Missing NPC in Helgen

[Trucidation]

Just reinstalled Skyrim today after a hiatus. Started a "clean" game (no mods), let it run a bit, went with the default character settings, then saved when I had control of the character. Quit, installed all the mods I'd chosen, launched Skyrim again and started a new game.

 

Lo and behold, the sergeant (?) who's supposed to read out prisoner names - you know, the guy standing beside the captain when you get off the cart - is missing. The scene waits as usual as if he's speaking, and the captain replies normally (making for an awkward scene). A cursory search on the forums and google didn't help (I'm not looking for missing people quests). I suppose this is the fun part, guessing which mod is responsible for this.

 

Here's what I got installed, pretty much in this order:

 

[1] SKSE

[2] Nexus Mod Manager

 

[3] "Unofficial Skyrim Patch" : http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/19

[4] "Unofficial Dawnguard Patch" : http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/23491

 

[5] "SkyUI" ( http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/3863 )

[6] "Project Reality: Climates of Tamriel" ( http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/17802 )

[7] "Guard Dialogue Overhaul" ( http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/23390 )

 

[8] "EzEs -Colored Map Markers" ( http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/26556 )

[9] "Time on load screens" ( http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/98 )

[10] "Fast Travel timescale fix" ( http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/19389 )

[11] "HiRes legible road signs" ( http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/436 )

[12] "Roosters at dawn" ( http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/17257 )

[13] "Camping lite" ( http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/11526 )

[14] "Run For Your Lives" ( http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/23906 )

[15] "No pause between lines" ( http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/6333 )

[16] "The Dance of Death - killmoves" ( http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/10906 )

 

[17] "Conjure Rideable Ethereal Horse Spell" ( http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/9534 )

[18] "Earth Prison" ( http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/14629 )

[19] "Summon Meteor" ( http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/12441 )

[20] "Summon Ice Wall" ( http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/13130 )

[21] "Summon Ball Lightning" ( http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/13971 )

 

[22] "Sinister Summoner" ( http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/15811 )

 

[23] "ApachiiSkyHair" ( http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/10168 )

 

[24] "Warzones: Civil Unrest (version 5)" ( http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/9494 )

 

[25] "Immersive Armor" ( http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/19733 )

 

[26] "ACE combat skills" ( http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/10037 )

 

[27] "Automatic Variants" ( http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/21377 )

 

[28] "Mighty Magick Skyrim" @ MMSk ( http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/13166 )

 

[29] "Dawnspire" ( http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/20751 )

 

[30] "Choice is Yours" ( http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/26359 )

 

[31] "ASIS" ( http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/18436 )

 

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In my previous playthrough I had only 1-7, and "Coloured Map Markers" (which is now outdated, replaced by #8 here). I doubt mods #9-#16, or the standalone spells #17-#23 are the culprit, as they add/change very specific small things. So I'm left with the larger mods. Immersive armor (#25) seems fine btw, the Imperial Captain was wearing nice shiny new stuff, ditto several other soldiers in Helgen.

 

Automatic Variants (#27) is basically a texture mod, but I've only loaded it with the 3 optional downloads, plus one of StarX's AV packages (specifically, the Draugr skins). Those are all monster stuff so I doubt it's this mod causing problems.

 

Meh, I suppose I can drop #30 and see what happens, although tweaking quest-related triggers in NPC dialogue doesn't sound like it could be the problem. I'm not sure about #29, I suppose I could try removing it and see whether I can get the bug to happen again. Should be easy enough to test, just start yet another new game.

[Trucidation]

I think I found the culprit; I have the DLCs, forgot about the reminder in the ACE description to download from the Sandbox as well ( http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/12819 ). Once I installed that - and re-patched ASIS and shuffled the mod load order again - started a new game, and wa-la, the guy was there.

 

It was Hadvar btw, didn't recognise him at first. Always thought it was some random Imperial sergeant who read the prisoner names.

 

EDIT FOR POSTERITY: NO, it wasn't the sandbox. Anyone else who has this issue, don't download it! lol. Apparently I didn't download the two Dawnguard patches for ACE (archery fix, enchantment fix).

 

Need to reinstall anyway since I also noticed some other problems, e.g. updated Mighty Magick wrongly - should've told NMM "no" to install 'normally' and let the updates overwrite the originals.

 

EDIT 2: I also forgot the Hearthfire patch, lol, I reached Whiterun and got all the way to purchasing a house, until I encountered the Alchemy Lab/Child Room bug.

Edited November 18, 2012 by Trucidation