Skyrim

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Created by

iMACobra

Uploaded by

iMACobra

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About this mod

Mod aimed to Protect NPCs from unwanted death through Reference Aliases instead of editing Actor records ensuring maximum compatibility with mods that edit the same NPCs, such as appearance overhaul mods.

Requirements
Permissions and credits
Translations
  • Russian
Changelogs
SSE Version

Thank you guys! ;_; It took a while but it's finally there! :)

Premise
Hate it when NPCs die from pesky dragon/vampire attacks? Use OBIS and can't stand overpowered bandits from murdering everyone in that unwalled town? Well boy have I got a mod for you. This mod saves your friendly neighbors from untimely deaths. Technically, it flags certain NPCs Protected. But wait! Aren't there already mods that do just that? Well, yeah but I don't like the way they implement the Protected flag so I'll explain it as thoroughly as possible.
What's the difference?
Past NPC protection mods got the job done. They worked as they were supposed to. NPCs would not easily die because they were flagged Protected, meaning they can only die from a hit by the Player. So what's the big deal? Past mods protected NPCs by editing NPCs' Actor records and checking their Protected flags on. By all means, this works but what happens when you install another mod that edits those same NPCs' Actor records? Their Protected flags get overridden because the new mod you installed didn't enable the Protected flag for them. But isn't it just a matter of using TES5Edit and forwarding the Protected flag onto them? Yes, that problem is easily solved but what about the NPCs that become non-Essential after certain quests end? Check their Protected flag on? That can't happen if they're already set Essential in their Actor record in the first place.

{Throughout this description, I use the term "Actor record" to refer to the "NPC_" Form Type used in the Creation Kit to designate NPCs' and creatures' object records. The reason why I referred to them as Actor records is because NPCs and creatures are collectively known as Actors in the CK Wiki. Sorry if anyone was confused by this naming scheme.}

Bryling Example
Spoiler:  
Show
Here's where my mod does things differently.

This isn't a new discovery that people never knew about but I don't understand why anyone hasn't utilized this. I mean it's right there (in the CK I mean). What I'm talking about is Reference Aliases. What about Reference Aliases? They have a Protected flag that can be checked. What?!

I find this way of protecting NPCs through quest aliases much more efficient than editing a whole slew of Actor records that can easily be overridden by other mods. Having to resolve conflicts in patches all the freakin' time gets really annoying so I'm saving you the time of protecting NPCs yourself by making them Protected through a quest that can't be overridden by anything. This will make your life easier because you won't have to worry about civilian NPCs dying anymore because you didn't know a mod you installed edited Actor records' Protected flags off. I know, for sure, a lot of people use NPC appearance overhaul mods because they think Skyrim NPCs look ugly but, guess what? Loading that mod after an NPC protection mod makes those NPCs unprotected again. Sure you can resolve it by making a patch but you can save time by using this mod and ensuring that your NPCs never get killed because my Protected flags can't be overridden!

Who did I Protect?
My mod protects:
  • unique named NPCs
  • all vanilla children
  • named animals - all named dogs, the Stray Dog that can follow you, the goat Lucky from Dragon Bridge, Gleda the Goat, the fox Pumpkin from Southfringe Sanctum, Frost, all Hearthfire pets, Bilgemuck, Old Salty, Lord Tusk
  • named creatures - Grok, Moira, Melka, Uderfrykte, Sinding (werewolf)
My mod doesn't protect:
  • already Protected NPCs
  • respawning NPCs (including Shadowmere)
  • NPCs that are supposed to die during a quest
  • initially hostile NPCs
  • NPCs that aren't very important or you only meet once - Giana, Gissur, Rulindil, all the hunters from Ill Met By Moonlight, the 3 DB captives in the Abondoned Shack, Shavari, Tsavani, Kematu's Alik'r, etc.

I used NPCs Protected Redux as a base and started from there. I found NPCs that I didn't agree with protecting or inhibited you from killing them in other ways
.

These NPCs are Protected by NPCs Protected Redux but I chose to not protect them for reasons:
Spoiler:  
Show

I mostly Protected unique named NPCs. I even Protected NPCs that are normally Essential throughout the whole game. These NPCs cannot be Protected or else quests won't progress properly:
Spoiler:  
Show
Why do I bother protecting Essential NPCs? Because there are mods that set Essential NPCs non-Essential without Protecting them as well. These mods do this:
I am unsure about No Permanent Essentials.

There are a lot of mods that edit vanilla NPC Actor records in other ways but will undoubtedly cause you to create a "conflict resolution" patch just to keep NPCs Protected:
  • Various child appearance overhaul mods
With my mod, you won't have to worry about making a patch to keep your NPCs Protected. :)

In total, my mod protects around 800 NPCs.


Requirements
Dawnguard, Hearthfire and Dragonborn are required for the Legendary version. Otherwise, I made individual versions for those that don't own all 3 DLCs. This mod is perfectly safe to merge with other mods. I recommend Merge Plugins to do this.
Cutting Room Floor for PyP_CuttingRoomFloor.esp.
Inconsequential NPCs for PyP_InconsequentialNPCs.esp.
Interesting NPCs for PyP_InterestingNPCs.esp.


USLEEP is not required.
SKSE is not required.
A new game start is not required.

Installation
Use a mod manager for the fomod installer or install directly to data folder.

Uninstallation

Use specified console commands.

PyP_Legendary.esp Pre-1.4
stopquest pyp_legendary

PyP_Legendary.esp Post-1.4
stopquest pyp_skyrim
stopquest pyp_dawnguard
stopquest pyp_hearthfire
stopquest pyp_dragonborn

PyP_Skyrim.esp
stopquest pyp_skyrim

PyP_Dawnguard.esp
stopquest pyp_dawnguard

PyP_Hearthfire.esp
stopquest pyp_hearthfire

PyP_Dragonborn.esp
stopquest pyp_dragonborn

PyP_CuttingRoomFloor.esp
stopquest pyp_cuttingroomfloor

PyP_InconsequentialNPCs.esp
stopquest pyp_inconsequentialnpcs

PyP_InterestingNPCs.esp
stopquest pyp_interestingnpcs

Delete .ESPs and their corresponding .BSAs.


Compatibility
Compatible with:
USLEEP
Run For Your Lives
When Vampires Attack
Open Cities
NPC Knockout Overhaul
Correct Gender Animations
Immersive Citizens
Immersive Children
Inhabitants of Skyrim
Bijin Warmaidens, NPCs and Wives
All multiple follower mods
All other appearance overhaul mods
All other killable children mods

Completely compatible with almost anything because of the way my mod is set up. Just a single quest protecting individual NPCs instead of editing Actor records so there will be no conflicts with other mods that edit the same NPCs. I chose not to make quest NPCs Protected after their quests end directly through the aforementioned quests themselves because I don't like making huge edits to important things like quests, plus it would be harder to uninstall if you didn't like this mod.



As of 1.4, I officially supported detecting Innocence Lost Alternative and Adoption Without Murder (Innocence Lost for Good Guys) since both mods kill Grelod the Kind without the Player physically attacking her. Lemkil is killed in the latter mod through a scripted kill. Basically, any mods that want to run scripted deaths on NPCs protected by PyP are inherentlyincompatible unless you use a specific script to detect my mod and turnoff the targeted reference aliases which I sent script files to the mod authors of each mod to include in their own in order to make them compatible with my mod.

Permissions

Why? Please ask me first for whatever reason.

Credits

-NPCs for dropping like flies.
-Arthmoor for Cutting Room Floor.
-Kris Takahashi for Interesting NPCs.
-missjennabee, Pymous and Nazenn for Expanded Towns and Cities.
-blattgeist for NPCs Protected Redux.
-ripple for Inconsequential NPCs.

Check out other mods I worked on