[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.