DWooT

Thanks for the input. I started down that path. Not sure I'm getting anywhere but moving in that direction.

Further tinkering... Instead of changing the vanilla quest I instead copied as new record. I then ran the game with the vanilla quest and my new quest (unedited). Checking sqv, both quests were running and had matching REF data for NPCs. Next, I edited a single alias in my new quest. I changed one of the existing guards to point to one of my new guards. Re-ran game. This time my new quest was broken again and not running. Next, instead of editing any records, I instead removed one entire alias. So no new data, just removed existing data. Re-ran game. This time my new quest was running and showed all good REFs. And it lacked the REF to the alias I removed. It seems like what I'm doing wrong should be obvious but I'm just not seeing some vital piece of the puzzle. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I have tried quite unsuccessfully to edit the CaravanBase Quest and have it work in-game. My end goal is to add guards to Carla's Caravan. My original attempts were as follows: Using F04Edit I copied the quest as override into my plugin. I then added two Aliases. I essentially made two new caravan guards. I also updated Packages and other quests too. But when I start a new game and check sqv for dc8fb (the CaravanBase quest) all of the Refs are set to None. And the quest is not running. So I stepped back and tried something super simple. I only added a single new Alias (Alias ID and Alias Name) but no extra data. By just adding that one Alias to the quest, the quest does not run in game. I made no edits to Packages or other quests. Just that one small change to the CaravanBase quest. My bad results are the same. sqv shows all of the Refs=None and that the quest is not running. So my first question is: Can I even edit vanilla quests and get them to work or is that a waste of time? 2nd Question: If editing vanilla quests will work, why is even one small change to the quest causing the game not to run the quest and thus also not set/create all of the Refs to the NPCs?

Thanks to you both. I was afraid those were the only possibilities. I had already started using a prefix like Ashara does when working mods in F04Edit. So keeping to that in CK won't be an issue. As for Blah's suggestion, if only "Data-click Mod-details" would allow double-click to open instead of being read only. But I guess it at least gives me a way to see things without switching back-forth to F04Edit.

I'm trying to get started using the CK to expand my options for mod creation. I have been using FO4Edit up until now. Is there a way to get the CK to just show my plugin specific changes in a similar manner that FO4Edit does?

No worries. Just offering what I know. I'll jump into the CK soon if it gives more finesse. Though if you can't figure out the hiccup with saving assets I may stick to my current approach ;)

Tried starting new game to see if altered quests/packages would work. Now I've managed to prevent any of the merchants or guards to be created. Here's my current plugin just in case someone is up for lending me a 2nd set of eyes. https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B-j8D-o5MnZpaGI5RlZMLS1IMnc Experimenting I found that my current plugin seems to prevent the Caravan Main Quest from starting. Using console, I tried startquest dc8fb and it still remains stopped/disabled. Using console, resetquest dc8fb did run/enable the quest but all of the sqv are set to None.

Face Ripper is a great tool that allows you to "Rip" the appearance from a player or NPC and "put" it onto another player or NPC. It can transfer data from a save file or plugin to another save file or plugin. It can also be used to create presets for the in-game LooksMenu. Face Ripper Mod: http://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/3878/?

I have not used the CK for that purpose but if you're already using FO4Edit perhaps try a different approach. Use a mix of the "Face Ripper" mod and Console Commands such as SLM. I would recommend creating your plugin first, copy as override the NPCs you want into the plugin, and adding masters before getting started. That will give you a nice clean starting point. I've run into hiccups if I used Face Ripper and it needed to add masters to my plugin. An extra note, I've found editing or re-editing NPCs cranky when trying to extract the NPC data from the save files using Face Ripper. My work around that seems to work great is to use Face Ripper from a plugin with the original face (in your case the nice clean NPC plugin I suggested above) and apply it to the player setting in a save file. Then load the save, use Console and SLM on the player, then save new game. Next Face Ripper to copy "player" face back out and onto your NPC in your plugin. If you use this approach make sure you have a save game with the correct "sex" male or female. I used this technique with some success in several of my published mods.

I am working on my next mod that will be Outfitting Trashcan Carla. But I also wanted to try my hand at giving her two guards like the other traveling merchants. Looking at the Quests & Packages in FO4Edit and the Scripts in CK it seems that Carla is virtually identical to the other three merchants and that the Scripts are identical. So I focused on making edits just to the Quests and Packages to match up with the way the other three merchants (Lucas Miller, Cricket, and Doc Weathers) were written. So I've done what I thought I would need to do, including changing the Quests to remove the "Run Once". While in-game, I used console commands to stopquest and startquest. But I am still not getting my two new guards to appear with Carla and her brahmin. I've included my existing plugin for anyone who has a spare moment to help out a new mod author. https://drive.google...OTFkdGFmVnZLTEE Thanks in advance for any help.

Thanks. I was looking for this very same thing to get my own works started.