Fallout 3

File information

Last updated

Original upload

Created by

MystykStar

Uploaded by

star-mystyk

Virus scan

Safe to use

About this mod

Harkness as a follower...

Permissions and credits
Changelogs
Name: Harkness Follower
Version: 1.22
Last Updated: May 19, 2011
Category: Companions
Author: MystykStar


My Fallout 3 mods are now as is. I can't troubleshoot any issues as I haven't played, nor modded, the game in years. If you have issues with any of my mods, and you can't find an answer in the comments, it'd be best to ask on the Fallout 3 Mods forum. There's likely people there who still play the game and can better help you.


Description
============
When I originally completed The Replicated Man quest I got both rewards - the Perk and the gun. Usually when the quest finishes that way you find that wherever you left Harkness (to confront or kill Zimmer) is where he stays forever after, in the one spot never continuing with his normal routine. It was as if he was waiting to be collected or reset.
For me it was the Stairwell. After tripping over him for the umpteenth time I thought it'd be better if he had something else to do.
So, I set about learning how to create my own follower.

**NOTE: You must complete The Replicated Man quest with one of the good endings, resulting in him staying on the ship.
If Zimmer resets him and takes him away he'll be removed from the game permanently and there's no way to recruit him after that.
The mod was made with the quest glitch in mind (though, later, after reading the Wiki it seems it was intentional and not a glitch). Take the gun and the perk, kill Zimmer before he leaves the Science Lab then Harkness stands where you last left him forever. You can tell if he has glitched, his gun won't be on his back.

Also, I recommend not recruiting him until the quest is complete. After the quest, in a way he owes you for keeping his secret and has a bit better understanding of what you're like, who you are, so would be more willing to 'abandon ship' to leave with you.

But, if you can't be bothered doing the quest you can recruit him at any time. In a future update that won't be possible without completing the quest beforehand.

==========
Recruiting:
==========
To recruit him you can't be Evil or Very Evil. His original alignment is Good, so you need to be around that. Please see the Known Issues section below for issues regarding Neutral Karma.
If you fail to recruit him you need to come back tomorrow and try again. It's not that his attention span is short, it's more the fact that people can change if given the chance. So, go give that water beggar some water (or a whole barrel if you're that evil) and he may just forgive you ;-)

Nothing has been changed in regards to his skills, inventory, things like that. Upon recruitment he has been given a health boost to be more inline with Charon. He is an android, after all. Stronger and more resilient than a human. During testing he was going down far too easily and quickly against creatures a fresh-out-of-the-vault unarmed Player could handle.
When you meet him he is Level 8, his health is 105. When you level up so does he, his health goes up by 5 each time. Unfortunately when you're a higher level he is still fairly weak and not much better than the dog in terms of back-up, and best left at home.
So, when you successfully recruit him he is given a one-time, once-off health boost of 150. The Player will always be higher up the food chain, but this time he/she has reliable back-up if things get out of control.

**If using FWE it may be a good idea to raise his health by another 100 points through the console. I thought of adding in an FWE-friendly esp, but it's just as easy to do it yourself. Simply open the console, click on him until his name appears at the top of the screen, then type modav health 100. Hit Enter and close the console.

============
Other Details:
============
As a follower he's set up pretty much like the vanilla followers with similar commands: Wait here, hang out at current location, Inventory Share, Follow Distance, Combat Style and Fire. He fires to his original Home Marker in Rivet City's Bridge Tower but can also be fired to a custom house through dialogue.

His follow distance is shorter than the vanilla followers (200), so you can have one of them with him and they won't bunch up or fight for the #1 position behind you.
In version 1.1 he only auto-fired at one particular place - when the player is captured in Vault 87. From version 1.2 onwards he is instead captured along with the Player. He happily follows to Point Lookout and The Pitt without the need for other mods to bypass it.
Although if he doesn't show up immediately fast-travelling within that world brings him straight to you. That's a 'game thing' rather than a 'mod thing.'
As I rarely have him waiting more than a couple of hours I'm not sure if he does auto-fire after 3 days. I would hope so as it's in his scripting, but scripts can conflict so who knows.
You can leave him in your Megaton or Tenpenny house for weeks on end and he'll not auto-fire just like the vanilla followers.

He's fully voiced. Unfortunately due to his limited lines in the game there may be some repetitiveness. Not as much as there used to be, however. I've tried to add some variety. Over time I'll add in more dialogue as well as other interactions and conversations.
Many of the security-related lines he spoke have been conditioned to only be said when he's within the walls of Rivet City. Hollering for Security during combat in Point Lookout, for example, is a little silly :-)

As mentioned previously, from Version 1.2 when you are captured while trying to escape Vault 87 Harkness is also captured and held in a nearby holding cell. I haven't tested what happens if you forget him and meet up with Fawkes at the end, but I'd advise not to forget to rescue him in case he doesn't auto-fire after 3 days.
The previous versions (1.0 & 1.1) have been removed and are no longer being used/edited/added to.


Location:
=========
That depends on where you left him when you finished the quest ;-)
But usually he can be found in the Marketplace (between midday and 6pm), the Bridge Tower, the Flight Deck, Weatherly Hotel or somewhere in between depending on the time of day.


Recommendations:
====================
I highly recommend Geonox's Better Male Face mod for the head mesh, and Sergey Lord's Younger Male Face for the face texture.
Both produce a vast improvement over the original male faces, IMO, and if you want your version of Harkness to look the same as in my images that's what you'll need.

Also recommended is Remote Control Companions Plus. It enables more options for all followers, both modded and vanilla, some of which I couldn't figure out how to do for my own. Plus if you're not in a social mood you can just bypass the dialogue window to trade with him using that mod. Yes, it's lazy to some extent but it's a shortcut :-)


Install:
=======
1. Extract the files to a temporary location.
2. Examine the folder structure and make corrections where necessary.
3. Copy files to (install folder)\Fallout 3\Data\
4. Start Fallout Mod Manager and place a checkmark beside the .esp file / activate the fomod.

It's recommended to create fomod's for mods that consist of more than just an esp. It makes installing/uninstalling much easier as well as a tidier Data folder.


Updating:
=========
There's nothing special to do, just overwrite currently installed files with this version.
If a fomod was made extract its contents to the desktop and add these files to it. then re-do the fomod.
FOMM should remember where the esp was in your load order and pop it right back in that spot.

There may be the odd voice file that isn't used at all, or was used but isn't any longer. Due to the amount of files in my esp's Sound folder if anyone knows of a tool to help track down the unused ones please let me know. That'd be handy and make the download just that little bit smaller :)


Uninstall:
=========
1. Start Fallout Mod Manager, and uncheck the .esp file(s) / deactivate the FOMOD, if you made one.
2. Delete the files/folders associated with the mod:

Mystyk's Followers.esp
Sound\Voice\Mystyk's Followers.esp
Readme - Mystyk's Followers v1.22.txt


Known Issues or Bugs:
======================
If your character is exactly Neutral he will treat you as if you're Evil and give the appropriate response. I've tried numerous ways to fix this (so Neutral is as good as Good) and none of them worked. The GECK doesn't have a global setting for Neutral by itself.
To check what Karma score you are, go into third person open the console, click on your character and type getav karma - if it's exactly zero or below he won't accept. If it's higher than zero he will.
If you're using DarnUI there's the option to constantly show your Karma onscreen, which is handy.

The mod has been tested a fair bit by various people, but if anything has been overlooked, if you find a glaring error or have problems please let me know (and give as much information as possible) so I can fix it. Or try to.


Future Plans:
==============
Updates and support suspended. See note at top of page.

Spoiler:  
Show
- I'd still like to have the quest only activate when MS08 has completed, as well as add in different recruitment dialogue. A speech check, rather than karma-based. Having it in this spot will make it mandatory to finish MS08 with a good ending. If done any other way you just won't have the dialogue option and he'll be gone for good.
- I'd still like to expand on his combat dialogue. Include more variety, if possible. Update: Thanks to DRG6525 for offloading hundreds of lines of edited dialogue from two of his companion mods (Jason and Ryan). That will certainly be possible :-)
- Add in more conversational dialogue, as well as more general interactions than just standard follower options.
- Minimise the one word replies and replace them with a little bit more "personality."



Contact:
========
You can find me on the BethSoft forums as 'MystykStar'
Beth.net as 'Mystyk'
Hall Of Torque as 'MystykStar'
Here as 'Star-Mystyk'


Credits:
========
Thanks to...
DRG6525 for his editing and additional scripting, plus donating a huge amount of voice files from two of his companion mods. Some of which have been used in v1.22
Miaximus for his scripting expertise in version 1.2
Suntiger for thoroughly testing.
Pistolero for his Follower Autumn mod that I referred to during creation.
Bethesda for creating Fallout 3 and providing us with a Construction Set.
Timeslip for Fallout Mod Manager and its included TESSnip.
ElminsterAU for FO3 Edit
LHammonds for the Readme Generator this file was based on.


Tools Used:
============
FO3 Edit
TESSnip (FO3 Edition)
G.E.C.K
Construction Set
Audacity


Permissions:
=============
- You must contact me and obtain my permission before altering, patching, re-using or re-packaging any part of this mod.
- You may convert it to another language, but you must keep the original English readme file intact and point to this download page.