How do I stop spawned NPC's from running away?

[szmnozi]

Hi guys,

I'm spawning NPCs from the console and some of them stick around standing but some of them just go running away, even walking through doors to other levels not loaded.

How can I stop them from doing that?

Using the tc command results in something really weird where I control both the NPC but also the player at the same time so it's impossible to position them where I'd like.

[scorrp10]

Just FYI, spawning an NPC via placeatme creates a new copy of that base actor.   The spawned copy will have all properties of the base, but will not be loaded into any quests that NPC is usually a part of.

If the base actor has an AI package that they need to be at a certain place, the actor will try to get there as long as they can find the way.

You could use a disconnected cell (i.e. qasmoke) for this.  With no way to get back to main world, they will not go anywhere.

Another option is to make that NPC your follower.

Click NPC in console.

getrelationshiprank player

If it shows 0 or less,

setrelationshiprank player 1

Then, add then to potential follower faction:

addfac 0005C84D 1 

Afer this, NPC should have the "follow me" dialogue option.

[thumbincubation]

What kind of NPCs are you spawning?

Unique/named, or just like guards and soldiers?

[szmnozi]

12 hours ago, thumbincubation said:

What kind of NPCs are you spawning?

Unique/named, or just like guards and soldiers?

I'm kind of new to this so I've been only trying with named ones, but I'm trying to get them to remain in certain rooms so I can try various armors on them then lighting mods, etc., but they're always walking around or running away so it's kind of annoying. Then sometimes they start killing each other.

I think it depends on which one exactly you spawn but I'd have to go through hundreds of them to figure out their individual nature, so I was looking for some advice on how other people get the npcs to do what they want.

There seems to be the tc command but how are you even supposed to use that when it controls both you and the target? It's like one goes in another direction than the other so if I go into third person my player ends up running away to random places and then I have to find my way back.

 

[AaronOfMpls]

Try tai with the NPC selected, to turn that NPC's AI off.

Or try armors and lighting out on a follower instead.  Plenty of mods add followers who are free to recruit right away.  And some multiple-follower-control mods like EFF (LE, SE) or Nether's Follower Framework (LE, SE) have an option to recruit almost any NPC as a follower.

Edited May 22 by AaronOfMpls
I accidentally a word

[scorrp10]

As mentioned, it really depends.   NPCs that have an AI package that requires them to be in a certain place,  will try to go there.   Places like GomaPeroLand connect to main world, so NPCs will try to path.    A place like Aether Suite is disconnected and is only reached via teleport or spell.

Summoned Hulda in Tamriel or GomaPero Land will immediately try to go to Whiterun, to Bannered Mare.    But if I summon her within Aether Suite, she stays put.     Then, there are Posers.   (GomaPero, GSPoser etc) that contain a large collection of idles to apply to NPCs, and while posed, NPC will stay put.    Generally best used with a Poser Hotkeys mod.      

If you want to try various outfits in various lighting, why not just try on yourself?   (the player) .   From main menu, just use coc to go to a place of your choice, use showracemenu to change your appearance as desired, and use Simple Item Spawner   to get stuff.    Much easier changing outfits, and place yourself wherever you want.    I personally have a few 'model' saves just for this purpose.   I.e. this here is Rose...

[szmnozi]

18 hours ago, scorrp10 said:

If you want to try various outfits in various lighting, why not just try on yourself?   

Thanks! That's super useful. I'm not trying it on myself because I can't get used to any camera mode.

The third person player camera seems so hard to control always zooming in at the wrong places, then if I switch to the tfc 1 camera, it's way too fast.

Then I've been playing around with the fov command but that's also not so great.

Lastly I was also trying a "camera" by the tcl command, toggle collision off mode but that's even more annoying.

If you could recommend some camera mod that's a lot smoother than any of those that would be great.

[AaronOfMpls]

3 hours ago, szmnozi said:

then if I switch to the tfc 1 camera, it's way too fast.

Use the sucsm <number> command to change the camera movement speed.  Default speed is sucsm 10.  I've gone as low as sucsm 0.2 to get a shot juuust right, or as high as sucsm 1000 or so to fly it across landscapes.

fov <number> is another useful one; it changes how wide the field of view is (sets it <number> degrees wide), and works much like the zoom lens on a real-life camera.  Default in LE/Oldrim is fov 65; default in SE/AE is either 75 or 85 I think (not at my computer to check).

[scorrp10]

Yeah, I usually use 'sucsm 2' for panning free camera around an actor.

[szmnozi]

Thanks!