Test (hold/permanent) cell in Starfield?

[adolf102]

Hi fellow space explorers!

I am looking to create mod with permanent storage(container) that the player can access at will. Idea is to keep container in "permanent" cell and use OpenOneWayTransferMenu() to access it from trigger(activator).

I am thinking of keeping the container in "permanent(test)" cell. Skyrim appears to have these as per this wiki and to quote from it: "Holding cells exist in order to hold items until they are needed by a quest or something else."

I did the above, and that seems to be working fine. I have used a duplicate of cell "CTEST" that already existed in Starfield.esm

Questions I have though.

1. Is this cell (duplicate of CTEST) really permanent?  Or I have just been lucky for a few hours that the container placed there persisted.

2. If it is really permanent, how is it so? What makes it permanent?

Thanks for help with this.

[Evangela]

Cells are permanent unil they're deleted.

Question 2 is a long technical answer I can't provide.

Edited September 30, 2024 by Evangela

[LarannKiar]

A Cell that is not runtime created ( its FormID doesn't start with FF ) isn't auto removed as far as I know. You can use GetParentCell() to verify it's "editor placed".

To make such Cell, I think you'll need to have a Unique flagged Worldspace, a Location for both Location and (now embedded) Encounter Zone data then find a Planet where you can "handplace" it.

As for the CTEST, I don't know. You can try performing a Cell Reset with the Console command "ResetInterior".

[SKKmods]

A function to check if a cell is persistent used in this:

Bool Function IsInPersistentCell(ObjectReference thisRef) ; deploying in non persistent cell ?

Bool bIsInPersistentCell = false ; default to caution

If(thisRef != None)
      Cell thisCell = thisRef.GetParentCell()
    Int iMaxStaticFormID = 2147483647 ;0xfeffffff = 4278190079 but max 32signedint is 2147483647 7FFFFFFF
    Int ithisCellFormID = thisCell.GetFormID()
    If(ithisCellFormID <= iMaxStaticFormID) 
        bIsInPersistentCell  = true
    Endif
EndIf

Return bIsInPersistentCell 

EndFunction

 

[adolf102]

Thank you all very much for the answers. I will run a few more tests on that. For now been playing for good few hours and appears CTEST is persistent but will poke bit more around it.