Yes, what do you need? - SOLVED

[playerofgames]

I completed a play through and wanted to keep going but had no content left. I bought anniversary edition but realised the new content wouldn't load on existing character so started a new game. Straight away I went and got Sabena but I'm having an issue where she constantly says the above. She walks up to me and says it. If I'm anywhere near her, she says it and it's getting very annoying! She didn't do this in SE, so why now? Is this a bug?

[vee-kay]

Sabena?

Did you mean Serana or Sabine?

[playerofgames]

Yeah, my bad. Serana

[Docsprock]

I had that bug years ago, but don't know what fixed it. I believe it was mod related.

[alexander_dougherty]

Originally posted by playerofgames:

I completed a play through and wanted to keep going but had no content left. I bought anniversary edition but realised the new content wouldn't load on existing character so started a new game.

Actually it will, when AE launched I did exactly that.
First most of the quests need to be started manually (usually by finding and reading a letter at various locations (check the wikis for AE content to find out how to start them)
Second if that doesn't work, go to the Creation club (logging into your bethesda account) and download it.

[Nabinkemper]

You may try the following while in game -
Open the console with the tilda ~ key (next to the number one on an English keyboard) and select Serana. Type the following without leaving the console screen:

disable <press enter>
enable <press enter>
You may now leave the console screen by pressing the tilda ~ button again. If this doesn't work, you may use the following console command in the same manner as above:

resetai <press enter>
Exit console with tilda ~ key.

If the above does not correct her behavior, we can look at a potential conflict with the AE DLC download, or if you have additional mods from a third party (Nexus, AFKmods, Schaken-Mods, etc.).

[vee-kay]

Make a hard (normal) save (not QuickSave/Autosave).

Dismiss Serana if she's already your follower.

Open the console (tilde ~ key), click on Serana so she's selected (or type & enter the console command: prid xx002B74, where xx is the number of the Dawnguard DLC in the load order, typically it is 02 - check the load order number of Dawnguard.esm in the list of plugins in Vortex/MO2).

Try the RESETAI or RECYCLEACTOR console commands to reset Serana's bugged AI (RecycleActor will fully reset Serana, so you can find her at her original location inside the sarcophagus in Dimhollow Cavern). Note that Resurrect and RecyleActor will reset the inventory of the NPC/follower.
Important: Do not run these commands if her questline is already triggered, as such commands can break quests for named NPCs.

If that doesn't work..

Outside the game:
Get a follower framework mod like NFF or EFF.
There are patch mods for Serana to work properly with NFF or EFF. get that patch mod too.

Inside the game:
Force import Serana into the follower framework (option will be there in its MCM setting), this will override her default AI.
Now release her as a follower and purge her record from the follower framework.
This will reset her AI and she'll work with her vanilla AI again.

Over the years, I have successfully used all the above tricks to reset bugged out vanilla or modded followers.

You should be aware that modding community warns that follower framework mods ideally ought not to be used on special or modded companions like Serana or Inigo (because such followers have complex AI and the follower framework can bug their AI), but in all the years I have played Skyrim LE/SE/AE, neither EFF nor NFF have ever caused any follower AI to be corrupted.

Hope you do a hard save before doing such experiments, so you can always revert and reload that save (always load a savegame from main/title menu, not from inside a loaded savegame session, otherwise some scripts don't get properly reset. This also means that if your player character dies and game autoloads from last savepoint, you should exit to main/title menu and load the latest hard save (not quicksave/autosave) manually from main menu. Do not use QuickSaves, they are known to cause corruption/issues, such as savegame bloat or bugged NPCs/followers).

[playerofgames]

Thanks for all the advice. I'll give it a try.

[Nabinkemper]

For those that come across this post, Do not import Serana in a follower framework until after all associated Dawnguard quest are completed. This includes the option to encourage her to see Falion to cleanse her of vampirism. If you do import her before you are finished, it will break the questline.

[playerofgames]

RESETAI, RECYCLEACTOR, DISABLE-ENABLE and prid id don't make any difference. Using Recycleactor doesn't send her back, she just finds me in about a minute. Only difference is she has lost all the gear I gave her. I think, I'll just part ways and get another follower once I've done her missions. I don't have any mods btw

[vee-kay]

It may very well be that Serana's AI isn't bugged in your game, you just find her default behavior annoying or not intelligent.

Before you ditch Serana and if you find her default dialogues/monologues to be annoying, then try this mod first..
Serana Dialogue Add-On:
https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/32161

Resurrect, ResetAI, ResetInventory and RecyleActor may reset the inventory of the NPC/follower. You can revert to a previous save to get those items back from her, and then try to fix her if her AI seems bugged/broken.

[playerofgames]

Solved - Once I'd done the soul cairn, she stopped saying it!