Dawnguard Vampire Attacks = Game Killer?

[Stemin]

It should be pretty easy to disable the script in the CK I would think, but what a PITA to have to do it.

[Sky999]

Yeah the attacks seem kinda ridiculous (on my game atleast, ive heard its pretty random). I'm only lvl 8 and 3 npcs in whiterun are already dead. I cant even start the dawnguard quest line until lvl 10. The attacks really shouldnt start to happen until you start the questline.

 

Edit* I just found two more dead just outside whiterun, one was the stable master. Guess I'm not buying any horses from whiterun now. *

 

You see, this is what I'm talking about, this is what's worrying me, a village like Whiterun doesn't even have that many NPCs to start with, and it sounds like Dawnguard aims to do it's best to lessen the numbers even further.

 

A quick solution is to keep using 'resurrect' via the console, but I'm a player who values immersion, in fact I do what I can to maintain it, so this 'fix' would ruin all that.

[Satorinu]

Yeah the attacks seem kinda ridiculous (on my game atleast, ive heard its pretty random). I'm only lvl 8 and 3 npcs in whiterun are already dead. I cant even start the dawnguard quest line until lvl 10. The attacks really shouldnt start to happen until you start the questline.

 

Edit* I just found two more dead just outside whiterun, one was the stable master. Guess I'm not buying any horses from whiterun now. *

 

Ouch <.<

 

Well I can say it IS infact very random, thus far I've had about 6-7 vampire attacks (about 3 of which weren't anywhere NEAR towns, just at random while wandering.. saw a bunch of Imperial guards attacking them miles from any city.. and I've seen them in citys.. and near city's.) However among those attacks the only people I've seen die so far, has been a necromancer of all things <.< while way out in the middle of nowhere.. and one city guard.. from uh.. well I can't remember, believe Riften.

 

Currently level 14, Dawnguard rumors heard but not ventured to them yet : instead been focusing on getting the Thieves guild questline done, don't ask me why.. I just don't like rushing straight into a new addition I suppose ;3

 

Edit:

But to add, I don't think it's being "made up" that npc's are dying by these attacks, it's just rare and apprently some people are having some extreme bad luck.. like.. their city guards must be lazy a-holes xD My game always has the city guard's piling up against the Vampires and taking them down pretty swiftly; usually before I even get in a hit in.. couple times before I could even figure out who was attacking who and why; figured maybe a dark brotherhood came into town..

 

Though just twenty minutes ago I heard a NPC yell "I can't believe their fighting!" as I stepped outside of an Inn from a decent vampiric meal. Thought to myself momentarily, "doh.. another vampire.. another of my brethren about to get massacred!" as I saw guards rushing away to get the attacker... and then.. and then... Fire.. Fire I say!! it burst in droves over the homes and I discovered, this.. this was no vampire... this was no kin of mine! It was a Dragon! It wasn't happy, and it did a lot more damage than the Vampires I'd experienced ever had <.< .. I shall mourn the loss of thine fallen villagers.. pity.. pity I didn't bother to get their names, for I simply moved onward. Ah well.

Edited August 5, 2012 by Satorinu

[Stemin]

Yeah the attacks seem kinda ridiculous (on my game atleast, ive heard its pretty random). I'm only lvl 8 and 3 npcs in whiterun are already dead. I cant even start the dawnguard quest line until lvl 10. The attacks really shouldnt start to happen until you start the questline.

 

Edit* I just found two more dead just outside whiterun, one was the stable master. Guess I'm not buying any horses from whiterun now. *

 

Ouch <.<

 

Well I can say it IS infact very random, thus far I've had about 6-7 vampire attacks (about 3 of which weren't anywhere NEAR towns, just at random while wandering.. saw a bunch of Imperial guards attacking them miles from any city.. and I've seen them in citys.. and near city's.) However among those attacks the only people I've seen die so far, has been a necromancer of all things <.< while way out in the middle of nowhere.. and one city guard.. from uh.. well I can't remember, believe Riften.

 

Currently level 14, Dawnguard rumors heard but not ventured to them yet : instead been focusing on getting the Thieves guild questline done, don't ask me why.. I just don't like rushing straight into a new addition I suppose ;3

 

Yeah, I've had a lot of NPC deaths, but this sort of thing is typically triggered when you enter a cell, so I've been lucky enough to be able to re-load the auto save since save-on-travel is turned on and be aware of where they're coming from.

 

I've noticed that some enter through the city gates, some just appear, and one called a "traveler" likes to just start walking towards you and attack at the last minute. That one leaves unenchanted black hooded robes behind, which are awesome for RP'ing an evil mage.

[Satorinu]

Well, hmph' I don't know if this will be any use - but some pondering lead me to an interesting conclusion that I cannot possibly confirm as I refuse to play vanilla!

 

I thought to myself 'what might be the cause of vampires not doing so well in and around towns in my game' and then figured it out!

 

I am currently using ACE & Duel.. primarily it would be duel.. and by using duel.. when the guards are ganging up on the vampire they don't stand a chance.. might beat one guard, but not everyone, just like I rarely stand a chance, the guards flank and two hit from the back or sides.. just like my level 14 against most any enemy, from sabercats to bandits.. if I don't block the attack, generally 25-50-75% of my health gone depending on what weapon they have, max of four hits and I'm toast in light armor by anything short of a oversized rat.. even the wolves do mass damage (but blocking attacks negates most every ounce of damage).. so it makes sense that by using duel, the vampires never really stand a chance against the overwhelming numbers of most any town, and with the townguard so tough, heavily armored, and decent sword/bow & shield that the vampires light armor & basic weapons just can't compete. Also I imagine that duel's combat AI changes may be having an effect, causing the vampires to focus on the most dangerous threats first and leaving my townsfolk alone, that is, however, solely speculation.

 

At least, that's a possibly. Honestly from what I hear of dawnguard on these forums it seems like Nocturnal's luck is indeed on my side to have experienced no bugs or issues thus far, for still using version 1.6 & having kept every mod I was using before dawnguard, (something like 25-30 mods)

 

Edit:

I also left out the reason I mentioned Ace, it alters armors so light and heavy are VERY distingused and thus .. light armored vampires attacking city's like they do isn't a very great idea, light armor with Ace to me seems solely suited for the stealth, archery, or for being quick to aid companions, is passable for 1v1 combat as a player, but when you start getting into being jumped by 3-4 people the light armor's only good use is the ability to flee to a narrow hallway.

Edited August 5, 2012 by Satorinu

[Stemin]

Well, hmph' I don't know if this will be any use - but some pondering lead me to an interesting conclusion that I cannot possibly confirm as I refuse to play vanilla!

 

I thought to myself 'what might be the cause of vampires not doing so well in and around towns in my game' and then figured it out!

 

I am currently using ACE & Duel.. primarily it would be duel.. and by using duel.. when the guards are ganging up on the vampire they don't stand a chance.. might beat one guard, but not everyone, just like I rarely stand a chance, the guards flank and two hit from the back or sides.. just like my level 14 against most any enemy, from sabercats to bandits.. if I don't block the attack, generally 25-50-75% of my health gone depending on what weapon they have, max of four hits and I'm toast in light armor by anything short of a oversized rat.. even the wolves do mass damage (but blocking attacks negates most every ounce of damage).. so it makes sense that by using duel, the vampires never really stand a chance against the overwhelming numbers of most any town, and with the townguard so tough, heavily armored, and decent sword/bow & shield that the vampires light armor & basic weapons just can't compete. Also I imagine that duel's combat AI changes may be having an effect, causing the vampires to focus on the most dangerous threats first and leaving my townsfolk alone, that is, however, solely speculation.

 

At least, that's a possibly. Honestly from what I hear of dawnguard on these forums it seems like Nocturnal's luck is indeed on my side to have experienced no bugs or issues thus far, for still using version 1.6 & having kept every mod I was using before dawnguard, (something like 25-30 mods)

 

Edit:

I also left out the reason I mentioned Ace, it alters armors so light and heavy are VERY distingused and thus .. light armored vampires attacking city's like they do isn't a very great idea, light armor with Ace to me seems solely suited for the stealth, archery, or for being quick to aid companions, is passable for 1v1 combat as a player, but when you start getting into being jumped by 3-4 people the light armor's only good use is the ability to flee to a narrow hallway.

 

So you're saying you think your mods are keeping the vampires from killing off npc's? That's possible. I play totally stock except the official bethesda stuff (hd textures, patches)

[Satorinu]

So you're saying you think your mods are keeping the vampires from killing off npc's? That's possible. I play totally stock except the official bethesda stuff (hd textures, patches)

 

(Edit: Shortened cause, well, I write to much just to be detailed...)

 

That's my only real guess at this point, there are slim numbers of people whom are actually bug/issue-free PC users playing dawnguard, and the only thing I can narrow it down to is my Mods & load order in regards to the vampire attacks not ever being that successful; no villagers dead at least.

 

a lot seem to say mods don't really work with Dawnguard.. of which I'd counter with, don't update or revert your update back to 1.6 & the 1.6 ready version of SKSE (at least until 1.7 SKSE is out of beta.. and maybe still wait, until mod's have caught up.), because thus far.. flawless experience. Haven't started the Dawnguard quest itself mind you, but no issues with seduction, crossbow, 100% done with the thieves guild main quest, 20% into the skyrim main quest, dozens of side quests done, 20 hours+ into the game and only three crashes (unrepeatable, 8 hours apart from each other or so.. basically playing to long at once :P) and one bug (Breezehome's alchemy lab won't show, lets me buy it repeatedly.. could fix by downloading improved breezehome I imagine though.)

 

Best of luck'

Edited August 5, 2012 by Satorinu

[sajuukkhar9000]

Then how do you explain the multitude of times when we've arrived in cells and found a body lying dead? It's happened across multiple play throughs on multiple platforms.

The person did last time you were in the cell, bodies take awhile to get cleaned up.

[gsmanners]

Let's not forget that players are not omniscient. An NPC could die right in front of you, and you might not notice it until you go looking for them later. And even if you look for an NPC, there's no guarantee you'll find them. If they're dead, they'll be a lot less noticeable than if they are alive. And even if you do notice an NPC getting killed right in front of you, there's no guarantee they won't just kill-cam right through a wall or glitch through the floor (and thus be forever beyond your reach and ability to resurrect).

 

Added tension is a good thing, but there are limits you don't cross in a game. One of them is making the enemies of the PC unfairly better equipped than your character can be. This bug sounds to me like it equips enemies of the PC with better surprise attacks than the PC can perform, which is an extremely annoying bug, indeed.

[Stemin]

Then how do you explain the multitude of times when we've arrived in cells and found a body lying dead? It's happened across multiple play throughs on multiple platforms.

The person did last time you were in the cell, bodies take awhile to get cleaned up.

 

When I fast travel from an area to another area and I don't expect to come back and find someone dead that was literally sitting on the porch in front of me before I fast traveled (Alford or whatever the hell the smith is in Riverwood)

 

Regardless of the "official" explanation, it doesn't change the fact that NPC's are dying from other NPC's without my interaction.