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San Andreas Online Docs

setPedWander

Client-side
SA:O APINative ped tasks and gang tags

Tell an NPC to wander and GTA's original pedestrian AI takes over: it follows the native path network, chooses its own direction from node to node, and keeps walking or running without Lua waypoints.

Complete example

-- client.lua
-- This local ped picks its own walking path instead of following Lua waypoints.
local pedestrian = createPed(7, 2498.0, -1687.0, 13.5)


if pedestrian then
    assert(setPedWander(pedestrian, "walk", -1, true))
end

Syntax

bool setPedWander(ped thePed [, string movement = "walk", int direction = -1, bool wanderSensibly = true])

GTA task mapping

ORIGINAL GTA TASK 05DE
CTaskComplexWanderStandardCTaskComplexWander

SCM equivalent: TASK_WANDER_STANDARD

A direction of -1 is resolved by GTA's native random-direction helper before the standard wander task is created. Under the ambient-cop-safe profile San Andreas Online builds a WANDER_TYPE_COP task on GTA's base Wander locomotion vtable with an empty scanner, so police escalation is unreachable.

Arguments

thePedped

Living streamed ped simulated by this client.

movementstringoptional · default walk

walk or run.

directionintoptional · default -1

-1 for GTA's native random direction, or a direction from 0 through 7.

wanderSensiblybooloptional · default true

Use the native sensible-wander behavior. Rejected as false while the ambient-cop-safe profile is selected.

Returns

true when the task was queued; false for invalid movement, direction, ped state, ownership, or task construction.

Ownership and lifecycle

Low-level ped task calls require the client that simulates the living, streamed ped. Driving tasks also require control of the streamed vehicle. They do not create lifecycle handles; the optional native-task-runtime adds server-owned route epochs and reconstruction for drive_to routes. Gang-tag ownership is resource-exclusive, survives object streaming and recreation, and is released automatically when the owner stops.

Important behavior
  • A ped holding the ambient-cop-safe event profile gets San Andreas Online's safe ambient-cop wander task instead of WanderStandard.
  • Under that profile wanderSensibly = false returns false rather than being applied. Retail WanderCop hardcodes sensible walking, so accepting it would produce a hybrid state neither task can reach.

OOP aliases

  • ped:setWander(movement, direction, wanderSensibly)

Where this comes from

SOURCECLuaPedDefs.cppClient/mods/deathmatch/logic/luadefs/CLuaPedDefs.cpp INTRODUCED / EXTENDED500d3cf7eRead the commit and why the change was made TEST RESOURCE native-ped-traffic test-resources/native-ped-traffic
RELATED SA:O APIS

Continue exploring

Read the system guide →
setPedGoTo Send an NPC straight toward a nearby coordinate. GTA handles the walk or run, slows the NPC down, and stops it inside the arrival radius. setPedNavigateTo Give an NPC a destination and GTA's pedestrian pathfinder takes over: it chooses a route through the native path network, goes around buildings, walks or runs naturally, slows down, and stops near the target. setPedChatWith Pair two NPCs and GTA makes them face each other and perform its original conversation behavior, with one character leading and the other replying.

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