Distribution of the .nav file

Phil25

L1: Registered
Jun 13, 2015
49
10
I want to avoid having it uploaded to the server and forcing new clients do download it.

Is it possible to pack it into the .bsp file itself, or is there any other way which I'm missing?

Thanks in advance.
 

ExtraCheesyPie

L420: High Member
Jan 29, 2015
484
151
I would recommend to use Pakrat/VIDE and include it

Although I'm probably the worst possible person to ask about packing stuff; since usually the file ends up being a checkerboard mess.
 

worMatty

Repacking Evangelist
aa
Jul 22, 2014
1,257
999
Nav files don't get downloaded to the client 'cause they are for bots, which are run by the server. If a nav file is being sent to the clients, the server operator is doing something to cause that.

Don't use Pakrat it breaks your BSP so you can't ever pack anything in to it again. use VIDE.
 
Mar 23, 2013
1,013
347
Nav files don't get downloaded to the client 'cause they are for bots, which are run by the server. If a nav file is being sent to the clients, the server operator is doing something to cause that.

afaik, a client dosn't need the nav file at all since the server is computing the bots. However, the client recieves all files the server is using, so it will send the nav file over unless the client has downloads disabled.

And dosn't packing a nav file in a BSP break the BSP or the nav file? Or does that only go for Pakrat?
 

Phil25

L1: Registered
Jun 13, 2015
49
10
My friend told me that the nav file go downloaded to his drive. And it was indeed there, although I have done nothing to make him download it.
 

ics

http://ics-base.net
aa
Jun 17, 2010
841
541
Nav files don't get downloaded to the client 'cause they are for bots, which are run by the server. If a nav file is being sent to the clients, the server operator is doing something to cause that.

Don't use Pakrat it breaks your BSP so you can't ever pack anything in to it again. use VIDE.

No, nav files as well as bsp downloads to client if it's available. If server uses sv_downloadurl for fast downloads, then if the nav isn't uploaded to that host but is on the server, it won't download either (unless it is uploaded to the host too). But if the files come from the server directly, the nav will download to clients. Every time.

Nav file can be packed within the bsp and workshop upload even requires it but thing with workshop is that nav files do not load at all from workshop bsp file if map is started from the game menu or with command map workshop/id. Valve needs to fix this because it's not just bots that fail, it's also the halloween bosses that people add to their maps due to nav failing to work.

But if you take the map bsp off from it's workshop dir and load it up in tf/maps folder, it (the nav) works fine.
 

worMatty

Repacking Evangelist
aa
Jul 22, 2014
1,257
999
afaik, a client dosn't need the nav file at all since the server is computing the bots.
Nav files don't get downloaded to the client 'cause they are for bots, which are run by the server

However, the client recieves all files the server is using
No it won't.
And dosn't packing a nav file in a BSP break the BSP or the nav file?
No. It breaks neither.

The client is sent files from the FastDL server, not the game server. Nav files only need to be installed on the game server as that's what uses them. It's possible that installing nav files on FastDL will send them to the client automatically but normally extra files need to be added to a download queue. That is handled either by a map-specific .res file or a SourceMod plugin. As I said, if a nav file is being sent to clients, the server operator is probably the cause.
 

worMatty

Repacking Evangelist
aa
Jul 22, 2014
1,257
999
Pakrat works fine the first time you pack your BSP, and it can be used for packing nav files, sure. But once you've saved the BSP, you will likely not be able to touch the pak file of that map again in the future for risk of breaking the map. I have had that happen to me, which is why I now use VIDE for manual packing and warn people off using Pakrat.
 
Mar 23, 2013
1,013
347
Well the wiki says that pakrat will corrupt nav files, but I'm not trusting the wiki anymore.
But I also don't trust pakrat, so VIDE ftw.
 

Phil25

L1: Registered
Jun 13, 2015
49
10
I can confirm that the nav file gets downloaded every time, even if it's packed into the map. In such case the server creates a compressed nav file and sends it to the client.

When creating the compressed nav, it does seem to take it from the bsp file, because I've noticed bots navigate like in the customly-generated one.