UESPWiki:Archive/CP Oblivion NPC IDs

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Oblivion NPC IDs

A problem with all NPCs in Oblivion is that they in effect have two FormIDs: a NPC_ FormID and an ACHR FormID. The NPC_ FormID provides access to the general information about the NPC. The ACHR FormID provides access to a specific instance of the NPC. So, for example, you could type player.placeatme 00033095 in the console multiple times, where 00033095 is the NPC_ FormID for Harrow. You would end up with multiple Harrow clones standing in front of you: all share the same Harrow NPC_ information (stats, skills, appearance, etc). But each of the clones is a different character, and therefore each one has a different ACHR FormID. The ACHR FormID keeps track of information such the X/Y/Z position of the individual character.

Most of the game scripts manipulate the ACHR version of the NPCs (in the scripts, Harrow is generally accessed via the "HarrowRef" object, which is just the editor ID of ACHR object). Which is why spawning a new copy of an NPC using a command like player.placeatme 00033095 generally does not work to fix broken quests. As a result, the console article provides a lengthy section on how to Find an NPC, which really just amounts to instructions on how to find out the NPC's ACHR FormID. But there's no reason to tell readers to jump through all of those hoops. The ACHR IDs for all unique NPCs are predetermined just like their NPC_ IDs; the number will be the same in every player's game.

It seems to me that the Oblivion NPC pages should be updated to list the ACHR IDs as well as the NPC_ IDs. Assuming anyone else agrees (and that someone is interested in doing the busy work of editing each and every Oblivion NPC page), that leaves the question of how to go about doing it. I'd actually argue that the ID shown at the top page should probably be the ACHR ID: I think 9 times out of 10 someone who is looking for that NPC's FormID probably needs the ACHR ID, not the NPC_ ID. The NPC_ FormID could then be provided somewhere further down in the infobox, in a new field added to the table. I think that approach would make more sense than trying to list both at the top of the page somehow, in particular because in cases like Oblivion:Valen Dreth there already are two FormIDs; trying to somehow squeeze in two NPC_ IDs and two ACHR IDs would just lead to excessive confusion.

Feedback? Volunteers interested in editing several hundred NPC pages? --Nephele^Talk 20:26, 3 August 2007 (EDT)

Sounds fine, as long as its clear which is the reference (ACHR) ID and which is the record ID. Sounds like a good job for your bot if its capable. It shouldn't be too hard to collect the ACHR for each NPC directly from the game data. -- Daveh 23:06, 3 August 2007 (EDT)

Yeah, as long as you're not using the construction set getting the ACHR IDs is pretty straightforward. I already have a complete listing of them. From the construction set it can be a bit painful (pull up the uses list for the NPC, find out which cell the NPC is in, go pull up the cell, find the NPC ref in the cell, and then you've got the number). --Nephele^Talk 23:11, 3 August 2007 (EDT)