Any mods/tips to stop settlers standing around idle?

[Terse]

In Sanctuary, my settlers like to stand around together behind the house that starts with crafting stations. In Starlight Drive-In they like to stand around together to the same part of the driveway, and so on, so it gets tough to find the ones I've assigned to vendor stations.

Are there any mods that will reinforce assignments to settlers actually go to their assigned work places?

[sascomander]

There used to be a mod called don't call me settler that would give names to every settler and automatically assign them to work positions. It was removed from nexus but I think you can find it if you search other websites.

[Zekiran]

Apparently if you've scrapped areas that require pathing they will do this either way.

Use the emergency bell to gather your settlers if you are wondering where they've gotten to. I know there's at least one mod that hurries them rather than letting them hear the bell and just saunter over to it too.

But if you remove parts of the area using Scrap Everything or such, there's also the chance that it's just going to be broken. I haven't really had all that much trouble with my settlements doing that aside from Covenant if I remove the buildings, myself.

[Icedfate]

i'm using scrap everything and have yet to have any problems.
with scrap everything, you can even remove the invisble "idle animations scripts" that tell the settlers to hammer incessantly.


just be careful with scrap everything. save before you scrap. reload if you mess up.
you should be constantly saving anyway and have a dozen hard saves to revert to just in case, just as general wisdom in this game.

i'm also careful with scrap everything. i mostly just use it to get rid of trash and debris and skeletons and idle animations scripts. i try to keep the defining features of the settlements, like i don't scrap the sanctuary roads and i don't scrap the diner and the movie screen at the drive in.


as someone above said, you can use the bell to gather your settlers.

if you give everyone a task to do,farming, security, vendor, they will mostly stay put and do their task. but in the evening they tend to wander around, because they are looking for their beds.

i find they have trouble pathing when i built a lot of my own structures, like i build a big roofed area innthe middle of sanctuary to have all my vendors in, like an outdoor farmers market.
often the settlers will just blindly walk into the wall and just keep pushing against it trying to walk through it like they don't even see it. but if i rest in bed, the game will reload their positions and put them where they need to be

i also just build square barrack and stick all the beds in those in rows so i know where all the beds are.

it helps to put the people in "uniforms" as well. like all the farmers wearing green clothes, all the security people wearing blue etc. . .
i used a mod to get custom clothes for that, but it could work with vanilla clothes too

[Zekiran]

^^ I use chef's hats for my 'busy chef', and sometimes after I've gone through both the Institute and Nuka World I will put folks who are vendors in those nice paisley suits from Nuka, and any clinic or barber things in institute lab coats.

Yes that means I pickpocket institute folks until everyone I can find in the place is naked until their clothing respawns and I get to do it again ;)

[Sabaithal]

Unfortunately there isn't a solid solution to that. The problem is caused by papyrus scripts ingame getting backed up, and the game not having enough tolerance for the timing the scripts need to execute them all correctly. As a result, settlers just get stuck on idle, standing around doing nothing.

And papyrus script execution is solely dependent on CPU, and it doesn't seem to multi-thread very well either on top of that. In other words, this is an engine problem.

[Terse]

Thanks all,

Originally posted by sascomander:

There used to be a mod called don't call me settler that would give names to every settler and automatically assign them to work positions.

I'll definitely look into that one.

Originally posted by Icedfate:

as someone above said, you can use the bell to gather your settlers.

I recently discovered InstaBell. Not perfect (teleport Unassigned brings everyone) but a nice way to instantly bring in all the settlement's settlers.

Originally posted by Sabaithal:

Unfortunately there isn't a solid solution to that. The problem is caused by papyrus scripts ingame getting backed up, and the game not having enough tolerance for the timing the scripts need to execute them all correctly. As a result, settlers just get stuck on idle, standing around doing nothing.

And papyrus script execution is solely dependent on CPU, and it doesn't seem to multi-thread very well either on top of that. In other words, this is an engine problem.

This does sound like it fits what I'm seeing unfortunately. Guess I'll probably have to live with, and/or build my settlements around their gather spots.

[wtiger27]

You do not need a mod to enhance settler movements and places to gather. Build some bars, the Gambling station from the Vault 88, chairs, benches and fire pits. They like places to sit and eat, drink. Exercise equipment. Crafting stations.

[Lil C]-[ew C]-[ew is ☂д☂]

Originally posted by wtiger27:

You do not need a mod to enhance settler movements and places to gather. Build some bars, the Gambling station from the Vault 88, chairs, benches and fire pits. They like places to sit and eat, drink. Exercise equipment. Crafting stations.

Plus, use those exploit on building above floor carpets or using console parameters to build inside props make a better welcome to your settlements.

[Iron Knights]

'It's 5 o'clock somewhere' Player Syndrome ? Your minions not working 24/7 ? They're not programmed to. When the sun goes down they look for Entertainment. As some said above, build a room where they can get that, couches or benches to sit on, stuff that increases happiness will have a smile next to it. As for work time, settlers do get teleported in when you do, but they usually get to the working location, soon enough.

[=EGC= kansasterry]

It has been a while since I used them however these mods let us place markers to make settlers do things instead of just standing around.

Craftable Animation Marker (Relaxation Furniture)
https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/10012

Settlement Activity Markers
https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/20651

Private Area Markers (keep settlers out of your house)
https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/26377

I had this standing around issue even before I added any mods and in settlements where I just tossed a few beds and water wells down without scrapping anything.

I think its related to that nav mesh issue that has plagued the game engine since its first variation of course fallout 4 adding the settlements system cut and paste to the nav mesh when we scrap/craft some items probably contributes to the issue.