Should I use navigation invokers or a big navmesh for a static big map?

Hello everyone,

I have a big landscape and I want to move some AIs in the map. I checked it on the Internet and I saw 2 ways to do this. A big navigation mesh or navigation invokers. The map is static, so nothing changes during the gameplay. Using a navigation mesh sounds good for this, but does the size of the the navigation mesh cause a performance hit? On the other hand, navigation invokers provides small navmeshes for AIs and update themselves during the gameplay; but what if I have ~20 AI in the map, does it cause a performance hit?

Very sad this post never got traction as its a well set out and common question that seemingly goes unanswered. With UE5 moving towards massive maps and landscapes you would hope this topic to be talked about more. Shame Epic thenselves dont use Fortnite of a prime example of these functions in their engine. The maos is huge and they use AI a lot but I woukd guess they do not nav mes the whole thing.

2 Likes

No one on here is going to be able to give you the perfect answer. The question is somewhat loaded. The documentation does explain that navigation involves are useful for maps that are large and impractical to build in editor.
Ultimately it comes down to the specific game for what is going to be more performant. How often are you querying the nav mesh, how fast is the ai moving, how far do they have to navigate at a given time. All of these can have major impacts on your performance when using navigation. I would encourage trying both, but if you have to pick one I would start with navigation invokes as they make testing in editor easier in the early stages of development.

1 Like