Permanent Corpse Storage - Mod? Console Command?

[trevelry]

Is there a mod or console command that keeps dead bodies from disappearing? As a necromancer it's extremely annoying to want to keep a storage of thralls - mages, warriors, etc. for use only to have them disappear because I went somewhere.

 

I haven't had the chance yet, but was wondering if there was a mod to keep a body, or bodies, from disappearing? I was going as far as thinking of some kind of cavern or tomb I can make with the creation kit where I can store them, instead of a room in my house. But it'd be pointless if they randomly up and vanish. Is there a mod or console command that prevents this? Thanks.

[steve40]

There's a game variable "iHoursToClearCorpses" which has a value of 24.

I've attached a small experimental mod that increases this value from 24 hours to 720 hours.

*** Caution: it could eventually bloat your savegame. Give it a try, but keep your old savegames just in case.

Let me know how it goes...

 

A better way would be to make a container or a tomb and have a script that adds the dead actor to the "WINoBodyCleanupFaction" faction when they are put in the tomb. I don't have time to mod this right now.

Edited June 7, 2012 by steve40

[trevelry]

"A better way would be to make a container or a tomb and have a script that adds the dead actor to the "WINoBodyCleanupFaction" faction when they are put in the tomb. I don't have time to mod this right now."

 

Yes, that's exactly what I had in mind. And thank you for your other solution, much appreciated.

[Ziroombah]

I have tried adding generic enemies bodies to the mentioned faction with the console command:

 

addtofaction 9653a 1

 

I have produced no positive results however. The body (I was using a vampire mistwalker) would still disappear after waiting over 24 hours outside of the area that it was stored in. Maybe I am doing something wrong, or that faction doesn't work that way. Either way the thrall storage is a problem for me as well and I have heavy interest on the subject.

[cscottydont]

I have tried adding generic enemies bodies to the mentioned faction with the console command:

 

addtofaction 9653a 1

 

I have produced no positive results however. The body (I was using a vampire mistwalker) would still disappear after waiting over 24 hours outside of the area that it was stored in. Maybe I am doing something wrong, or that faction doesn't work that way. Either way the thrall storage is a problem for me as well and I have heavy interest on the subject.

 

you're missing some 0's and there are no ranks for that faction so I'm not sure if telling it rank 1 is kosher

 

try

AddToFaction 0009653A 0

 

you can then check it with

GetFactionRank 0009653A

[Ziroombah]

Hello and thank you for the response.

 

I took out the first three zeros to see if it made a difference when using the command (heard someone say that some commands don't like the initial zeros.) Either way it did not seem to have much of an effect.

 

I tried the AddToFaction 0009653A 0 as well with no luck.

 

I was unaware of the GetFactionRank command. I did a few tests with it as well. It seems that all the people i tried this command on before changing the ranks originally had a rank of -2 ... Not sure what that means.

 

I checked the rank of one of the permanent corpses from the dead thrall list as well (Velehk Sain) to see if he had a certain rank in the faction that kept his body from despawning.. His says negative 2 as well. Even the generic that I want to make permanent has an initial rank of -2.. >.<

 

I can not seem to find any "fix," but thanks for the ideas and help. If you or anyone else has any other ideas, shoot them to me =), they are much appreciated.

[cscottydont]

well I was able to add npcs to the faction via console but belonging to the faction didn't stop them from being deleted after I waited 3 days in another cell.

 

To me, it looks like the corpses that don't get cleaned up automatically are either unique (named townspeople/quest characters with the "Unique" editor flag checked) or ambient corpses in dungeons/quests (like the skeletons and adventurer corpses you find exploring dungeons with the "Starts Dead" flag checked)

 

Something you could try: setting the actor to be essential after it dies. Not sure if that will give the same results as being unique but worth a shot.

[steve40]

Try adding the corpses to the faction via script. Aditionally, if you set a property on the script holding the reference (such as a formlist keeping track of all the bodies you've added to the tomb), then the references will be persistent and cannot be deleted.

[Ziroombah]

Scotty:

 

Your results with the addtofaction and console sound like mine... Although I haven't yet tried the essential thing; I guess I can try that next as well. Thanks for the suggestion. =)

 

Steve:

 

I'm.. a huge noob at this type of stuff so I am not quite sure how to do the whole script thing. The most I have messed with in skyrim is just a few simple mods and console commands =/ but thanks for the suggestions! =) Maybe someone will see it and figure out how to try that.

[steve40]

Of course, adding an actor to the "WINoBodyCleanupFaction" faction will probably only work if they also have the WIDeadBodyCleanupScript script attached to them.

 

I'll put it on my "todo" list to come up with a way of preserving corpses, if no-one figures it out in the mean time. I'm working on a new mod atm and helping a few other people, so it might take me a few weeks to get around to it.