Moving an NPC

This page uses Vector3 from Unity. The glossary says what each one is.

This is the full list of what the API gives you. Text in brackets at the end of a note is extra detail for experienced modders, and you can skip it on a first read. Every call takes modId, the id of your mod, and the framework uses it to remember which mod holds which NPC (see Owner in the glossary). Taking over an NPC’s movement is called holding it.

NpcMovement move, hold and release an NPC

Call MoveTo, Patrol or Stand to give the NPC a job, SetActivityEnabled to hold it still, and Clear to end everything your mod has on it.

public static class NpcMovement
{
    public static bool SetActivityEnabled(string modId, int npcId, bool enabled);
    public static bool MoveTo(string modId, int npcId, Vector3 position);
    public static bool Patrol(string modId, int npcId, string nodeGroupId);
    public static bool Stand(string modId, int npcId, string nodeGroupId);
    public static bool ForceStopActivity(string modId, int npcId);
    public static bool Clear(string modId, int npcId);
}

Method	Returns	What it does
`SetActivityEnabled(modId, npcId, enabled)`	`bool`	Holds the NPC still when `enabled` is `false`. Gives your hold back when it is `true`.
`MoveTo(modId, npcId, position)`	`bool`	Walks the NPC to a spot in the world.
`Patrol(modId, npcId, nodeGroupId)`	`bool`	Makes the NPC patrol a group of waypoints.
`Stand(modId, npcId, nodeGroupId)`	`bool`	Makes the NPC stand at a group of waypoints.
`ForceStopActivity(modId, npcId)`	`bool`	Stops what the NPC is doing now, whoever started it.
`Clear(modId, npcId)`	`bool`	Ends everything your mod has on this NPC.

Things to know

SetActivityEnabled(modId, npcId, false) holds the NPC still. The game stops what the NPC is doing. While the hold lasts, the schedule does not start or change the NPC’s activity. It returns false for an NPC that is not in the loaded scene. (The NPC’s controller does not update while the hold lasts.)
SetActivityEnabled(modId, npcId, true) gives your hold back. It returns false when your mod holds nothing. The NPC’s schedule goes on again once no mod holds it any more. The framework removes your own claim before it checks, so the release does not wait for itself.
MoveTo walks the NPC to position, by the game’s own pathfinding. It also holds the NPC, so the schedule can’t pull it back. It returns false for an NPC that can’t walk, because it has no path-following part. (It needs a RichAI agent. The walk path was read from the code, not observed in the game.)
Patrol and Stand start the game’s own patrol or stand activity for a group of waypoints. nodeGroupId is the id written on the group in the scene. A group with no id can’t be named, and the framework has no call that lists the groups. A patrol needs a group that has waypoints. A stand needs a group that points at a waypoint in the loaded scene. (nodeGroupId is the GUID field of the group’s NodeGroup component. A stand needs a nodeReference that points at a node in the loaded scene.)
Patrol and Stand refuse while any mod holds the NPC. Release the hold first. The game may still interrupt a patrol or stand that it marks as interruptible. That is the game’s own schedule rule.
ForceStopActivity stops the NPC’s current activity, whoever started it. The schedule takes over again at its next check. It returns false when the NPC has no current activity.
Clear(modId, npcId) ends everything your mod has on that NPC. It stops the patrol or stand your mod started, if that is still what the NPC is doing, and gives your hold back. It returns false when your mod has no claim on the NPC.

Limits

Clear does not cancel a walk that MoveTo started. The NPC finishes the walk, or the schedule’s next activity sets a new target.