[SKY] ReferenceID changes at runtime, breaks my script, help!

[trinta]

Hi! I'm new to the forum and new to modding. I've been working on a quest, and I've exhausted my own troubleshooting capacity.

To make this quest, I was guided by the "Quest Design Fundamentals" tutorial at creationkit.com, changing the specifics to match my own idea. It's a very basic quest: BadGuy stole PreciousItem from GoodGuy. GoodGuy commissions Player to return it. GoodGuy, BadGuy, and PreciousItem were all created by me in the Creation Kit.

I've tracked my problem to a changing reference ID. In the CK, BadGuy's reference ID is 0400753F. At runtime, it's 1A00753F. I've played around a bit, and it seems to change based on how many mods I'm loading. I can get the first two characters to change in the Creation Kit by loading different mods.

As a result, whenever the script refers to BadGuy, it fails and instead puts something like "error: Cannot call Enable() on a None object" in my Papyrus log.

The question is, how do I get the game to find and use the correct reference at runtime?

Thank you for any help!

Edited May 27, 2012 by trinta

[WillieSea]

You do not hardcode references.

And you are right, the first two digits are the mods 'load order number' in hexidecimal.

Instead of hardcoding a reference, you simply connect the NPC to the quest via the properties. The first scripting tutorial goes over connecting references.

[trinta]

I didn't hardcode it, I use an alias in the quest that points to Unique Character: BadGuyTRB, and all scripts reference that alias.

I guess I was premature in thinking that the changing reference ID was the problem. Any attempts to refer to the NPC produce a "None object" error; any ideas on what the real problem might be?

[WillieSea]

Without seeing the script (code) I could not say. Your sure you pointed to the NPC via an 'objectReference' property?

[trinta]

Uhhh... 42?

In the CK for my quest, the entry on the QuestAliases tab looks like this:

AliasName: TheBadGuy

Type: Ref

FillType: UniqueActor 'BadGuyTRB'

I'm sorry that I'm not more fluent in this; is there somewhere else I should be looking to confirm the "objectReference" status?

[WillieSea]

I don't use quest aliases, so I don't know about that.

In my quest, I attached a script that points directly to my NPC that I want to interact with. You may have to wait for somebody to come along that understands quests since its not my strong point. Sorry!

For example, here is how I point to my horse, called NightMare:

ObjectReference Property LevelersNightMareREF  Auto 

I can then prefix commands, pointing to my horse, with the defined reference name:

LevelersNightMareREF.Enable()

[trinta]

Okay, going to give what you said a bit to sink in and hopefully spark a solution (often takes a few hours for me!). I appreciate all your help!