In Skyrim, the console command to set a follower as essential is not working. What am I doing wrong

the-elder-scrolls-v-skyrim

I am trying to change my companion to essential so they don't keep dying on me. However, the console command is not working for some reason.

The code:

setessential <baseID> 1

should work (it has worked before with others), but when I type

isessential <baseID>

it comes back to 0. I can confirm it's not working, because my follower is still dying, which would not happen if they were essential.

Why is it not working? What am I doing wrong?

Best Answer

I discovered that if I have them selected, and do this, then it doesn't work. However, if I make sure that nothing is selected, then if works. What I mean, is, in the console, when you have something selected, you can see the refID. If you can see any refID, then setessential will not work. It works if you have nothing selected.