TROUBLESHOOTING FIRST STEPS:

1) My mod doesn't require it, but I HIGHLY reccommend Skyrim Script Extender. Many other mods do require it, and it helps Skyrim do a much better job of juggling many scripts

http://skse.silverlock.org/

2) Make sure you use Skyrim Startup Memory Extender. It's only on the Nexus as far as I know. If I was told I was only allowed to use ONE mod ever, this would be the one I choose. Tons of Skyrim errors and crashes are caused by lack of memory.

Skyrim Startup Memory Extender: http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/50305/?

3) I also HIGHLY recommend the Unofficial Patches at the Nexus. The authentic main patches have ben put together by a team of the best modders out there, and thoroughly tested before posting. There's a patch for Skyrim and each of the DLCs, Even the High Res Textures pack has one that corrects misaligned textures and other issues.

Unofficial SKyrim patch: http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/19/?

Unofficial Dawnguard Patch: http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/23491/?

Unofficial Hearthfire Patch: http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/25127/?

Unofficial Dragonborn Patch: http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/31083/?

Unofficial High Resolution Textures Patch: http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/31255/?


Those are links to the authentic ENGLISH versions of the unofficial patches. The Nexus has had issues with people re-posting old mods and adding Trojan Horse viruses into them. What's worse is that the Nexus has actually posted that it's on YOU if it happens to you:

http://www.nexusmods.com/games/news/12297/?

I'm posting this as a reminder to ALWAYS play safe with ANY download from ANYWHERE. ALWAYS check anything you download by scanning it with anti-virus software before you try to install, run or otherwise open it. If you're paranoid like me, scan it before AND after you install it, lol.

In the case of the Nexus, my STRONG recommendation is download anything there MANUALLY, scan it with your AV, and then install it.

Getting back to the Unofficial patches, also make sure you follow the creation team's load order instructions. Essentially this means the top of your load list should look like this (assuming you have all DLCs):

Skyrim
Update.esm (won't be a visible file in the Data Folders window)
The Unofficial Skyrim Patch
Dawnguard
The Unofficial Dawnguard patch
Hearthfires
The unofficial Hearthfires patch
Dragonborn
The Unoffical Dragonborn patch
Hi Res Texture pack 1
Hi Res Texture pack 2
Hi Res Texture pack 3
The Unofficial Hi Res Texture Patch

Of course, if you don't have a particular DLC, you don't need the patch for it.

Seven file installations and a little file juggling MAY seem like a bit of a hassle, but it's fast and easy. DL the .exe version of Skyrim Script Extender (SKSE) and it installs itself, Nexus Mod Manager or something similar will auto install the unofficial patches. As for SSME, it's one file that you drag and drop into your main Skyrim folder (NOT the data folder), and that's it.

The next thing I'd suggest is to look at your mod lists. If you have mods that overhaul towns that the sentries are in, OR do something to change the Dawnguard DLC, try putting Dawnguard Sentries LOWER in the load order than thoe other mods. This will keep the other mod from possibly overwriting or clashing with this mod.

The last thing I'd suggest is try unsubscribing from the mod, deleting it, and then resubscribing to it. Steam is pretty reliable overall, but occasionally downloads do glitch.

In fact, I'd suggest going a step further. Some mods from other sites require that you do a delete of the old version of the mod, start up the game, make a new save without the mod running, and then reinstall the updated mod. Then play the game from the new save. This is a bit extreme BUT it prevents the old version from corrupting the new version. No reason this should be required here but it will eliminate any chance of the issue

Hey rms,

First I it is great to see the progress you made on this mod over the time at least since I reinstalled it after you took it over.

However, I thought I should post this information since it deals with a grey face problem with your sentries.

All the Sentries have the grey face problem. When I checked your bsa files I noticed that the names of the files showed up as gibberish and the locations of the files pointed to what looked like your working directory instead of the Skyrim's data folder locations for the respective files.

This is the same problem I had with my personal follower mods I created for myself that I packed in bsa files. So here is what I leaned after doing some searching and reading on the Internet.

After trial and error and much reading I learned that my personal follwer mods were getting grey face because I added the meshes, textures, and script (for my smith trainer) files from my working folder into the bsa archiver instead of adding them from their respective folders in the Skyrim's data folder itself.

So I created new bsa files for these mods by adding the files from their respective locations in my Skyrim data folders so that the archive will point to ...steam\steamapps\common\skyrim\data\(mesh, textures, scripts respectively). It is also not a bad idea to include the bsl in your mod becaus it contains a list of the files in your bsa and their locations, even though it isn't needed for the mod to work.

Arthmoor on his AFK mods website explains the bsl file in a faq he created for the USKP patches. Here is a quote from that faq.

What is this useless .bsl file for?

The .bsl file included with the package is not entirely useless. If you use the archive.exe file shipped by Bethesda to open the .bsa, the .bsl file is necessary to decode it. Without it, all you'll get is garbage.

The location of this faq is:

http://afkmods.iguanadons.net/index.php?/topic/3581-frequently-asked-questions-about-the-project/

I also read that it's not a good idea to compress the archive as that can cause some issues in npc type mods and lag issues in other types of mods even to the point of preventing quests in mods that have them from starting.

I hope this may help with future updates and to help eliminate any grey face complaints that may occur down the road.

Most folks aren't getting the issue McQuire and more than one has had it fixed by re-downloading the mod. STILL, I want to get the mod to work as good as possible for everybody.

My own PC went down months ago, so I haven't done anything with the mod or even played Skyrim ssince that crash. I have the PC up and running again, but I need to get Skyrim installed with all the mods and other crap. Long process withthe insane amounts of mods I use, lol.

ANYWAY, once I get everything installed and configured, and I refresh my brain a little on the creation kit, I'll give your fix a go and see if we can finally beat this problem. :)

Thanks for the reply, and I didn't notice the complaints myself. So that's why I posted to this thread to let you know about it.

Sorry to hear about your computer going down. I recently crashed my computer and had to "refresh" my install which is just a reinstall of the factory system without losing my files. I was fortunate in that respect since I had created no backups. I still refreshed my Skyrim install and reinstalled only the modsI really liked and considered helpful. It feels good to play on a newly installed game with all the right stuff in place anyway.

Anyway, I fixed it on my computer by opening the mod, highlighitng all the sentries and exporting the facegen data to loose files which corrected it for me. So I wouldn't consider it a big issue unless people post about it.

Btw, the creation kit and Skyrim Launcher got a recent update. So now mods no longer have a size limit. It will be interesting what makes it onto the workshop now. :)

Anyway, good luck on getting your system back in order, and best wishes.

OK, I just re-read your post McQuire, and I'm surprised I didn't fully catch what you said earlier. I've been trying to get the PC and Skyrim configured and dealing with a lot of personal drama including a bad neck that's screwed up my sleep schedule.

ANYWAY, I have been using a bsa file with the mod since about the second update after i started personalizing the sentries. That said, I *am* going to go back and read Arthmoor's page and see if there's anything else I can do.

I'm also trying desperately to find a SIMPLE walk thru for configuring a MCM menu for the Mod. I want options for making the Sntries essential or killable and maybe adding extra sentries if the game difficulty is up high enough. I've moved my game up a difficulty level and my Sentries are getting mobbed and slaughtered now by Vampires.

Let me know if you have any ideas on the remaining big issue of Sentries AI occasionally going nuts on people and attacking non-vampire players.

For those who make it here after reading the comments section, I'm looking for information that will help me narrow down the causes of the occasional attacks by Dawnguard Sentries on Non-Vampire players. I only experienced this once and a unsubscribe and re-subscribe fixed it.

The other possible fix is to move Dawnguard Sentries lower in your load order, below anything that effects the Dawnguard or Vampire factions or the city you were attacked in. I personally play with "Better Vampires", "Better Vampire Lord Transformation" and "When Vampires Attack" and have no issues. They're all higher in the load order though. :-)

OK, assuming that none of that fixes the issue for you... Please tell me what mods you're using that effect the Dawnguard or Vampire factions or the city (or cities) you were attacked in. Also let me know if you have any kind of crime bounty on your character.

That's important for 2 reasons. First is most Sentries have their AI set to be treated like Guards in their towns. This ONLY factors in for the hold their town is in though. So if a Sentry sees you rob a store in Whiterun, you should be safe to enter Riften or Solitude, etc... SECOND, We MAY have some wierd issue going on where you accidentally hit a Dawnguard member in a fight with a Vampire and now have an assault or murder bounty with Dawnguard. The way Vampire Attacks turn into a free for all in towns, this is possible.

ANYWAY, check your crime bounties. Lastly, one thing that could give us a clue... If you're attacked, hit the ~ key to go into console command mode, and click on the Sentry attacking you. This will give you some information off to the side (you MAY need the "MFG Console" mod installed). The info will say what part of Skyrim is the the Base File for anything you click on, AND it also (more importantly) tells you what mod last affected the NPC or item. This may let us figure out if something is overwriting the Sentry AI in your game.

Originally posted by rms827:

OK, I just re-read your post McQuire, and I'm surprised I didn't fully catch what you said earlier. I've been trying to get the PC and Skyrim configured and dealing with a lot of personal drama including a bad neck that's screwed up my sleep schedule.

ANYWAY, I have been using a bsa file with the mod since about the second update after i started personalizing the sentries. That said, I *am* going to go back and read Arthmoor's page and see if there's anything else I can do.

I'm also trying desperately to find a SIMPLE walk thru for configuring a MCM menu for the Mod. I want options for making the Sntries essential or killable and maybe adding extra sentries if the game difficulty is up high enough. I've moved my game up a difficulty level and my Sentries are getting mobbed and slaughtered now by Vampires.

Let me know if you have any ideas on the remaining big issue of Sentries AI occasionally going nuts on people and attacking non-vampire players.

Thanks for getting back on this again. I'm glad you're looking further into it, my only suggestion on the grey face issue is to repack the files from their ...skyrim/data locations instead of your local working folder. I noticed that the meshes pointed to that instead of the game locations.

Therefore when people run the mod on their systems, the game looks for the mesh and texture files from your local c:\users\(your user location)\desktop\dawnguard sentries\ instead of c:\(program files (86) or your custom location)\steam\steamapps\common\skyrim\data\meshes(textures) folder.

So the game is looking for the meshes and textures in a place they don't exist in since you don't have a user account on other people's computers. I am looking at your BSA file now in BSA Opt as I write this and don't feel comfortable using your real first name in my example as I see it in the file incase you don't want people to know it even though they can see it in your present bsa file as well.

To fix this open the archiver from the Skyrim game folder then go to your data/meshes and data/textures folders and drag your dds and nif files into the archiver window. It will automatically build the file tree as it is in your game folder. Check any boxes you consider necessary and save it. You should then be able to upload it as normal from the Creation Kit.

I'm sorry this is so long, I hope it helps. I'll post about your ideas in a new reply since this was so long.

Yep, I've looked into it and I think I've got it now. The tutorials I saw before said that the BSL file wasn't needed, just the BSA. Further research turns up that the BSL IS needed to help Steam figure out how to unpack the BSA where the textures are held. The BSL is only NOT needed if you're using a FOMOD installed like Nexus Mod Manager.

Anyway, problem will be corrected with the next update. :)

I'm also trying desperately to find a SIMPLE walk thru for configuring a MCM menu for the Mod.

Here is a link to the wiki for SkyUI that has links for the MCM: https://github.com/schlangster/skyui/wiki.

I hope it helps. Beyond that you may want to search YouTube and see if Gopher or someone else has anything.

Now about using MCM:

I like the idea of useing the menu to configure the sentries based on game play. I hope you find what your looking for or someone who knows how to do it that can help because that will greatly improve the quality of your mod which is now a permanent resident in my load order. I was even sent by the companions to brawl with one of them in Ivarstead. That woman can hit hard btw.

On the issue of sentries attacking, I had that issue too once when a wolf followed me into Whiterun and started attacking. I cast a firebolt and killed it but was then attacked by the sentries with the WR guards standing back rooting me or them on without offering help. I had to use console to kill them and got no bounty for it. I still reloaded and fast traveled to the stables where the horse merchant ended up helping me kill the wolf that followed me. So that would be something to look into.

Originally posted by rms827:

Yep, I've looked into it and I think I've got it now. The tutorials I saw before said that the BSL file wasn't needed, just the BSA. Further research turns up that the BSL IS needed to help Steam figure out how to unpack the BSA where the textures are held. The BSL is only NOT needed if you're using a FOMOD installed like Nexus Mod Manager.

Anyway, problem will be corrected with the next update. :)

Cool, good to hear it. :)

Based on what you said happened, I'm starting to wonder if it's not a conflict with having the Sentries in the hold guard and dawnguard factions both. Seems like a good place to start pending further feedback from others about their specific attack situations.

IIRC my reason for putting them in the hold guard factions was so they'd help with dragon attacks also. Maybe I can find a simpler way to do that however.

That could be. I use the Arthmoor's mod "Run For Your Lives" which forces them to run away from dragon attacks, so I never noticed that.

As far as being in the hold factions, shouldn't that only affect players with bounties in those holds. Also people with a bounty of 1000 or more will be attacked by guards in every hold.

Do the guards have a default disposition regarding the player? If so see if you can copy that to the sentries. I never looked into that myself.

Yeah I use arthmoor's "Run for Your Lives" and "When Vampires Attack" also to keep civies alive. Putting the Sentries in the town guard faction means they'll still fight during either event though.

Originally posted by rms827:

Yeah I use arthmoor's "Run for Your Lives" and "When Vampires Attack" also to keep civies alive. Putting the Sentries in the town guard faction means they'll still fight during either event though.

Ok. I'm looking at the sentries in the CK and comparing your custom faction with the game factions.

If you double click on them you can see under the general tab a place to add "Interfaction Relations".

For exmple the CrimeFactionRift has in its Interfacton Relations "PlayerWerewolfFaction" and "VampirePCFaction" set as "Enemy".

I wonder if there is a way to set up custom Interfacton Relations for your sentries that will prevent them from attacking the player when he/she accidently clips one of them at least until they become a werewolf or vampire later in the game.

Originally posted by McQuire:

Originally posted by rms827:

Yeah I use arthmoor's "Run for Your Lives" and "When Vampires Attack" also to keep civies alive. Putting the Sentries in the town guard faction means they'll still fight during either event though.

Ok. I'm looking at the sentries in the CK and comparing your custom faction with the game factions.

If you double click on them you can see under the general tab a place to add "Interfaction Relations".

For exmple the CrimeFactionRift has in its Interfacton Relations "PlayerWerewolfFaction" and "VampirePCFaction" set as "Enemy".

I wonder if there is a way to set a custom Interfacton Relations for your sentries that will prevent them from attacking the player when he/she accidently clips one of them at least until they become a werewolf or vampire later in the game.

Great thinking! I believe that the player character IS listed as a seperate faction on the faction list. That MAY be all there is to it, or a simple script that says unless the player is in a vampire faction to treat them as friendly.