[LE] Quick Questions, Quick Answers

[xenaclone]

Okay, I'll try something later. Not in front of my gaming computer now.  Let you know soon if anything works. 

[xenaclone]

What causes NPCs to follow us through a door? 

This idea I've been working on a while, I travel with a bunch of NPCs. Problem is, when going through a door (for instance, from a Cell into a Worldspace, such as WhiterunBanneredMare into Whiterun itself) sometimes some of the NPCs just *poof* vanish. This doesn't happen when going from a Worldspace into a Cell. 

I've been able to 'fix' the Cell > Worldspace problem by making my character go through the door first before they do. But obviously I want to see if I can fix this the real way.   

[xkkmEl]

Though I have not experienced such things going to and fro interior places, I have seen followers get stuck behind when fast travelling.

After much experimentation, I have found two causes:

1- the NPC is dropped from RAM: solution, put it in an alias or a quest script variable.

2- the NPC is just left behind in the now unattached cell unattended by the game engine: solution, use a script to moveTo( playerref).

Well, there are other causes... that I have seen happen when moving to and fro interior spaces...

It may be in a quest or scene with an AI that keeps him there.  The cell now being detached, whatever conditions it is waiting for won't happen until you return there.

Also, sexlab can leave NPCs that finish an animation in a detached cell in various stuck states (restrained, in a vehicle, in a strange animation loop that won't let it move).

Memory overload.  There comes a point where the game engine does not find enough memory to add the additional NPC.  He may be left behind, or moved to a point far away from the player, or present but invisible, or... the variety of failure modes is unsettling.  In that state, they will usually resist being moved close to the player.  I have no solution for those, except that sometimes saving and reloading helps (the game gets a 2nd go at loading the assets, I guess).

My WIP mod adds 8 followers to the player.  I have extensive scripts to counter these phenomena, with good success, except for the memory issues.

[xkkmEl]

20 hours ago, xenaclone said:

for instance, from a Cell into a Worldspace, such as WhiterunBanneredMare into Whiterun itself

In this specific case, the culprit likely is the bard audience quest.  If this is the case, the NPC will eventually be freed, but is then at risk for all the other situations I mentioned.

[AaronOfMpls]

5 hours ago, xkkmEl said:

In this specific case, the culprit likely is the bard audience quest.  If this is the case, the NPC will eventually be freed, but is then at risk for all the other situations I mentioned.

Oh yah.  If your follower is drinking and enjoying themself to the bard's song, they'll be stuck there until the bard finishes -- either by reaching the end of the song, or by you interrupting it by talking to the bard.

[xenaclone]

was working on a quest with a bunch of dialog. Scripts, fragments, properties, the works. Backed up the .esp but hadn't gotten around to backing up my Data > Scripts folder. That drive then crashed!! It's done. Had to get a whole new drive. So, original scripts are gone, but at least I still have the .esp, which allows me to see how dialog was structured, at least. 

The dialog within that .esp is still there ("Wait here, nave!" ... "Are you ready to speak to the jarl?"....) but the corresponding scripts aren't. ;CODE NOT LOADED in every Papyrus box. 

... which is actually fine. I don't mind starting over again, it's my own mistake that got me here in the first place. So I try to get rid of the blue icon in the Scripts tab (the icon which lets us Edit Properties, Edit Source, etc.) Problem is, the Remove Script buttons do absolutely nothing. Sure they get removed temporarily, but if I try to compile the now-empty script areas, all I get are error messages. If I remove Remove All Scripts and then click OK (closing the Quest window) and then reopen the quest, the blue icons are back, screaming their error messages.  

I went into the Scripts folder, and then the Source folder. Deleted the only .psc associated with my quest. It's in the trash! Yet in the CK, the missing scripts are back, and so are their error messages. I can't write anything new without compile errors. 

Anyone happen to know how to solve this? Probably something simple I don't know yet...

Edited yesterday at 12:03 AM by xenaclone

[IsharaMeradin]

Might be able to use xEdit to remove references to the missing script.  That should at least get you to where you could create and compile a brand-new script for the affected record(s).

[xenaclone]

10 hours ago, IsharaMeradin said:

Might be able to use xEdit to remove references to the missing script.  That should at least get you to where you could create and compile a brand-new script for the affected record(s).

 

Okay, I give it a try! 

[xenaclone]

So Maybe I'm doing this wrong. probably so. 

Open TESVEdit, initiate my .esp into the program.

Expanded the .esp and went into the Quest section. 

Found one of the quests in the left window. Left-clicked on it so it's now in the right window. I see the (missing) scripts listed, cool. But I don't see a way to delete these missing scripts. I don't see an option to remove references to these missing scripts. Only thing I can delete is "Fragment". Closed & saved. That made no difference. :0 

Probably in the wrong section of xEdit.

 

Edited 2 hours ago by xenaclone
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