Constance disappearing

[jgf]

This is a continuation of this thread from the old forum. I tried your suggestion about the 72 hour separation, I had no contact with Constance for over a week (game time) then returned to Gnisis to fetch her.

After playing several days (game time) Constance disposition did not improve at all; even plying her with booze didn't help - her disposition improved til she sobered up, then it dropped back to zero. I finally cheated and used the console to return her cheery demeanor.

The problem with her disappearing persists. But I've noticed something else which may be pertinent. If I go through a door and Constance doesn't appear with me, if there is enough room for me to take a dozen or so steps away from the door she will appear. I have verified this on several occasions and several locations - I go through the door and Constance isn't there with me, I turn around and back away, at some point (seems to be about twice her "following distance") she will appear right outside the door and run towards me, stopping at her "following distance". Of course many of the rooms in Vivec and Lokken Castle aren't large enough for me to move far enough from the door for this to occur.

[Emma]

The latter problem you describe here, with her not coming with your through doors, is something I have seen with companions if you have had several companions in tow. You probably heard about that they tend to 'line up' in a row, keeping their own slot in the queue-line.
If you remove one companion from the group, the others won't 'know' this - they will still leave that companions 'slot' empty.
Companions way back in the 'queue-line' might have problems getting through doors with you. The old 72 hrs trick normally sorts this out, but it seems you have other problems as well. Somethings seems to have gone very wrong with Constance in your game.

Has she by any chance get any item with constant effect on her? Have your char any item with constant effect on him/her?

Is her disposition stable now that you have cured it through the console?


Oh... another thing! I know I have seen Constance have the behaviour you describe when she has been *levitating* through doors in smaller areas. Then one has to move over the floor before she shows up. (The alternative would have been that she hadn't teleported through doors at all). Could it be that she is levitating?

[jgf]

Except for those occasions where a quest requires me to escort someone, I've never used more than one companion at a time (especially early in a game when I have enough trouble trying to keep Constance alive).

Since becoming aware of the "CE bug" I never give companions CE items. But my character is carrying/wearing a dozen or so.

Constance disposition has remained at an acceptable value; I only "cheated" it to 70, an occasional drink bumped it to 90.

I've read of problems with PC/NPC levitating and teleport doors so always make sure my feet (and, therefore, Constance') are firmly on the ground before activating doors. (Quite an annoyance early in the game when I'm floating in front of a door waiting for a levitate potion to wear off.)

[jgf]

This problem still manifests itself, though I'm learning to live with it (Constance is supposed to be a bit contrary).

I have noticed:

-it is much more prevalent when moving around interior cells
-usually (not always) exiting that interior to an exterior, such as leaving a Vivec canton, she will reappear
-teleporting anywhere will make her reappear
-once she's disappeared, if I use her amulet for "come to me" she will respond normally but never appear (on rare occasions she will tell me she's fighting)
-if, using her amulet, I tell her to meet me somewhere, she will agree but may or may not be there; if she is, about a fourth of the time her disposition will be zero
-rarely (probably not more than a dozen times) she will disappear when we enter an interior cell; in this case exiting to the exterior doesn't bring her back (this has happened several times entering shrines, a couple of times with caves, and a couple of times at Almalexia's temple)

It is probably some arcane interaction with another mod; but there are so many mods loading, and many of those are mergings of other mods, that it would be more trouble than it's worth to track down. I just accept that she's going to wander off occasionally .......(if I wasn't the only one experiencing this, Emma, I'd suspect you'd programmed this and just weren't admitting it).

[Emma]

I also think this must be related to your specific mod-setup, jgf, as Constance has been around since 2005 and causing surprisingly little problems (especially as she is such a troublesome person in herself).

Have your more than PC-char and more than one mod-setup? If so we would know whether or not she is always doing the same for you or if it is related to one mod-setup and one game.

[jgf]

I long ago gave up on having multiple simultaneous games; too much trouble keeping track of what each character had done, which characters had what spells, etc. (and once I saved a game over a different characters game, resulting in the use of some extremely unacceptable language).

My current game is over two years old (I tend to play for a few weeks, move on to other games, and return to play a few more weeks); if memory serves me well, this problem started a few months into the game. The only mods added after starting are houses (after Sorkvild is killed his tower becomes a PC home; once the Hlaalo murder is solved that manor becomes a PC home; when Ienas joins the temple, his house becomes a PC home).

There was another odd problem in this game which, I recently remembered, stopped about the time Constance odd behavior began. You may recall I posted about ordinary chitin stars being valued at 30000gold in my game (I have some screenshots of this); in the CS I never found any source for this ridiculous price, and it finally returned to normal - several months into the game.

This may be relevant. The game previous to this (going back almost three years now) ran fine for six months then had to be abandoned due to problems with Hilda - she disappeared from save games. We were south of Dagon Fel (clearing out all the bandit caves) and would be standing together when I saved; loading that save later, there was no Hilda; exit and reload, still no Hilda. She would respond to telepathy but not appear. I reloaded the previous save (in Dagon Fel) and she was there; play an hour, save, reload later - no Hilda. I tried several times; no matter what we did or where we went before the next save, when reloaded Hilda was gone. On a whim, I reloaded the last good save and Hilda and I returned to Balmora. I left her standing in the street and went to the Fighters Guild basement, to find ...Hilda! But a Hilda from a month or so earlier in the game. I took her out to the street, where I had Hilda and a clone; but which was which? Not knowing what to expect, I saved here. Reloaded and both Hildas were still present, I told "old" Hilda to leave, and new Hilda (with all her expensive armor) vanished. Not what I wanted. Reloaded. Told "new" Hilda to leave, and she did. With all the armor. Reloaded again. Removed everything from "new" Hilda and told her to leave; gave all the items to "old" Hilda and things seemed to be back to normal. Played a while and saved. This save wouldn't even load. Gave up. deleted all the saves, and started over.

[loriel]

I recall similar problems with Constance in one or more of my old games. Too long ago to remember the details but I know she disappeared and I travelled to Gnisis to find her clad in her starting gear instead of the rather more expensive equipment she should have had. I think her dialogue had been reset to starting situation too, but not sure about that.

Also around the same time I had problems with Laurenna, and I finished up with two versions, similar to what you describe with Hilda.

There was a thread in the Members Lounge section of the old forum where I was testing a new companion for melian (Comes-by-Road, a healer) who had a tendency to disappear at times, and melian provided several suggestions for finding out where he had disappeared to, and getting him back - until she fixed the problem. You might find that worth reading if similar problems happen again. It's not yet copied across here, but I intend to do so later.

Loriel