Help with a Mod Bug

[Shadowhawk827]

I'm resuming work on my "Dawnguard Sentries" mod (Steam only thus far) after a break from Skyrim.  I've tried to keep the mod simple beneath the surface... no real scripts, just patrol routes and faction assignments.  The added Sentries are all unique face textures, and a couple have weapons with minor stat tweaks.  My logic has been the simpler I keep it, the less conflicts with other mods.

 

I run into a semi-regular bug report that I can't seem to narrow down however; random attacks on players who are NOT vampires nor committing any crime.  Debugging problems stems from the people posting complain but never give me any info relating to other mods, etc...  One or two people have had it fixed by unsubscribing and re-subscribing too. 

 

Long story short though, I want to tweak the mod as best I can to ensure there's nothing on my end causing the problem.  All the Sentries are members of the Dawnguard Exterior Patrol Faction and the Guard Faction of whatever hold they're in.  The reason for the guard faction is I wanted them to help the town with dragon attacks as a bonus for the player.  On the "I like to have a little logic behind what happens" front, it seemed logical to me that the Jarls would be more willing to allow the Dawnguard to walk the streets if they swore to aid the guards.

 

ANYWAY, here's what I want the AI for the Sentries to do:

 

1) Respond to Vampire and Dragon Attacks.  Responding to other crimes is optional at this point, but I think adds a little immersion.

 

2) NOT turn hostile though if a player accidentally hits them during a Vampire or Dragon Attack.

 

3) Treat the player and followers as friendly or at least neutral under normal circumstances.

 

4) WILL treat the player as hostile IF in Werewolf form, but Friendly / Neutral if the player is a werewolf in human form.

 

5) Player Vampires...  Thus far, I've had the Dawnguard Sentries hostile to Player Vampires by virtue of their default Dawnguard AI.  I've had complaints that this makes it too hard for Players who are Vampires to come to town and sell though.  Eventually as I get better with modding, I'd like to make this a MCM menu option.  For now though, I'm thinking tweak the mod so that the Sentries ignore Player Vampires UNLESS they use vampirism on a NPC, or go Vampire Lord around them.   Once I get the hang of creating an MCM menu, I'll have a couple different options here.

 

 

So what I'm looking for is the easiest way to do this.  It SEEMS like the easiest way would be to tweak the Dawnguard External Patrol faction by adding ally and enemy groups to it...  PlayerFaction is a friend, etc...   Most of the factions in the CK are poorly defined (explained) however.  PlayerWerewolfFaction for example; does that faction include a player werewolf in human form, or only a werewolf player in beast form?

 

Anyway, if somebody can tell me if I'm on the right track and what factions to assign to get the results I'm looking for, OR if a script based solution would be easier, how to work the script, I'd really appreciate it. 

 

   

[Shadowhawk827]

Well, as they say...  The more complex the problem, the simpler the solution.  As it turns out all I had to so was simplify the AI setup for the Sentries.  Now I have them acting & reacting exactly like normal town guards.  That SHOULD reduce the rare random attack bug, AND allow vampire players who behave to head into town to trade and run quests.

 

A bajillion werewolf sex mods on here and nobody could even tell me if the WerewolfFaction was only for beast form.  Shame on you all, ROFL  :-D

 

 

Seriously, I hope a few people reading this learn something from my struggles.  Keeping it simple really does work more often than not.