NPC Routines Expanded - Robot Vendors

Uninstalling from a save file is not recommended or supported unless you are starting a NG+. See the articles section for the reason why.

Broad Overview

While there are a decent number of NPCs in vanilla who have had daily schedules since day 1 of Starfield's launch, many of them do not have schedules, especially vendor NPCs.

80 named characters now have daily schedules

12 unnamed characters now have daily schedules

28 new robots work in various stores, so you can buy stuff when the store owner isn't there (Styx included)

114 data slates added to various store countertops and NPCs' personal spaces. Some of these slates are simple notifications of business hours, while others offer you a window into the lives of characters and where you can find them when they aren't working.

3 of these data slates are Easter eggs for The Expanse

All of this is spread across New Atlantis, Cydonia, Akila City, Neon, Gagarin, HopeTown, Paradiso, the Red Mile, New Homestead, Dazra, The Den, and The Key.

All robot vendors are voiced with recycled and spliced vanilla robot dialogue, with a few cut voice lines incorporated. No AI is used.

Specific Details

NPC routines are controlled by custom AI packages that I made from scratch and thoroughly tested in-game. They will physically walk from their store to various locations, and back. All schedules and store hours are based on a planet's local time. The business directories for the New Atlantis and Akila information kiosks have been updated to show businesses that have hours and/or robots.

I have been very careful not to interfere with vanilla quest progression. Before adding a schedule to an NPC, I looked up every single dialogue scene they were involved in. If someone was required to be in an exact location for a scene, I have either not touched them, or added conditions to ensure their custom packages will not run until the scene is done.

If you find a shopkeeper while they're away from their store, or sleeping, their normal dialogue tree will not be available and you won't be able to trade with them. There are a couple of exceptions to this, mainly quest dialogue. If you have to talk to someone to advance or turn in a quest, you will still be able to do that. I have tested this, and you can see examples in the screenshot section.

All robots working in stores are linked to the exact same vendor inventory as their human counterparts, so you won't miss out on anything by buying from them. There are no conflicts with mods that add items to vendors. If you Enhance yourself via a robot, the cost is the same as doing it through a human. If you have any mods that change the cost of Enhance, they will still b