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RE: Cats crossed the wall
The problem is that cats change from physical (when moving) to non-physical (when not moving). So, consider a physical cat sliding along a wall then deciding to stop and becoming non-physical. At this point all is well. But, when it decides to move again, it switches back to physical. If, at this point, the cat is ever-so-slightly past the face of the wall, it is 'inside' the wall, and the wall and cat become 'temporarily non-physical, with respect to each other' .. that is, the wall (from the cat's point-of-view) ceases to exist. This holds until the cat moves 'outside' the wall (in any direction). If the cat is now further from home than the wall, it slides along the outer side of the all .. even if that is beyond the range for the cat .. even if the range is set to Parcel, and the cat is outside the parcel. This can also force the cat off the region, but that opens up a slew of other problems.
The reasoning for switching back and forth between physical and non-physical is to reduce lag. Remember, cats were created long before mesh came along. Back then, setting the cat non-physical removed it from the physics phase (since mesh arrived, it no longer does); thus reducing lag.
Cats were not the only things having problems like this. Pathfinding was introduced as the solution; but is such an abject failure (since it is so rarely properly set up) it really is not an alternative.
So, the choices are:
- Live with the issue, doing what you can to mitigate the problem, such as reducing the range or adding wall and floor prims.
- Remove all movement from cats.
- Have cats always be physical; significantly increasing lag.
Of these, doing nothing is the best choice.
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