How does this work? I cant seem to set essentials or remove them.
tried to set Illia essential and earlier remove the essential from generals in enemy soldier camps, neither seem to work. I use setessential 0004b22e 1 on Illia, wich is her ref ID and setessential <....> 0 on the generals, but it doesnt seem to work, it says invalid base actor ID. Yet when selected i use the number it gives me.
What am i doing wrong?

I *think* you need to look up the "real" IDs on UESP or skyrimsearch. Mostly, the numbers that pop when you open console then click on something only seem to work for unlocking chests, doors etc....

in case of Illia the real number is 0004b22e

No, no, no; base ID, not reference ID. Base ID can be gotten from the wiki, or found in-game using the "help" console command.

I don't know then.... I've never tried to mess with her "essentialness" - nor the generals - since I don't personally care if they ARE essential or not. I actually can't remember the last time I set a mob non-essential.... Oh - maybe it was one of the stupid housecarls before I realized it was easier just to MarkForDelete them....

Yeah, you have to use the base ID. You can also leave the zeros off.

Whats the difference then between base and refID ? And it still didnt work, used baseID now, clicked on her and checked with IsEssential and it is still 0, shouldnt it be 1 ?

Base ID is unique, ref ID is simply an incrementing list of numbers that tell what order things were added in. Ref IDs are used for most scripts and commands, like "kill" or "disable." Ref ID is unique, but, for example, there is only one Illia in the game files, but there could be multiple Illias in-game, each with the same base ID but different ref IDs.

Try closing out of the console. The "IsEssential" command won't display properly if essential status is changed and checked without closing the console.

If that still doesn't work, it's possible that Illia can't be made essential; since she comes from a template of warlock bosses, she may not properly interact with scripts.

Ok thx for explanation, and your right, she is essential now after checking again, dont have to worry i accidently kill her now being bound battleaxe with massive damage and all Killed to many already this way.

To clarify, BaseID is for the base object, and the RefID is for an instance of a base object. Data in the base object (such as the essential flag) is shared for each instance of it. Change the base object, and it's changed for all instances of it. Data in an instance (such as position), however, is unique to itself and not shared. Change an instance, and only that instance is changed.

I found the easiest way to set someone essential is to be near them. Open the console, click on them then type in "setessential" and it does it.