SSE Question regarding Player Alias

[SirFarq]

Hi all, just a question that's been bothering me today.

 

In the MCM Quickstart guide it is suggested to assign the player alias via Specific Reference > Cell any > Ref PlayerRef

In the past, with no perceived issues, I have always assigned it using Unique Actor > Player

Is there a difference between how Papyrus sees these two implementations and if so, is one better practice or more preferred than the other?

Cheers for any insight.

[cdcooley]

If people foolishly use mods (or the console) to create clones of the player then the Unique Actor condition may not work correctly because the Player isn't actually unique (and the condition can select the clone instead of the real player). In theory your method should be fine because Unique Actors are supposed to be UNIQUE but when players and mod authors get "creative" it can cause problems. That's why they suggest selecting the player by reference. Interestingly in general you should avoid the Specific Reference option where possible, but this is one case where it is the better choice.

[SirFarq]

Great answer, thanks that makes perfect sense. I did assume that Schlangster's method would be the obviously better choice but it's good to have some reasoning to understand it better.