Looking for help resolving weird dialogue bug

[csbll]

I'm developing a mod that includes new dialogue assigned to certain vanilla npcs. The quest associated with the dialogue is indeed start enabled, a seq has been created and the quest ALWAYS starts up--no problem there.

 

But I'm noticing that if I add any of the DLCs as a master (e.g. Dragonborn) to my mod (a normal .esp), my mod suddenly is possessed with a dialogue bug. This bug manifests in this way: when attempting to talk to an npc that has my new dialogue topics, no topic associated with my mod appears. But if I save and re-load on the spot, suddenly the dialogue appears and everything functions normally.

 

Because no other edits are made to my mod other than adding e.g. dragonborn as a master, I'm totally flummoxed about how I would even resolve this. I've been unable to continue development because I thought it unwise to pour work into a blighted version--though it's possible it's something I can later fix.

 

Does anyone have any idea what on earth is going on here ? Thanks !

Edited August 22, 2024 by csbll

[Seijin8]

2 hours ago, csbll said:

I'm developing a mod that includes new dialogue assigned to certain vanilla npcs. The quest associated with the dialogue is indeed start enabled, a seq has been created and the quest ALWAYS starts up--no problem there.

 

But I'm noticing that if I add any of the DLCs as a master (e.g. Dragonborn) to my mod (a normal .esp), my mod suddenly is possessed with a dialogue bug. This bug manifests in this way: when attempting to talk to an npc that has my new dialogue topics, no topic associated with my mod appears. But if I save and re-load on the spot, suddenly the dialogue appears and everything functions normally.

 

Because no other edits are made to my mod other than adding e.g. dragonborn as a master, I'm totally flummoxed about how I would even resolve this. I've been unable to continue development because I thought it unwise to pour work into a blighted version--though it's possible it's something I can later fix.

 

Does anyone have any idea what on earth is going on here ? Thanks !

 

Nothing blighted, that's just the way the game has worked since version 1.6 of Skyrim LE.  Thank Bethesda for that.  Your mod is fine, this save/reload thing is just your life now.

 

EDIT:  Oh, an no need for a SEQ file, since that was only created to offset the bug it clearly doesn't fix.

 

EDIT2:  Sorry, caffeine hasn't hit yet.  The SEQ should be created if you release this as a public mod, else the user will have to save/reload to see it working, but that only works the first time the mod is loaded.  If it gets changed, the changes will still require a save/reload, SEQ file or no.

Edited August 22, 2024 by Seijin8

[travelmedic]

Just a thought, and probably this has no bearing on anything...

 

Did you create your SEQ file before or after you added DLC as a master?  If you created it before adding the DLC, can you re-make or recreate the SEQ with the added master?  Would that change anything?

[csbll]

5 hours ago, travelmedic said:

Just a thought, and probably this has no bearing on anything...

 

Did you create your SEQ file before or after you added DLC as a master?  If you created it before adding the DLC, can you re-make or recreate the SEQ with the added master?  Would that change anything?

 

That's a good thought. It totally seems related to seq - except the dialogue-related quest successfully starts and has always done so. I did generate another .seq and it didn't resolve things. Thanks for the suggestion.

 

10 hours ago, Seijin8 said:

 

Nothing blighted, that's just the way the game has worked since version 1.6 of Skyrim LE.  Thank Bethesda for that.  Your mod is fine, this save/reload thing is just your life now.

 

EDIT:  Oh, an no need for a SEQ file, since that was only created to offset the bug it clearly doesn't fix.

 

EDIT2:  Sorry, caffeine hasn't hit yet.  The SEQ should be created if you release this as a public mod, else the user will have to save/reload to see it working, but that only works the first time the mod is loaded.  If it gets changed, the changes will still require a save/reload, SEQ file or no.

 

It's tempting to be black-pilled about this and chalk it up to the game being broken in general. The problem is, though, that my mod's dialogue works perfectly before adding dragonborn as a master (in SSEEDIT). Do you understand why saving and re-loading 'fixes' the problem ?

[Yinkle]

Did you try starting a new game after adding DLC to the masters? Might just be that adding DLC as a master "mid-game" is what messes up the currently available dialogue options.

[csbll]

17 minutes ago, Yinkle said:

Did you try starting a new game after adding DLC to the masters? Might just be that adding DLC as a master "mid-game" is what messes up the currently available dialogue options.

 

Thanks Yinkle ! Yep, all of my testing is done via new games.

[csbll]

If anyone gets this very obnoxious bug, here's a workaround I found after hours of puzzlement:

 

Take the quest with the dialogue and make it NOT start enabled.

 

Then create a new 'helper' quest that is start-enabled with its startup stage fragment start()ing the quest with the dialogue.

 

I found that just starting that dialogue quest a different way (and NOT being start-enabled) resolved the issue.