Carriage Drivers Are Alive SE (by ToosTruus - CosmicSloth0 - WiZKiD34)

[Mousetick]

Discussion topic:
Carriage Drivers Are Alive SE by ToosTruus, CosmicSloth0, WiZKiD34
Wiki Link

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Introduces AI, sandboxing, and campsites for the vanilla carriage and ferry systems with compatibility in mind.

Why are the Skyrim carriage drivers and ferries just idled to a Velcro seat? No backstory, nowhere to sleep, nothing to eat.
Shame. Apparently Bethesda forgot about them.

Well, not anymore. Now all vanilla carriage and ferry drivers have their own AI along with a spot to rest, sleep, and eat.

TL;DR: This mod is aimed for people who want to use vanilla travel system (or none at all) and simply want to see carriage driver NPC's living in Skyrim. The results of this make the mod highly compatible with your load order.

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ESPFE plugin(s). No scripts, uses vanilla objects (i.e. compatible with any vanilla mesh or texture replacer). Terrain changes and object placement based on SLaWF & LFfGM, compatible with CRF where applicable. Sorted by LOOT correctly below all of them. Optional add-on plugin for ferrymen. Doesn't modify the travel system. It's just for show, to make the scenery more believable.

Comments from the peanut gallery:

This addresses a shortcoming of AI Overhaul where carriage drivers and ferrymen are left with vanilla AI: static drones sitting on their driver's seat 24/7/365, waiting... I don't use fast-travel during normal gameplay, and I seldom use carriages for travel, but these drivers sitting still all the time, while the rest of the world tries to look "alive", really bothers me.

The Whiterun driver has a small camp, nested between Skulvar's Farm and Maiden-Loom Manor, seen here while cooking:

The Windhelm driver has a small camp, nested between the stables and the Khajit caravan camp, seen here while cooking:

The Markath driver has a small camp next to his carriage, seen here while sitting on a bench and eating (sorry it's pretty dark):

The Riften driver has a small camp behind the Khajit caravan camp. During the day he sandboxes near the stables:

The Solitude driver is seen sitting on a wall. He sleeps in the tower behind:

 

Looking at the plugin in xEdit, the Hearthfire carriage drivers are given new AI packages for their routine, and are supposed to sleep in the house if there's a bed available. I don't know how to test or demonstrate this in-game as I don't currently have any HF player home.

The ferrymen (with the add-on) don't have camps and don't do much, they mostly sandbox near their boat, sometimes eating or drinking. Here in Dawnstar:

[TechAngel85]

1 hour ago, Mousetick said:

Comments from the peanut gallery:

This addresses a shortcoming of AI Overhaul where carriage drivers and ferrymen are left with vanilla AI: static drones sitting on their driver's seat 24/7/365, waiting... I don't use fast-travel during normal gameplay, and I seldom use carriages for travel, but these drivers sitting still all the time, while the rest of the world tries to look "alive", really bothers me.

I was wondering about this. I know ICAIO covers them by adding some simple sandboxing, but wasn't sure if AI Overhaul did or not. Seems this does more in either case and is worth looking into. These NPCs have bothered me since we dropped ICAIO.

[TechAngel85]

1 hour ago, Mousetick said:

Looking at the plugin in xEdit, the Hearthfire carriage drivers are given new AI packages for their routine, and are supposed to sleep in the house if there's a bed available. I don't know how to test or demonstrate this in-game as I don't currently have any HF player home.

Hearthfire Extended does the same thing, so many be some conflicts. There aren't enough beds if everyone is higher on even in vanilla. Most vanilla homes are a bit of a joke, imo.

[gamingsrc]

If we care about the sleep of every NPC in the game, we will not end. As example where do sleep Lisette (an important of the game like that) (*).

Recently, I added a mod that add sleep schedule for Inn keepers (even with their own cells where they sleep) and started to regret it. The thing is that I can come to the Inn in the middle night and don't find any reception. Worse the Inn Keeper greet me with "Welcome to the Inn" while he is sleeping or do a scene with another NPC while he is sleeping.

 

I use "Carriage and Ferry Travel Overhaul" and tweaked it so much and find it a very convenient and extremely well thought Travel Mod.

(if any one is interested by my tweaks, I can post them) 

 

Update.

People that care about compatibilities are people that use town mods. I don't use any town mod, particularly I find some of them over done or add unnecessary stuff or NPCs without background.

The addon I"m happy with is the sleep location tweaks of orphan added by Hearthfire.

 

(*) Nurelion too never sleep, Sifnar spend all his morning blocked at the stair instead of sweeping the palace of Kings. All these are simple package errors dating of 10 years never fixed by any mod.

Edited January 18, 2022 by gamingsrc
More details...

[Mousetick]

I added/replaced some screenshots with better lighting in OP.

5 hours ago, TechAngel85 said:

I was wondering about this. I know ICAIO covers them by adding some simple sandboxing, but wasn't sure if AI Overhaul did or not. Seems this does more in either case and is worth looking into. These NPCs have bothered me since we dropped ICAIO.

I'm not familiar at all with Immersive Citizens so can't confirm, but several comments in this mod's comments section seem to indicate that it does fill the gap between ICAIO and AI Overhaul. The AI Overhaul plugin doesn't touch carriage drivers or ferrymen at all for sure. This mod is intended to provide similar immersion for carriage drivers as ICAIO in as a lightweight and compatible manner as possible, without the "bloat" and incompatibilities that ICAIO seems to be known for.

5 hours ago, TechAngel85 said:

Hearthfire Extended does the same thing, so many be some conflicts. There aren't enough beds if everyone is higher on even in vanilla. Most vanilla homes are a bit of a joke, imo.

Good point that I hadn't thought about, thanks. I looked at this mod's and Hearthfire Extended's plugins, there are no direct conflicts per se on the carriage driver NPCs, which HE doesn't modify. HE adds hirable servants and guards, with AI packages to sleep inside. Like you say, there aren't enough beds for everyone even in vanilla, so I don't think there would be a new issue with this mod. There'll just be a lot more competition for beds between vanilla NPCs, HE-added NPCs and this mod's enhanced carriage drivers.

This mod uses 2 AI packages for Hearthfire drivers: one to sleep inside, and another one to sandbox outside if some conditions for sleeping inside are not satisfied. I'm unable to decipher the conditions just by reading the records in xEdit.

I may try to take a closer look at all this in-game if I can manage to cheat my way into building a Hearthfire home.

4 hours ago, gamingsrc said:

If we care about the sleep of every NPC in the game, we will not end.

True, but vanilla carriage drivers are basically like statues: they "live" outside and remain seated on their carriage for the entire game, day and night, rain or shine. That's specially noticeable if you don't fast-travel, as you encounter them in their frozen state every time you approach a city. 

4 hours ago, gamingsrc said:

Recently, I added a mod that add sleep schedule for Inn keepers (even with their own cells where they sleep) and started to regret it. The thing is that I can come to the Inn in the middle night and don't find any reception.

Well what did you expect? That's the whole point of such mod, innit?