Game Version: 0.5.3
Platform: Windows PC Steam : 20260108.9692.W
Mods: Only a few clothing items from Canvas.
Hardware Specifications & Operating System
- Windows 11 latest update
- Intel i5-13600K
- nVidia 4700 Ti 12 GB VRAM
- 32 GB RAM
- 2 WD 4TB SSDs + 1 12TB HD
The pathfinding or routing system employed by inZOI is atrocious. I’ve mentioned some examples previously such as how bad it is in large open areas like the parks or Bliss Bay beach, but here’s some new ones I came across.
Check out the pic below. My Zoi at position “A” is instructed to travel to the other Zoi at position “B”. The red line is the path you would expect the Zoi to follow. Simple and straightforward.
Nope, the Zoi follows the green path to position “C”, changes into his swimsuit, climbs down into the pool, swims across the pool to position “D”, climbs out of the pool, changes back into his regular clothes, then walks down to the other Zoi at position “E”. Removing the pool ladders does nothing. The Zoi just jumps into the water instead of climbing in. Terrible.
But wait, there’s more!
Now look at the pic below of the inside of the house. The Zoi at position “A” has just finished using the toilet and wants to wash her hands. No problem, just walk a few steps down to the sink at position “B”, right?
Nope, the Zoi follows the green path all the way around to the sink in the kitchen at Position “C”. Why? Because the game’s pathfinding code only compared the simple radial distance to each sink (yellow lines). The radial distance to the kitchen sink slightly shorter than to the bathroom sink, so the code routes the Zoi that way. Well, sure, it’s “shorter” but only if you ignore all the walls and other obstructions the Zoi has to work around. Terrible.
Another example. Remember back when players were complaining about Zois taking long circuitous routes when entering or exiting a property? In an update the devs “fixed” it. Well, no, they actually didn’t fix the problem but just added two more predetermined entry / exit points at the middle of the sides of the lot. That’s it.
So now you have situations like the one shown in the picture below.
My Zoi is at position “A”. Sorry, it’s kind of hard to see him since I had to zoom back out to show the whole problem. The pre-update single predetermined entry / exit point was at point “B”. Because of the fixed point only at the corner of the lot, I used to build houses with the main door on a 45-degree angle. The Zoi would travel from point “A” to point “B” and then across the street to the subway.
With the update, the devs added predetermined entry / exit points at points “C” and “D”. A quick kludge.
Now what happens is my Zoi at point “A” follows the green line, traveling out the back door, all the way around the back of the house and down to reach the added fixed entry / exit point “C”, walks a short distance to the sidewalk, then travels down the sidewalk to the street crossing and finally heads over to the subway.
Again, what is happening is that game’s code is only measuring the direct radial distance between point “A” and point “B”, and the radial distance from point “A” to point “C”, completely ignoring what happens when a Zoi has to actually travel between those points. Terrible.
This illustrates what happens when you don’t actually fix the problem, but try to paste a bandaid over it. The broken pathfinding system now breaks in new and (apparently) unexpected ways. The underlying system is bad and no amount of bandaids will cover up the problems. It needs to be replaced.
These sorts of problems with the pathfinding system should have been caught during private internal playtesting before the game even was released into Early Access. By ignoring the errors for so long, the developers have placed themselves in an unfortunate position.
To fix the broken pathfinding system at this point means a significantly bigger workload since so much “stuff” has been added on top of the game and it all has to be tested against the new system. If the devs had fixed it early on, it would have taken time, but leaving it until now makes the job even worse. (This is known as “technical debt”)
If they don’t fix it, the devs will have to accept that their game will always be sub-par.
