Fallout 3

About this mod

Adds a new companion to the Fallout 3 world - Brisa Almodovar. Escape Vault 101 with her. Develop her combat and support skills as you both level-up and overcome the trials of the wasteland together.

Requirements
Permissions and credits
Translations
  • Russian
Changelogs
Name: Brisa Almodovar
Version: 2.01 Release
Category: Companions
Date: June 10, 2023
Author: RickerHK

INTRODUCTION:
This mod adds a new Follower to the Fallout 3 world - Brisa Almodovar. Being Amata's cousin, and just a year older, she grew up with you and Amata in Vault 101. As events heat up for you and you are forced to leave Vault 101, you can choose to take her with you. The actions you take on the way out matter to her, though it's not difficult to meet her requirement. If for some reason she does not go with you, or you don't want anything to do with her to start off, you will get an opportunity to take her with you during MS16 (Trouble on the Home front), after resolving that quest.
You don't need to start a new game to have her as a companion.
If you are currently in the middle of 'Escape', Raven Rock, Tranquility lane, 'Trouble on the Home Front', 'Take it Back!', or ANY of the DLC's, finish it before activating this mod.

See Change Log for version 2.01 enhancements.

MOD REQUIREMENTS:
This mod REQUIRES the GOG version of Fallout 3: Game of the Year Edition, or the GOTY DVD set. Fallout 3: Game of the Year Edition
If you have the Steam Version of GOTY (1.7.0.4), run this patcher to make your game compatible with FOSE:
Fallout Anniversary Patcher at Fallout 3 Nexus - Mods and community (nexusmods.com)
This mod REQUIRES FOSE 1.2b2 or later. FOSE 1.2b2

INSTALLATION:
1. IMPORTANT BEFORE REMOVING THE OLD VERSION!!!
IF you are using one of Brisa's Lings, Project Beauty, or Good Hairday plugins, do the following before uninstalling the old version:
a. Talk to Brisa -> Let's talk about some things
b. Let's fix your hair
c. <Press Here to Prepare Brisa for Hair Plugin Removal>
d. DONT PRESS THE ARROW KEYS AFTER THE ABOVE STEP
e. <Press Here When You are Done Selecting Hair>
f. Exit dialog
g. Hit escape and make a full save.
h. Exit the game.

2. REMOVE OLD VERSION. It is critical that you completely remove any previous version of this mod, including all loose voice, mesh, and texture files, and especially the optional plugins.A clean save is not necessary. You should be able to continue with Brisa in your current save.
Manual Cleanup:
Delete these folders and their contents if present:
a. meshes\RHKBrisa
b. textures\RHKBrisa
c. Sound\Voice\RHKBrisaAlmodovar.esm
d. RHKBrisaAlmodovar - main.bsa
Delete these plugins if present:
a. RHKBrisaAlmodovar.esm
b. RHKBrisaAlmodovar - DLC - Anch.esp
c. Brisa and FWE - Primary Needs Patch.esp
d. Brisa - FWE Skill Books Compatibility.esp
e. RHKBrisaAlmodovar - Custom - Lings, PB, or Hairday
f. JIP CC&C - Brisa Almodovar.esp

3. INSTALLER: I recommend you use the All-In-One installer RHKBrisaAlmodovarVer2dot01.7z with NMM, FOMM, or MO2. The installer detects if you have the requirements for the various options and installs them (if you select them):
a. Brisa's DLC Option - all five DLCs are required.
b. Lings, Project Beauty, or Good Hairday mod patches including hair/eye color combinations.
c. FWE, IMCN and RiPnO patches.
Options only appear if the required mods are already installed. If you have more than one of the above hair mods (In general, this is NOT recommended), then choose only one.
Set RHKBrisaAlmodovar - FWE.esp to load AFTER RHKBrisaAlmodovar - DLC.esp
BE CAREFUL - IF YOU HAVE THE NON-HD VERSION OF Project Beauty, YOU WILL STILL SEE A CHOICE FOR THE HAIR PLUGIN - DON'T CHOOSE IT SINCE THE HAIRS ARE NOT THERE!!!

UNINSTALL:
1. Use your mod manager to deactivate the Mod.
Manual cleanup:
Delete these files:
a. RHKBrisaAlmodovar.esm
b. RHKBrisaAlmodovar - Main.bsa
c. RHKBrisaAlmodovar - DLC.esp
d. RHKBrisaAlmodovar - FWE.esp, RHKBrisaRiPnO - Compatibility.esp, and RHKBrisa - IMCN*.esp
Updating from the previous version should be save game compatible. No script variables have been removed or re-arranged. New ones are appended to the end of the variable declarations so the indexes remain the same.

MEETING BRISA:
If you enable the mod after you have already left Vault 101, you will meet up with her in the following ways:
1. If you enable the mod right after listening to Amata's distress signal, but before re-entering vault 101 - you just got the 'Trouble on the Homefront' quest - she will be with the rebels and you can hire her after the quest is resolved.
2. If you enable the mod at level 1-4, she will find you and act as if she has been looking for you since you left the vault.
3. If you enable the mod at level 5-9, same as (2) above, but she will have better armor and a small gun.
4. If you enable the mod at level 10 or above, she will have given up trying to find you. You will find her at the sniper shack. http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Sniper_shack
5. If you killed her uncle during the escape, she won't come looking for you at any level. You can get her at the end of MS16 in this case. You will find her at the sniper shack if MS16 is already done.

DLC NOTES:
The DLC plugin requires all five Fallout 3 DLC's.
Do not install the DLC plugin if you are in a DLC. Wait till you are back in the Capital Wasteland.
Brisa has to be following you. Do NOT use her teleporter. Do NOT MAKE HER WAIT when you are entering a DLC or her script for that DLC will shut down.

Point Lookout:
Yes - take her with you in the Bog!
Zeta:
Brisa can overload healing arches (SCI >= 75), and they heal her as well as the player if she is close enough.
Alien Epoxy added to Brisa's generic spare part list for weapon/armor repair.
Combat and Medical menus seamlessly integrate Adapted Biogel.
Pitt:
Talk to Brisa and ask her to find some slave rags - AFTER you have disguised yourself. The slave rags have a script on them that set stages for the Pitt DLC01Quest01 so I recommend that you DO NOT use the console to get this armor.
I decided that Brisa is not allowed in the 'Hole'.
New things are added thanks to feedback from users!

MAIN FEATURES (Version 1.35):
1. Brisa gets 'level-up' points every time the player levels up. You apply these points to her four support and seven combat skills as you see fit. If you enable the mod late, you get enough points to 'catch up'.
2. Brisa can read skill books with the player. If the player has the comprehension perk, this is taken into account. You give her the book, and she 'processes it' and applies the point to herself and point(s) to the player.
3. She can read pre-war books - at a cost. The player can choose which of her skills to apply it to, and the book disappears. Or the book can be applied randomly to a skill, and the player gets it back, but it will only be worth half the caps for a certain side quest, and no XP. The Pre-war book applies to the skillbook count for the skill it is applied to.
4. Her support skills: You can apply points to Medicine, Science, Repair, and Lock picking.
5. Brisa can heal the player and herself outside of combat, and apply first aid and chems during combat (no limb healing in combat).
6. She can Hack terminals and activate it to the player. She can get you to the main menu, or to debug mode if you want to solve it yourself. An Activation perk on the player facilitates this.
7. She can repair equipped armor, weapon, and helm on the player and herself.
8. Brisa can pick locks. An Activation perk on the player facilitates this.
9. Brisa's combat skills: You can apply points to the five weapons classes, unarmed and sneak.
10. Weapons classes each have one or more minimum skill requirements before a particular weapon can be used. For example, Brisa cannot use an automatic rifle until her skill level in Small Guns is 35. See below for full details. 
11. Weapons control system. Weapons are locked by default to prevent looting behavior. Two weapon glitches - 'wristwatch weapon', and 'doubled weapon' are detected and corrected. Weapons lost by Brisa during combat are replaced. The original weapon that you gave her is left untouched in one of Brisa's three 'weapon slots'.
12. A combat script strongly influences her behavior during combat in such a way that she will remain in the vicinity of the player and not 'run off to go kill something'. I hesitate to say 'control' here, but it generally works. Separate sections for Vanilla and FWE to account for AI changes.
13. Combat search behavior is throttled after a timer. Most of the time the player will be in the position of determining when a combat engagement will occur and will usually detect enemies before she will.
14. During combat, a menu appears when you activate her to avoid interrupting her AI. From this you can apply first aid, access her backpack, etc. See COMBAT MENU below.
15. Brisa has a Black Wolf Backpack (see credits), with configurable weight limits of 50/75/100 lbs. You can also show or hide it. Wearing power armor doubles the backpack limit. Brisa's personal carry weight limit base is 140 1bs, and will increase a bit as her strength increases (using Buffout or a stats increase).
16. Brisa's S.P.E.C.I.A.L. stats increase in various ways depending on experience in combat and support skills. (Except Perception - this is used to help control her combat behavior, and Charisma, which is not used).
17. Brisa can use Buffout, Med-X, and Psycho. The effect of Psycho on her is different than for the player - it adds +2 to Critical Chance. Med-X also sets 'ignore crippled limbs' for her. Drug effects last for 10 real minutes. 
18. Stat tracking and maintenance - almost all stats that can apply to an NPC are tracked by script and 'Forced' to these scripted values. They are forced in order to negate the 'object effect stacking bug', which 'stacks' the same effect over and over on your follower as you access their inventory. For example, you give her armor that has a +1 critchance effect. You access her container 10 times, the effect is now +10. You move to another cell, it's back to normal, etc. By forcing her stats, I am able to make something playable out of this. The tradeoff is that armor and weapon enchantments have no effect on her.
19. Menus to view her Combat and Support skill progress. Menu for viewing crucial stats - health, weapon health, DR, AR, carry weight, etc.
20. In-game help menus for Weapon system and skills requirements, Medicine, Repair, Hacking, and Lock picking.
21. Healing options - choose one - heal when player sleeps, heal after combat, or (default) have her take a "power Nap' - you can have her sleep in any bed/mattress/makeshift bed that the player is nearest. A nap is 60 seconds real time. Reflect on your strategy while she sleep-heals. If you leave the cell she is in, the nap will be 'interrupted'. She must sleep for 60 seconds for the healing to be applied.
22. Brisa is not marked as essential as this detracts from game play due to the full healing after combat (and also DURING combat) of essential actors. But she is revived by default if she goes down in combat. There are several options for this in her options menu. One of the options is to make her essential if you want.
23. Take her with you to Tranquility Lane. Don't tell her to wait - just let her follow you up to the pod, and get in it (not her, YOU get in the pod;)
24. Take her with you through vault 87 and Raven Rock.
25. DLCs - Operation Anchorage Plugin - Integrates her seamlessly into the simulation. Broken Steel quests and Adams AFB are no problem if you don't mind her standing in the Vertibird at the end. Point Lookout is also no problem if you don't mind her standing in thin air as the boat arrives at the dock and then moves to a position where she ends up standing right next to you ;) No doubt she will follow you through the other DLCs but her presence would be out of place going in fully equipped and I have not tested them. Her quest script will place her anywhere you go as long as she is following. If she gets too far behind (5000 units) the script will teleport her too you.
26. I've tried to focus on game play and immersion in this mod, and compatibility with my favorite 'overhaul mods'. The next two items are an exception to this.
27. Goofing off - You can turn on 'Player Replenish Ammo'. Brisa will provide a few hundred rounds for the Small Gun or Energy weapon currently equipped by the player. Off by default.
28. Auto Ammo - You can turn on auto ammo for Brisa, for Small Guns and Energy Weapons (not Gatling). It's a better game with it off, though. You really don't need this option with one follower, even when playing FWE or Arwen's Realism Tweaks (ART). It's on by default for Vanilla and FOOK2. Off by default for FWE and ART. Auto-Ammo for Big Guns is too game breaking and I have no intention of adding it.
29. A teleporter. I had hoped to avoid this but there are times when a follower will just get stuck, and you can't get 5000 units away from her for the quest to move her. It's main use is for when she is stuck in interior cells, the navmesh is problematic, or scripted doors block her.
30. Lip-synced Voiced dialog. Her follower menu dialog is fully voiced, using resources from Fallout-MenuVoices.bsa and Fallout-Voices.bsa. Other dialog that is triggered by quest events or a particular situation, are not voiced.
31. A custom race for the purpose of having brown eyes and clean teeth (see credits). In case you didn't know, the texture for brown eyes is missing from vanilla Fallout 3. There is no mesh/texture replacement for her body included in this mod.
32. A Facegen preset for the player. The screen shots were taken with Project Beauty installed so Brisa's appearance reflects this change with its face texture replacer.
33. Idle chatter with a option to set the frequency or turn it off
34. Four passive modes. In her Tactics menu, ask her to not engage unless: Player fires weapon, Player is getting hit, Enemy is real close (9 ft), or don't fight at all.
35. Ambush modes: 4 modes based on distance: 25, 50, 75, 100. A 5th mode to 'stay out of the fight' and sit quietly. This last mode will also stop her from fighting if she is already engaged.
36. Optional XP awards for her kills. You set the percentage that the player gets, based on the current Gamesetting XP rewards.
37. Tell her to sleep in any bed until you wake her. Similar to the power nap, and will heal her, but you can also leave the cell she is in.
38. Hot keys. One hot key brings up a menu (see below). Other hot keys for switch weapon, Access BackPack, and Fallback. You set the keys to whatever you want.
39. Camping. You can ask her to set up camp anywhere, though make sure there is room for a campfire, a mattress, a chair or stump, and invisible floor-sit markers by the campfire. These items will spawn when setting up camp. Sandboxing companions will use these items also. Activate the campfire to break camp, which removes the spawned items after causing your sandboxing companions to get off the furniture. 
40. Cooking. The campfire can be activated to cook a few items. Certain cookware needs to be in Brisa's backpack along with the ingredients. The food items heal some over time. They can't be tied into a PN module without a CP plugin, though.
41. Camp-Relax. Ask Brisa to relax when camping. She will use the furniture and sleep at 11pm. If you wander off and get into combat mode she will get up depending how far away you are.
42. Loosely managed apparel. The system tracks five regular outfits, plus one outfit for swimming and one outfit for sleeping. By 'Loosely managed', I mean that the current outfit that she is wearing is not strictly enforced and you can change whatever you like in the normal way through her personal container. When you switch to another outfit, whatever she is currently wearing is stored in a remote locker for that outfit, and whatever is stored in the locker for the next outfit, is moved to Brisa. You can manage the contents of these 7 lockers through her top-level dialog 'I want to manage your clothing'.
43. Stealth mode. When her science skill is 35 or greater and her sneak is 50 or greater, she has the ability to extend the player's steath field, and will go invisible when the player is invisible. Works when the player uses a Stealthboy or any stealth armor that the player may be wearing. This can be turned off in the options.
44. Lite-Em Up. When her Energy weapon skill is 50 or greater, her combat target is 'lit up' with an amber shader if she is using an energy weapon. This can be turned off in the options.
45. Bloody mess. If her Big Guns or Explosive skill is greater than 50, she will have the bloody mess ability if she is using these weapon types. This can be turned off in the options.
46. An aid item in the player's inventory will move the player to her location if she is within 25 feet. Use it if you are stuck. Avoids needing to use the console and TCL.
47. She performs some random idles when following or waiting.
48. Sits when the player sits, and numerous other little things that enhance immersion when entering dialog from sneak, sit positions, etc.
49. With the hair plugins, change her hair and hair/eye color. Hair style is changed in-game. Hair/eye color is changed by selecting one of 16 hair preset plugins. The hair plugins make it easy to use the Geck to customize her race any way you like - Hair, face and body textures and meshes, etc.

HOT KEY MENU:
1. Wait here - non combat wait. Range is same Cell/5000 Units. For combat wait, use 'Ambush', under 'tactics' 
2. Let's go - Cancels Wait, sandboxing or Ambush. Range is same Cell/5000 Units.
3. Support Skills - Medical and Repair (lock and Hack skills have perks). (Range 25 feet. She will walk to you). During combat cool-down, this option is not available.
4. Open Backpack - (Range 200 units - 9 Feet)
5. Let's Talk Tactics - Enters dialog with her from up to 25 feet in the Tactics Menu.
6. Switch weapon - Range is same Cell/5000 Units.
7. Fallback to Me - Initiate fallback during combat (or non). Also cancels Wait, sandboxing or Ambush. Range is same Cell/5000 Units. Triggers the combat cool-down timer. There is an indicator that let's you know this is active.
8. Show Me Your Status - (Range 200 units - 9 Feet)
9. Let's talk - Activates dialog from up to 25 feet away.
10. Exit.

Combat Menu Items:
1. First Aid - this opens a sub-menu for chems and stimpak application. When applying stimpaks, there's a delay until the menu comes back up to allow bullets from the enemy to come through.
2. Stay Close - Triggers a guard package around the player with about a 12 foot radius. Disabled for FWE since she runs guard packages for FWE combat exclusively. Available in the Tactics menu, though.
3. Stand Down - The combat menu stays active for a period after combat is over. This option will appear to let you time it out sooner if neither Brisa nor the player is in combat.
4. I need Ammo - If 'Player ammo replenish' is turned on, get your ammo here.
5. Wait/Ambush Here! - you can tell her to stay out of the fight (she will stop fighting at this point and stay put). Or wait to attack with various distance settings.
5. Let's get out of here! - Sometimes you need to run away, and it's frustrating when a follower won't run away with you. This makes her flee with you. You can activate her again to stop fleeing and fight from a better position, or just let it time out after you are away from danger, and are licking your wounds.
6. Open Backpack - You can access her backpack to give her ammo, get your Fatman, etc.
7. Switch Weapon - If she is using an inappropriate weapon, you can have her switch to another slot quickly without disturbing her AI. The proper weapon for her to use in a given situation is left up to the player. You have to remember what weapon is in a particular slot because there is no way to display a string value in Fallout 3 scripting.
8. Talk - Not recommended when she is snarling, but enters dialog. FYI - Her personal container is not available when SHE is in combat.
9. Exit - Leaves the menu.

IMMERSION:
Things in this mod that I think enhance immersion:
1. When you are both sneaking and you talk to her, she remains in sneak mode and enters dialog.
2. She performs animations when hacking wall terminals, desk terminals, picking locks, medical treatment, and repairs.
3. When Brisa gives medical treatment, it HURTS (during non-combat triage).
4. Power naps.
5. Close combat partner.
6. Chatter
7. Camping

KNOWN ISSUES:
1. An armor or weapon item from another mod that does not have a repair list will cause a CTD if you try to repair it. The only fix (work-around) for it is a CP patch to exclude the item from the repair script. This is a FOSE issue.
2. This is not an issue, just an FYI: When her weapons are locked, you can't take them out of her inventory. If you try, it will click and then it will look like there are two duplicate weapons. This self-corrects when you exit her inventory.
Cleaned with FO3Edit.

CHANGE LOGS AND MORE INFORMATION:
See README tab or README file.

COMPATIBILIY NOTES:
1. JIP CCC - Brisa's built-in Passive Mode is disabled with JIP CCC - make sure you have the JIP plugin for Brisa as well. For the 'Trouble on the Homefront', I would suggest you set the JIP setting to 'Always' passive unless you plan on attacking someone.
2. Skill Book Reading - I plan on a patch for Arwens' Realism Tweaks eventiually. If the ART 'Hard Core' module loaded, Skill Book reading by Brisa is disabled in order to not interfere with the changes to how skill books work in that mod. But she can still read pre-war books.
3. Due to game setting changes in FWE (I'm not sure which, exactly) a separate combat script section attempts to influence her combat behavior, because her AI packages seem to work differently with this mod loaded.
4. If you have Arwen's Hard Core module loaded, Brisa's level-up points default to 5 instead of 10. Since she doesn't get any perks or skill books, this seems to be keeping her on par with the player.
5. This mod does not change any records of the Vanilla followers, and works well with other follower mods, such as Phalanx.
6. Please do NOT recruit Brisa using the types of mods that can cause any NPC to be a follower - because these mods use scriptpackages that will probably conflict with Brisa's. You could have a mess on your hands and may have to load a previous save to fix it. You can use these mods - just not on Brisa.
7. EVE - (Energy Visuals Enhanced) - there are many creative ways this mod kills actors. As far as I can tell - some involve disabling the actor and spawning appropriate gore items in the world as well as the vanilla ash and goo piles. Brisa's resurrection scripting can detect the vanilla ash piles, disable and mark them for delete. The Black Ash pile introduced by EVE is actually a container. The kill script moves all of the victim's items into this container and disables the actor. This action is probably not limited to just the black ash pile. If Brisa is revived and has no gear, you will have to find it. Her backpack will not be affected. If you have chosen the revive option 'Don't revive if disintegrated or dismembered', this method of being killed is not flagged and she will be revived anyway.

TOOLS USED:
Geck
Nifscope
Notepad++
Script_Syntax_Highlighter_for_Notepad_plus_plus - By Cipscis
FO3Edit
FO3Plugin
Audacity
TES construction set
LIP Template by Kivan
Zumbs' FOMOD tutorial
BSARCH by Zilav

INSPIRATIONAL CREDIT:
This mod is inspired by the many follower mods and game changing mods that I have used in the past couple of years. Here are just a few:
Tarrant's Phalanx
EarthBind's LucyWest and Brianna
Chrome Hamster's Clover
Slaveraider and Bittercup by gurk_meja
Kelsey and Jessi Companion by Loxy38
Fallout Wanderers Edition - by the FWE Team
Arwen's Realism Tweaks - by Arwen Eve
Amy Wong - by Grish69

CREDITS:
These items are made by others, and I've used them to enhance this mod:
Wearable Backpack - BlackWolf Backpack, by HarbingerSP001 - balian - bunsaki  
Some Katanas, by necKros 
eyes addon, by Yoshikinakota - Capucine
Whiter Teeth, by Luchaire
Fallout Script Extender (FOSE) by Ian Patterson (ianpatt), Stephen Abel (behippo), and Paul Connelly (scruggsywuggsy the ferret). This mod would not be possible without it.
Bethesda - Fallout3 and Brisa's face (modified from a copy of Amata).
Scripting - I learned a lot of scripting tricks on the Bethesda Forums - thanks to Cipscis, Tarrant, HugePinball, TheTalkieToaster, and others.

CREDITS - Ling's Hair Plugin:
Anthony Lings Coiffure - Hair Eyes Lashes
No Lings assets are included with this mod, but other people made this plugin possible:
A huge thanks to EARACHE42 and Chrome_Hamster for creating the Lings Coiffure resource.
A huge thanks to all the talented people that made and converted these hairs!

CREDITS - Project Beauty Hair Plugin:
Fallout 3 Redesigned - Formerly Project Beauty HD
No PB assets are included with this mod, but other people made this plugin possible:
A huge thanks to Dracomies and SpaceOden for creating Project Beauty.
A huge thanks to Capucine and Yoshikinakota for the 'eyes addon' mod.
A huge thanks to all the talented people that made and converted these hairs!

CREDITS - A Good Hair Day Plugin:
A Good Hair Day
A huge thanks to Tony the Wookie for creating the Hairday resource.
A huge thanks to all the talented people that made and converted these hairs!

CREDITS - DLC Compatibility Plugin:
Thanks to Paxton2 for feedback on run-throughs with Brisa in all of the DLCs.
Thanks to everyone else that gave ideas in Brisa's mod thread.

CREDITS - Fallout Wanderers Edition Patch:
Thanks to ilanaisatree and iFSS for contributing to this plugin.
Thanks to the FWE Team for Fallout Wanderers Edition

LICENSING/LEGAL:
You may not re-host this mod on any other site, without permission.
You may pick apart my scripts and use whatever in your own mods. If you use a substantial amount of it, some credit would be appropriate.
If you want to use the items listed in the 'Credits' section, I have provided the links to them and you should use those to get the complete mod, and work from there. In any event, you must give them credit if you use them.
Translate to other languages - after asking me, you may translate this mod into other languages and post the entire mod as standalone. Send me a pm and a link to the site where you want to host it. I've always given the ok for this, but I would like to know.

DISCLAIMER:
With this mod loaded, as with any other mod in your load order, it's possible your computer will spontaneously combust, trigger a real nuclear war, or worse yet - cause your save game to be corrupted. Use at your own risk.