Post by blockhead on Aug 3, 2010 15:05:22 GMT
note: this is a repost from the other forums
During testing of the first version of Vilja, I noticed that occasionally, when coming out of an Oblivion plane, Vilja would disappear entirely: summoning her would result in the appearance of a Vilja, dressed in her starting outfit, all of the stuff I'd put in her inventory gone, reset to the items she started with. It didn't happen all the time: most of the time Vilja and my character both were returned to the Mundus intact.
I'd mentioned it to Emma and she said that she'd heard of this happening from time to time with other companions as well.
So we wrote it off as just another bug in the game.
Recently, in my researches to figure out the esp file format and how to mod for Oblivion, I found some information that I think might possibly explain why companions sometimes disappear when closing an Oblivion Gate. As this bug does not always happen, it is hard to know for sure.
The game keeps track of changes made to any cells by the player. Items dropped, picked up or moved (You knocked over that bolt of cloth in a store. Notice it's still on the floor the next time you stop by?) are noted by the game. This is part of the reason why a game save file will grow over time: more changes made to cells by the Player.
From a world-space tutorial, I learned that an Oblivion "world" is unlike regular world-spaces in that it will not persist once you return to the Mundus. This means that game won't track things changed by the player after exiting the world. Like a Guild Wars "Explorable Area," when you leave an Oblivion world, poof, it's gone ... this includes anything left there (don't drop that neat-o sword on the ground, you'll never see it again).
When you close an Oblivion Gateway, your character and your companion(s) are teleported out. This does not happen at the same time, though to human perceptions it seems to. By a microsecond or so, one is first and the other is second. The game is running multiple scripts at any given instant, including your companion's script(s), so the exact sequence of who goes first is indeterminate.
If the companion is teleported first, all is fine. If, however, the player is teleported first, well ... for a brief instant, the companion is in the Oblivion Realm that your character just left. Since your character just left, the game immediately deletes the entire oblivion world from memory ... including the as-yet-unteleported companion and their inventory. D'oh!
An obvious way around this is to ask your companion to wait before you enter the oblivion gate.
Another solution is to take the companion in (helpful for fighting all the enemies in the Oblivion realm) and then have them leave before you close the gate through their dialog.
It's also always good to make a save before entering the gate.
--
On April 14th 2010 Loriel mentioned:
The problem is mentioned in various companion readmes, but it seems to be rare. I hadn't seen it myself in the ten or so Gates that I closed with one or more companions in tow, but the last one (a couple of weeks ago) with Vilja triggered it as described - she disappeared, and when summoned she appeared in her starting gear. Replaying the closure of the gate, I sent her "out" before I closed it, and all went well.
During testing of the first version of Vilja, I noticed that occasionally, when coming out of an Oblivion plane, Vilja would disappear entirely: summoning her would result in the appearance of a Vilja, dressed in her starting outfit, all of the stuff I'd put in her inventory gone, reset to the items she started with. It didn't happen all the time: most of the time Vilja and my character both were returned to the Mundus intact.
I'd mentioned it to Emma and she said that she'd heard of this happening from time to time with other companions as well.
So we wrote it off as just another bug in the game.
Recently, in my researches to figure out the esp file format and how to mod for Oblivion, I found some information that I think might possibly explain why companions sometimes disappear when closing an Oblivion Gate. As this bug does not always happen, it is hard to know for sure.
The game keeps track of changes made to any cells by the player. Items dropped, picked up or moved (You knocked over that bolt of cloth in a store. Notice it's still on the floor the next time you stop by?) are noted by the game. This is part of the reason why a game save file will grow over time: more changes made to cells by the Player.
From a world-space tutorial, I learned that an Oblivion "world" is unlike regular world-spaces in that it will not persist once you return to the Mundus. This means that game won't track things changed by the player after exiting the world. Like a Guild Wars "Explorable Area," when you leave an Oblivion world, poof, it's gone ... this includes anything left there (don't drop that neat-o sword on the ground, you'll never see it again).
When you close an Oblivion Gateway, your character and your companion(s) are teleported out. This does not happen at the same time, though to human perceptions it seems to. By a microsecond or so, one is first and the other is second. The game is running multiple scripts at any given instant, including your companion's script(s), so the exact sequence of who goes first is indeterminate.
If the companion is teleported first, all is fine. If, however, the player is teleported first, well ... for a brief instant, the companion is in the Oblivion Realm that your character just left. Since your character just left, the game immediately deletes the entire oblivion world from memory ... including the as-yet-unteleported companion and their inventory. D'oh!
An obvious way around this is to ask your companion to wait before you enter the oblivion gate.
Another solution is to take the companion in (helpful for fighting all the enemies in the Oblivion realm) and then have them leave before you close the gate through their dialog.
It's also always good to make a save before entering the gate.
--
On April 14th 2010 Loriel mentioned:
The problem is mentioned in various companion readmes, but it seems to be rare. I hadn't seen it myself in the ten or so Gates that I closed with one or more companions in tow, but the last one (a couple of weeks ago) with Vilja triggered it as described - she disappeared, and when summoned she appeared in her starting gear. Replaying the closure of the gate, I sent her "out" before I closed it, and all went well.
