Stop Preston's "Is this a better time for that talk?"

[kevkiev]

Did a search but (to my surprise) couldn't find any mod for this, or even any previous request. Gawd I am so sick of getting that forced dialogue from Preston when he's a settler and not your companion. It started happening after I maxed affinity with him but didn't go the romance route. Even happened just as we entered Bioscience and about to get into a firefight with a bunch of synths (I was with Piper, but he was there as part of the main quest). Aaargh.... I guess it's so you keep having second (and third, and fourth and... ) chances to do the romance option but, good gawd, enough is enough. Same with McReady, the other romanceable companion with whom I just did the BFF option. I think I did that with Hancock too, but I haven't seen him since I dismissed him back to the State House in Goodneighbor.

[damanding]

So just have the talk and don't select the romance dialogue option. No one is forcing you to romance him.

[kevkiev]

That's not what I'm talking about. It's not at all about being "forced to romance" - I don't want to be forced into the talk. If Preston is a settler, he does that once he's a certain distance from your character. Same with McReady. It's being forced to click through a bunch of the same dialogue options over and over and over... So many times I've been modding weapons or clothing when one of them initiates the conversation while I'm still in the workbench because their sandboxing got them within 5 feet of my character. Or, in the extreme example I gave above, in the middle of a rather pressing portion of the main quest (I mean, wow, talk about breaking immersion).

 

I ended up sending McReady out of Sanctuary 'cuz it got so annoying. I put Preston on guard duty so at least he isn't sandboxing around. I'd rather have the ability to have them as sandboxing settlers but without being forced into the same dialogue 1000 times.

[Kodiak412]

I have looked for a mod like this too, and to no avail.

 

Like you I just wanted him to stop that dialog startup when you get to close to him. If you go through it once that should be the end of it.

 

Ada is another jaw flapper that I had to send to a remote settlement. That was a pity too as I liked Ada. I just wish the option to turn on or off her personality was still available after the DLC.

[Urtho]

This actually sounds like a bug where they are force-greeting you after that specific quest/dialog chain is supposed to complete. Might want to wander over to the unofficial patch tracker and see if it's a known issue.

[damanding]

Yeah normally you just have the final talk once. The quest is unfinished if you don't have that talk so it'll keep trying to complete the quest. So unless you've already tried having the final talk and it is in fact bugged and doesn't recognize the final talk, then just have the final talk and he'll never bug you about it again. Unless your game is bugged this is a stupid simple fix, just talk to him already. This doesn't require a mod.

[kevkiev]

... this is a stupid simple fix, just talk to him already. This doesn't require a mod.

Like I said, I've talked to him many, many times - the complete dialogue chain.

 

I found enough posts on the 'net to think that this wasn't a bug, but (from what I read) a "feature" by which, after a "cool down" period (and there is a fair bit of time between each occurrence) you can change your mind and romance a companion that you previously decided not to after maxing out their affinity. This is only my second playthrough , but in my last one about a year ago I had the same thing. I guess maybe I got the same bug twice although I completely nuked my old game & mods and reinstalled but, yeah, I read about enough other people with this experience that I figured that wasn't the case. Could be wrong on that. But it's just McReady and Preston that have the ultra-annoying multi-stage dialogue chains, the only 2 companions I maxed out without romancing and still have contact with. Very coincidental.

[Kodiak412]

Yeah normally you just have the final talk once. The quest is unfinished if you don't have that talk so it'll keep trying to complete the quest. So unless you've already tried having the final talk and it is in fact bugged and doesn't recognize the final talk, then just have the final talk and he'll never bug you about it again. Unless your game is bugged this is a stupid simple fix, just talk to him already. This doesn't require a mod.

 

Yeah like kev says it is some loop that will start the romance dialog option when you see him. Even if you take the conversation to the end with any of the other options, Preston will start that romance dialog all over again. The only thing I have not tried for ending this is the romance option with Preston, I just refuse to go there. :)

[ProtoManic]

Is there still no mod that fixes this?

[kevkiev]

Is there still no mod that fixes this?

Not as far as I know, and I've been looking now and again. I might even screw role play and romance Preston and MacReadymy next playthrough to avoid it. Or even do the BOS ending to avoid Preston doing this again during the big final firefight against the Institute - the single most ridiculous thing that's happened to me in this game. (And that's sayin' something.)

 

Notwithstanding some of the comments earlier in this thread, I'm convinced this isn't a bug but a "feature" that pops up when you max affinity on a romanceable companion without romancing. (In fairness, I wasn't very clear originally and have edited my first post to remedy that.) Seems like it has a time trigger, but it's way too short - 10 years might be more appropriate. I just recently got Nuka World and noticed this blurb on the Wiki page for Porter Gage, which I think completely supports this not being a bug and being exactly what I've described:

 

 

Unlike other companions, if one selects "Best Friends" or "Thank you" during his max affinity speech check, Gage will not offer another opportunity to select "Romance" at a later date.