Sphered

NP. Will mention that I did remember how to get them to cast ritual spells without having to override their AI. Basically you need to add a magic effect that you know NPCs like to cast, like stoneflesh etc, at the top of the list in the spell record. Make sure all effects minimum level is either 0 or low enough for your NPC's skill. They now will cast the spell if they have enough magicka. Quirkly like I said but at least you have another option Combat override is extra steps but still the way I would go for the most control of when and what situations your follower will cast things. Either way can work

Here I threw this together so you have a working concept to go off of. Just load and watch a NPC appear and cast a ritual spell. Attack him and he will cast Blizzard I added the packages at the alias level here. I recommend you do that in general as well NPCCastRitualSpell.esp

Not something quickly explained but thankfully there are numerous guides you can refer to for making any package you want There is a routine available called "UseMagic" which like it sounds, makes a NPC use magic. They do not even need to actually have the spell learned, or any amount of magicka to use it. They will cast whatever spell you assign in the AI package, including ritual spells, so long as whatever condition/s you assign, are applicable. There are some quirks here too, rules-wise, but if you mess around with it you will see how it ticks. I suggest just testing on a spawned npc with no aliases or other packages which could interfere. Once you successfully accomplish them casting your ritual spell, you can then play with combat override capability. The guides will help you there. There are also follower frameworks that use combat override AI you can look at, and use their approach as a base

Combat AI is finicky and more than just combat-style, affects it. There is simply logic under the hood, that dictates whether a spell is qualified to be cast. Magicka pool for example, matters. They often need more than the cost of the spell, before they will choose to use the spell. Other quirks too. It's annoying and not exact, to get followers to perform how you like You piqued my curiosity so I tested around real quick. I did successfully make another NPC cast Blizzard, but only after assigning them a custom AI package. So unless you find another way, you might want to go with a combat-override package route, so you can be done with it and move on with your project. I still think there is a trick to get them to do it without overriding AI, but it's probably niche and overly-complicated

For the positioning portion of your question: Furniture models have collision. You can move (just) the collision in nifskope, towards the edge or wherever you want it, to get the job done. Alternatively I do recall there is NiStringData (or something similarly named) in furniture nifs where you can change offsets and such, but I never dabbled much with that As for sitting, you could consider not using furniture at all and instead use activator with the model you want. Call Setvehicle() and probably call sit via an animation event. IDK... Could also use chair furniture with edited model, being ofc a bed instead, which you could sit at. I'd have to play around and see what approach I liked

Short version it is nothing to worry about When nifskope has auto-sanitize enabled, and you save a nif, any same-named nodes get renamed to something similar to it's parent node then a colon then a number. The more duplicate named nodes you had, the more renamed nodes with a colon and a number, you will have. Did some get named in a logical way you should care about? Not likely, and even if it was, it could depend on the nifskope version, and any custom settings that might have been used. Don't lose sleep over it basically

Your keyword property can remain blank since it is only applicable if you set up a linked ref along with a keyword. Personally I never use the keyword approach for linkedrefs As for the undesired npc behavior, you should try temporarily using a non-edited dragur actorbase for that ref and see if it still happens. You might have changed something like aggro radius or aggression or packages, etc interfering with the ambush routine. I ran into a similar frustration some years ago and forget how I solved it, but it was something silly if I recall

I would probably create a custom ash pile record which uses an invisible model, and use that when wanted

PlaceAtMe works just fine. Here... save you some heartache. Tweak how you like, and I offer no warranty ObjectReference NazeemSpawn = Gate().PlaceAtMe(Game.GetForm(0x13BBF)); Or use the Nao call to skip immersive visual placement When3D(NazeemSpawn) WhateverYouWanted3DLoadedFirstToDo() Etc() ;================================================================= ObjectReference Function Gate(Float Dist = 300.0,Float Elev = 0.0,Float Bias = 0.0) Global ObjectReference PCO = Game.GetForm(0x14) as ObjectReference ObjectReference Here = PCO.PlaceAtMe(Game.GetForm(0x7CD55),1,False,True); 0xC9ED4 or 0x7CD55 Here.MoveTo(PCO,Dist * Math.Sin(PCO.GetAngleZ()),Dist * Math.Cos(PCO.GetAngleZ()),Elev) Here.SetAngle(0.0,0.0,Here.GetAngleZ() + Here.GetHeadingAngle(PCO) + Bias); Change Bias to 180.0 to make it face away from you instead Here.Enable() Utility.Wait(1.0); Skip if you want... I like a second here Return Here EndFunction ;================================================================= ObjectReference Function Nao(Form What,Float Dist = 300.0,Float Elev = 0.0,Float Bias = 0.0,Bool Insistent = False,Bool Hid = False) Global ObjectReference PCO = Game.GetForm(0x14) as ObjectReference Bool QuietPlacement = Hid || What.GetType() != 43 ObjectReference Here = PCO.PlaceAtMe(What,1,Insistent,QuietPlacement) Here.MoveTo(PCO,Dist * Math.Sin(PCO.GetAngleZ()),Dist * Math.Cos(PCO.GetAngleZ()),Elev) Here.SetAngle(0.0,0.0,Here.GetAngleZ() + Here.GetHeadingAngle(PCO) + Bias); Change Bias to 180.0 to make ref face away from you instead QuietPlacement && !Hid && Here.Enable() Return Here EndFunction ;================================================================= Bool Function When3D(ObjectReference Arriving,Float Delay = 0.1,Float Timeout = 10.0) Global While Arriving as Bool && !Arriving.Is3DLoaded() && Timeout as Bool Utility.Wait(0.1) Timeout -= 0.1 EndWhile Return Utility.Wait(Delay) as String && Arriving as Bool && Arriving.Is3DLoaded() EndFunction ;================================================================= Use properties instead of GetForm calls if you want. Just showing how to do it If placing something in another cell than what player is in, you can, just yeah assume it isn't rendered until you visit. Can always place at player then move them after. Play around with solutions

No it simply makes the ActiveMagicEffect register that event, with no knowledge of caster/target, unless you do string chaining like it looks like you are playing with, which means you will need a resolve routine on the other end, etc... And TBH your approach looks more hectic than it needs to be, but you could make it work for sure Side opinion: ActiveMagicEffect tends to be a good relayer for sending mod events, not listening. It can do both but yeah. Like if you want the target to send a mod event: GetTargetActor().SendModEvent("WhateverItsCalled") Where above is listened for from a quest or alias etc and you know who called the event. Anyway, that sucks if your npc's aren't keeping their assigned outfits. Suppose you may be doing a dynamic thing PS: The OnLoad() Event will not perform as you hope in regards to loading the game. You need OnPlayerLoadGame() for reload routines, and it has to be a script running from the player. Usually an alias script

Since you left it ambiguous whether you were aware of package flags manipulating walk/run behavior, it is a flag called preferred speed

Sounds like it could be more a package issue. Aside, more detail would help, like the script calls you are attempting, and how it's attached etc

Could add a silent track when applicable. There is one called _None that you can invoke after removing yours (Game.GetForm(0x1BA72) as MusicType).Add() Or ofc attach the _None music record as a property. Might as well Alternatively, combat music in the game uses conditions. Could definitely play with that instead/also

Sounds like are you are describing exactly what many doors do. Like the "door" at a cave entrance where you simply walk until you enter the cave. Basically take one of those and add a portal visual

There's a magiceffect condition you could play with. In theory you could apply that effect to a cloak ability with no damage. A script or shader or whatever else would then apply, but only as long as IsCombatTarget is true Not tested... and could well be one of those dormant conditions that do not do as they sound like they would. Basically just try it out