Someone once told me that this is the case but reading the Wiki I get the impression that only the No Low Level Processing flag does this, so I'm not sure what to believe. I've given some placed characters who aren't spawned in a leveled list routines that are supposed to take them out of their spawn cell and move about in other areas. So far though I haven't seen any of them. I'm not sure if it's because of bad timing or whether they just aren't capable of performing their actions when I'm not around because they have Respawns checked. I'm thinking maybe I'll have to uncheck that flag, though I'd rather not.

AFAIK, the No Low Level Processing flag only needs to be checked if you're placing them in a Leveled List. The reason they won't do anything while you're not around is because they aren't loaded in memory until their cell is. In order to "function" while you aren't around, they need to be set as persistent references.

But they should be. They were placed in a cell location just like the other residents of the IC, so I would expect to see them now and then just like the other NPCs there. It could be just the timing of course, but I want to make sure I'm not on the wrong track. There's a total of 10 of them and I have yet to see a single one in the IC. I've given all the Mage Apprentices in the Arcane University beds in the IC to sleep in, so they should be walking about town. They all have the proper keys and factions they need to get past any doors so I'm left thinking they just can't move on their own through the cells with the Respawn flag set. Unfortunately I'm just starting a new game and don't have access to the Arcane U to go check up on them there.

I believe the Imperial Legion patrol riders disprove the theory. They can be encountered anywhere on their patrol routes, which wouldn't happen if the low-level processing wasn't moving them along. Without it, they'd start at their editor locations every time you entered the cell, which would place them at the same point on the road when you meet them (assuming you're doing the same route each time). It would be hard to find two together for the same reasons, and that certainly happens.

That wouldn't be how it worked. You'd find them in the same location they were in when you left that cell. The game does remember the locations of characters that don't have low level processing. So they'd move along while you were in that cell and would still be in that location when you returned, not necessarily at their editor locations. Unless their cell had reset during that time, then they'd start from the beginning again. I've certainly seen that with the patrol riders. I recall one outside Gottshaw Inn. I got so sick of seeing him there climbing up on his horse that I traveled along with him for awhile just to get rid of him. I went with him into the next cell then never saw him at the Inn again. Then again, there's the IC Watch who do seem to function on their own. They're respawned just like the Mage Apprentices in the Arcane U. Of course it could simply be a question of timing, but they don't seem to be following their current packages.

NPCs generated from spawn points are not generated as persistent references. So they drop off the radar once you leave the area. That's why if you look at Bethesda's NPCs that are used in lists, they all have the no low level processing flag. They also use AI packs that don't require them to travel to other locations. They all have general wander packages. Low level processing requires that the reference be persistent in order to do anything with it.

The respawn flag has nothing to do with this at all. One NPC in the vanilla game has this flag - Alga, in Bruma. Her AI works just fine, but that's because her reference is persistent. Yes, if you kill her, 3 days later she'll be back, and still following her AI as though nothing happened.

Thanks, I had forgotten about this thread. In fact, I'm not even sure why I asked this in the first place. But the info will come in handy for this one idea I had in mind at least. Between Fallout 3 and Oblivion, it's getting hard to keep track of all the things I've been playing around with.