NPCs suddenly lack idle conversations/gossip, immersion disappears

[Danman804]

Well having spent some recently agonizing time on navmesh, I can testify that it is really easy to screw up, and when people create a quest mod, they may affect navmesh that is used by another mod even if they execute their mod perfectly, and so it causes a conflict...not bethesda's fault, or anyone's, in that case, just modders not being aware of every single mod out their and how each affects the worldspace. The navmesh bug, however, that is all Bethesda....

 

@OP: A cell is the space between loading screens, generally speaking. So say you start in whiterun, that is one cell. Go into Dragonsreach, that is a new cell. The door to the dragonsreach porch has a loading screen, so when you are on the porch that is actually the 3rd cell. It is outside, though, so you could fast-travel back to your starting point in Whiterun, back two cells. This is the kind of scenario which might trigger the navmesh bug. That is different than a mod conflict involving 2 mods creating different navmeshes for the same area, although the navmesh bug might cause a modder's created navmesh to disappear, so.... any of these might cause the situation you describe, particularly if your NPCs are either standing around or moving in strange ways, like little circles, repetitive movements, even disappearing entirely.

 

The only time I had the problem while playing, I just returned to an earlier save and did not take the two-cell return route that I had used when the issue came up. Starting a new game would also remove the particular appearance, although the real solution needs to be addressed by Bethesda. If you have any mods that affect navmesh (quest mods, houses, mods that modify cities, for example) you might try uninstalling them, however especially quest mods can have lasting problems if not uninstalled exactly as the author recommends. It may be that in the case of a mod conflict, that you would also have to find a previous save that worked, or start anew...

 

So would quicksave/quickloading at the same place solve the nav mash problem? and does nav mash only trigger (barring mod conflicts) only when you travel 2 cells and back to the original cell, meaning traveling to places other than original location? If it is triggered, how can it be resolved, aside from reverting to past saves, as in the current game?

[pianoboy121]

I realize this is a fairly old thread, but thought I could add some undiscovered insight since I have now encountered the same problem and believe it is triggered by marriage.

 

To review, the problem is that NPC idle dialogue (such as when you approach an NPC) has disappeared. NPCs will talk when you say something first, but otherwise do not speak to you. A good example is if you approached a guard, they wouldn't have an remark such as "Let me guess, someone stole your sweetroll". All such dialogue is gone.

 

After having this affect occur on 3 different characters, I finally was able to pinpoint that it began immediately after the marriage quest. Once you leave the temple of Mara with your new spouse, viola, no dialogue anymore.

 

I have over 150 mods, so it would be pointless for me to name them all. Many are texture mods, although there are a significant number that change or add NPCs. I did extensive testing with the same results every time. I disabled plugins/mods, had Steam reinstall Skyrim, etc. All without fixing the problem.

 

I'm happy I still have a save from before I got married.

 

As a sidenote, I'm using Dudestia's multiple marriage mod. Using the spell to force an NPC to marry you does not trigger this bug. Removing the mod had no effect either. Only following through with a normal vanilla wedding ceremony caused problems.

[pianoboy121]

I've searched the internet extensively for other instances of this bug, and couldn't find anything. Most search results were related to marriage dialogue not working correctly. I've also tried the solutions above. My save game has over 120 hours in it, and removing all mods would cause it to crash. The best bet for now is to stay single and lonely until I can find a fix and pinpoint which mods cause this.

[PsychMeOut]

This is a really old thread, but in case anyone is experiencing this problem, there's a fix. All you have to do is attack one of the shopowners and quickly submit to a guard and pay them to look the other way. Do not pay the lower that will forfeit your stolen items, do that after the shopowners move back to their respective markets and start their idle speech. Prior to this, I've tried an assortment of console commands on the npcs, from 'resurrect' to disabling and enabling, but only found this method to work. I don't think this is a problem that comes from a particular mod, since I got it whenever I install any mod that's of a large file size. Anyways, I hope ths helps someone out.

[Oleai]

Ancient necro, but this same bug plagues me every time I install this game. All the way on Special Edition, now. Inevitably, my NPCs stop reacting to my presence. I can talk to them, and their dialogue works perfectly. But they don't speak to eachother, ever. Skyrim is dead silent at all times.

 

It's only solved by a complete reinstall, and I'd really like to not have to do that a third time. Does anyone have any clue what might lead to this occuring?