NPC Spawing Falling Out Of The Sky

[mooit]

Hi,

I read there's a bug where NPC can spawn and fall from the sky.

I actually saw this today for the first time.

I was riding the horse in the tundra near Whiterun and I noticed an NPC fall from the sky.

Ok, this is really goofy and I don't want to see npc and animals falling from the sky.

I saw this mods;

Increase Actors in a cell

Actor Limit Fix

Not sure if these mod helps any, but does know anything about this and a fix for it?

I also play the game uncapped, my monitor does 165hz, maybe capping at 60 is better and helps? I do use SSEDisplay Tweaks, also read about using Vsync too... hmm

THANKS

Edited May 26, 2023 by mooit

[Mousetick]

I use all: SSE Display Tweaks, with VSync enabled on 60Hz monitor, and Increase Actors in a Cell, and Actor Limit Fix, and NPC AI Process Position Fix - NG. To no avail.

I have a theory on the circumstances that make it happen, but this is only mere speculation. If you pay close attention you'll see that the NPCs actually spawn on the ground, are immediately thrown up very high in the air at very high speed, then fall down.

This scenario actually happened once with my own player character. My horse was standing "precariously" on several small rocks and I mounted it. As the mounting animation finished, I saw the game sliding the horse with me on it over a slight distance, apparently on flatter ground, but it's hard to tell because it all happened in a fraction of a second. At which point the horse and I were propelled high up in the air. We then fell back down obviously, I don't remember if I died.

So my theory is that if the game cannot place the NPC in an "appropriate fitting space" (TBD) on the ground, the physics engine sends the NPC out flying.

This is more likely to happen with large NPCs (which need more "appropriate fitting space"), so it's more likely to encounter it with mammoths in the Whiterun tundra. Horses are also more susceptible to it (such as random encounters with hunter or noble on horse). But it can also happen in cities with human NPCs when using mods that add more NPCs making cities more crowded. The issue in that case is not a limit on the number of NPCs to process, it's that multiple NPCs can't fit in tight spaces and sometimes spawn "on top" of one another, or on top of an object.

I also speculate that while NPC AI Process Position Fix doesn't cause the issue, it may exacerbate it when entering cities (or exiting buildings back into the city). As it tries to update the real-time position of human NPCs when the player enters the location, it may place them in a not "appropriate fitting space".

You were asking for a fix, I'm afraid there isn't any. This appears to be a long-standing engine issue with no solution. If you google "skyrim mammoth falling from sky", you'll see there are many results, some of them going as far back as the Oldrim days.

But if you have other ideas or suggestions, I'd be interested to hear them.

[Mousetick]

By the way, I forgot:

3 hours ago, mooit said:

Ok, this is really goofy and I don't want to see npc and animals falling from the sky.

Going by your posts on this forum, it appears you have an extremely low tolerance for any kind of quirk or jank, as hardly noticeable or as rare as it may be.

Friendly advice: I'd suggest Skyrim, and modded Skyrim even more so, may not be the right game for you.

[mooit]

I would of hoped, with mods like USSEP, and other bugs/patch mods, something would of been able to correct this.

I've seen animals shooting up in the air before, but never saw the NPC falling out of the sky, or shooting upwards.

My posts on this forum, have nothing to do with any tolerance, quirks or jankyness, I'm simply finding issues I'd like to correct is all, if possible.

Call it what you will, computer geek, computer junkie, computer nerd, that's me, especially in Linux. I've always loved to tinker, so of course it's natural I want to tinker in Skyrim and make it as nice as possible. So far I'm not doing to bad.

Capping the FPS to 60, not sure if it's coincidental, but not seeing anything for now.

THANKS

Edited May 26, 2023 by mooit

[Mousetick]

Here is an example. I had an autosave entering the Windhelm docks which allowed me to replay at will. One close view and another from further away. Initially the 2 horses are positioned (by the game, not me) on top of each other. After a short time, the horse on top shoots up in the air, then falls back down.

This is a physics/collision issue that has nothing to do with rendering distance. The possible cause suggested elsewhere (actor render distance or by using larger uGrids) is not a cause, it simply makes the flying actors more or less noticeable from farther away.

This example shows it can happen close to the player.

[z929669]

1 hour ago, Mousetick said:

Here is an example. I had an autosave entering the Windhelm docks which allowed me to replay at will. One close view and another from further away. Initially the 2 horses are positioned (by the game, not me) on top of each other. After a short time, the horse on top shoots up in the air, then falls back down.

This is a physics/collision issue that has nothing to do with rendering distance. The possible cause suggested elsewhere (actor render distance or by using larger uGrids) is not a cause, it simply makes the flying actors more or less noticeable from farther away.

This example shows it can happen close to the player.

Venturing a guess is that root cause is actor placement on the grid, either absolute or due to constraints of navmesh or ancillary object protrusion. Fix might be revision of actor placement in the plugin. I'm guessing the physics/havok problem is a manifestation of the game working around the constraint problem.

[mooit]

I just read someone mentioned this on Nexus;

If actors are appearing in the sky and then quickly dropping to the ground then you are likely encountering a problem with Havok collision, which is addressed by SSE Display Tweaks.

hmm Havok collision?

Edited July 30, 2023 by mooit

[Greg]

8 hours ago, mooit said:

I just read someone mentioned this on Nexus;

If actors are appearing in the sky and then quickly dropping to the ground then you are likely encountering a problem with Havok collision, which is addressed by SSE Display Tweaks.

hmm Havok collision?

Havok Physics refers to the physics/collision engine originally created by the Havok company and licensed by Bethesda.