How to handle Navmesh in Top Down RPG

I am beginning a project that is kind of an RPG, more as a non-tutorial exercise than in the hopes of actually finishing a game at this stage. I’d like to implement the click to move similar to in the template, but I’m wondering how to handle the navmesh for large landscapes. Do I create a massive Navmesh over the whole landscape? Do I create a smaller one attached to the player character class, and expect it to dynamically update as you move? Both sound like huge performance hits…

We have an similar problem over here at the moment. We started with an TopDown template but want to use our own control scheme.

Bridge Example: There’s a path under a bridge. We can either pass the bridge and move to the path to go “under” the bridge.

What we have, but don’t want:

  • Move Character with RMB, Navigation control is needed and active. Once we want to jump off from the bridge, the navigation just want to move the character to the pathway. We can’t go under the bridge either because the mouse pointer is touching the bridge above the path and that navigation mesh-stuff moves the character back to the bridge.

What we need:

  • Plain and simple: Full Character control. If we’re walking on a bridge and want to jump to a path underneath, the character should just “move” into the direction of the current mouse pointer.
  • Getting rid of any “helpful” navigation systems.
  • Probably not a very very navmesh over an x kilometer big terrain just for the character