The Headless Baby Glitch and How to Fix it

[Robb Plat]

Introduction:

There is a famous Niche bug that occurs when a pregnancy is induced by console commands. This full-grown headless Nicheling entity appears in the nest and causes the save file to be unusable, that is to say the game cannot be exited, and any attempts to use the save file result in a Hedgehog-Day phenomenon where the save starts the day the Dullahan was born.

I shall use the terminology Dullahan to describe what are know as “Headless Ghosts”, “Demonspawn”, "Pregnancy Demons", and “Headless Monsters” (see sources below). A "Dullahan" is a headless horseman who carries his own head (from Irish folklore, see Wikipedia).

Past sources:

• https://steamcommunity.com/app/440650/discussions/1/2549465882933982450/
• https://strayfawnstudio.com/community/index.php?/topic/10818-activatestatuseffect-pregnant-glitch/
• https://strayfawnstudio.com/community/index.php?/topic/3197-console/ (Post by Goggles-kun, Glitch #8)

Note that the last source shows Dullahans with a different phenotype than more recent Dullahans.

Credit goes to Modiano (a.k.a. Golden Fawn) for discovering how to manually "debug" this bug. I have compiled a procedure on how to seemingly circumvent this bug based on my own experience with this workaround. (Golden Fawn's original post:

 

Important Notes:

- Do not try to exit the game until mentioned in the steps.

- The sex (male or female) of the Dullahan seems to be determined at random.

- This is not an easy glitch to work around. Not suitable for those who are unfamiliar with console commands.

 

Methodology:

1. Open the console commands and use “addstatuseffect pregnant” on the Nicheling of your choice. Note that if you choose a female Nicheling, she must have not mated before.

2. Set the pregnant Nicheling on a nest and pass the day. The Dullahan should appear.

3. Open the console commands and “increaseage 1” on the Dullahan.

4. With the console, set all the gene slots with the “setgene …” command. That is, ears, horns, eyes, etc.

(Note: the command will not disappear as it usually does, but it is making an effect. I recommend to press enter twice to ensure that it has been entered.)

Troubleshooting: if the Dullahan doesn’t change appearance (into whatever genes you’ve set), you have missed a gene.

5. (Read this whole step before attempting) After completely setting the genes of all your Dullahans (who should appear normal by this point) you can either pass the day and then quit/exit, or just quit/exit the game. Once the game has frozen (yes, it will freeze) and you exit Niche, the save file should have updated.

6. Start Niche again and play the same save that had froze.

7. Your PlayerAnimal should be a fully-functioning one-year old. Now you can increase it’s age to 6 (adult) with the “increase age 5” command or whatever you like (change it's name, it's genes, it's mutation menu, etc.)

 

Now that you’re done, you should be able to play the save file as normal. You can leave the island and leave the game, both without any repercussions. However, the PlayerAnimal will not show who the parents are, not even the birth parent.

Attached are photos of what the Dullahans look like (in the current version), and what genes the Dullahans might have based on their phenotype (Image 1 & 2 below). Note that the Dullahan seems to have blue eyes (in Image 1), despite it seemingly being recessive for (having two copies of) the albinism gene.

In a future experiment, I might see if this also works for the "ActivateStatusEffect Pregnant" command.

If anyone who reads this is able to salvage their corrupted saves from previous versions, or if there are issues with this guide, please let me know in the comments!

[Modiano Urania]

Uh, i always needed two PlayerAnimal to change genes.

Also, could you change the username you credit me with Modiano? It's my usual username.

That PlayerAnimal's eye color isn't the usual blue

[Robb Plat]

42 minutes ago, Golden Fawn said:

Uh, i always needed two PlayerAnimal to change genes.

Also, could you change the username you credit me with Modiano? It's my usual username.

That PlayerAnimal's eye color isn't the usual blue

I was able to change genes on a save with only one PlayerAnimal!

I did this in a Story Mode file with Eve as the "birth parent".

 

Editted.

 

It's kind of a "dead fish eye" kind of blue. The lack of light reflection (white specks) on the eye might change how it looks. Also, it might have a bit of green, so it's more teal? The closest colour is still definitely blue.