How do I make my created NPCs walk?

[Dahveed]

So I decided to start messing around with the Skyrim landscape with their Creation Kit, and I've managed to figure out how to plant new NPCS in the game. Basically all I want to do is add more generic NPCs to towns to give them a more "populated" feel, for greater game immersion. I get tired of games that make villages and cities that have like 4 houses and a population of 15...

 

Anyway I have no problems making the NPCs, but they just stand there. All I want to figure out is this:

 

How do I make my Villager patrol (walk) from one end of town to another? Or an even more simple problem: How do I make my NPC move from "point A" to "point B"?

 

I have fiddled around with all the AI stuff and for the life of me I can't get my damned Villager to do the most basic, simple thing imaginable. I've searched online for AI tutorials, but the best I could come up with was Bethselda's own Youtube tutorial where they talk about Navmesh... which was of no help at all. Who would have thought getting an NPC to walk could be this mystifying...

 

Thanks in advance for any help!

[modder3434]

try looking for AI packages in the creation kit. assuming its like the other kits, their be unique packages for the named npcs ( Ulfric, Tuliius), and

generic ones for the generic npcs ( bandits, vampires, guards).

 

if you used another npc as the base then you probably deleted all the AI packages

associated with that npc, or if you created one from scratch then you need to add one.

 

Don't worry about the navamesh since where your looking to place the npcs (towns etc) it should already be navameshed.

 

If you just want the npcs to walk around look for a package called default sandbox or similar and then the npcs will walk around and interact with the world in the area that you placed them.

Edited February 12, 2012 by modder3434

[Dahveed]

try looking for AI packages in the creation kit. assuming its like the other kits, their be unique packages for the named npcs ( Ulfric, Tuliius), and

 

generic ones for the generic npcs ( bandits, vampires, guards). if you used another npc as the base then you probably deleted all the AI packages

 

associated with that npc, or if you created one from scratch then you need to add one. Don't worry about the navamesh since where your looking to

 

place the npcs (towns etc) it should already be navameshed. Hope that helped.

 

Yes I tried this with another npc in-game but it didn't work. I'll try again.

 

Also I'm wondering if I somehow messed up the navamesh by fooling around with it by following their tutorial... I'll have to check that too.

 

Thanks for your help.

[Dahveed]

I've tried messing around with this further but I still can't get the NPC to do anything other than stand there.

 

My frustration is exacerbated by the fact that it takes a very long time to load CK and also further wait time when I exit and try to load Skyrim to test it. About 5-10 mins in between every test...

 

Does anyone know of a simple tutorial I could find somewhere? This is maddening!

[Dahveed]

Okay I'm about to tear my own eyeballs out over this.

 

I'm taking a break, I'll look at it tomorrow after work.

 

In the meantime, please if anyone has any suggestions about this please speak up. What I want to do with my mod is very simple, and if I could just figure out how to do some VERY BASIC AI stuff then the rest will be easy...

 

Please, and thank you in advance.

[Noobo]

There should be a 'patrolidle marker' Take a look at some dungeons to see how they work. If you cant see the markers, in your render screen press deselect [d] and then viewmarkers [m].

 

@ Dahveed. I've had the same idea, I tried to impliment it pre-CK as shown here: http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=5527

interested in working with me?

[Dahveed]

There should be a 'patrolidle marker' Take a look at some dungeons to see how they work. If you cant see the markers, in your render screen press deselect [d] and then viewmarkers [m].

 

@ Dahveed. I've had the same idea, I tried to impliment it pre-CK as shown here: http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=5527

interested in working with me?

 

 

I'll take a look at it this evening, thx for the suggestion. (But I'm pretty damn tired so I'm not sure how it'll go lol)

 

As for working with you... I'm not sure what you'd have in mind. I'm keeping this very casual, as I have to work full time :P I don't want to spend more time modding than playing, bascially I just wanted to make a very, very simple mod that added a bunch of generic NPCs all over the place. The reason I'm doing it is because of another mod I already installed, called simply "Extended Villages" (Couldn't find the link on here, I think I got it from steam), which was a very neat addon that added lots of additional buildings to many of the towns, but which made them look like ghost towns. I was just going to add some extra villagers and guards and maybe some more foliage and doo-dads to bring them more to life. Once I figured out how to make about maybe 20 or 30 different basic NPCs with very basic, generic AI I could basically just spam about 20 of them in each town, and use them as no more than a backdrop to the new houses that the other guy already added with his mod.

 

Sorry I can't find the addon site, Steam is down as I"m typing this.

 

All that being said, any help is always greatly appreciated! :) I can't really promise to contribute all that much though, since I don't really plan on putting that much intense work on this any time soon... just something I can spend maybe an hour or so on every once in a while if I get bored of playing.

 

Cheers.

[RetroBabe]

May i also ask, i want that my NPC walks from his Farmhouse to the Tavern and after lets say 5 Hours again Home, does this Need IdleMarkers outside the tavern and Farmhouse?

Thx

[Varichi]

You're asking a guy for help who last responded to this thread over four years ago...

 

NPCs have AI packages that designate what time they go places and how long they spend there. An easy way for you to make what you want to happen is to simply copy another package from another NPC who does the same thing you want your guy to do. Find someone who goes to the tavern, like, say, Benor in Morthal. You'll see a package for them-something called "drink" or with the name of the inn-and it will usually display how long they spend doing it and at what time they go there. If you open (double click) the package, it will have the conditions for when the NPC does it. There's a tab at the top called "Schedule" and you click that to set how long the NPC does the action, and what days of the week and other related things to tell him when to go drinking.

 

So open a similar AI Package from a drinking NPC and either add it to your NPC (by dragging it into his AI Package tab) or open one from another NPC, rename it, and edit its conditions to your liking.

 

You will want to ask those questions here in the future though. That's where the mod makers hang out, this forum is really for diagnosing mod problems.

[RetroBabe]

Tyvm, your helped great :)

tysm