LE NPC Realistic Behaviour

[mr mctuffy]

I cant help but feel sometimes that npc's just stand around all day and occasionally talk to each other.

 

Is their not a mod out their that makes npc behaviour a bit more realistic? for example a cough, a sneeze, a yawn... scratching/stroking the head every now and then? When their working why aren't they a little clumsy and drop things or fall over if their taking a stroll etc.

[Petemichaelbabicki]

I can help you create this update easy enough. It only requires time, not a lot of skill is involved, and no papyrus.

• Open up the Creation Kit and load the Skyrim.esm
• Navigate to WhiterunWorld and move over to the market area.
• In the Objects Window go to Miscellaneous, then IdleMarker.
• In this section you will find a large list of self explanatory markers (Drunk, DrinkPotion, LookFar, Sweep, SearchChest, SearchShelf, Browse, etc..) place them around the market wherever you like.
• In the Actors window find Ysolda; then move over to Packages.
• Here you can see what she does and when; it says she will sandbox from 8am for 7 hours within an 800 yard radius of the market place, meaning she will use any idle markers you place in that area. You can also set the ownership of each marker to a certain NPC if you like, so only they will use it.

Like I said. It's a simple process, just time consuming.. though the more you do, the more thorough it will be. Good-luck!

[Deleted1308005User]

I can help you create this update easy enough. It only requires time, not a lot of skill is involved, and no papyrus.

• Open up the Creation Kit and load the Skyrim.esm
• Navigate to WhiterunWorld and move over to the market area.
• In the Objects Window go to Miscellaneous, then IdleMarker.
• In this section you will find a large list of self explanatory markers (Drunk, DrinkPotion, LookFar, Sweep, SearchChest, SearchShelf, Browse, etc..) place them around the market wherever you like.
• In the Actors window find Ysolda; then move over to Packages.
• Here you can see what she does and when; it says she will sandbox from 8am for 7 hours within an 800 yard radius of the market place, meaning she will use any idle markers you place in that area. You can also set the ownership of each marker to a certain NPC if you like, so only they will use it.

Like I said. It's a simple process, just time consuming.. though the more you do, the more thorough it will be. Good-luck!

I thought about making a mod like that ages ago, didn't know it's that simple.

(Though, I knew it's not hard or so)

 

Then I thought about only one thing: Would it cause performance issues?

for example, let's say there's 40 idle markers in area, some NPC's approach and start seeking idle marker at same time.

 

I might return to that mod at some point. It's interesting idea and it'd truly improve the cities by making them feel more lively.

 

Especially with mods that add more NPC's it'd be really lovely to see them actually do something.

 

Too bad my man-in-camo-suit career starts a bit too soon, so not too much time to work on mods nowadays.

[Petemichaelbabicki]

"Would it cause performance issues?"

 

Not at all. I've had areas completely filled with them. Most of the house mods or dungeon mods I make, I always place tonnes of idle markers for your followers to use or the enemies in the area. I've never had any issues with performance concerning idle markers; lighting and movable object count however..

 

"Let's say there's 40 idle markers in area, some NPC's approach and start seeking idle marker at same time."

 

There is a calculation, I remember reading about it somewhere on the Creation Kit tutorial pages way back when. An NPC evaluates their package on a regular basis to see if what they're doing complies with their packages, but this comes at an almost unnoticeable performance cost. When an NPC decides to use a chair, the chair immediately becomes theirs, so to speak, so no other NPC in the area will head for that chair, regardless of how far away from it they are, they are technically using it before they even arrive.

 

Hope that answers your questions.

 

You can also go into more depth with all of this, of course. If you wanted a more fluid area you could start looking into packages, here; http://www.creationkit.com/Category:Packages

 

Packages are simple and easy to use, and once you've learned how to use them they can be lots of fun too. For example; I made an NPC in Riverwood as part of a quest mod; she had her own home and her own lifestyle. Willow (as she was named) actually had a far more interesting lifestyle than anyone else in Riverwood. Her average day was;

• Wake up and spend an hour in the kitchen area making food and eating.
• Spend another hour cleaning the house then sweeping and cleaning weapons in her armory.
• Go outside and pick herbs from the forest for a couple of hours, she would also hunt nearby wildlife if they approached her set radius.
• Sit at one of many different locations by the river and eat lunch.
• Go into Riverwood and wait by Alvors forge for her weapon to be sharpened (she would usually lean against the wall or sit on the fence). The weapon would also be added and removed from her inventory during this process.
• Practice her archery on a target outside her home.
• Go home, lock the door and have something to eat.
• Go to bed.

Then on certain days (Sunday) she would go to the tavern at night and have a drink. Some Wednesdays and Thursdays she would also travel to Whiterun for supplies. You can even set events that happen on certain calendar days, so if you really wanted, you could have NPC's celebrate Christmas in Evening Star (December), or have a day of the year where they celebrate their birthday in the local tavern all day.

 

If you really wanted to get into some serious depth, you could look at other events and rituals; for example; the ritual Serana and Valencia talk about is the ritual offering to Molag Bal, where women are offered to Molag Bal and become Daughters of Coldharbour in turn. This is supposed to be a huge ritual that takes place on the 20th of Evening Star every year, where many Vampire attend, though nothing happens on the 20th of Evening Star as it stands. Might be worth looking into!

 

Good-luck to whoever picks this project up. I'd like to get involved myself, but I'm simply too busy with other projects and that stupid real life thing.

[BotOwned]

"Would it cause performance issues?"

 

Not at all. I've had areas completely filled with them. Most of the house mods or dungeon mods I make, I always place tonnes of idle markers for your followers to use or the enemies in the area. I've never had any issues with performance concerning idle markers; lighting and movable object count however..

 

"Let's say there's 40 idle markers in area, some NPC's approach and start seeking idle marker at same time."

 

There is a calculation, I remember reading about it somewhere on the Creation Kit tutorial pages way back when. An NPC evaluates their package on a regular basis to see if what they're doing complies with their packages, but this comes at an almost unnoticeable performance cost. When an NPC decides to use a chair, the chair immediately becomes theirs, so to speak, so no other NPC in the area will head for that chair, regardless of how far away from it they are, they are technically using it before they even arrive.

 

Hope that answers your questions.

 

You can also go into more depth with all of this, of course. If you wanted a more fluid area you could start looking into packages, here; http://www.creationkit.com/Category:Packages

 

Packages are simple and easy to use, and once you've learned how to use them they can be lots of fun too. For example; I made an NPC in Riverwood as part of a quest mod; she had her own home and her own lifestyle. Willow (as she was named) actually had a far more interesting lifestyle than anyone else in Riverwood. Her average day was;

• Wake up and spend an hour in the kitchen area making food and eating.
• Spend another hour cleaning the house then sweeping and cleaning weapons in her armory.
• Go outside and pick herbs from the forest for a couple of hours, she would also hunt nearby wildlife if they approached her set radius.
• Sit at one of many different locations by the river and eat lunch.
• Go into Riverwood and wait by Alvors forge for her weapon to be sharpened (she would usually lean against the wall or sit on the fence). The weapon would also be added and removed from her inventory during this process.
• Practice her archery on a target outside her home.
• Go home, lock the door and have something to eat.
• Go to bed.

Then on certain days (Sunday) she would go to the tavern at night and have a drink. Some Wednesdays and Thursdays she would also travel to Whiterun for supplies. You can even set events that happen on certain calendar days, so if you really wanted, you could have NPC's celebrate Christmas in Evening Star (December), or have a day of the year where they celebrate their birthday in the local tavern all day.

 

If you really wanted to get into some serious depth, you could look at other events and rituals; for example; the ritual Serana and Valencia talk about is the ritual offering to Molag Bal, where women are offered to Molag Bal and become Daughters of Coldharbour in turn. This is supposed to be a huge ritual that takes place on the 20th of Evening Star every year, where many Vampire attend, though nothing happens on the 20th of Evening Star as it stands. Might be worth looking into!

 

Good-luck to whoever picks this project up. I'd like to get involved myself, but I'm simply too busy with other projects and that stupid real life thing.

 

I personally dislike the schedule system, it just seems so...boring to me and gone about designing packages that are generalised (As Beth would put it 'Radiant'). So NPCs are able to 'decide' on what they would like to do on any given day... within reason of course, I only use these on my own NPCs... tried applying them to vanilla NPCs and it worked nicely after a bit of Research and guess work, but that's a massive undertaking something I don't have time for currently.

 

Good luck to who-ever takes this up though.

Edited June 16, 2013 by BotOwned

[Petemichaelbabicki]

Definitely another great way of going about it. Though there is still a lot to be said for simple packages; you can set all sorts of conditions (if it's raining that day they'll stay indoors, if someone has died they'll gather at a funeral pyre, etc..), but either method is a huge undertaking, and something I don't have time for either.

 

Whoever takes this up, feel free to contact me if you get stuck on any part of the process and I'll be your mod consultant, if you will. It's a great mod idea.