Hey everyone,

I remember in Fallout 3 there was some kind of a limit on how many NPC's you can have in combat at once. It was around 14-18 or something. (I don't exactly remember)

Did they hardcode a limit like that into Skyrim? If so, what is it? I'm about to set up a very large scale war, and I'd like to make it a fair size. But if the limit is like 20, then I need to figure out a way to keep it to like 10 people on each side. (Which would be rather lame...) I remember seeing that epic Dwemer vs Skeleton (or something like that) war video and it was like 200 NPC's. Does that mean there is no limit?

Of course I am keeping in mind that the more NPC's at once, the more of a performance hit the battle will take.

Thanks,
Alexander J. Velicky

Why don't you just use 'PlaceAtMe' to put a bunch stormcloack/imperial solders in the same place?
They should immediately start going at it (fighting)

If at a certain point you are adding NPC's and they don't fight but just move around, then you'll know you've hit the limit.

I don't think they hardcoded a limit. I think it's whatever your pc can handle

That's actually a really good idea...

So I gave it a go, and here are my results:

There does not appear to be a hardcoded limit. I had upwards of about 60 people fighting at the same time Albeit definitely was a performance hit, they were all fighting.

I also found that the main issue with performance wasn't the actual fighting, but the bodies that accrued. I started with 10 on each side, then 15, then went up to about 30 per side. Even at 60 it really wasn't too glitchy, which is saying alot as I have a pretty bad processor (Dual core 2.7). The main issue was that once there were like 200 bodies piled up, even 10 v 10 made the game very very glitchy.

So, I just have to limit combat somewhat, and more importantly, spread it out, or clean up bodies. Or just prevent too many from building up in the first place.

Thanks for the awesome suggestion!

Just Disable the actors in an OnDead event, possibly with a timer. My experience is that the combat limit lies around 80-100. MERP is planning to add dummy actors (activators) that don't actually fight but just execute animations to make it look like they are fighting, they'll mostly be in the distance and will be replaced by real actors if the player is close.

Just clean up the bodies quickly - you may notice that's what is done in the Civil War questline.

Yeah... The only issue there is that scattered corpses really add to the feel of an epic and dramatic battle. But I guess I don't really have a choice there.

GameSetting iNumberActorsInCombatPlayer >> 20

What would that mean? The number fighting the PLAYER at any one time? Cause like I said, I have about 60 fighting eachother, and it was fine. Though with mine it would be one side against the player, but I could keep it at or under 20.

I assume so, because at one point I did attack them, and they didn't all seem to become 'hostile' with me exactly. Some would still attack, but wouldnt be red dots on my compass. I assume that setting controls it, and I simply have to stay at or below 20 hostiles at any one time.

I'm pretty sure that GMST caps how many actors can be in combat, total. Try setting it to a higher value and perhaps they'll all show as red? 60 might work fine for a PC.

Well I had all 60 people actively fighting eachother. So I think it just means as opponents to the player...

Regardless, that's a bit excessive and I don't think lower end PC's could operate ideally in those conditions. As long as I'm not limited to like 15 people TOTAL like in Fallout where anymore just sit there waiting for someone to die to join in.