[advice needed] To write a mod to bring back long-lost stuck-dead NPCs

[Foina]

This is a followup from another thread in Oblivion Discussion (Some NPCs & creatures are nowhere to be found).

I've done some research on my own. Here's what I found...

 

Using the console command:

 

save MySave 1

I obtained 10 MB worth of .txt file. Inside it I found the form ID of the Highwayman usually posted just outside Fort Ash. It is 000C5263

I then used the console to move myself at his location:

player.moveto c5263

I was brought under one of the archways of the very Fort Ash structure - but nobody and nothing was there. I used the command:

"c5263".getdead

which returned 1.00

I don't know how he ended up like that, but it's been over 150 play hours ago at least.
Aren't dead NPCs supposed to respawn when their cell resets, every 3 days no questions asked? :ermm: I walk away a little and try to give him the wake-up using the following commands:

prid c5263
moveto player
disable
enable
resurrect

it works. The long lost Highwayman cat-folk reappears closest to me, runs away not far, then spots me, runs back and starts his "pay up or else" routine. Glad to be robbed :smile:

But I know this NPC is only one of many. More creatures vanished for good elsewhere.

At this point I need expert advice.
I'd like to write a mod: just one script that runs in the background and brings back these stuck-dead NPCs: as the player walks around, the script scans the cell he is in, at regular intervals. That's piece of cake.

 

question 1: But how do I programmatically tell the difference between a stuck-dead creature and a regular-dead one [that is going to come back at the next cell reset]?

question 2: In particular, how do I detect when a dead corpse is invisible (like my Highwayman was) or in plain sight as it usually is?

 

question 3: And how do I filter out those dead creatures that are supposed to not respawn (quest-related NPCs)?

Oh, one more thing...
Near Fort Ash there was an Oblivion Gate. I found a dead Mountain Lion there. The creature has been in this state since the Gate opened. But before the Gates's appearence I used to spot a Mountain Lion in those whereabouts. I suspect that the very same beast was killed by the Daedra and then it glitched into a permanent death. Differently from the highwayman, however, its corpse never did vanish.

question 4: How do I know if a dead creature has been dead for too long (say, it outlived its cell-reset)?

Please help.
Kind regards

[The_Vyper]

Each Khajiit Highwayman (there are 5 in game) is non-respawning. You can change that in the CS by checking the Respawn flag on them. The default respawn time is 72 hour (3 days), but that resets every time a cell is loaded. For instance, if the mountain lion was killed on Rain's Hand 1, it wouldn't respawn until Rain's Hand 4. But that counter would get reset if the cell got loaded on Rain's Hand 3. At that point, the mountain lion wouldn't respawn until Rain's Hand 6. If the cell got loaded before Rain's Hand 6, the counter would rest again.

 

You can shorten the respawn time by changing the game setting iHoursToRespawnCell.

[Foina]

Hi,
first of all: thank you for the help.

Perhaps it's my imperfect english, but from your post I understand that: if I kill every creature in the cell of Fort Ash (so to speak) and regularly return there every 2 days (not 3), the cell is never going to restock its creatures.

 

I'm confused.
I've been away *far* more than 3 consecutive days from the place, and the Highwayman has been missing for like an eternity. He and the Mountain Lion just a cell away. With the difference that the Highwayman's corpse was nowhere to be seen, while the Lion remained in plain sight all the time.

[edit]

Meanwhile the harvestable flora continued to restock, and the nearby treasure chest (Highwayman's ?) continued to re-lock.

[/edit]

However, now that the Highwayman is back, if I kill him and wait 3 days on my return he's alive and robbing me anew -- but I have to wait in another cell for it to work (which is consistent with what you explained).

Feels like I miss important details here :confused:

Edited September 19, 2013 by Foina

[lonewolfkai]

Each Khajiit Highwayman (there are 5 in game) is non-respawning. You can change that in the CS by checking the Respawn flag on them. The default respawn time is 72 hour (3 days), but that resets every time a cell is loaded. For instance, if the mountain lion was killed on Rain's Hand 1, it wouldn't respawn until Rain's Hand 4. But that counter would get reset if the cell got loaded on Rain's Hand 3. At that point, the mountain lion wouldn't respawn until Rain's Hand 6. If the cell got loaded before Rain's Hand 6, the counter would rest again.

 

You can shorten the respawn time by changing the game setting iHoursToRespawnCell.

Vyper, do you know if any mods already touch that, such as MMM?

[Foina]

So... can anybody tell how an actor can die and stay dead over dozens of cell-resets to the point his corpse disappears for good, yet his form ID is still usable to bring him back to a perfectly normal life as it was before his inexplicable death & disappearence?

 

Faithfully waiting for answers.

 

Thank you.

[The_Vyper]

 

Each Khajiit Highwayman (there are 5 in game) is non-respawning. You can change that in the CS by checking the Respawn flag on them. The default respawn time is 72 hour (3 days), but that resets every time a cell is loaded. For instance, if the mountain lion was killed on Rain's Hand 1, it wouldn't respawn until Rain's Hand 4. But that counter would get reset if the cell got loaded on Rain's Hand 3. At that point, the mountain lion wouldn't respawn until Rain's Hand 6. If the cell got loaded before Rain's Hand 6, the counter would rest again.

 

You can shorten the respawn time by changing the game setting iHoursToRespawnCell.

Vyper, do you know if any mods already touch that, such as MMM?

 

I don't know if MMM changes that or not. ¯\_(-_-)_/¯ I've made my own mods that change it, but they're the only ones I know about for sure.

 

So... can anybody tell how an actor can die and stay dead over dozens of cell-resets to the point his corpse disappears for good, yet his form ID is still usable to bring him back to a perfectly normal life as it was before his inexplicable death & disappearence?

 

Faithfully waiting for answers.

 

Thank you.

If the "Respawn" flag is not checked, the actor will not respawn after death. FormIDs from active ESM/ESP files never get cleared, even if the things that reference them do. As such, a FormID can always be used to bring them back.

[Foina]

So... can anybody tell how an actor can die and stay dead over dozens of cell-resets to the point his corpse disappears for good, yet his form ID is still usable to bring him back to a perfectly normal life as it was before his inexplicable death & disappearence?

 

Faithfully waiting for answers.

 

Thank you.

If the "Respawn" flag is not checked, the actor will not respawn after death. FormIDs from active ESM/ESP files never get cleared, even if the things that reference them do. As such, a FormID can always be used to bring them back.

Sir,

that doesn't answer my question. Quite possibly I haven't spoken clear enough. Allow me to try again.

 

The Highwayman was met _and_ dealt with (<-- killed) multiple times before his disappearence. And he always returned with the cell-reset.

 

Then -at some point- he stopped doing it. One day I walked through Fort Ash and there was no Highwayman nowhere. And it stayed like that for _hundreds_ of play hours (I hit 486h:54m of play just yesterday). In all this time the cell kept resetting every few days as it always does.

 

Then -the other day- I messed with this Highwayman's form ID and brought him back to life (see 1st post). Since then he has been (again) met _and_ dealt with multiple times, and he has always returned with the cell reset.

 

I'm no expert of the Construction Set and Bethesda games in general, but even I understand that his disappearence _wasn't_ meant to be.

 

My question is thus: what made the Highwayman die, disappear, and stay dead for hundreds of play hours?

 

Kind regards.

[Maskar]

The highwayman near Fort Ash does not respawn. You can check this in the Construction Set (cell: FortAshExterior npc: BanditHighwayman01). Maybe you had a mod running enabling the respawn flag and recently disabled it.

[Foina]

And my question is yet to be answered...

 

 

The highwayman near Fort Ash does not respawn. You can check this in the Construction Set (cell: FortAshExterior npc: BanditHighwayman01).

I understand that.

But it doesn't change the fact that he *is* coming back to life every time the cell resets. He used to do so at game start, and he does it again if I resurrect him (as I explained in 1st post).

The only time he DIDN'T return was when he disappeared completely (for 100 or 200 play hours, I can't tell). And it turned out that he was dead and his corpse invisible.

 

Maybe you had a mod running enabling the respawn flag and recently disabled it.

With respect, after ~500 hours of play you should reasonably suspect that I know which mods I have in use and what they do to my game. I said I'm no expert of CS and Bethesda, but that doesn't make me Forrest Gump.

(But since I'm asking for help, I suppose that automatically makes me the computer rookie that can't tell Chicago from Blackcomb..... right?)

 

In any case this is straight from my plugins.txt

 

 

# This file is used to tell Oblivion which data files to load.
# Use the "data files" option in the Oblivion launcher to choose which files
# you want. Please do not modify this file.

Command Mount.esp
DenockArrowToo.esp
DLCBattlehornCastle - Unofficial Patch.esp
DLCBattlehornCastle.esp
DLCFrostcrag - Unofficial Patch.esp
DLCFrostcrag.esp
DLCHorseArmor - Unofficial Patch.esp
DLCHorseArmor.esp
DLCMehrunesRazor - Unofficial Patch.esp
DLCMehrunesRazor.esp
DLCOrrery - Unofficial Patch.esp
DLCOrrery.esp
DLCShiveringIsles.esp
DLCSpellTomes - Unofficial Patch.esp
DLCSpellTomes.esp
DLCThievesDen - Unofficial Patch - SSSB.esp
DLCThievesDen - Unofficial Patch.esp
DLCThievesDen.esp
DLCVileLair - Unofficial Patch.esp
DLCVileLair.esp
Enhanced Water v2.0 HD - SI Addon.esp
Enhanced Water v2.0 HD.esp
Faster Horses.esp
Harvest [Flora] - DLCFrostcrag.esp
Harvest [Flora] - DLCVileLair.esp
Harvest [Flora] - Shivering Isles.esp
Harvest [Flora].esp
Knights - Unofficial Patch.esp
Knights.esp
Louder Nirnoot.esp
Map Marker Overhaul - SI additions.esp
Map Marker Overhaul.esp
MM_NoMoreAnnoyingMessages.esp
Oblivion Citadel Door Fix.esp
Oblivion.esm
Oblivion_Character_Overhaul.esp
PTFallingStars.esp
Rainbows.esp
Real Lava 1.3.esp
Realistic Arrow Flight.esp
Spell Delete And Item Remove.esp
Symphony of Violence.esp
Unofficial Oblivion Patch.esp
Unofficial Shivering Isles Patch.esp
UOP Vampire Aging & Face Fix.esp
UOPS Additional Changes.esp
USIPS Additional Changes.esp

 

^^ Not the actual load order -- of course.

 

 

 

The only 2 console things I did -outside of these mods- have been to give my horse a name (via SetActorFullName), and set timescale to 12.

 

Say, do you want to inspect my latest savegame? I .rar it down to 1.2 MB. Then you can see things with your own eyes. PM me an e-mail address if you want it.

 

 

Kind regards.

[Maskar]

Well, you seem to be asking multiple questions. The one why that specific highwayman didn't respawn was imo answered. He isn't supposed to, as he's directly placed in the game and does't have the respawn flag set.

 

There are many ways to change the behaviour of actors respawning. The most obvious is through a mod, by directly changing the respawn flag. There are more complex methods, like placing a default highwayman leveled list in the same area through a mod, which would remain in the save-game.

 

I don't mind having a look at your savegame though. Just upload it somewhere and PM me the link.