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Most npcs can be editted, but some can't, they're blocked. How do I unblock such npcs and edit them?
Is there any rhyme or reason as to why some can be editted and some can't? Because if there is, I haven't figured it out. - KaiserSelrahc
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Clicked on the "Blocked box" clear it, then click save; now open up the npc again and now you will find you can edit it.
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Whooo!! Be Careful!
You can seriously screw-up the game by some arbitrary edit of blocked NPC characters.
It's worse than killing an esential character-because you'll get no warning message-and wonder why you played the whole game, and "That thing" did not happen-
If you edit a blocked NPC--be "Lite-N-bubbly" about it
(And make a Back Up save & Back up any Mod you edit)
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Editing existing NPCs is a very bad idea, whether or not they're blocked:
1. If the player character has ever been in the vicinity of the NPC, some of the NPC data will be stored in the player's saved game files. Which means some types of changes to NPCs made by mods won't show up in the game, because save game data will overwrite them.
2. If two mods both edit the same NPC, only the changes made by one mod will show up in the game; changes by other mods will be overwritten. This may break your mod, or it may break another mod the player is using.
3. Careless editing of NPCs can also foul up the game, if you inadvertently change something that a quest or other game element depends on.
Rather than editing an existing NPC, here are some safer ways to do things.
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If you want to give a merchant new items to sell:
1. Put the items somewhere in the same cell as the merchant (on a shelf or counter, for example), and set the NPC as the owner.
2. Put the items in a new container, with a unique ID; then put the container in the same cell as the merchant and set the container's ownership to the merchant. Use this method if you want the NPC to have an infinite supply of the items for sale.
Note: if you don't want the new items to be visible to the player, you can put them under the floor, up on the roof, out in the void, under another object, etc. Doesn't matter where they are, as long as they're in the same cell as the NPC and the NPC is set as the owner.
But don't put the items for sale into an existing merchant's inventory or into an existing container; too much chance of save game problems or conflicts with other mods.
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If you want to change the equipment in an NPC's inventory (give them a better sword or different clothes, for example), you can do that with a simple script using AddItem and RemoveItem. Use a global Start Script or a local script on an object in the NPC's cell; editing an NPC to attach a script has the same potential for conflicts as any other type of editing.
A simple script can also change an NPC's skiills and attributes.
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If adding containers or using scripts won't do what you want, you can always add a new NPC to the game. For example, if an existing merchant NPC won't buy or sell a certain type of item, don't edit that NPC. Instead, just give them an assistant: a new NPC who will buy and sell what you want. This also works if you want to make services available for vampires, non-faction memebers, etc.
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As a general rule, adding new content to the game is much safer than editiing existing content: making changes to NPCs or other elements already in the game has a good chance of causing conflicts with other mods or with the player's saved games.
Obviously, sometimes making changes to existing components of the game will be the only way to make a particular feature in a mod work. But only modify existing game content when there's no other practical way to get something done, and document the possible conflicts so people using your mod will be aware of them.
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Quote:
Is there any rhyme or reason as to why some can be editted and some can't? Because if there is, I haven't figured it out.
Almost forgot that question...
As far as anybody here has ever figured out, the best guess is that it was just an easy way for the devs to mark NPCs (or other objects) as finished or as hands off. Something so a dev could keep track of which NPCs he was done working on, and a way to let other devs know not to mess with a particular NPC that another dev was working on.
Looking at the names of blocked and unblocked NPCs, it's pretty obvious that blocking has nothing to do with how important a particular NPC is in the game, so I just take it as something some of the devs did as a convenience, and not try to read any deeper significance into it.
I see blocking mostly as something that might useful when you have several modders working on the same project, or for a single modder with a large number of NPCs or other objects to keep track of.
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Having looked at this, it seems to be that certain NPCs are blocked because the 'autocalculate stats' box is unchecked, thus making it really easy to screw them up
(One poster who answered the question was unidentifiable because of forum poster name deletions.)
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