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[Skyrim] Solution: Dialogue Bug Fix


Arthmoor

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So I probably don't need to tell everyone that since Patch 1.6 there have been some problems with creating quests that contain dialogue. We all refer to it as the "dialogue bug" and it's been a pretty big thorn in everyone's sides if you're making quest mods.

The gist of the problem is this: You have quests with dialogue. These quests are marked as "start game enabled". Your quests start, but the dialogue is not properly initialized. Your dialogue therefore fails, any attached script fragments MAY fail, and your scenes don't play. We've been waiting for a fix for it for some time now. That wait is over.

Recently, I was approached in private by one of the Bethesda developers (if they wish to identify themselves, they can, I won't out them) to test a potential workaround for this issue. After some initial testing, and seeing that it appeared to work, I asked them to contact Alexander J. Velicky, the author of the Falskaar mod, for another opinion since I knew he has a ton of dialogue related issues as a result of all this. He too has since confirmed the workaround fixes the problem. Fortunately, it's actually fairly simple to do.
 
The process, using TES5Edit (based on version 3.0.30 and up):
 
1. Load TES5Edit.
2. Select your mod file and load it.
3. When done, right click your mod file on the left pane.
4. Go to Other->Create SEQ File.
5. Once done (it should be literally a second or two) the file will be stored in Data\SEQ.
 
The process, using Steam:

1. Go to Steam. Switch to the tools view.
2. Find the Creation Kit, open its properties.
3. Click "set launch options"
4. Enter a command like this: -GenerateSEQ:pluginname.esp (Where pluginname.esp is your mod file)
5. Save the changes.
6. Launch the CK and DO NOT disturb it while it processes.
7. Once it closes, remove the launch options you entered so you can use the CK normally again.
8. Move the file to your Data\SEQ folder.

You can also do this from the Windows command line:

1. Open CMD.
2. Navigate your way to where Skyrim is installed. (By default: C:Program Files\Steam\steamapps\common\skyrim)
3. Type in the following command: creationkit.exe -GenerateSEQ:pluginname.esp (Where pluginname.esp is your mod file)
4. The CK will launch and perform some processing.
5. Move the file to your Data\SEQ folder.

Note that the command line process may only work once. I've never been able to get it to work again since the first try. Alexander suggested the Steam method as an early alternative. It has since proven to be unreliable as well. Your best bet is to use TES5Edit to generate these.

The SEQ file will need to be regenerated any time you add a new start-enabled quest to your mod, delete one from the mod, or toggle the "start game enabled" flag on a quest in your mod. So it's important to remember this.
 
This process will NOT work to fix a vanilla quest your mod changes to start game enabled! Your dialogue will continue to remain broken in this case.

The file itself is nothing more than a series of form IDs for each quest in your mod that's been flagged as start-enabled. It's encoded though, so you can't just type it out by hand.

Distribute the generated .SEQ file with your mod in the usual fashion.

At this time, we have not been told whether or not this will be included as an official menu option within the CK. So for now just proceed as though it won't be added to the UI. As of CK 1.9.32 we still cannot do this from within the CK itself.
Modders should be the one to generate this for distribution, but in a pinch, users can also follow the steps until modders can get around to generating it.

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This is the best they could come up with? Yet another file to add to your mod to take care of? Wait, it's the same mod file. Why can't they just fix it in your mod?I can see all the people now deleting this folder.

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Deleting this folder = bad. So no, people shouldn't really be doing that :P

These files also exist in all official content - nobody really paid attention before this though. Update.bsa has had them since 11/11/11.

I'll have to go check Bash now to make sure it's not going to ignore this folder.

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Ok. So these files have only existed since Patch 1.6 came up. That makes more sense given that the dialogue bug didn't start happening until then. Which means it's only a matter of bad luck that nobody picked up on new files being there all this time.

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You know. This should have generated a lot more noise than it has on all the forums I crossposted to. I sure hope it doesn't take 2 months before people catch on like it did with the navmesh bug.

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  • 3 years later...

Long time, but an important issue came up:
 
This process will NOT work to fix a vanilla quest your mod changes to start game enabled! Your dialogue will continue to remain broken in this case.

After several reports about this for Cutting Room Floor, I ran into the issue with a brand new character who had never seen the content before. Sure enough, about half the dialogue lines failed to play. It seems the game will ignore any SEQ file generated for vanilla content in a mod. So if you change a vanilla quest to run when the game starts, expect any dialogue in it that didn't exist before to simply break, and thus make you go bald trying to figure out why.

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Hmm, maybe for modified SGE quests where flag is added, the SEQ file should be named after the plugin of the master record instead of modification plugin? Not that it would solve anything since all such vanilla quests would be in Skyrim.seq and any mods doing so will be incompatible. Just curious.

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That might work but as you say it would result in major compatibility problems. I got around it in CRF by starting the quest from a note pinned to a wall :P

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  • 2 years later...
Em 22/10/2015 às 22:22, Arthmoor disse:

Muito tempo, mas Uma Questão Importante surgiu:
 
Este Processo NÃO funcionará para consertar Uma busca baunilha that SUAS modificações mod para Iniciar o Jogo habilitado! Seu diálogo continuará um ser aqui neste caso.

Depois de vários relatos sobre isso para o Quarto de Corte, eu deparei com um novo desenho que teria visto o antes. Com certeza, as três etapas do diálogo não foram reproduzidas. O que é que se deve fazer? Então, você pode mudar uma missão de baunilha para rodar quando jogar o jogo, esperar qualquer coisa que não existe antes para simplesmente quebrar, e assim fazer você ficar careca tentando descobrir o porquê.

How do I solve this? I created a follower in skyrim, but his dialog does not appear ... I made the SEQ file but it seems that the game ignores it ... does anyone know how to solve this ??

I'm very lazy in English so I'm sorry for any mistake, it was translated by google

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SEQ files are only one possible thing to check. You need to also be sure your quest is starting, which it may not be if a non-optional alias can't be filled. Your NPCs involved in such quests need a persist location set on the reference you put them in the world with, and so forth.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I've followed some tutorials like this ...

https://www.creationkit.com/index.php?title=Bethesda_Tutorial_Planning_the_Quest

to try to create a follower in the skyrim ... but only appear the missions that I created from the beginning, the ones I wrote line by line (like the ones taught in the tutorial, I wanted to use the standard messages that all followers have, without have to rewrite them ...
but for some reason all speeches related to the follower as "follow me I need your help" do not appear.
only the phrases I created ...

I'm new to the subject, so sorry for anything and thanks for the help.

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