How to find out what the active effects *really* are.

[gooser]

As a mod developer, I can create custom spells and magic effects. When developing either, I can specify the description (granted for Spells, Description is an override of what the spell's effects might show), in CK using a templated description. I can specify <mag> and <dur> and those fields will be filled in during runtime with the actual magnitude and duration. BUT there's nothing requiring the developer to specify a Description field at all, and they could also put bogus information that could mislead.

 

Is there a way outside of the Magic Tab in Skyrim (e.g. console command) to see the PC's active effects, with the actual magnitudes and durations? Or is simply a matter of trusting the mod developers did the right thing?

 

Thanks!

[gooser]

Nice forehead smacking moment when walking to lunch.

 

The console command getav (see: http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Console

 

 

getAV Get value of attribute This will return the value of the specified attribute (a.k.a. actor value) for the specified target. You can select a target with the mouse, or enter the refID of the target followed by a period before the command. For example, player.getav heavyarmor will return the player's Heavy Armor skill value. For a list of all of the actor values that can be used, see Actor Value Indices.
getAVinfo Get value information of attribute This will print a short list of information about the given attribute (a.k.a. actor value) of the specified target. You can select a target with the mouse, or enter the refID of the target followed by a period before the command. For example, player.getavinfo lightarmor will return information about the player's Light Armor skill, such as the base value (what it was just after character creation), any current temporary or permanent modifiers, etc. For a list of all of the actor values that can be used, see Actor Value Indices.

 

[Srende]

The console addon bundled with SL also has a nice feature that lets you inspect all, including the invisible in UI, magic effects on any character when you click on them. You can navigate the menu it opens with mouse and opening them with shift, took me a while to figure out what the key was since you can't click I don't think it shows any details of the effects though, just the names. But it's been useful debugging if the hidden magic effects are active.