Name: Ashara's Characters as NPCs
Version: 5.1
Date: 13-6-2008
Category: Companions
Requirements: Oblivion Patch 1.2.0.214 or higher, Ren's beauty pack full
Author(s): Ashara
Source: http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=15785


Description
===========
This mod adds 10 new NPCs that you can recruit as companions using Talkie Toaster's Companion Share and Recruit. These NPCs are ten of my characters, Amroth, Blane, Elanna, Fabio Germanico, Hugh, Lorayne, Raynarr, Silvana Flavia, Sorcha and Zinnia.

You can find Amroth, Elanna, Hugh and Lorayne at The Tiber Septim Hotel in the Talos Plaza (Imperial City).
You can find Fabio, Raynarr, Silvana and Zinnia at the Chorrol's Castle Great Hall.
You can find Blane and Sorcha at the Skingrad's Castle County Hall.

* Amroth, a high elf male. Class: Spellsword (he has Alteration and Restoration as major skills)
* Blane, a mystic elf male. Class: Witchhunter (he has Security as a major skill)
* Elanna, a wood elf female. Class: Archer (she has Armourer as a major skill)
* Fabio Germanico, an imperial male. Class: Crusader (he has Restoration as a major skill)
* Hugh, a nord male. Class: Warrior (he has Armourer as a major skill)
* Lorayne, a breton female. Class: Nightblade (she has Alteration and Restoration as major skills)
* Raynarr, a dark elf male. Class: Thief (he has Security as a major skill)
* Silvana Flavia, an imperial female. Class: Sorcerer (she has Alteration and Restoration as major skills)
* Sorcha, a mystic elf female. Class: Agent (she has Security as a major skill)
* Zinnia, a redguard female. Class: Barbarian (she has Armourer as a major skill)

All of them will level with you being always 2 levels less than you because I didn't wanted them to make them overpowered, but they have a minimum level of 3 to allow them to help you at lower levels.

I've set all of them to Essential, so they cannot die. If you want to change them to Non-essential, you can use the mod Set Essential Actors Needs OBSE. It adds a spell that allows you to change the Essential tag of any NPC.

In order to be able to add the hairs an eyes to this mod, I have created custom races for them, that are just copies of the vanilla races. To allow them to have standard dialogue, I've had to mark those races playable. Therefore, you can choose to play with one of them for your main character but they add nothing new to the game and would only cause problems in some quests like the Boethia Shrine. So I recommend not to use them.

Savegames of my characters can be found here:

* Amroth
* Blane
* Elanna
* Fabio Germanico
* Hugh
* Lorayne
* Raynarr
* Silvana Flavia
* Sorcha
* Zinnia

And a mod that adds them as CM Partners, to use with Blackie's CM Partners Mod Basic can be found here: Ashara's CM Partners.


Required mods
=============
The mod requires:
* the latest Oblivion Patch (1.2.0.214 or higher).
* Ren's beauty pack full. Only the meshes and textures files are required, you don't need to activate the Ren's beauty pack esp file.


Recommended mods
================
* Talkie Toaster's Companion Share and Recruit.
It will allow you to recruit my characters as your companions.

To improve the facial textures, I strongly recommend:
* Natural Faces.
* Danis13 beauty Patch for MD Natural Faces
* Danis13 for Mystic Elves.

I also recommend Glenvar Castle, apart from being one of the best quest and house mods, the castle has large Guest Quarters where more than ten companions can feel at home.


Install
=======
1. Install the meshes and textures files of Ren's beauty pack full. No need to activate Ren's esp file

Manually:
2. Extract the files of this mod to a temporary location and chek the folder structure.
3. Decide which esp file you want to use:
* The default esp adds eyelashes to all NPCs, Luchaire's natural eyelashes to the males and Kalikut's longer eyelashes to female NPCs.
* The esp file included in the "EyelashesOnlyFemales" folder, only adds Luchaire's natural eyelashes to female NPCs.
4. Copy to (install folder)\Oblivion\Data\:
.- the selected .esp
.- the meshes folder
.- the textures folder
If asked if you want to overwrite existing files say "Yes to all".
5. Start Oblivion Launcher, click 'Data Files' and place a checkmark beside the .esp file.

Using the OMOD version:
2. Place the omod in your (install folder)\Oblivion\OBMM\mods\ folder
3. Start Oblivion Mod Manager
4. Select the AsharasCharactersAsNPCs OMOD, and press the "Activate" button.
5. You'll be asked if tou want to add eyelashes to all NPCs or only to females:
* If you select adding them to all NPCs, it will add Luchaire's natural eyelashes to the males and Kalikut's longer eyelashes to female NPCs.
* If you select adding them only to females, it will only adds Luchaire's natural eyelashes to female NPCs.


Upgrade
=======
To upgrade from version 3.1 or higher to version 5.1:
* Install the meshes and textures files of Ren's beauty pack full. No need to activate Ren's esp file
* Decide which esp file you want to use:
** The default esp adds eyelashes to all NPCs, Luchaire's natural eyelashes to the males and Kalikut's longer eyelashes to female NPCs.
** The esp file included in the "EyelashesOnlyFemales" folder, only adds Luchaire's natural eyelashes to female NPCs.
* Copy to (install folder)\Oblivion\Data\:
.- the selected AsharasCharactersAsNPCs.esp
.- the meshes folder
.- the textures folder
If asked if you want to overwrite existing files say "Yes to all".


Uninstall
=========
Manually:
1. Start Oblivion Launcher, click Data Files, uncheck the .esp file(s).
2. Delete:
.- the .esp file associated with the mod.
.- the folder \meshes\characters\CH4O\ and its contents (provided you haven't installed the Corean mod)
.- the folder \meshes\characters\Nequam\eyes\
.- the files \meshes\characters\imperial\teethhuman.nif, \meshes\characters\imperial\teethhuman.egm and \meshes\characters\imperial\teethhuman.tri (provided you haven't installed Scanti's merged teeth)
.- the folder \meshes\characters\JC\ (provided you haven't installed Throttlekitty and Jclyde6108's eyelashes)
.- the folder \textures\characters\corean\ and its contents (provided you haven't installed the Corean mod)
.- the folder \textures\characters\Nequam\eyes\ and its contents (provided you haven't installed Nequam eyes with other mod)
.- the file \textures\characters\imperial\teethhuman.DDS (provided you haven't installed Scanti's merged teeth)
.- the folder \textures\characters\JC (provided you haven't installed Throttlekitty and Jclyde6108's eyelashes)

Using the OMOD version:
1. Start Oblivion Mod Manager
2. Select the AsharasCharactersAsNPCs OMOD, and press the "Deactivate" button


Incompatibility
===============
None that I am aware of. As it only adds NPCs and their own races, there shoudn't be any incompatibilities with any other mod.


Known Issues or Bugs
====================
None that I am aware of. If you find any, please tell me.


History
=======
5.1, 11-9-2008 - added an alternate esp file in which these companions have lower responsability to allow them to fight "good" NPCs. Beware that that could also make them get into trouble more easily.

5.1, 13-06-2008 - added eyelashes with two options. The default option adds eyelashes to all NPCs, the second option only adds eyelashes to female NPCs.
5.0, 9-5-2008 - added two new NPCs: Blane and Sorcha. Meshes and textures from Ren's beauty pack full are required, but there is no need to activate the esp file of that mod.
4.0, 20-4-2008 - added two new NPCs: Raynarr and Zinnia. Modified AI of all eigth NPCs, now thay will always fight with a weapon if they have one available instead of with their fists, and if you tell them to make themselves at home they will stay where they are.
3.1, 24-3-2008 - added hairs and eyes to the mod so there is no dependancy on cosmetic mods.
3.0, 21-3-2008 - added a new NPC: Fabio Germanico.
2.0, 11-3-2008 - added a new NPC: Silvana Flavia, and added a third version of the mod that requires the "Beautiful People compilation with Cosmetic addition" plug-in.
1.0, 8-3-2008 - Initial release.


Contact
=======
You can contact me leaving a comment at the mod's thread or sending me a PM.


Credits
=======
Thanks to Bethesda for creating Oblivion.
Thanks to Nequam, Ren and idkrrr for creating such beautiful eyes, hairs and races mods.
Thanks to Scanti for the merged teeth.
Thanks to Throttlekitty and Jclyde6108 for the eyelashes meshes, and to Luchaire and Kalikut for the eyelashes textures.
Thanks to TESNexus.com for the a one-stop-shop resource for authors and players.
Thanks to LHammonds for the Readme Generator this file was based on: , and for all his OBMM scripting tutorials and tools used to create the scripted OMOD.
Thanks to all of you that are using this mod and are helping me to improve it with your suggestions.


Licensing/Legal
===============
Feel free to use this mod as you want. You can use it as it is or you can modify it in any way you want to.
If you want to use any of the meshes/textures included in this mod, give full credit to their original authors.