LGNPC conflict with Vampire Embrace?

[josephort]

I'm currently setting up some mods for a new character, and was hoping to use both Vampire Embrace and the Less Generic NPC mods. However, the readme of every LGNPC mod states that "Vampire Embrace by Cortex shares a dialog filter with many LGNPC mods that could result in unexpected problems in both mods." Googling around on the subject reveals that some people do not experience problems, but nothing conclusive.

I'm wondering if anyone here knows the exact nature of the conflict. Will I only notice problems once I become a Vampire, and will it only cause problems for LGNPC dialogue/quests or for vampire responses on NPCs heavily modified by LGNPC? Or, could this cause major or even game-breaking problems right off the bat?

Any insight anyone can shed on this would be much appreciated. Thanks!

[cyrano]

Such a question as this might get a better response if posted at the LGNPC Forum. I do not know if I can answer this question to your satisfaction, but since I am the one who first wrote of the issue at least I can explain why the potential for conflict exists.

It has been some time since I examined Vampire Embrace in the construction set (and I have never used the mod in-game) so I may not describe the mechanics properly. I recall that Vampire Embrace sets the idle greeting (Hello) for NPCs as a flag for some functionality of the mod. Various greetings and perhaps other dialog topics are filtered by this setting. It is possible that as scripts reference the value as well. Some LGNPC mods use Hello as a more reliable flag than Talked to PC as well as a local variable for dialog and scripts. Some quests are completely dependent on the Hello setting. This was done to avoid placing scripts on existing NPCs and introducing countless conflicts with other mods. Much of LGNPC NoLore's dialog is filtered by Hello to avoid having to attach the noLore script to existing NPCs or otherwise alter an official script. All this was done without any knowledge of Vampire Embrace's reliance on Hello.

The potential for conflict arises if one mod sets Hello to a particular value and the other mod changes that setting. This process can go back and forth breaking the functionality of both mods. I have never tested the two mods together so in my experience this conflict is strictly theoretical. I do not recall any reports that definitively blamed this conflict, but I have heard some problems described that made me wonder if it was not to blame. Many players are not particularly close observers and might not notice the problems; others may not care or assume it is just a bug in the mod. The rest might unplug the mod(s) and clean their saved game. Based on the number of unreported LGNPC bugs over the years it is unusual for a player to actually work with a modder to resolve bugs and conflicts.

So do what you will. Play until things stop working, and then either live with it or unplug one or the other mod. Good luck.