Whiterun merchants are staying inside permanently, GRAY-Mane house locked during daytime, Aedelus hostile...

[scorpgul]

Hey guys, I followed the STEP guide to the letter and installed every single mod except "The Choice is yours", "Paarthurnax Dilemna" and "Thieves Guild Requirements" under GAMEPLAY as they are not essential to me. I also did NOT install any of the "STEP PATCHES" and instead chose the built-in fixes when installing the specific mods. I am using MOD ORGANISER and LOOT and have done EVERYTHING according to the guide. I am now at level 11 and I hope I can keep playing with this save.

 

I started noticing that one by one the merchants in Whiterun would stay inside even during the day. First it started with the old Gray-Mane lady, then the wood elf meat vendor, then the blacksmith woman and now all 4 merchants will not come outside no matter what. The Battle-Born who stands outside Belethor's shop can no longer be found outside anymore either. Also the Gray-Mane House is locked during daytime and when I had to speak to Avulstein to give him proof that Thorald is being held captive, he would turn hostile when I lockpicked my way inside. I had to use console command that I found on the internet to spawn him to my location to give him the note.

 

What I thought was a minor bug is getting worst as it is breaking immersion. I have tried waiting, sleeping, fast travelling, running to whiterun to no avail. I do not recall having these issues when I did a playthrough of Vanilla Skyrim unmodded up to level 50 so in order to narrow down what could be causing it, I googled it and the first thing that came up is "Run for your lives", "When Vampires Attack" and "Wet & Cold" and when I went on their Nexus page, I was able to confirm that one of them is definitely causing the problem according to comments. The author of the Run mods is saying it is something in Wet and Cold and he says uninstalling those mods would render the save pretty much useless so he does not advise it. Most people are identifying the culprit as "When Vampires Attack"

 

Now I really do not want to start over again, so I want to know whether you guys know of this issue and if there is anything I can do. This issue will no doubt happen in other cities as I advance through the game so if there is anything I can do now to stop it, please let me know.

 

Thanks

Edited March 28, 2015 by scorpgul

[scorpgul]

After further digging, I think I have identified the culprit:

 

This is from a thread posted in 2013 about "When Vampires Attack":

 

"I've read that it stops some NPCs going about their daily routine, so merchants will just hang around in their house/shop and not sell anything. The shop will either be locked or the merchant will react as though you're trespassing.

I've also read about NPCs getting stuck in the environment, or disappearing altogether."

 

 

 

Another one from 2014:

 

"You have "When Vampires Attack" and "Run For Your Lives". These mods are both easily broken. Especially when using several other script-intensive mods. My bet is one those had their scripts break or get interrupted (like fast travelling away from an area with vamps or dragons nearby)."

 

 

I do FAST TRAVEL A LOT! It definitely has to be one of those 2 mods by the same author that has caused this issue.

 

 

If this mod is so gamebreaking, it definitely should be replaced/removed and a clear warning given on the STEP guide. If I knew it would cause such issues, I would have never installed it. And this is not a new issue, it has existed since 2013...Totally broke my game. I really hope there is something I can do to save my game now. I have put in 30 hours already for just this playthrough alone and restarting is the last thing I want to do.

 

I hope you can help me.

 

Thanks

Edited March 26, 2015 by scorpgul

[Kelmych]

We typically recommend not making extensive use of fast travel, both because it is immersion breaking and because it can cause problems with scripted mods. The game engine isn't very robust when a lot of mods are used. It's probably OK to use fast travel in an unmodded game, but when you add a lot of mods problems can occur.

 

The Save Game Script Cleaner may be able to help you with your save game. While you feel that the 2 mods you mentioned are the likely problem, the problem might actually be with scripts from other mods or even scripts from many mods. If you are able to fix the save game and you want to keep playing with a lot of plugins, as most of us do, I'd suggest limiting the use of fast travel especially inside cities or near areas that may have ongoing combat (which you can't always tell very easily).

[scorpgul]

We typically recommend not making extensive use of fast travel, both because it is immersion breaking and because it can cause problems with scripted mods. The game engine isn't very robust when a lot of mods are used. It's probably OK to use fast travel in an unmodded game, but when you add a lot of mods problems can occur.

 

the problem might actually be with scripts from other mods or even scripts from many mods. If you are able to fix the save game and you want to keep playing with a lot of plugins, as most of us do, I'd suggest limiting the use of fast travel especially inside cities or near areas that may have ongoing combat (which you can't always tell very easily).

 

 

I fast travel a lot to sell all the loot I pick up in the dungeons I clear and all the items I steal. I fast travel between Whiterun, Riften(for the fence) and whichever dungeon I cleared.

 

So that means that STEP is not stable. If modding prevents/limits the user from performing an action which he could on a vanilla game without any issues, something is not working as intended. Isn't STEP supposed to "enhance" the gaming experience? I think that a good thorough testing and update is needed as it is almost a year now since the last update.

Edited March 28, 2015 by scorpgul

[scorpgul]

It turns out it was actually WET and COLD that was causing the NPCS to  stay inside. I did a restart through the Addon menu and they have resumed their routines. I have also disabled the features that makes them go inside when the weather turns bad. You should put this in the step guide as it is a pretty serious issue that can force someone to uninstall stuff they shouldn't.

 

However the Gray-Mane house still remains locked during the day and Avulstein is still hostile as soon as I force my way in.

Edited March 28, 2015 by scorpgul