Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Suggestions & Feedback Companion Jumping (or lack thereof...)

Can we please get an adjustment to the way our companions approach trying to stay with the leader? Specifically when it comes to crossing gaps, it's super frustrating to have a companion "give up" trying to cross a gap and end up staying behind while we forge ahead. A companion should never just sit there if they're outside the normal follow range and still grouped to the leader. More than once I've had a companion fall behind and have to go manually retrieve them. This isn't something we should have to worry about.

And while doing that you need to unchain them or else the whole party runs/jumps back to where the lagger is and then a new person gets stuck. The following mechanic really needs an overhaul.

Yup. I have seen this a bunch of times myself. It has happened in all chapters. What is funny, is that it is usually (for me) La'zel, who has a longer jump than the rest of my party. I had one instance at the end of chapter 2 upon returning from camp, Astarian "spawned" on the second floor of a building and couldn't figure out how to get down to where the main party was. I didn't realize it until I got into combat some ways away. and it happened several times in 'places where the jumping is extended'.

Regarding solutions, the problem appears to be pathing. As in the problem isn't that they can't jump the gap (or otherwise keep up with the party leader), but that the pathing fails at a certain point (usually related to jumping). My suggestion, when the pathing routine fails, have it attempt to fire again after a short interval or once the rest of the party has moved. The program is smart enough to actually unchain the impacted character, so maybe before it does that, have it try one final time.

It is annoying. Especially when traversing large distances, I keep the camera on the spot I want the party to move to. When all are outside of the camera view, not only is it hard to hear what they are saying, it is also hard to see if there are stragglers.
My impression is that it is not only pathing, but also timing somehow. For example, on a narrow ledge each has to take a turn to jump over a gap. It seems that the ones that are last in line run the highest risk of getting left behind. It is like their window of opportunity has passed. I could be mistaken though.

You are correct. But it is pathing. Basically, the pathing algorithm fires for each party member X number of times accounting for each characters' physicality along that path in relation to the others. Any result causing two or more characters to occupy the same space at the same time means a fail and re-calculation. If, after the Xth time, the code can't find a path that is clear, it stops the character where they are. So, as an example, if the destination is a smaller spot, it is more likely to not be able to find an open space/path for one or more characters. On the other hand, open areas are less likely to have this issue, so it isn't seen (much) there.

Or I imagine that is the way it is coded.

I imagine that adding a post processing 'final attempt' after a short delay will likely resolve the issue. But I don't know the code well enough to say if there are any other limiting factors which might prevent this.

+1

This is really annoying.

Just force turn base and manually jump the straggler past the gap, it's what I do, unchaining takes too much time.

But yes, overall, the follower AI needs an overhaul.