Re-lock doors and chests mod

[PrincessBridget]

So I had an idea after my companion Vilja went to sleep in the next room over at the inn we stayed at. Let's just say I don't really trust that guy that was hanging in front of her door! I'd like a mod so you can lock doors. But not just anyone can lock a door; they need experience with Security or Alteration, or just have the key to it. My idea is there would be a few ways to do it depending what your character is best at. So, here's my vision:

 

Those at Journeyman in Alteration would use the same spells they use to unlock doors. If the unlock spell is casted at an unlocked and closed door, it locks it at the spell's level.

 

Those Journeyman in Security would be able to install their own locks made from misc items like...err, tongs, just for example? It would be done in sneak mode on a closed door by pressing grab (Z by default). Although if they have the key to it, that would take dominance.

 

For those not good with either of the above, keys can be used. Yay, a use for keys! But, if other people have the key to the door, they can unlock it, so no locking people from their homes... unless they suddenly "lost" their key! If you have the key to the door, grab the door (Z by default) in sneak mode while it's closed to lock it. If you don't have the key or skill/materials to make your own lock, a message warns you can't lock the door.

[Ferryt]

Hmm ... I guess you aren't aware that some NPCs don't need keys to get through locked doors. If their AIs and the pathing grid give them access to the other side of a door they'll go there, locked or not. How? All they need is a single lockpick in their inventory, even if the NPC isn't a thief-type character. NPC's always succeed at opening locked doors if they have a lockpick, without even using it to pick the lock. Have you ever done the Thieves Guild questline? If you have then you've probably been frustrated because Methredhel, who has an insane running speed, will generally beat you to Amantius Allectus' house if you're doing this at low level with no Athletics or Speed boost. She doesn't even pause at the door, but instantly enters the house when she gets there, leaving you with a still-locked door. She didn't even pick the lock!

 

I suppose Bethesda saw this as a "feature". I consider it a bug, and my guess is that this is hard-coded into the game. I imagine you'd have to have every single NPC running a script to check if they have a key that fits every potentially-locked door with which they can come into contact in order to prevent them from trespassing into areas you don't want them to go and then make them actually have to use their Security skill, along with the usual chance of breaking their lockpick. Creating a mod just to do that would be an enormous undertaking.

 

What you're suggesting would prevent NPCs without lockpicks from accessing locked doors -- at least I think it would. I remember reading somewhere (don't ask me where) that all NPCs could ignore a locked door if they wanted to get to the other side of it, but I have no idea if that was accurate. I do know that Ejya will open up display cases because I kept having to close one of them in Rosethorn Hall. This was annoying because the things I had stored in there were havoc-enabled and they'd always shift positions when then lid came up. I finally used the "lock" console command on the case and she never opened it, again.

[PrincessBridget]

Aww, so it can't be done? I figured everyone had keys to their places for a reason... I would've liked to lock doors so people aren't suddenly there staring at me inside my little inn room when I wake up. And really, this guy outside Vilja's door is being creepy.

 

I remember a house mod that had a door that was lockable, I loved it! You could lock yourself in from enemies and stuff. Although I didn't exactly have visitors strolling by, so it seemed to work good. The mod was called Abandoned Mountain Shack (http://tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=22846)

 

Also, how many city NPCs have lockpicks? I mean isn't it only thief types that get them anyway?

Edited February 17, 2011 by PrincessBridget

[Ferryt]

I honestly don't know how many NPCs have lockpicks in their inventories, but they certainly don't have to be in the Thief class to have them. Besides, take Glarthir ... please. Now, there's a "creep" if you ever saw one. Anyway, after several false starts to end that particular quest, where I really did not like the outcome, I decided to try something, since he'll go home when (if) you finally decide to tell him that nobody is spying on him and get his weapons and go on a rampage. I pickpocketed his house key and then followed him home. He went right in ... without a key and his door was locked. And he didn't have a lockpick in his inventory, as I recall, but I could be wrong about that. At any rate, even if he did, he's not a Thief. Now, I make a point of breaking into his house while he isn't there and stealing all his weapons so he's left with nothing but his fists -- makes him much easier to deal with, or for the guards to deal with if you can get their lazy butts in gear to do their jobs and just terminate him with extreme prejudice.

 

So, will it work? I don't know. I just know the caveats I've mentioned, with the lockpick thing being a documented "feature" of the game. Whether or not any NPC can automatically open any door is something I don't know for certain. Glarthir might be an exception, since it was, after all, his house. Perhaps ownership means auto-entry. Perhaps not.

 

I wouldn't worry about the creep outside Vilja's room. For NPCs to open a door their AI must require them to do so AND the path grid must lead them to it, as well. There are reports of companions wandering into areas where they shouldn't go, glitching the game, and I think I've read reports of NPCs doing the same thing, so at least some AIs have actors moving through transition points in ways which aren't specifically quest-scripted. However, except for scripted events, such as getting visits from Lucien Lachance, I've never been visited inside an inn room, or had any NPC enter one of my homes.

[PrincessBridget]

I think ownership might be why he went in without keys etc, because I mean you get ownership once you unlock your own house door right? And then the key is never used again. About the "visitors" in the inn, I don't exactly use inns very often but it has happened to me at least twice where I'd wake up and people were in my room with the door closed. Once was the "Dark Elf bar" inn owner, I remember. The other time I woke up to a bunch of random people wandering around in my room. I know I pick the cheap inns, but geez!

[Ferryt]

That might be why Glarthir didn't need a key to get in, but it isn't the reason you don't need one to get into your own home. Once you use a key your door is unlocked, forever. In spite of that fact, NPCs will never wander into your house (presumably related to ownership, but I'm not certain about that).

 

I'm not saying that a mod of this kind can't be made. What I'm saying is that it might not prevent ALL NPCs from wandering through a locked door.

Edited February 17, 2011 by Ferryt

[vvk78]

Interesting.

 

What would happen if you placed a huge, insurmountable boulder permanently in front of a locked door to a building, that an NPC wanted to enter ? Will it not stop him/her from ever "unlocking" (if that's what they presumably do, though I would think they're using TCL or MoveTo to teleport beyond) the door?

[ub3rman123]

Interesting.

 

What would happen if you placed a huge, insurmountable boulder permanently in front of a locked door to a building, that an NPC wanted to enter ? Will it not stop him/her from ever "unlocking" (if that's what they presumably do, though I would think they're using TCL or MoveTo to teleport beyond) the door?

 

They eventually will just clip through by sheer force of will somehow.. Seems like cheating to me. I remember seeing one of them just teleport a few feet past the collision one time (The same as what happens when your follower gets stuck and they warp to behind you).

[Ferryt]

Just last night while I was testing out some modifications to my Oblivion.ini settings I came across an Imperial Forester who was running around slaughtering wildlife. I followed him around a bit, since I needed to move ... well anywhere ... and he came to a hill that he couldn't climb. He just kept running in-place, until he finally warped about thirty feet higher to a spot that wasn't too steep for him to negotiate. Naturally, I lost him, since I couldn't climb the hill, either.

 

So, yes -- the NPCs do "cheat" to get places they want to go. I don't know specifically what game feature they're using to do this. It's not TCL, though, because they just "blip" from one spot to another. It could be moveto or it could be something entirely different that's not even available for player use, either through the console or scripting.

[ub3rman123]

It's just built into the engine. If the game tells an NPC it should be in this place, the NPC will get to that spot no matter what is in the way.

 

AS for the topic, it might be useful. I remember that back in 28 Days and a Bit you could relock doors, and no NPC's would enter the area. Although that might be related to the enemies being creatures and not NPC's.