Unable to play Caravan

[Stargazer09]

I have a deck, and I could play with various people. However, I just completed Dead Money (and before that, Honest Hearts & Old World Blues) and now I can't play - the game says I need a deck, even though the deck is in my inventory.

[dubiousintent]

Hmm. Found one thread ("Caravan deck error") with a similar problem, but it apparently resolved itself the next time the player loaded the save game. There is info on why the script that is supposed to add them to the deck fails. That script fix (not longer available; and mod called "Dead Money - Caravan Card Fix" by Yukichigai) created to resolve this has been incorporated into Yukichigai's Unofficial Patch (YUP).

If simply reloading from the desktop fails to resolve the issue, look into any "Caravan" related mods you have in your load order. It turns out "Dead Money" (and apparently only that DLC) uses some function that is not otherwise available (at least back in 2011). The mod and YUP fix mentioned above required hex editing as the script couldn't be compiled by GECK then.

Found a relevant comment:

Caravan Deck item from Ringo does nothing*. You would think it would operate like the keyring does, but sadly it does not.
You're given a full set of cards at the same time you get the deck item.

As far as I know you can only view the cards you have by starting a game.

*The deck used to be required to play caravan, but when the game was patched they changed it so you only need to have 30 cards. You still need it to play against Cliff Briscoe and No-bark.

A known bug is:

Cards are only viewable in the default "items" category while placing them into containers, rather than the expected "misc" category.

And the SM cards are sorted "alphabetically" under "Misc", so they are not grouped together with the others.

Another is:

The game freezes when buying a large number of cards. A possible work around is to first put all playing cards you already have in the backpack of a companion. Then buy the cards you want of a vendor and finally retrieve all already owned cards from your followers inventory. This also happens when you buy two of the same card in one purchase. Another work around is just buy one at a time.

One player reported they had to sell the Sierra Madre cards to Cliff Briscoe and buy them back to get them into his deck inventory.

The Sierra Madre cards do not automatically get added to your "play deck" (the "upper row of cards" when you play as opposed to your "card inventory" in the lower row). When you say "the game says I need a deck, even though the deck is in my inventory" you need to distinguish between the two.

We would like to hear back on what actually resolves this issue.

-Dubious-

[Stargazer09]

Well, it says something like needing 30 cards. Strange thing is before embarking on DM I played a game or two with someone, I can't remember who. Then after DM... :(

I'll see if I can try to fix it but it won't be so soon. I've started LR and that will occupy my attention for a while. :)

[dubiousintent]

Yes, you have to have at least 30 cards in your "play deck" (upper row). As mentioned above, that was the result of a game patch. It's possible you only played NPCs who were not affected by that and only required "a deck".

 

With any "quest", some possible effects may not appear until as a result of their scripts getting run. Haven't heard of or encountered this particular problem before. My initial suspicion is a mod conflict.

 

-Dubious-

[Stargazer09]

Possibly, but I'm not using any mods that modify Caravan (that I know of), except possibly for Yukichigai Unofficial Patch.