NPC Routines Expanded + Robot Vendors

Updated and tested with the Free Lanes update

Broad Overview

While there are a decent number of NPCs who have had daily schedules since day 1 of Starfield's launch, many of them do not have schedules, especially vendor NPCs.

72 named characters now have daily schedules

10 unnamed characters now have daily schedules

26 new robots work in various stores, so you can buy stuff when the store owner isn't there (Styx included)

110 data slates added to various store countertops and NPCs' personal spaces. Some of these slates are simple notifications of business hours, while others offer you a window into the lives of characters and where you can find them when they aren't working.

3 of these data slates are Easter eggs for The Expanse

All of this is spread across New Atlantis, Cydonia, Akila City, Neon, Gagarin, HopeTown, Paradiso, the Red Mile, New Homestead, The Den, and The Key. Dazra is covered in a separate Creation.

All robot vendors are voiced with recycled and spliced vanilla robot dialogue, with a few cut voice lines incorporated. No AI is used.

Specific Details

NPC routines are controlled by custom AI packages that I made from scratch and thoroughly tested in-game. They will physically walk from their store to various locations, and back. All schedules and store hours are based on a planet's local time. The business directories for the New Atlantis and Akila information kiosks have been updated to show businesses that have hours and/or robots.

I have been very careful not to interfere with vanilla quest progression. Before adding a schedule to an NPC, I looked up every single dialogue scene they were involved in. If someone was required to be in an exact location for a scene, I have either not touched them, or added conditions to ensure their custom packages will not run until the scene is done.

If you find a shopkeeper while they're away from their store, or sleeping, their normal dialogue tree will not be available and you won't be able to trade with them. There are a couple of exceptions to this, mainly quest dialogue. If you have to talk to someone to advance or turn in a quest, you will still be able to do that. I have tested this, and you can see examples in the screenshot section.

All robots working in stores are linked to the exact same vendor inventory as their human counterparts, so you won't miss out on anything by buying from them. There are no conflicts with mods that add items to vendors. If you Enhance yourself via a robot, the cost is the same as doing it through a human. If you have any mods that change the cost of Enhance, they will still be in effect.

Certain named NPCs can have random conversations with other named NPCs that they normally would never get close to in vanilla. Where possible, I have taken this into account in assigning schedules, so you will have a chance to hear these conversations.

Cell edits have been left to an absolute minimum wherever possible. 90% of additions are either invisible markers for NPCs to path to, or just adding a data slate to a countertop. I have not removed or changed any vanilla items, only added new ones. Example: Belle Rowland now has a bed in her back room, a personal chest, and some food.

There are a 2 restored vanilla dialogue scenes. Antonio Bianchi (UC Surplus in the Well) and Farad Kallob (Eit Clothiers) both have unique greeting scenes that are supposed to play the first time you talk to them, but they were either not conditioned correctly, or intended to be cut, and the player would never hear them. I have fixed the conditions, and it applies retroactively, so the next time you talk to them (during business hours, of course) you will hear their unique greeting scenes and get some new dialogue options.

I have added post-scene cleanup packages to certain NPCs who spend the entire game standing in the same spot after their one-time dialogue scene is done. This includes the 2 customers in the New Atlantis spaceport Terrabrew, the Red Mile patron who is about to get shot by Stocker, and Mr. Tawfiq in Paradiso.

I have added extra dialogue options that allow you to skip some of the longer greeting conversations that Neon vendors give to you the first time you talk to them. You can tell them you aren't interested in their problems, and this will take you straight to their normal vendor dialogue tree. Their quests will still be available. You can still choose the original vanilla dialogue if you want to. James Newill, Sieghart, Kolman Lang, and Frank Renick are the 4 vendors who have these additions.

Installation and Compatibility

This is a full master. It is mostly load order neutral, but ensure any mods that contain deleted references load below it.

Mods that only change game settings, such as Better NPCs are compatible. This mod does not touch game settings. Mods that add items or credits to vendor inventories are compatible.

SFBGS008.esm, the vanilla esm that adds city maps, has been included as a master to this, so you won't lose city maps unless another mod that edits cities and doesn't include SFBGS008 as a master overrides this one. If that is the case, you can download The Final Patch.

Credits

Without any of these people, this mod would just be an idea in my head:

Bethesda for Creation Kit Elminster and his crew for xEdit Perchik71 for Creation KIt Extended JMPZ11 for Plugin Bridge Darkfox 127, 510deshawn, JRamos, and Joseph Russell for Creation Kit tutorial videos