NpcRemover

An Elden Ring mod which removes any selected NPC.

Concept

The original mod worked by replacing the files for a given character using ModEngine2. While the original mod works perfectly, it requires the user to find the ID of the NPC they wish to replace and then rename the files to that ID. This adds a bit of friction to the experience. This mod tries to help with this by providing a window which lets you pick the NPCs and then replaces them for you with the click of a button. If you do not wish to run scripts on your computer (despite the fact that the code is provided), I highly encourage checking out the original mod.

Quickstart

If you don't want to read, you can just watch the video to get in faster. There are more details below, but the video should give you the most common stuff.

Installation

1. Install ModEngine2. Follow the instructions on the page.
2. Install Python3. The latest, stable version is the safest choice (it'll be the big download button at the top). I tried not to use too many new features to allow people with older version of Python3 to run the mod, but if you're having problems, I would download the latest version. It is important to note that Python2 and Python3 are completely different, and Python2 is not just and "older version of Python3".
3. Download the latest release of this mod. Alternatively, download it on NexusMods.
4. Extract the downloaded mod wherever you'd like.
5. If you downloaded from NexusMods, skip this step as the replacement files will come with it. If you downloaded from GitHub, you need a copy of the replacement files.
   1. Grab a copy of the replacement files from the original mod. Both the original and turtle forms work, but I recommend the turtle files as it decreases the chance of softlocking the game.
   2. Extract the replacement files into the res folder of this mod. There should be no parent folder; the .dcx files should all be directly under the res folder.

Usage

1. To run the mod, run launch_npc_remover.bat by double-clicking it. This will install the dependencies and then launch the mod window. If you know Python, feel free to run it yourself, but the .bat file takes care of everything for you.
2. Click on the Browse button for Mod Engine 2 Mod Folder and select the mod folder where you have installed ModEngine2. Please keep in mind this should be the mod folder inside ModEngine2, not the ModEngine2 folder itself. It is also not the chr folder inside the mod folder.
3. Use the Available NPCs list to select the NPCs you wish to replace. You can use the text box to search for the names, and if you want more information you can click on the Info button for an NPC which will open a browser tab to the wiki for that name to give you more information. When you know you want to replace the NPC, click on its row to will move it into the Replaced NPCs.
4. If you accidentally added an NPC, click its row in the Replaced NPCs list to un-select it. You may also click the Clear Selection button to remove all currently selected NPCs.
5. Once you're happy with your replacements, click on the Replace NPCs button to perform the replacement.
6. If you wish to clear your replacements that you have previously applied, click on the Clear Folder button. WARNING: This clears everything in the mod/chr folder in ModEngine2. This includes other mods you may have installed. Make sure you actually want to clear all of your character mods before selecting this option.
7. The NPCs should now be replaced. You can close the mod window and the terminal that was opened to run it. The terminal will close when you press any key. It is kept open in case there were errors that you want to send to me for help.
8. Launch your game the normal way you do with ModEngine2 and confirm that everything is working as intended. You will not need to relaunch this mod and perform the replacement steps again unless you want to change the NPCs being replaced.

Screenshots

Questions and Comments

Need help? Want to suggest a feature? Any other comments or questions? Leave an issue on GitHub or a comment on NexusMods and I'll try to help as best as I can.

FAQ

Smart App Control is blocking the mod, what can I do?

Instead of double-clicking launch_npc_remover.bat, you can try right-clicking it and selecting "Run as administrator". I don't really like recommending this, since this bypasses some Windows security features and if you get into the habit of doing this, you could run into dangerous scenarios down the line. The safer option would be to use the original mod to manually replace the files to not have to bypass Windows security features.

When the mod is running and installing dependencies, it gives an error saying "Failed building wheel" and says "Microsoft Visual C++ 14.0 or greater is required.", how do I get past this?

Python will try to get the dependencies it needs automatically from the internet repository PyPi. However, if it can't find the dependency matching your operating system and version of Python, it may try to build the dependency from scratch to get around that. This is perfectly normal in development but can be annoying for a user. There are a few solutions for this. Please read all of them as the one I'd recommend is the last one.

1. Install the C++ build tools that are mentioned in the error. The link to the download will be provided in the error. If you are not a developer, I can't really recommend this since it's a decently sized download (5+ GB) and it installs tools that you don't really need, taking up installation space as well. However, if it's an OS issue, this may be your only choice, but realistically, if you're using normal Windows and a standard CPU, this shouldn't really be a problem.
2. Change your Python version. This isn't that hard but for a normal user may not be ideal. To know which Python version you need, you would have to check: search that package that failed to build in the error on PyPi, go to the "Release history", pick the matching version for the package that is listed in the requirements.txt, go to "Download files", find a version of Python with the operating system and CPU architecture you are using, download that version of Python, delete the mod folder, then try again. Probably not something the average person would want to do.
3. Ask for help on GitHub or NexusMods. Your version of Python is likely too recent, so I can just tell you what versions to change in your requirements.txt and possibly help update it for others as well. This is probably the easiest path, and what I'd recommend.

Attribution

The original idea for this mod and the mod which provides the files to use as replacements is found here as was uploaded by Vlobster.
This mod is a leftover of a mod made by "SolowD" which was named "Remove ants and hands-spiders (not only)" which appears to have since been removed.
The ID file is a copy of Character.json provided by Smithbox.