[LE] Skyrim. How to make a non-unique NPC to be unique?

[Skybroom]

This may sound like a noob question, but it's kinda tricky one. Actually, I am a nood indeed, but I know how to change flags via CK or xEdit. The issue I faced the other day is that of not every NPC could be set to be unique that easy. There at leat two NPCs who refuse to be transformed that way.

The first one is a Stormcloak Soldier from a generic quest, a prisoner escorted by imperials - you can meet them on the raods of Skyrim.

http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Stormcloak_Prisoner

Once you've done with cutting him loose and if you managed to defeat those imperials, but the Prisoner haven't died, he would run away in the direction of Windhelm. My idea was to make it possible to "befriend" him by suggesting him to become Player's companion (follower).

AFAIK this is an NPC with unique appearance, his ID is:

CWPrisonerSons "Stormcloak Soldier" [NPC_:0001675C]

He's referenced by two quests:

WE09 "Imperials with Stormcloak Prisoner" [QUST:0009D5A0]

CW [QUST:00019E53]

He has no flag "Unique".

He has TPLT - Template: LCharSoldierSons [LVLN:0001FC5C]

What I did first was I set him "Unique" and removed TPLT record (as you can see in the picture). Here I have to make a confession - I don't completely understand what TPLT section and records mean. I guess, he might use some AI packages and other data common to the group of NPCs he belongs to, right? What I did next was adding follower fractions.

As a result he got a follower dialogue (as far as I can remember). But what ever I do, he disappears once I enter the city gate (!). I can go in and out caves, other interior locations, but once I enter one of the cities, his reference ID stops it's existance as if the game engine gets this NPC vaporized. When I try to enter his ID via console 'prid <ID>' I get the error message.

The same story with a Hunter (WE25Hunter "Hunter" [NPC_:0006218C]).

He's a participant in another generic quest, where you get yourself involved into primitive thief chasing plot. A thief passes you a piece of stolen armor or weapon, and runs away. Then a Hunter we're talking about emerges and asks you if ou saw a thief passing by.

This hunter is the one I have an intention to make a potential follower. But first I need to make him unique. Again it looks like he has a unique appearance.

He's referenced by one quest:

WE25 "(Min Lvl 2) Hey you there, take this" [QUST:00062131]

And he has a TPLT - LvlBanditMissile [NPC_:0001E79E] and a few Template flags on.

This NPC vanishes exactly the same way the Stormcloak Prisoner does.

I really hope to get a tip from you, guys. Eagerly waiting for your replies.

[TheWormpie]

My thoughts and experiences: Actors using templates cannot be unique. Don't know why, but that seems to be the truth of it. Also, appearance has nothing to do with whether an actor is unique or not. It all comes down to the number of references with the actorbase in question. If more than one reference of an actorbase exists, it cannot be unique.

 

In the cases you mention, there might only be one reference in the world at a time, but the quest can start any number of times, therefore potentially creating any number of references throughout the game. That's what I think at least. But you could try removing the hunter's template dependencies and see if it helps.

 

Is it a must for a follower to have the unique flag ticked? I assume that's why you're asking :)

[Skybroom]

My thoughts and experiences: Actors using templates cannot be unique.

...

Is it a must for a follower to have the unique flag ticked? I assume that's why you're asking :smile:

Looks like I succeeded with the Stormcloak Soldier. Partially succeeded. I guess, it was a must to place him in the world, otherwise his ID stops existing during the loading of the other cell. So, I placed him into Windhelm Barracks. I haven't yet comprehended the whole mechanism of IDs and references. It's not that simple to achieve my goal with the Stormcloak Prisoner and NPCs of this sort.

 

My new mod's esp last test showed:

1. You can visit Stormcloak Soldier in Windhelm Barracks before encountering him as a prisoner on the roads of Skyrim. And you can recruit him (I didn't recruit him this time).

2. The Stormcloak Prisoner Quest is still active, this means you can encounter the Prisoner convoyed by imperials on the roads of Skyrim.

3. You can free him, and would he not die during combat, you can suggest him following you.

4. He will follow you, and WON'T disappear during the cell changing.

5. He will find himself at home (i.e. in Windhelm Barracks) once you enter the Windhelm City, and won't follow you no matter of being your current follower. Badass. Console "set playerfollowercount to 0" may help (haven't checked).

 

Issues:

1. I haven't checked it what if you make him your follower before the Prisoner Quest start - would you met his twin, or the quest trigger won't work?

2. I am afraid you'd better not use the dialogue branch "Follow me, I need you help" right away once you got him free and imperials defeated. You'd better let him run away. And then, when you decide to do that, you are free to pay him visit in Windhelm Barracks and suggest following you. This looks immersive to me after all. Just to let the Charcter catch his breath and come to his senses before suggesting anything (he's marriagable btw).

Edited December 10, 2017 by Skybroom

[Evangela]

The Unique flag means there can only be one reference of that actor in the entire world. So you can't use it in leveled lists, can't use certain scripting functions, etc.

 

To put it simply: You can't have copies of a unique actor.

[SMB92]

The TPLT is the Template found on his ActorBase record, if he indeed uses any templates from other ActorBase records etc. Different templates can be used for different types of data. Otherwise it is set directly on him.

 

What you are looking for is a script and a Ai package to have him follow you, and you likely want to fill him into a reference alias to apply this. You dont have to make him unique as such, and if you wanted to allow yourself to pickup more than one prisoner you could do that too by adding even more aliases (however many being your hard capped limit of followers) or even by not necessarily filling one but instead applying the data (and maybe keeping an array of all followers). I Would go for the first method and a collection just thinking about that off top of head.

 

Whether or not you would need to edit the vanilla quest and scripts for him i could not say because I have not seen it first hand. But you would need some way to detect and grab him when he's available. Many ways to skin that cat. I haven't the time to explain further, but perhaps one of the nice folk around that know what I'm on about will break it down for you into simpler instructions. I just wanted to make the point while I'm looking at this thread.