NavigationPolygonInstance in Godot 4: it is NavigationRegion2D now
By Eduardo Orellana · Updated
NavigationPolygonInstance is called NavigationRegion2D in Godot 4, and Navigation2D is gone: agents find paths with NavigationAgent2D. In a Godot 4 project, NavigationPolygonInstance.new() fails to parse with Identifier "NavigationPolygonInstance" not declared in the current scope. Did you mean to use "NavigationRegion2D"?.
AppImage, x86_64. Ubuntu 22.04, Debian 12, Fedora 39 or newer.
Intel or AMD Chromebook, with Linux turned on.
What Godot is checking
GDScript resolves every name when the script loads. NavigationPolygonInstance is not a class in Godot 4, so the analyzer stops before anything runs, and because the name is in Godot's own table of Godot 3 renames, the message names the replacement.
The converter carries NavigationPolygonInstance to NavigationRegion2D. Its navigation_polygon holds the walkable NavigationPolygon. Godot 3's Navigation2D.get_simple_path() is replaced by a NavigationAgent2D's target_position and get_next_path_position(), or NavigationServer2D.map_get_path().
Reproduce it
A Godot 3 script that creates a NavigationPolygonInstance in code, in a Godot 4 project.
extends Node
func _ready():
var region = NavigationPolygonInstance.new()
print(region)
What Godot 4.7.2 prints
Godot Engine v4.7.2.stable.mono.official.ed1daf0bf - https://godotengine.org
SCRIPT ERROR: Parse Error: Identifier "NavigationPolygonInstance" not declared in the current scope. Did you mean to use "NavigationRegion2D"?
at: GDScript::reload (res://answers/navigationpolygoninstance-in-godot-4/repro.gd:4)
ERROR: Failed to load script "res://answers/navigationpolygoninstance-in-godot-4/repro.gd" with error "Parse error".
at: load (modules/gdscript/gdscript_resource_format.cpp:46)Fix it
A NavigationRegion2D with a square walkable polygon.
extends Node2D
func _ready() -> void:
var polygon := NavigationPolygon.new()
polygon.vertices = PackedVector2Array([Vector2(0, 0), Vector2(256, 0), Vector2(256, 256), Vector2(0, 256)])
polygon.add_polygon(PackedInt32Array([0, 1, 2, 3]))
var region := NavigationRegion2D.new()
region.navigation_polygon = polygon
add_child(region)
print(region.get_class(), " polygons: ", region.navigation_polygon.get_polygon_count())
What the fixed script prints
Godot Engine v4.7.2.stable.mono.official.ed1daf0bf - https://godotengine.org
NavigationRegion2D polygons: 1Verified on Godot 4.7.2
Both scripts on this page were run headless on Godot 4.7.2 (4.7.2.stable.mono.official.ed1daf0bf) on 18 October 2026, and the output above is what Godot printed, unedited.
Where the check lives in Godot's source: [gdscript_analyzer.cpp line 4687, the message with its hint](https://github.com/godotengine/godot/blob/4.7.2-stable/modules/gdscript/gdscript_analyzer.cpp#L4687), [renames_map_3_to_4.cpp line 1549, NavigationPolygonInstance to NavigationRegion2D](https://github.com/godotengine/godot/blob/4.7.2-stable/editor/project_upgrade/renames_map_3_to_4.cpp#L1549), [NavigationRegion2D class reference](https://github.com/godotengine/godot/blob/4.7.2-stable/doc/classes/NavigationRegion2D.xml).
Questions
- How does an enemy follow the player now?
- Give it a NavigationAgent2D, set target_position to the player, and move toward get_next_path_position() each physics frame.
- Can a TileMap provide navigation?
- Yes. A TileSet navigation layer gives tiles walkable polygons without a NavigationRegion2D.