Area-specific mobiles - How do they escape?

[Raona]

We have been having some trouble with mobiles that are supposed to remain within a specific area escaping from there and wandering all Faerun. For example, Watch Wizards are supposed to remain within Waterdeep, but they sometimes escape into the countryside despite being coded not to do so. (Once out there, they can cause trouble, pulling Waterdeep into conflicts unilaterally!) I'm aware of one way that they escape: in pursuit of fugitives. However, it would help to pin down this problem to know if there are any other routes.

Have you ever seen a Waterdeep Watch Wizard leave the City (or, another mobile you know to be coded to stay somewhere getting out somehow)? If so, please reply or PM me the circumstances under which it happened, and thanks!

[Gwain]

One issue I know of is hunting. If a player character flees from a mobile but stays online. the Mobile will hunt them, once they are out of the confines of an area they will wander aimlessly until they hit the edge of the map.

[Aveline]

I know I've seen lots of mobs hitch a ride on the boats and caravans. Then they get off at certain points.

[Moloch]

The Watch Wizard mobile you speak of is different than your average Waterdhavian Watch Wizard. I don't know what the difference is, just that it loads with a different set of vnums.

[Alaudrien]

a small quick fix would be for area's like the boats to have a No Mob enter flag. Mobs set to load in those rooms would still load but non could enter unless shoved or walked in. I think that will work sorta like how the waterdeep square guard is and how no mobs enter there.

[Leveran]

Well, I know for a fact that mobs such as merchants can actually 'spawn' on the boats. Or more, when they return from room 1 or 99 or w/e it was they go to at night, they 'set up for the day' on the boat =P

However, I've seen any number of other mobs in WAY wacked out places. Got into a tussle with a Knight of the Silver in Ascarle recently. I mean.. really? o.O how he might have gotten there, I haven't the foggiest. Seems an awful long way to have hunted someone.

[Harroghty]

I concur. I am not in a position to access the test port to find the exact VNUMs for the areas, but I believe that the NO_MOB flag added to the areas like the caravan staging yard and the pier for the boats would -at least- dramatically decrease the wandering of these mobiles.

If someone else on the Code Council likes this, would they please forward it to the builders with the room VNUMs* or send me the VNUMs at drewschildwachter(at)gmail(dot)com and I will do it?

Edit: I mean the VNUMS for the dock in Waterdeep, the room adjacent to it, the street right outside the caravan yard, and the first room in the caravan yard itself. This way you can both the flag for the room and for the exit (entrance) into it.

[Raona]

Thanks everyone, this is very helpful! I'll go back to the testport and try these things out. I suspect it's the caravans that are causing us the most trouble!

[Alaudrien]

Don't forget the dock that ends with 3 waterrooms that lead to the ocean on the world map.

[Raona]

Ok, I think Dalvyn's got these all cleaned up! If you are still spotting area-specific mobiles from Waterdeep wandering greater Faerun, please let us know. If this fix works for Waterdeep, we'll look into where else we should apply it.

[Alaudrien]

the other day me and two others where below skullport and doing a quest when one of the town mobs..well several of them. Denizens and one named mob and one from the skull caverns wher all over Undermount. In the course of the quest we walked out and we got a wail of the banshee in the face. <.< The down exit in skullport and the water exit in the docks might need a no mob flag?

[Raona]

For now we are just trying to address Waterdeep mobiles, and the change is effective as of today, not prior to today. (We just copied over the fix this morning.) If we've fixed Waterdeep mobiles wandering, we will apply the same approach in other areas.

[Urival]

I saw one Denver Gilliam in Skull Caverns, its says hes a waterhavian, shrug.

[Raona]

I saw one Denver Gilliam in Skull Caverns, its says hes a waterhavian, shrug.

He actually started out in that vicinity, so he's not an escapee. Thanks for reporting it, though!

I think this fix has worked, and it would make sense to apply it to other cities/areas. Are there other areas from which mobs typically escape, and it seems out of place to find them away from there?

Citizens of Silverymoon come to mind, so I think all the major towns/cities could get something like this.

Others, though?

[Lirith]

Definitely Silverymoon. Also the Pirate Isles and Corwell off the top of my head.

[Harroghty]

Corwell and Holyhead should be an easy fix. They have a nasty tendency to range far and wide aboard the various ships.