LE Fixing the shield-pulled-from-out-of-nowhere immersion issue

[chazzranger]

I think we already have most of the mods to make this work, just a matter of them all working together. This would be mostly for NPCs, we already have things like DSpSoB and DSR for player characters (although buggy). In particular, it should focus on "enemy" NPCs like bandits, characters more likely to be pulling out their shields in combat.

 

The first part would require an NPC with a shield in their inventory to be forced to have it priority equipped at all times, as many already do (unless doing an animation like chopping wood etc., in which case they're likely in a camp and IRL would put their shields down anyway). If they want to put away the equipped shield, to pull out a bow or 2H weapon for example, they would be forced to drop their shield (similar to Equipping Overhaul's Realistic Unequip auto-drop function). If they want to pick the shield back up for combat, they have to literally go pick it back up (like some NPCs do if you drop weapons or equipment in front of them). There should be a way to tether the NPC to the dropped equipment so that even if combat has them running around all over the place, they should still be able to run back and retrieve it. Similarly, city guards would be forced to drop their shield and find it again to use it. For other NPCs like city dwellers, anyone less likely to engage in combat and more likely to be doing some kind of work animation (vendors, blacksmiths, etc), this wouldn't really work, but that's a minor issue. If you're running around killing townsfolk, you're a bad person anyway :laugh:

 

So, is this even possible? (One thing Nexus has taught me over the years is almost anything is possible in the world of Skyrim modding!) Anybody feel like taking this on or teaching me how it could be done?

[ToppDog]

I don't know if it's possible to do all of that, but I'd be happy just to get the first part of that to work - forcing them to have it equipped at all times, or at least while patrolling & standing guard. I just posted a thread about this very thing, because I cannot figure out how to make my guards do it. I have been trying to figure out why city guards always have theirs equipped, but other NPC's do not. And, the fact that I cannot find the meshes for the city shields, other than the first person loading screen versions, makes me wonder if the city guards & their shields are somehow different than other NPC's & non-city type shields.

 

If this is true, then maybe it is possible to make a mod like the one you want, where regular NPC's & regular shields can be made to act more like the city guards & their shields. Because, I believe that the city guards will unequip them when doing things that require the use of both hands, although I am not 100% sure of it.

[chazzranger]

I actually just got Dual Sheathe Redux working smoothly and forgot that most NPCs with shields will have them on their back when not equipped, basically as long as 1H weapon + shield is their main attack. In a way, this actually does what I wanted a mod to do: not have shields magically appear out of nowhere. Next, I want to see geared up/multiple weapons displayed on NPCs. Although it appears they won't equip both a shield and a backpack on their backs, it's one or the other.

 

As you said, Whiterun guards always carry their shields (with DSR, they actually move to their backs), so yeah that's definitely a place to start. I'm not sure either how to force shield equip... I'm sure it relates to AI package, but also inventory selection priority (always equipping the best weapon/armor), so maybe it's some attribute of their shields as opposed to the guards themselves?

Edited December 15, 2014 by chazzranger

[ToppDog]

Possibly. I tend to think so, too, since there is something different about the shields used by the city guards compared to all other shields in the game - mainly being that they don't have meshes that are obvious in the same folders or locations like all the other shields are. I can only find the loading screen versions of them, not the real ones.