I've seen the 72 hour bug referred to in these forums, usually regarding a companion. What exactly is it?

Thanks!

If a companion, or any NPC is left alone for 72 game hours their stats will revert to how they were when they were first spawned.

When you have been separated from a npc for more than 72 hours, everything with them re-sets to what it was before you met.

A quest npc mght have forgotten that you ever met.

Someone who was hostile to you have forgotten that he was angry.

A companion might have losed all his acquired skills.

*deleted* (sorry, doubled posting )

This post has been edited by Emma: Aug 5 2005, 07:39 PM

Morrowind keeps track of a *lot* of things you're not aware of. For instance, it remembers whether you've talked to an NPC or not, among many others. All that data can seriously slow down your game, to the point of CTDing it. Fortunately, there's a great way to clear all that information from Morrowind's data stores: since the game only tracks that data for the previous 72 hours, resting for three days clears the stores and can lead to a much smoother game.

This is the only 72 hour bug I know of -- I don't (yet) use companion mods, so I'm not entirely certain that this is the bug you were asking about.

Edit: Blast! Beaten to the punch not once, but twice by the same person!

This post has been edited by Grundulum: Aug 5 2005, 07:37 PM

Thanks, BTS!
I see why Emma's Laura mods have the telepathy ring! Shame to invest $$$ in advancing her skills to lose it all.

Oh no!!!
Of course you won't lose any of Laura's skill! There is a backup-script keeping track of it all. So you should never have to worry.
Same goes for my other companions, except for the oldest one, Witchgirl (who deserves an update). Their skills will always be restored the minute you meet them (or at least next time you check their skills)
But... Laura's telepathy ring won't work if you are separated for her for more than 72 hours. This is why she also gives you another ring, that will always bring her to Vivec Foreign Quarter plaza, regardless of any 72-hours bugs. (No worries - the moment you meet Laura, the telepathy ring will start to work again).


And as Grundulum says, "bug" is probably not a good word, as the 72-hours"bug" in many way can be very helpful.

This post has been edited by Emma: Aug 5 2005, 07:44 PM

The 72 hour "bug" is usually a reference to The Underground, where a very obscure glitch caused the game to crash for many users exactly 72 game hours after leaving a certain point in the quest. The crashes would increase in frequency until the mod was unplayable for some. People who didn't kill all the spiders in one particular building would be more susceptible to the bug than others.

Qarl's attempt to fix this bug kinda sorta suffered 'mission creep' and will emerge as The Underground 2, with no bug and lots of lovely goodies!

Uhm... people may refer to The Underground in connection with the 72 hour "bug", but... the 72-hourbug was generally known and refered to before I think Qarl had even joined the ES-boards .

I believe calling TU2 a case of "mission creep" may be the single most gargantuan understatement I have ever read on these forums. And I've been reading for a while. Just so you know.

In other words the 72-hour "bug" is really a feature built into the game to clean up "garbage" every 72 game hours.

Thanks Emma. Sounds like companion mod making is a sophisticated undetaking. Being aware of what is going on "behind the scenes" as it were makes me appreciate the finished product more.

By the way. I'm upgrading from Laura 2.1 to 2.2. I haven't gotten very far, so I'm tempted to do a clean from 2.1 (drop all Laura related items, leave any cells with her or the cottage, save, disable 2.1, save) and then add in 2.2. Other than start the mod from the start, will that cause any problems (ignoring mod order ones!)
Do I need to replace/upgrade the textures/sounds/meshes/etc, or can I simply replace the esp?

Thanks also ninefold, grundulum,pricess-stomper and BTS! (not looking to slight anyone)

Grundulum, I used the enchanted editor to clear cells/NPC's affected to help FPS. Sounds like your 3 day vacation trick would work too (and not blank out my map!)

The readme for Laura 2.2 has a section "5b - UPGRADING IMPORTANT!!! PLEASE READ!!!". That says it for upgrading from 2.0 and earlier, but it also applies to upgrading from 2.1 to 2.2.

Follow those instructions: Emma is very good at making her mods upgradable safely.

I'm pretty sure it has been mentioned more in connection that one mod than I've seen it mentioned elsewhere, hence mentioning it because if someone's seen it referred to in that context and not in the other context (which I wouldn't refer to as a 'bug' - more a 'feature' or 'quirk') they might still be confused.



Just trying to help...



I try.