I have 'NPC-to-NPC banter' scene that just won't start, and I have no idea why. Quest Data Tab and Quest Alias Tab are set iup exactly as it's set up in all the default game 'NPC-to-NPC banter' scenes.

Begin on quest start/Stop quest on end- Check

SEQ file - check

Voice files and lip sync files - Check

I am not missing anything.....why isn't it working?

Is there a way to 'force' the scene?

Use 'SQV YourQuest' in the console to check if the quest is actually running, first off.

Second, perhaps put some debug.notification("Your line here") stuff in the scripts to see what parts it's getting to and where it stops.

Is the quest set to start on the Actor Dialogue Event and hooked into that section of Story Manager? You don't mention anything about Story Manager, but it's the key part.

It's not enabled and it's not running.....but it's suppose to be one of those 'random NPC chit chat' scenes, so that might be standard behaviour? I was hoping there was a way to force it in game to at least see if it's working or not. Actor Dialogue Event, priority 30, just like the way it's set up in all the default game quest data tabs for these sort of scenes. Ah, my eyes hurt...

So you need to open the Actor Dialogue Event story manager type and set up a node for you quest, otherwise it wont start ever. Look at the vanilla quest setups, and copy them appropriately and it should start your quest.