User:DavidJCobb/Miscellany

This page contains miscellaneous information about Skyrim modding that I've found during my glorious adventures through the Internet. Please lemme know if I link to any sources this wiki isn't cool with.

Scripting

Changing a player's Speed Multiplier (SpeedMult)

Source: gamesas: Dynamic Walk Speed Script

Changes to the player's Speed Multiplier actor value don't take effect unless you prompt the game engine to take notice. This issue applies to both scripted changes and changes triggered by a "Value Modifier" magic effect. There are two ways to force the game to actually use a changed SpeedMult:

• Modify the player's inventory. Silently adding and then removing an item should do the trick.
• Modify the player's carry weight actor value. Adding and then removing 0.1 works.

Detecting invalid references

Source: gamesas: Suspended stack count is over our warning threshold...

It's possible for your mod to reference (by variable or Alias) a Form from another mod. If that mod is uninstalled, your reference will break. Tests like kMyObject is ObjectReference will return true, but attempts to access any functions or data on the variable will throw errors. What you must do instead is:

  Int iFormID = kSomeReference.GetFormId()
  If iFormID && kSomeReference is ObjectReference
     ;
     ; we're cool bro
     ;
  Else
     ;
     ; CODE RED
     ;
  EndIf

Detecting references created at run-time

Source: AFKMods: How to distinguish run-time created actors from hand-placed ones ?

If the reference is an Actor, you can't! The base game can create actors to fill quest aliases, it seems.

As for other kinds of references? I'll look into that later.

Issues with optional function arguments

Source: gamesas: Papyrus functions with optional arguments

When you compile a function with optional script arguments, the argument data is updated for the containing script only. If other scripts make cross-script calls to your function, those functions must be recompiled in order for their calls to work properly. Otherwise...

• If you just added the optional arguments, the other scripts will be unaware of them unless recompiled; you will receive Papyrus errors whining about an "incorrect number of arguments passed."
• If you changed the optional arguments' default values, the other scripts will use the old default values until recompiled.

Papyrus errors

Samples of Papyrus logs and errors that I haven't often seen posted on the web, along with meanings when known.

Baked script data is outdated

Source: AFKMods: The critter thread

warning: Function <name> in stack frame <number> in stack <number> differs from the in-game resource files - using version from save

Occurs when an old version of a script is baked into a savegame.

Baked script data malfunctioning badly enough to be dropped

Source: AFKMods: The critter thread

[02/09/2014 - 03:33:25PM] error: Failed to read basic script data for critterFish attached to  (FF002ABA)
[02/09/2014 - 03:33:25PM] error: Unable to load object 0x1305E1E0 from save game
[02/09/2014 - 03:33:25PM] Errors occurred while loading the Papyrus save game data

Occurs when old script data (baked into a savegame) has malfunctioned badly enough for the game engine to just throw it out.

Dumping stack

I don't fully understand this one yet. For now, I'm just tossing down any information I find, so I can get a better concept of what this one means.

• http://afkmods.iguanadons.net/index.php?/topic/3889-papyrus-stack-dump-with-dragon-attack-at-cow/
• Serana + dragon + Falkreath = bad?

Variable loaded from save could not be found on the actual object

Source: AFKMods: Help with script log "errors"

Apparently the result of scripts being updated.

   [11/17/2013 - 02:59:23AM] warning: Variable ::WVAAliasStorage_var on script DLC1_QF_DLC1EclipseAttack2_01017648 loaded from save not found within the actual object. This variable will be skipped.

Fun with multi-threading!

"Fun" may not be the right word to use here, actually.

Conditions are interruptible

Source: AFKMods: The critter thread

Conditions like the following are inherently unreliable due to how Papyrus handles threading.

  If kMyObjectReference && !kMyObjectReference.isDeleted() && !kMyObjectReference.isDisabled()
  EndIf

IsDeleted() and IsDisabled() are delayed functions (as opposed to non-delayed functions), so Papyrus may actually pause the current script in the middle of this If statement to run them. During that time, another thread can set the ObjectReference variable to None. Per the scripter's comments in the source, this can lead to two kinds of errors:

• kMyObjectReference.IsDisabled() gets treated as None.IsDisabled(). This is invalid and returns None.
• That returned None is then inverted with !, which is also invalid. This yields Papyrus log errors of the form:

  warning: Assigning None to a non-object variable named "::temp33"

The lesson to learn here is that even a single If statement can be interrupted and hosed by multithreading.

Makes me wonder if something like the following might work:

  If kMyObjectReference && !kMyObjectReference.isDeleted() && kMyObjectReference && !kMyObjectReference.isDisabled()
  EndIf

Delayed functions are interruptible

Just about every native function that isn't listed here is interruptible. Every moment you call these functions is a moment your script can be interrupted. This produces all sorts of "fun" oddities.

• Delete() is a delayed function. Your attempt to delete an object can be interrupted by another attempt to delete that same object, resulting in your interrupted call failing (it's treated as None.Delete()).
• The x, y, and z "properties" on ObjectReferences are actually interruptible functions. As such, code blocks like the following can fail:

  Int iCoordX = kMyObjectReference.x ; due to multi-threading, this code may be interrupted here...
  Int iCoordY = kMyObjectReference.y ; ...and by the time the code resumes, kMyObjectReference could've been screwed with

Other things to remember

• Cross-script function calls are interruptible. Your precious Debug.Trace(...) statements actually can affect things.

Unsorted facts

• If you wish to borrow critter behaviors for a script, be careful. I've been reading through USKP discussions and apparently, Bethesda's critter scripts were broke as hell. Seems like the USKP rebuilds most critter behaviors almost from scratch.
• "Translate routines will operate properly in unloaded areas." This, in regards to animating and moving critters like moths.
  • Even though translations work in unloaded cells without 3D loaded, "StopTranslation() requires the cell attached and loaded 3D. There's no reason for it, but it throws an error without it!"
    • The use case dealt with here involves deleting an object when its cell is exited (e.g. going from an exterior to an interior), when that object is being translated.
  • There is reason to doubt that translate routines actually do operate properly in unloaded areas. It's possible that they don't properly unlock the translated object (allowing for deletion) unless the cell is attached.
• When an ingredient is sold or consumed, "it will have the deleted flag set already, and won't have a parent cell or 3D."
• Critter animations: butterflies and moths use fTakeOff, while dragonflies and fireflies can use fTakeOff or TakeOff.
• You cannot get animation variables for an object if its 3D isn't loaded.
• "We're just going to have to live with the fact the game engine unloads 3D at unexplained times without warning."
  • I play with a mod that creates manual saves at timed intervals for me. When it does this, I often see the game world flicker, and sometimes, statics near the edge of the screen have to fade back in. So saving the game is something that can mess with what 3D is and isn't loaded.
• When a persistent ObjectReference is removed from the game world (e.g. sold to a merchant), its GetParentCell() method may return the cell from which it originated. It may also return other nonsense results, so try to avoid using the method on a persistent reference.
• Among other things, this post describes best practices for working with vanilla Actors in a mod.
  • Do note the replies, though.
• "Scripts that are fragments for packages never go away, and seem to begin executing on a None package with no conditions."
• Reportedly, Skyrim will actually write to your save file when loading it, if it detects that a new mod with script content has been added. (Those scripts will be baked into the save.) This has significant ramifications for testing out script-based mods (to see if you should keep them), and for making "clean saves."
• Apparently, one can disable a persistent reference using a method discussed here.
• Given a Script A with an OnInit event that calls functions on Script B, those function calls will be permitted to call other functions on Script A -- an exception to the usual behavior, where an object is locked down until its OnInit has finished.
• You cannot use PlaceAtMe to spawn a MapMarker. The call will return None.

Unsorted edge-cases

• Be careful about handling things OnCellAttach and OnCellDetach in Riften. The city's walkways have you cross back and forth across a cell boundary.
  • The use case dealt with here involves deleting critters when you leave their containing cells. The scripter's attempted solution was to add a timed delay (using OnUpdateGameTime) to the deletion. Return to the cell before the timer has elapsed, and the critter is reused -- the deletion is canceled.
• If an NPC is attempting to use their Activate package on a Furniture, but is killed before they reach the Furniture, then the Furniture will remain reserved.
  • An acceptable workaround is to use a Travel package to bring your NPC within activation range of the Furniture, and then run an Activate package. This method may allow other NPCs to snatch the Furniture out from under you, but it prevents indefinite reservations if your NPC dies.
  • Known events that will release a dead NPC's reservation:
    • Enabling and disabling the reserving NPC
    • The player using the furniture themselves
    • The player using the Wait function
• You may run into a peculiar problem when passing through a load door: cells that are unloaded by the game can still exist as "valid" Papyrus Cell objects. They'll be recognized as Cells rather than as Nones, but attempts to call most native methods on them will fail. Effectively, it's the bizarre difference between something that's null and something that's None.
  • Surprisingly, kMyBrokenCell.GetFormID() will still return a null cell's proper ID, even though the cell object is broken.
  • Comparing kMyBrokenCell to Game.GetForm(kMyBrokenCell.GetFormID()) reportedly returns False when dealing with a null cell. This would make sense: an existing Papyrus Cell object can lose its underlying cell and still exist, but you probably cannot create a new Papyrus Cell object from a lost cell.

Unsorted engine bugs

• Ride a horse into water, get it to swim, dismount, and remount. It'll use land physics while in water.
• Reloading a savegame won't reset a merchant's gold.
• If too many light sources are around in a single area, then surfaces and objects will flicker between lit and unlit as the camera moves. This is due to an engine limitation.
  • I've had this issue myself. Too many guards with torches walking around in Markarth during the start of The Forsworn Conspiracy. I also run a lighting overhaul, which likely contributes to the issue.

Unsorted best practices

• Don't change uGridsToLoad. It will overburden the scripting engine.
• Quicksaves aren't quite the suitcase nuke they're made out to be. Still, use some basic caution with them.

Unsorted lessons

• A 10MB Papyrus log. This, boys and girls, is why you should be careful with update events.

Unsorted things to look into

• OnCellAttach reportedly unreliable (Oct 2013).
• Dying dragons reportedly fly to Labyrinthian.
• Once sold, Silver weapons are never cleared from merchant inventories (Nov 2013).