So, I have no idea what exactly “open source” implies, except that anyone chan chime in. I just want to open a discussion about it.
Would it be realistically plausible to make the code open source in order to fix issues such as pathing or lobby errors ? What does it mean for Microsoft and the players ?
Open sourcing a codebase means that (depending on whatever other rules are enforced r.e. contributions / pull requests, etc) anyone can theoretically contribute to it.
This doesn’t tend to happen to products that are sold, both for copyright and IP reasons, but also because of the difficult ethics of open sourcing something you’re already asking people to pay for. Most open source projects survive on donations and other sources of funding.
I have no real experience with the pathing in AoE II (HD or DE), it’s been years since I played it regularly. However, pathfinding is generally considered to be one of the most difficult things to get “right” in RTS games (and even affects strategy games generally - evaluating the most efficient path from A to B for AI players in something like Civilisation, for example, gets more and more complicated and requires more and more CPU time each turn, the longer a game goes on).
AoE II: DE is still, at its core, AoE II. It’s not a brand-new game, it’s somewhere between a remaster and a redevelopment of the original game. It’s very possible that it’s never going to “feel” right, and it’s also very possible that despite the dev’s best efforts, bringing the game forwards makes aspects of pathfinding worse.
(and of course bugs can happen, regressions can happen, etc)
pathfinding for a single agent is pretty simple. the issue occurs when you have groups of units that collide with each other
Villagers individually have bad pathing so I dont think other units are the main issue.
yes, pathing for vils is still bad, but part of that is because it takes other units into account when pathing. Pathfinding for a single unit, or units without collision is really easy to implement. it takes a university student an afternoon
Well, of all the RTS I know (C&C, C&C Generals, Cossacks, Empire Earth I and II, Starcraft, even Age of Mythology and the original AoE II) AoE II DE is the only I know where units literally disobey you.
This took three seconds to find:
(CnC is an easy Google for me, because I still remember the early Tiberian Sun and RA)
Of course, the point is not to say “AoE II: DE is getting it right”. It’s just the risk of making changes.
The sad thing is that the HD pathing was serviceable and DE has been a downgrade.
I know enough about RTS games to know this is a blatant lie. Like a big aspect of Warcraft’s competitive play is cheesing the weird pathing.
They’re talking about the old CnC games, not Generals. I meant Generals and Generals Zero Hour. I haven’t played any other one.
You might be right, I didn’t mean to say Warcraft, I wanted to mention Starcraft, idk why Warcraft popped in my head instead.
Even then, all RTS games have aspects of cheesing the pathing. It even extends beyond RTS games. You cheese pathing in racing games, in FPS, in MMOs… That doesn’t mean the pathing is straight up unplayable like AoE II where your units just panic and go in every way imaginable except the one you asked for.
I don’t think anyone is defending subpar pathing. My original comment was from the perspective of a developer familiar with open source, and with some experience of pathfinding algorithms (not much though, I’ve always avoided maths problems haha).
That’s something that 100% happens in Broodwar though.
You might have an argument with Starcraft II but that game has probably the most complex pathing algorythm of any RTS game ever made. So a tad bit different scale to compare.
The risk of going back is that it may break even more things
Do you mind elaborate? How is it complex
It is some sort of advanced, at the time, experimental flocking algorythm. Just compare with the much more simple tile based algorythm this game uses and you’d realize it’s worlds apart.
There’s also other things implemented like making units move aside if there’s a friendly unit coming through. I could swear the thing about all units rolling into a ball isn’t default behavior either but Blizzard actively messing with the behavior to be able to imitate how mutas behaved in Brood War, but I don’t remember where I read that.
While we wait for pathing to be fixed, let’s enjoy these videos
Good youtube videos or good pathing? Its an easy choice! 
I can accept moonwalking as a forever feature. Pathing tho… my pain is everyone else’ joy