Animal Research: The Insatiable Scholar

[nothing2lose]

just letting u know this mod break dawnguard questline at the castle courtyard, the place u supposed to do the moon dial thing. not sure if its related to the two death hound u put there or something else

[Gristle]

2 hours ago, nothing2lose said:

just letting u know this mod break dawnguard questline at the castle courtyard, the place u supposed to do the moon dial thing. not sure if its related to the two death hound u put there or something else

Did you run Dawnguard before running the Castle Volkihar quest in this mod, or after? What exactly is the problem in the courtyard? The two death hounds in the courtyard should be disabled if you're not playing the mod's Volkihar quest. There's dozens of other changes made (and unmade) to the courtyard, but 99% of them are just visual.

Edited January 5 by Gristle

[sourox]

On 1/4/2026 at 10:01 PM, killer905 said:

After having sex with the wolf, Tirwin should approach you with Forcegreet. However, knowing the issues, you probably have SexLab P+. Check if you have this mod installed.

You guessed right I have P+, and I can't exactly remove it, as it cause game to crash if i remove it so i just used set stage to bypass the forced greeting

[killer905]

48 minutes ago, sourox said:

You guessed right I have P+, and I can't exactly remove it, as it cause game to crash if i remove it so i just used set stage to bypass the forced greeting

Unfortunately, the author of SexLab P+ broke the function used by the Animal Research mod. As a result, the script thinks that the sex scene is still ongoing and does not change the stage.

 

I do not know if the author has fixed this, but this problem does not exist in the clean version of SexLab.

You can around this by using Debug mode and casting a spell on Animal and Tirwin or even another mod with a similar function.

 

I would also like to point out that there are other mods that have problems with Sexlab P+, and the author does not necessarily ‘want’ to fix what he has broken. Or he fix this only for AE version.

Edited January 5 by killer905

[killer905]

We have practically completed the quests for this update, but there are still some things left on our TODO list. So, a new update will be released by mid-January or the end of the month at the latest. Why? Because we still need to test the new content on at least one new character.

 

Stay Tuned!

[Gristle]

10 hours ago, killer905 said:

You can around this by using Debug mode and casting a spell on Animal and Tirwin or even another mod with a similar function.

@sourox The mod just needs to detect (using the Sexlab TrackActor function) that a Tirwin sex animation has ended (for many stages) in order to advance to the next stage. So, any Tirwin sex (even masturbation) would advance the stage. While this might be an OK workaround in some cases, e.g., if a player is missing a particular creature animation, it's going to be really annoying to deal with this for all of the Tirwin animations that advance quest stages. This is only the first of dozens of such Tirwin post-sex force greets. 

[nothing2lose]

On 1/5/2026 at 3:34 PM, Gristle said:

Did you run Dawnguard before running the Castle Volkihar quest in this mod, or after? What exactly is the problem in the courtyard? The two death hounds in the courtyard should be disabled if you're not playing the mod's Volkihar quest. There's dozens of other changes made (and unmade) to the courtyard, but 99% of them are just visual.

i didnt touch this mod quest yet

what happend is serana get stuck at the door and unable to move

and theres two death hound near the pond instantly attacking

[DipSh8t]

9 hours ago, nothing2lose said:

i didnt touch this mod quest yet

what happend is serana get stuck at the door and unable to move

and theres two death hound near the pond instantly attacking

I can confirm this, same thing happen to me and outside of Serana Dialogue add-on I don't have any other mod alter Dawnguard. I start the animal research quest but pause it around the solstheim to finish dawnguard first. Tirwin is dismiss. I play through this like half a year ago before the volkihar quest update and everything is normal back then. It doesn't break the Dawnguard quest for me but the scene when serana enter the garden is bug out and not playing. she will act as usual after enter the next area.

[saferian]

23 hours ago, killer905 said:

We have practically completed the quests for this update, but there are still some things left on our TODO list. So, a new update will be released by mid-January or the end of the month at the latest. Why? Because we still need to test the new content on at least one new character.

 

Stay Tuned!

 

You're both doing a fantastic job with this mod. I'll be starting a new character to check out everything when you release the update - to see the entire thing in a retrospective.

[Gristle]

14 hours ago, nothing2lose said:

i didnt touch this mod quest yet

what happend is serana get stuck at the door and unable to move

and theres two death hound near the pond instantly attacking

 

5 hours ago, DipSh8t said:

I can confirm this, same thing happen to me and outside of Serana Dialogue add-on I don't have any other mod alter Dawnguard. I start the animal research quest but pause it around the solstheim to finish dawnguard first. Tirwin is dismiss. I play through this like half a year ago before the volkihar quest update and everything is normal back then. It doesn't break the Dawnguard quest for me but the scene when serana enter the garden is bug out and not playing. she will act as usual after enter the next area.

I play-tested the Volkihar quest in this mod (as a work in progress) pre-Dawnguard and @killer905 tested it post-DG. And then I tested it again by playing DG after the mod's Volkihar quest. Thinking this through, @killer905 probably didn't have any of this mod's Volkihar quest installed when he played DG, so I don't think either of us play-tested the exact scenario of 1) mod installed with finished Volkihar mod quest, 2) don't play mod's Volkihar quest yet, and 3) play DG. If you don't have any interfering mods, I can only assume there's something about that sequence that's causing an issue. I suppose I can check it out with a new PC and forcing DG to start.

Edited January 7 by Gristle

[killer905]

40 minutes ago, Gristle said:

 

I play-tested the Volkihar quest in this mod (as a work in progress) pre-Dawnguard and @killer905 tested it post-DG. And then I tested it again by playing DG after the mod's Volkihar quest. Thinking this through, @killer905 probably didn't have any of this mod's Volkihar quest installed when he played DG, so I don't think either of us play-tested the exact scenario of 1) mod installed with finished Volkihar mod quest, 2) don't play mod's Volkihar quest yet, and 3) play DG. If you don't have any interfering mods, I can only assume there's something about that sequence that's causing an issue. I suppose I can check it out with a new PC and forcing DG to start.

I checked technically on a new character before starting Dawnguard, but I had already completed the quest after the ‘Chase’ Animal Research quest. (At that time, the quest with Volkihair - Animal Research - had not been started). I probably didn't notice when I was testing the Dawnguard storyline that Serana gets stuck in the garden, but I'm almost certain that there were no 2 death hounds at that time after installing the version with the Volkihair storyline.

[DipSh8t]

12 hours ago, Gristle said:

I play-tested the Volkihar quest in this mod (as a work in progress) pre-Dawnguard and @killer905 tested it post-DG. And then I tested it again by playing DG after the mod's Volkihar quest. Thinking this through, @killer905 probably didn't have any of this mod's Volkihar quest installed when he played DG, so I don't think either of us play-tested the exact scenario of 1) mod installed with finished Volkihar mod quest, 2) don't play mod's Volkihar quest yet, and 3) play DG. If you don't have any interfering mods, I can only assume there's something about that sequence that's causing an issue. I suppose I can check it out with a new PC and forcing DG to start.

 

11 hours ago, killer905 said:

I checked technically on a new character before starting Dawnguard, but I had already completed the quest after the ‘Chase’ Animal Research quest. (At that time, the quest with Volkihair - Animal Research - had not been started). I probably didn't notice when I was testing the Dawnguard storyline that Serana gets stuck in the garden, but I'm almost certain that there were no 2 death hounds at that time after installing the version with the Volkihair storyline.

I think the problems that make the scene bug out is because combat start when entered the garden if the two death hounds somehow spawn even when Animal research quest line haven't started yet. Maybe adding friendly faction to those two hound can fix it? Now to think of it I also have a more creature mod that add a peaceful gargoyle and a death hound to the garden and i'm not sure if the death hound start combat with them or with serana and me. either way i think as long as the combat didn't start the scene will play as normal.

[Kelvryn]

Sounds interesting. I'll have to check it out. Sound kind of like an old mod I really liked called Animal Mansion.

[killer905]

On 1/7/2026 at 1:43 PM, DipSh8t said:

 

I think the problems that make the scene bug out is because combat start when entered the garden if the two death hounds somehow spawn even when Animal research quest line haven't started yet. Maybe adding friendly faction to those two hound can fix it? Now to think of it I also have a more creature mod that add a peaceful gargoyle and a death hound to the garden and i'm not sure if the death hound start combat with them or with serana and me. either way i think as long as the combat didn't start the scene will play as normal.

I checked, and indeed, the two Death Hounds are practically always there, but in my opinion, they are far enough away that they won't start attacking before Serana finishes her dialogue. Overall, I don't think it's a big problem, because you wrote that going further unlocks Serana later in the quest.

[killer905]

3 hours ago, Kelvryn said:

Sounds interesting. I'll have to check it out. Sound kind of like an old mod I really liked called Animal Mansion.

This mod has a similar name and involves sex with animals, but look here: 

 

[DipSh8t]

25 minutes ago, killer905 said:

I checked, and indeed, the two Death Hounds are practically always there, but in my opinion, they are far enough away that they won't start attacking before Serana finishes her dialogue. Overall, I don't think it's a big problem, because you wrote that going further unlocks Serana later in the quest.

while i agree that it's not a big problems. it does lock you out of talking to serana while she is in the garden, and that alone might confuse a lot of people. And now after complete the volkihar part of this mod, i don't really see any major dialogue involve those two hounds. And if they get put there just for some opposition in the area it might be better to just remove them from the mod if fixing them is too much of a hassle.

[killer905]

1 hour ago, DipSh8t said:

while i agree that it's not a big problems. it does lock you out of talking to serana while she is in the garden, and that alone might confuse a lot of people. And now after complete the volkihar part of this mod, i don't really see any major dialogue involve those two hounds. And if they get put there just for some opposition in the area it might be better to just remove them from the mod if fixing them is too much of a hassle.

To be honest, they should appear during the AR modem quest, so they must be disabled by default and enabled only in the AR quest with Volkihar. I have already written a post about this fix. However, this may not solve the problem that Serana does not have her scene in Garben during the Dawnguard DLC quest.

[eflat01]

6 hours ago, DipSh8t said:

while i agree that it's not a big problems. it does lock you out of talking to serana while she is in the garden, and that alone might confuse a lot of people. And now after complete the volkihar part of this mod, i don't really see any major dialogue involve those two hounds. And if they get put there just for some opposition in the area it might be better to just remove them from the mod if fixing them is too much of a hassle.

 

I don't know because I've always player AR on a save after every quest in the game had been complete. I could understand where there may be conflict there pre-DG and during DG.

[no8932]

Dumb question but can i reinstall this mod in an active playthrough? When i started the new game with this mod installed i already ran into the issue that the dialogue in the inn wouldnt progress for the first time so i had to use one of the commands for the quest in this thread here to progress now after doing a lot of other stuff like the mage college and thieves guild /companions etc (none of the dlc stuff yet) i went back to do the quests but im running into the issue that none of the quest stages have quest markers anymore and if i didnt already play this mod up until solstheim (or whatever its called) in another save i would have had no idea where to go. Now i talked to aela to get info on the wolf after finding the book but the key wont spawn in the chest after clearing the bandit camp i feel like something is fucked with my save in relation to the mod but im not sure if a delete/new install would reset my quest state on my current state.

 

E: After using the unlock console command on the wolf cage and watching her have sex with it the quest for the next book seems to have fixed the quest marker not showing up issue. But the Key not spawning in the chest persisted even after loading a save before i talked to aela about the wolf (like recommended in here)

Edited January 10 by no8932

[killer905]

8 minutes ago, no8932 said:

Dumb question but can i reinstall this mod in an active playthrough? When i started the new game with this mod installed i already ran into the issue that the dialogue in the inn wouldnt progress for the first time so i had to use one of the commands for the quest in this thread here to progress now after doing a lot of other stuff like the mage college and thieves guild /companions etc (none of the dlc stuff yet) i went back to do the quests but im running into the issue that none of the quest stages have quest markers anymore and if i didnt already play this mod up until solstheim (or whatever its called) in another save i would have had no idea where to go. Now i talked to aela to get info on the wolf after finding the book but the key wont spawn in the chest after clearing the bandit camp i feel like something is fucked with my save in relation to the mod but im not sure if a delete/new install would reset my quest state on my current state.

I have no idea why the quest markers disappeared.

 

 

This is a difficult question, but you can try clearing your save file using FallrimTools, selecting AnimalResearch.esp, and removing all references to it in the save file. Remove the Animal Research mod. Launch the save file, run around for a while, and then save the game. Then install the LATEST version and check if it works from the beginning on this save file.

[mircislav]

On 1/5/2026 at 5:56 AM, nothing2lose said:

just letting u know this mod break

This mod does not break anything - any problem you have it's not caused by this mod, period.

[Gristle]

On 1/8/2026 at 7:01 AM, killer905 said:

To be honest, they should appear during the AR modem quest, so they must be disabled by default and enabled only in the AR quest with Volkihar. I have already written a post about this fix. However, this may not solve the problem that Serana does not have her scene in Garben during the Dawnguard DLC quest.

+ @DipSh8t @nothingtolose

I checked and the two courtyard death hounds are (mistakenly) enabled by default. As you say, I will adjust in the next version so that they are disabled by default and enabled during the Animal Research Volkihar quest. They are already killed (and dead bodies disabled) during the Animal Research quest, so no problem running the other order. Hopefully, this is the only thing that could interfere with Serana's scene dialogue when she enters the garden and runs around.

Edited January 10 by Gristle

[Gristle]

10 hours ago, mircislav said:

This mod does not break anything - any problem you have it's not caused by this mod, period.

Thanks for the vote of confidence, and this mod is play-tested extensively: the current update has already gone through 33 playtesting rounds during its development. But, even putting aside mod conflicts, things can slip through the cracks. It's just impossible to test every possible play scenario. 

 

Also, if this mod does break anything, it would be in Volkihar. I personally love to set quests in interesting vanilla locations. While generally this is done by "cloning" interior cells to avoid conflicts, it's impossible to duplicate "worldspaces" like the castle courtyard and the bridge outside Valerica's laboratory (reused here for Serana's balcony). So, if there are going to be any conflicts, it will very likely be in one of these two worldspaces. Weaving this mod's quests into the Dawnguard setting in such a way that it can be run before or after the Dawnguard quest does involve a high degree of difficulty. If the death hound issue is the only issue, I'll be very happy.

[mircislav]

3 hours ago, Gristle said:

Thanks for the vote of confidence

It's not that - your mod falls in "Fnis is notworking-MNC is not working-SLEN is not working" category... everything IS working unless user mess his installed mods and loading order. It's not your job to clean someone messed game - you provided the tools and it's on the user how will he use them, I play Skyrim only with the adult mods and the game is only a base for them. I don't give a dime about base quest and trying to avoid or block them as much as possible and have a fun time playing. Thank you again for this mod and looking forward for updates.

[labuser1234]

On 1/5/2026 at 12:45 PM, killer905 said:

Unfortunately, the author of SexLab P+ broke the function used by the Animal Research mod. As a result, the script thinks that the sex scene is still ongoing and does not change the stage.

 

I do not know if the author has fixed this, but this problem does not exist in the clean version of SexLab.

You can around this by using Debug mode and casting a spell on Animal and Tirwin or even another mod with a similar function.

 

I would also like to point out that there are other mods that have problems with Sexlab P+, and the author does not necessarily ‘want’ to fix what he has broken. Or he fix this only for AE version.

Do you know which function that would be, and what retrun variables you're looking for (or which script in AR is checking this)?