the scenario is: i want my player to try to rob a vendor im making. i got it to work with "startcombat player" but i wanted it to drop out of the dialog window immedietly and start to attack. but i kept having to click "goodbye" out of the dialog window first. but i got it to work by checking the "goodbye" box. (duh lol) thanx dude for making me search harder..that was really eluding me. as for the barter exit bit..i went around to all the vendors in megaton and it seems your right, they do exactly what you said. my memory of then was wrong..i was looking for something that wasnt there..lol. i was under the assumption that by useing the "barterexit" thing in the service tab i could get the vendor to say somehting witty BEFORE going back in to the dialog..if thats not the case then what does it do? and thanx again..youve freed me up to work on my mod again instead of chaseing my tail..lol