NavMesh Library

General Discussion
1

I see on Github the following AI NavMesh libraries.

and

They are both update last by capdevon.

What is different about them? Being new to nav mesh, which one is better supported?

Thanks for the info.

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Hi @kevinba99,
NavMesh generation is a pretty involved topic! To keep it brief, both projects are Java adaptations of Recast’s NavMesh algorithms, using a multi-step rasterization approach. I’ve built upon the original work, adding features and providing user interfaces and demos for easier configuration.

  1. Project jme3-artificial-intelligence is the lighter, more straightforward option.

  2. Project jme-navmesh-ai, built on Recast4j (Piotr Piastucki’s Java port of Recast Navigation), is the more advanced choice. It offers:

  • Flexible: Detailed customization and a modular design, allowing you to tailor the functionality to your specific needs.
  • Industry Standard: Recast powers AI navigation in Unity, Unreal, Godot, O3DE, and many AAA and indie games and engines.
  • It’s structured with these modules:
    • Recast/ - Navmesh generation
    • Detour/ - Runtime loading of navmesh data, pathfinding, navmesh queries
    • DetourTileCache/ - Navmesh streaming, useful for large levels and open-world games
    • DetourCrowd/ - Agent movement, collision avoidance, and crowd simulation.

Essentially, its functionality is much closer to what you’d find in engines like Unity, but it’s also more complex to use.

If you’re interested in seeing them in action, check out my YouTube channel where I’ve got demos and comparisons.

jme3-artificial-intelligence

jme-navmesh-ai

It’s a shame JME doesn’t have an official, maintained NavMesh library. These are really crucial for advanced AI in game engines.

If you find my work useful, I’d appreciate a subscription to my channel or a like on my GitHub projects. And of course, any feedback or suggestions are always welcome!

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I found these from youtube channel. I like them, just didn’t what the difference are.

I created a Wolfstein clone, 3D world with 2d Textures for everything, for just learning, and wanted to make them use a navmesh instead of an A* star grid based path.

This is the last feature I need to complete the basic functions of the game.

I do wish JME would be more of a complete engine, instead of what it is, we are left looking for libraries that are standard in other engine and then trying to figure out what is being updated/out dated and etc… It gets weird, like the particles system, once in JME is basically dead and you better use ParticleMonkey, it is weird itsn’t not part of the eninge.

Having a complete engine, so that someone new can create an game would be great. The way it is, it is missing a ton of features to be like other engine.

Thanks for all your work, keep it up.

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It gets weird, like the particles system, once in JME is basically dead and you better use ParticleMonkey, it is weird itsn’t not part of the eninge.

Having a complete engine, so that someone new can create an game would be great. The way it is, it is missing a ton of features to be like other engine.

There are disadvantages having everything in the engine. Being restricted to the JME release schedule is the big one.

Although I’ve often wondered if the Apache approach would work; where some libraries are seperate with their own maintainers & release schedule but are none the less jMonkey branded; being a bit of the best of both worlds

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