How to delete an NPC

[chasm]

Posted this over at Nexus and then instantly realized you guys over here are infinitely more helpful than over there and without as much attittude!

Looking for some help in creating my own mod.

Arturo is crashing my game whenever I try to enter Diamond City.  My clue was the last time I saw him, he had the neck damage that is part of the decapitation mesh, but isn't normally visible when they still have a head.
I used 00XXXXX.disable on him and now I can go in and out with no problem.
I checked FO4Edit and nothing is touching his record.

What I would like to do is make a mod to remove him from the game permanently so nothing tries to make him come back.
I've made mods to add NPC's and to edit NPC's but I've never made one to remove an NPC.  It seems like the kind of thing that is either simple, once you know how, or impossible.

Anyone have any tips? 
Thanks!

[Andy14]

37 minutes ago, chasm said:

Posted this over at Nexus and then instantly realized you guys over here are infinitely more helpful than over there and without as much attittude!

Looking for some help in creating my own mod.

Arturo is crashing my game whenever I try to enter Diamond City.  My clue was the last time I saw him, he had the neck damage that is part of the decapitation mesh, but isn't normally visible when they still have a head.
I used 00XXXXX.disable on him and now I can go in and out with no problem.
I checked FO4Edit and nothing is touching his record.

What I would like to do is make a mod to remove him from the game permanently so nothing tries to make him come back.
I've made mods to add NPC's and to edit NPC's but I've never made one to remove an NPC.  It seems like the kind of thing that is either simple, once you know how, or impossible.

Anyone have any tips? 
Thanks!

If not used in quest etc. you can delete the NPC in CK or FOEdit.
Alternatively, you can also fix the cause and correct the mesh/texture.
In the console with xxxxxxx.disable is step 1.
Step 2 is xxxxxx.markfordelete. This completely deletes the NPC when saving from the save.

[Michele Magus]

Be careful when doing so.
Arturo is the Diamond City Weapons Vendor from the Base Game..
 

I believe the standard method is NOT to delete the base game record, but to disable and move to -30,000 on the Z axis in a mod, while leaving Fallout4.esm untouched.

Edited August 6, 2022 by Michele Magus

[Indarello]

5 hours ago, chasm said:

Posted this over at Nexus and then instantly realized you guys over here are infinitely more helpful than over there and without as much attittude!

Looking for some help in creating my own mod.

Arturo is crashing my game whenever I try to enter Diamond City.  My clue was the last time I saw him, he had the neck damage that is part of the decapitation mesh, but isn't normally visible when they still have a head.
I used 00XXXXX.disable on him and now I can go in and out with no problem.
I checked FO4Edit and nothing is touching his record.

What I would like to do is make a mod to remove him from the game permanently so nothing tries to make him come back.
I've made mods to add NPC's and to edit NPC's but I've never made one to remove an NPC.  It seems like the kind of thing that is either simple, once you know how, or impossible.

Anyone have any tips? 
Thanks!

Maybe you crash because bodytalk bug that appeared recently? 

[Sgt. Marge]

These crashes started with the Jun2022 version of Bodytalk and subsequently have been fixed with the July2022R2 version.  Please grab the latest version and follow the directions I placed in this thread:

 

 

Edited August 6, 2022 by Sgt. Marge
Added link

[chasm]

Thanks everybody for the quick responses!
 

9 hours ago, Andy14 said:

If not used in quest etc. you can delete the NPC in CK or FOEdit.
Alternatively, you can also fix the cause and correct the mesh/texture.
In the console with xxxxxxx.disable is step 1.
Step 2 is xxxxxx.markfordelete. This completely deletes the NPC when saving from the save.

Thanks Andy.  As Michele suggested, I didn't want to mess with the base game, more looking for a way to make a mod just remove him later in the load order.  I can definitely use the mark for delete.  I've used that to get rid of corpses, but didn't think of it here.

 

 

8 hours ago, Michele Magus said:

Be careful when doing so.
Arturo is the Diamond City Weapons Vendor from the Base Game..
 

I believe the standard method is NOT to delete the base game record, but to disable and move to -30,000 on the Z axis in a mod, while leaving Fallout4.esm untouched.

Thanks.  Yeah, I'm cautious enough to not edit the base game, but your move idea sounds like what I was looking for, if Sgt. Marge's fix doesn't work.

 

 

20 minutes ago, Sgt. Marge said:

Please read this thread which details how to fix the problem. 

The crashes started with the Jun2022 version of Bodytalk and subsequently have been fixed with the July2022R2 version.  Please grab the latest version and follow the directions I placed in this thread:

 

 

Thanks, I'll give the update a try.  Only one thing.  I DID have a problem that looked like that with the minuteman outfit, but I just downloaded an outfit replacer for that one and overwrote it.  Arturo on the other hand had okay clothes, it was just his neck exploded showing the damage texture.  Actually there was a generic head laying behind his counter too that might have been related.
I tried overwriting Arturo but that didn't change his clothes (didn't help), so this could still be the cause.  Either way, it looks like I need to do this update.  Then at least I can put the MM outfit back, because the replacer I used it not good (it was just the first one I found that replaced the mesh rather than just the texture).


 

[chasm]

Additional, after reading Sgt's linked post:

I also was not getting a crash log 90% of the time (and never with the DC crash), but when I did it would always mention CBP.dll.
I was using BT3_July2022 (no R2) and I had installed without the prebuilt clothing.

As for Vortex and how to remove the existing meshes, it should do that itself if you uninstall the older version rather than update.  Actually, it should do it even if you update, but only if you trust it.

I'm not much for commenting unnecessarily, as you can tell by the number under my name, so I'm not going to add noise to the AAF thread or discord.

Thanks again!

[Sgt. Marge]

40 minutes ago, chasm said:

Thanks everybody for the quick responses!
 

Thanks Andy.  As Michele suggested, I didn't want to mess with the base game, more looking for a way to make a mod just remove him later in the load order.  I can definitely use the mark for delete.  I've used that to get rid of corpses, but didn't think of it here.

 

 

Thanks.  Yeah, I'm cautious enough to not edit the base game, but your move idea sounds like what I was looking for, if Sgt. Marge's fix doesn't work.

 

 

Thanks, I'll give the update a try.  Only one thing.  I DID have a problem that looked like that with the minuteman outfit, but I just downloaded an outfit replacer for that one and overwrote it.  Arturo on the other hand had okay clothes, it was just his neck exploded showing the damage texture.  Actually there was a generic head laying behind his counter too that might have been related.
I tried overwriting Arturo but that didn't change his clothes (didn't help), so this could still be the cause.  Either way, it looks like I need to do this update.  Then at least I can put the MM outfit back, because the replacer I used it not good (it was just the first one I found that replaced the mesh rather than just the texture).


 

 

Yes, there was indeed a minuteman outfit that also had a problem, and that too was supposed to have been fixed with this latest Bodytalk update.  Unfortunately the only way to get any kind of change log for Bodytalk at this point is to join that mod author's discord unless they are posting it somewhere else that I'm not aware of.

[Sgt. Marge]

2 minutes ago, chasm said:

Additional, after reading Sgt's linked post:

I also was not getting a crash log 90% of the time (and never with the DC crash), but when I did it would always mention CBP.dll.
I was using BT3_July2022 (no R2) and I had installed without the prebuilt clothing.

As for Vortex and how to remove the existing meshes, it should do that itself if you uninstall the older version rather than update.  Actually, it should do it even if you update, but only if you trust it.

I'm not much for commenting unnecessarily, as you can tell by the number under my name, so I'm not going to add noise to the AAF thread or discord.

Thanks again!

 

Yes, you are among the many that were also getting no crash log most of the time for this crash and when the log did get written the skeleton | cpb was listed as culprit.  several people in various ways contributed to helping track down and test that it was BodyTalk that was causing this problem.  It's been a fun couple of months!