This thread is about a possible changed/addition to Starfire's original NPC Additions mod. You can find the http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1033781-starfire-npc-additions/ and download the mod here: http://planetelderscrolls.gamespy.com/View.php?view=Mods.Detail&id=7749


A http://www.wolflore.net/viewtopic.php?f=83&t=1176 version that JH2011 requested that removes the Dark Brotherhood and vampires from cities and all NPCs from the wilderness except for pilgrims near The Fields of Kumma and the Koal Cave. This has been updated to fix a few reported issues.

From the previous thread:

I just checked the readme and Starfire had this to say in her Credits section:


So I think a German translation would be welcomed, Sister.

Yeah, I will release it for Christmas

Thanks Jac

bump.

just one note: info in readme about Mash updating is reversed.
I know, it is not so intuitive to right click the NEW version and select the OLD version from the file dialog, but Mash works this way.

Abot, would you mind if I used your spawning scripts for Water Life for a different version of this that spawns in NPCs based on the player's framerate. Elaura's been talking about doing something like that and I told if it would be better to just start from the ground up because Starfire's naming conventions aren't exactly intuitive. Thanks.

Assuming you don't want to keep anything from the old version (I'm not sure if there are unique items where you would want to anyway), can you just remove the old version, do a repair all, then add the new version? A little simpler I guess.

Your method will temporarily change load order (-1 shift) for mods below the one you are updating. MCP code loading order fixes and/or Mash Repair All could be able to fix problems, or not.
I think if mods have different names using a Mash replacer (correct procedure below) is safer for mods loading after the one you are updating.
Or, If you want to start the mod anew, replace the mod with a dummy empty one with same timestamp, load, save, replace the dummy with the new version of mod. This way load order is not changed, it seems less risky for me.
Mash has been engineered before MCP was available, and nobody knows exactly how/how well various Mash procedures interact with MCP loading fixes, so it may be they work in perfect harmony, or not.

I think you could use the FPS check part, even simple immediate check on frame could work.
e.g.
set FPS to ( GetSecondsPassed + 0.00001 )
set FPS to ( 1 / FPS )
if ( FPS > 12 )

I fear rest of water life spawning code is too water-tuned to be of use in generic cities/landmasses, anyway feel free to use what you need.
I did a couple of tries some time ago, got some strange idea for generic NPC spawning (I was thinking about using city lights as spawners) but stopped mainly because spawned NPCs were crashing on hello. I think Wrye solved this in NPCLCV, but I never managed to get it working in my brief experiment with Silgrad Tower/Blacklight so I quit experiments.
[EDIT]divide by 0 safety

If I understand what you're saying... you did a script for me soem time ago, for my city mod, where NPCs spawn depending on FPS, where the camera is pointed at, and time of the day. I just retested it to make sure it works, and it does, NPCs greet you normally, the only problem I noticed is that they are curently standing in place instead of walking around, but I'm sure that could be fixed by adding some kind of a goal to follow or something, in teh script.

If you're ok with it, I'd share the scripts you made me?

Sorry if I'm blabbering noncenses..

I wasn't planning on using your whole script, Abot, but the part that monitored the FPS and spawned or not-spawned accordingly. Now that I know which part handles that, I'll know what to look for. Thanks.

No, I was referring to some older tests trying to spawn MCA NPCs in Silgrad Tower/Blacklight area around city lights.Sure, but I think Jac was only needing info on the FPS test part.

FPS and frontal spawn rate, actually. We don't want NPCs spawning in front of the PC.

It would seem that some of the issues with commoners attacking the NPC and with various NPCs missing clothing (such as paupers missing pants) still remain. In Starfire's absence, would there be anyone willing to correct these two minor oversights? It's an outstanding mod otherwise, it would be wonderful to have these two issues resolved

Aah I see.

I don't know about the missing clothing, but Starfire's mod deliberately set it up that your char would be attacked on a random (I presume) basis according to the readme.

The missing shoes and commoner attacks are still in the mod. There have been no patches for these issues that I know of, but Jac and I have decided not to have random commoner attacks in the NPC mod of the future.

There are some NPCs who are supposed to attack you but not the "wild commoners". They were apparently not behaving correctly. She had mentioned in the previous thread that she was going to remove them in the next update which unfortunately never arrived.

Here's the quote:

"No they are not supposed to attack the PC. I noticed this as well which is why the next version will remove the "Wild Commoners" which are causeing this problem."

I'm not too bothered about the random commoner attacks really, I've decided that they are either Dunmer who are extremely hostile to outsiders or Dreamers The missing clothing however, is a bit more immersion breaking.

I would buy that except the last commoner to attack me was a female woodelf. It's just so totally random.

Ah, I didn't even think about that. It's just so happened that the commoners who have attacked me so far have been Dunmer

Jac,

there are several Starfire related mods out there that really add to the original...I'm thinking specifically of: Hilgya, Light the Way, and Holdit.

The last one adds so much you probably want to build a compatibility patch for sure. The Hilgya one is very good for those who play with that mod.

Absolutely. I use Hold it! myself and can hardly play without it, now. We were just talking today about compatibility with custom race mods. I'm leaning more toward writing a short tutorial on how to add a custom race to the list of what-spawns-where rather than making a series of patches.

One of the disappointments of my Morrowind modding experience is finding a fantastic race and discovering it's a PC only mod. Even though I may not want to play a Drow, Dwarf, or Celestial, that doesn't mean I don't want to see them in my game.

I had version 1.11 which, when I re-read the Readme, mentions "wild commoners", but it does not have the line you quoted. Given that I expected random attacks, I was not aware that there was a distinction and still don't understand what is meant by "wild commoner". To me, they were still just people who attacked me, whether "wild" or not

I suppose if I were to impose on Jac again or if he continues work on the ideas behind Starfire's mod, I'd ask that if possible think of it as layering from the bottom up - add NPCs to the towns, then add to it so that the user could pick and choose between those features (traveling merchants, mages coming/going, the mauradering attacks, ...) I still get a pretty big FPS hit with the traveling merchants and the mage-types coming and going, especially in Balmora. Other big wish, and I don't think this has to do with NPC additions, would be able to click on those merchants without the guar being in the way.

Could there be a simple expansion into Tamriel Rebuilt / Cyrodiil / Skyrim lands?

How difficult would it be to do that myself?

That was actually what started us talking about making an NPC adding mod, JH2011. My machine doesn't have as high-end graphics as Jac's so I asked if maybe it was possible to use Abot's scripte from his waterlife mod, which makes the rate of spawning dependent on FPS and therefore selectable.

We'd like to make it as compatible as possible with other race mods, without sacrificing FPS the user can't afford and in order to do so, it will have to be a bottom up, mod. So, it might be time to start our own WiP/Concept thread, or ask the mods to change the title of this one and give Starfire's mod it's own thread.

Hopefully, we'll be able to make it compatible with additional landmasses, without actually having to make the patches/additions ourselves.