Courier problem

[Altbert]

I have something I just can't figure out! If a courier has something to deliver, he shows up at Goldenhills Plantation for the first time, but after delivery just stays there, day and night, for days on end. I have checked my complete load order with xEdit, but the only mods that change anything related to the courier are USSEP and Indrith's mod. USSEP adds crime factions to the courier. Depending on the hold where they appear? Indrith's mod only changes conditions for the courier's delivery packages: only when the player is not sneaking, not in combat, not sprinting, and only between 6am and 7pm. 

I'm cracking my brains over this issue, but can't find a solution. Any ideas?

[Pseron Wyrd]

Have you left the cell?  I've had couriers linger while I am in the same cell.  When I leave and come back they are always gone. I assume they are scripted to stay put until you leave so that they don't suddenly vanish in front of your eyes, breaking immersion.  So, if you haven't done so already, you might try leaving for awhile.  

[Arthmoor]

In vanilla, the courier will hang around after the delivery until you've left the location. This means he'll hang around even if you go indoors in a city. Then once you've left the quest script which controls him will transfer him back to his holding area.

Indrith's mod may have changed this so that the courier is always enabled and the AI changes may not have been set up for him to leave the area again.

[Altbert]

Yes, I have left the cell, even for several ingame days with no avail.

Indrith's mod only adds conditions to the WICourierDeliverToPlayer package, nothing else, but I will see if there may be other changes xEdit may not notice.

[Altbert]

I have been going through my complete modlist and as I wrote before Indrith's mod doesn't change anything else than a couple of conditions for the WICourierDeliverToPlayer AI package. USSEP however does add a script called WECrimeFactionAliasScript to the courier NPC, probably to add the courier to a crime faction where ever he appears. But my latest downloads from AFK or Nexus doesn't seem to include a script (either PEX or PSC). Could this maybe cause the problem?

[Arthmoor]

WECrimeFactionAliasScript is a vanilla script which was attached to his alias in the WICourier quest. All it does is add him temporarily to the crime faction in the hold he was activated in. It has nothing to do with the AI package and doesn't interfere with the normal disabling process.

Since Golden Hills Plantation is added by a DLC it's possible the location data isn't completely set up there and the location data is used by the WICourier quest script to determine when he should get disabled.

[ghastley]

What stage is WICourier quest? The move back to the holding cell happens at stage 200 (IIRC) and there is some logic ahead of that relating to the success or failure of the delivery that could possibly fail if some ID was invalid, which would kill the process short of the move.

The quest stops even if he failed, and your next location change triggers a retry if there is still something to deliver. The courier has to be set up to try again if you escape him the first time, and I have suspected for some time that there are mods that break that cycle. It’s hard to tell, as any add to the Courier container starts it off again, and then he makes two deliveries at once. Since he gets moved to a marker near you, from wherever he is, that may or may not be the holding cell.

Possible culprits would preempt the change location event from triggering the WICourier quest again, probably by not sharing the event. So I’d look for mods with bad SM additions, not just direct changes to the Courier. They would only block the start if their conditions were met, so they could go undetected for a while.

My interest in this is that I would like to add another (Forsworn) courier, with a restricted delivery area. Bethesda apparently abandoned a second courier, for the Dark Brotherhood quest, but whether that was just a case of it not being worth the effort for a single delivery, or if it caused larger issues with the whole process, is not clear to me.

Edited February 8, 2023 by ghastley

[Arthmoor]

I've been looking over the script in USSEP and even with our fixes the script is still fundamenally broken and should be using an event driven method rather than letting vanilla continue to use the OnUpdate() event. As things are, it's conceivable that it may never actually terminate if for some reason the Courier happens to be in a "None" location and the player never enters something that's not.

I think what we're going to end up doing here is switching it to a change location event on the Player alias so that if the player changes locations it will properly trigger letting him go.

You may also want to look at using my Provincial Courier Service mod since it modifies how the Courier will handle package delivery. You can use that mod to set up delivery to your home, in person, or at his office outside Whiterun. I haven't limited the time of day on deliveries but that's usually not going to be an issue if you've chosen a delivery method other than in person. There isn't support for Golden Hills yet, but that's coming with the update I've got waiting right now.

[Altbert]

Thanks for your answer! I will have a look at PCS. I like personal delivery. Maybe I can make a small patch for personal use.

[Arthmoor]

Personal delivery is already the vanilla behavior, and PCS still offers that choice as well. The Courier just won't disappear is all. He'll go back to his office between jobs.

[Altbert]

I have not tried PCS as of yet, but tried a few other things using the console: prid <refid> & moveto player. In villages and the larger cities. The courier always walks back to Goldenhills Plantation, no matter where you "summon" him by using the console. Hope this can be of any additional help for the next USSEP update.

[Arthmoor]

If he's enabled under vanilla conditions there's no guarantee of what his AI will do. There used to be a bug with one of the stewards who would always go to Helgen even though his AI never specified he should go anywhere near there. It ended up being related to the markers for Lakeview Manor.

Golden Hills Plantation may be doing something odd that causes his AI to default there when it shouldn't be, but I think it's more likely to be because that site isn't fulfilling the stop conditions for the quest.

[Altbert]

Well, the Goldenhills exterior cells don't have a location or encounter zone defined. I have never checked any locations outside the cities (as defined in USSEP) where I've encountered a courier, so I presume the player change location might be the best solution (just a guess though).

[Arthmoor]

The next USSEP update will contain a line of sight check which will work under any conditions. It might feel a tad unrealistic to turn away and have him be gone, but it's better than leaving him stranded somewhere with undefined AI processing. At least you won't see him disappear before your eyes though.

[Altbert]

Thanks! I think that might be the best solution, since I never return to a cell where I met the courier outside of the main cities, only when returning to Goldenhills. However, I can't check that, as I always have to return to Goldenhills to get a next letter from the courier when I'm supposed to, based on level. I have to admit never to have these issues before upgrading to 1.6.640 (full upgrade).