Is there a way to disable the defend settlement quests?

[Digdug]

As I'm currently unable to start End of the Beginning, I am continuously bombarded by the defend settlement quests. Is there a way to disable them from starting or a quest id and stage I can use to just force complete them?

 

[SarahAda]

i am having a very hard time tracking down the quest definition that runs the "Defend <Radiant>" gunner quests. so lets just skip that. what problems are you having starting SS2C2_Sirick_MQ22 "End of the Beginning" [QUST:xx021E0D]? all you should have to do is key the radio in jakes workshop to close out "War is good for business" and wait a bit for the MQ master to fire End of the Beginning and make jakes private radio frequency tell you to meet him at the car shop north of GNN. what behavior are you seeing?

The City manager holotape includes a quest skip feature. any luck with that?

 

[Digdug]

You can see this thread, https://simsettlements.com/site/index.php?threads/end-of-the-beginning-help.24565/#post-169672, if you want to see what others have suggested. All were tried, and failed unfortunately. To sum up, regardless of how I go about completing War is Good for Business (allies, no allies, recruiting before/after dropping off Lupe), I never start End of the Beginning or get a prompt to listen to Jake's frequency (tuning to the frequency several days after WiGfB does nothing either). Unfortunately, the only save I have before getting to either quest is 4 real time days of gameplay earlier (current save tree is between 5-6 days). Going back to the earliest save I have, I AM able to just skip to EotB using the holotape, so there's no obvious load order issue stopping it from firing. At some point between then and now, the game has decided to not permit the quest to fire. While I do use a number of quest mods like Outcasts and Remnants, Fusion City Rising, and Valkyrie, several others have reported not having issues with them despite their rather large potential changes to the various factions.

You mentioned an MQ master. Could you explain what that is?

 

[SarahAda]

You can see this thread, https://simsettlements.com/site/index.php?threads/end-of-the-beginning-help.24565/#post-169672,

oh ya, i remember this now. did you ever have any luck with "StartQuest SS2C2_Sirick_MQ22"? it'll probably break stuff, but worth a shot before you go terminating the story quests.

You mentioned an MQ master. Could you explain what that is?

both the original SS2 mod and the Chapter 2 expansion use a Main Quest Master quest to handle the hand-off between some quests and to manage global variables that are stored outside the quests. these master quests also house scripts that watch conditions and fire triggers and what not to keep actors in the right spots, set up starting quests, etc, etc, etc. this is one of the reason why you shouldn't just setstage on the story quests, it causes havoc for the MQ master if the game changes in ways it's not expecting, and the holotape is configured to set up the game in the same way as the quest would (in theory) so the MQmaster quest and story can progress normally. the CPD quest line has like 3, i think, because of how ambitious, complex and interactive those quests are, the designer probably needed more then one watcher script to handle all the conditions.

for the chapter 2 expansion, I THINK this quest is SS2C2_MQMaster "[Manages the main questline for C2]" [QUST:xx015D50]. if i had to guess (AND THIS IS JUST A GUESS) the MQ master that watches for the end of MQ21 "war" didn't see it or didn't run right, so it didn't start MQ22 "end".

i really need some kind of "this is speculation. don't take legal advice from a podcast. here be dragons" tag i can wrap all this baseless pontificating up in so people don't think i am dictating TRUTH from the mountain when i am really just guessing based on rumor, innuendo and reversed xEdit flags.

 

[Digdug]

No luck on the startquest command I'm afraid. The only SS2 quests I've fiddled with, that I can't readily revert changes to anyway, are the CPD ones because I was having a wicked hard time getting them to progress properly. This is actually the second playthrough I've attempted in order to figure out what's causing this problem so to have it happen again despite my extreme caution is....frustrating to say the least. My best guess at this point, given that my start of playthrough save is capable of skipping to MQ22 via holotape, is that the CPD quest line somehow botched the ally recruitment aspect of MQ21, even though it's a purely optional objective. That being said, I wonder if there's a way to have the master re-check or something?

Yeah, don't worry about the last bit. Unless Kinggath himself or one of the devs comes down from the mountain and hands me a stone tablet, I'm aware that it's all, generally speaking, speculation based on hunches, wild guesses, and xedit interpretations. I appreciate the perspectives as they sometimes point out things I haven't or wouldn't have though of.

 

[Cessori]

If you used the City Manager Holotape for quest skipping to "End of the Beginning" that quest should immediately start up for you.
Did you try checking Jake's Private Frequency for a message?

The Gunner Attacks do not stop until "End of the Beginning" is completed. You do not have to go defend them when they popup up. The gunners don't show up in the settlements until you are present to help defend. You can go deal with them when you are ready to. I'm not aware of any way to stop them from occuring other than progressing the main quests.
Quest progression is after you signal Jake that you're ready to attack (the last step in "War is Good for Business"), there should be a Radio Message on Jake's Private Frequency after 48 in game hours to start "End of the Beginning".

When trying console commands to prod quests to move along, you should always make a save before attempting those, so that if they don't work to resolve your issue with the quest, you can return to a point before you entered them to try something else.
If you used console commands and quest skipping and more console commands, you've broken something, so I would recommend returning to a save file before you did any of that.

I guess too, if you have modified things in xEdit, directly to get the quest lines to work with Depavity etc., that's a whole other realm of issue possibilities.

 

[Digdug]

If you used the City Manager Holotape for quest skipping to "End of the Beginning" that quest should immediately start up for you.
Did you try checking Jake's Private Frequency for a message?

Yes, I did. No dice I'm afraid.

The Gunner Attacks do not stop until "End of the Beginning" is completed. You do not have to go defend them when they popup up. The gunners don't show up in the settlements until you are present to help defend. You can go deal with them when you are ready to. I'm not aware of any way to stop them from occuring other than progressing the main quests.

I'm aware they don't actually start until I get there, but it just gets tiresome fending off a whole platoon every time I stop in to one of them to check on something. I appreciate the tidbit about not being able to do anything about it though. I can at least stop looking for the radiant quest controlling them.

Quest progression is after you signal Jake that you're ready to attack (the last step in "War is Good for Business"), there should be a Radio Message on Jake's Private Frequency after 48 in game hours to start "End of the Beginning".

You are of course correct. It just does not trigger despite my previous efforts, hence my frustration.

When trying console commands to prod quests to move along, you should always make a save before attempting those, so that if they don't work to resolve your issue with the quest, you can return to a point before you entered them to try something else.
If you used console commands and quest skipping and more console commands, you've broken something, so I would recommend returning to a save file before you did any of that.

I was extremely careful to not use console commands on any of the main quests and had even started this particular save to go through the entire quest line again rather than skipping anything as I'd done when I initially installed Chapter 2 in my previous play though. The only console commands I've used, and can't revert at this point, were CPD quest related as that chain was not progressing for me. Unfortunately, the only save I have before reaching the current point I'm at is so far back in the play through as to be useless. I did not think to create a save directly before MQ21 as, up to that point, everything was working perfectly. Sadly, the CPD quests weren't started until after MQ21 had started as well. As I knew that MQ21 would have me recruiting allies, I stopped progressing so I could complete faction quests in order to recruit them. That would be why I don't really have any other saves prior to this mess starting.

I guess too, if you have modified things in xEdit, directly to get the quest lines to work with Depavity etc., that's a whole other realm of issue possibilities.

Thankfully, this is a non-issue as I've not made any changes to any of my mods in this play through aside from cleaning a few of the minor ones when LOOT says they have ITM records.

So it basically sounds like I'm just SOL and this is a dead play through then. While unfortunate, it wouldn't be the first time this game has laughed in my face and told me to take a long walk off a short pier. I gave it my best shot. I'll try another play through later I'm sure. I appreciate the responses. Take it easy, folks.

 

[stryker1999]

I would highly suggest that you do a playthrough, or "throughs," with adventure mods you want to enjoy, and not have any SS2 mods installed at all. Like the Thuggysmurf Trilogy, 4, Operation Manhattan and whatever else you like. Then come back and do an SS2 playthrough, which might even have Chapter 3 out by then.

I do happen to have OM idling in the background, but it's not as major of a mod as some others. And I'm not doing it until I finish with the last of Chapter 2 quests and the Bethy FO4 expansions. I also have the four faction plotlines dangling at their points of no return, and intend to leave them that way.