

  1. Silveracecard

    Silveracecard Space Hobo

    Is anyone else getting frustrated by the way player-spawned NPCs and guards handle doors? I built a nice, sturdy fortress home with steel core walls and Apex security doors on the outside... Turns out that doesn't do much for you when your guard runs around opening every door in the building.


    It'd really be nice to see NPCs having some sort of way to detect "Outside" doors, and a way for them to detect a door's original state and put it back to that when they're done using it so they don't bug you: For example, if you leave your door open, that would be what the NPCs default the door to when they're done interacting with it, and if you leave it closed, they'd close it when they're done interacting with it.
     
    Maethendias, Nerva and Wag33z like this.
  2. Wag33z

    Wag33z Void-Bound Voyager

    I agree to this completely. Hopefully we can expect this, soon.
     
  3. Nerva

    Nerva Parsec Taste Tester

    This swould be nice, yes.

    Some NPCs actually already do this - I've noticed that if you come across a solitary avian house, and open the door, the NPC inside will close it behind you. Extending that programming to make NPCs close any doors left open nearby would drastically improve the survivability of spawned NPCs.
     
  4. Mackinz

    Mackinz The Waste of Time

    ...and then will proceed to use the other door to exit the house, pull out a stone hoe, and get murdered by a wild animal while screaming for the non-existent guards.

    I believe that NPCs have the coding to interact with doors down, but that's it. If my hypothesis is correct, what you've described is a case of seeing a nonexistent pattern out of data, when the real reason the door ended up shut is because the NPC was actually going to use the door we used and, after we opened the door, actually ended up closing it.
     
  5. Nerva

    Nerva Parsec Taste Tester

    Except there's been many times I've opened doors on NPCs houses and shops, only for the NPC in question to get up from where they're sitting, go close the door, and sit back down. In fact, when I first saw the behavior in a Glitch town, I decided to troll the citizen by opening the door repeatedly and getting them to close it (I can be easily amused at times). The behavior only stopped once the citizen jumped up to a higher floor in the house, and could no longer physically see the open door. Even then, when they jumped back down, the first thing they did was shut the door.

    Now, there have been times where NPCs have just not cared and left doors open, too. And as you've described, lots of times where NPCs have rushed out the door on their own to do meaningless hoeing and promptly get themselves eaten by gas-belching hog-monsters.

    Regardless of the truth of the matter, my point still stands coding NPCs to be more observant about closing open doors, and extending that behavior to all NPCs, would drastically improve their survivability.
     
  6. OffendedPotato

    OffendedPotato Void-Bound Voyager

    Googled and ended up here, I agree. I just had my doctor walk through my base open all the doors while I was afk and a mob walked in and killed me and him losing 40% of 7k pixels.
     
  7. Wiltale

    Wiltale Intergalactic Tourist

    Would love to see this implemented. Then maybe my 6 residents of my hotel could make the place look a bit better :)
    [​IMG]
     
  8. oinkgamer

    oinkgamer Cosmic Narwhal

    It'd be neat if there were a way to have doors automatically close after not being activated for a small period of time, but you cant open/close doors by activating them if their input is wired to anything.
     

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