*This mod authored by NosRhyfelwr and Herculine


*I : General
*II : Companion Features
*III: Known Issues
*IV : Installation
*V : Uninstallation

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*I : General:


Hello, (valued customer name), and thank you for choosing the NosCo Companion System!

The NosCo Companion System - or NCCS as we like to call it for short - is your source for simple to create yet very personal companions. Our mod contains a premade framework that has all the troublesome work of companion NPC creation done for you. Packages, dialogue, scripts, class, AI data, and combat style are all done.

To create your companion, you need only edit a few details, and create a new face, and your companion will be ready to go. (This statement not valid in Wonderland, Middle Earth, Outer Mongolia, some parts of Rhode Island, or where prohibited by law; no warranty expressed or implied; side effects of NCCS use may include eyestrain, loss of sleep, lack of a social life, and derision towards all other companion systems)

In NCCS, there are no companions added to the game by default. There are no cells added or modified, and no races or classes are modified in any way. Potential for conflict with other mods is very slight, as there are only two game settings modified; both settings have to do with the number of followers the player is allowed to have.

Refer to the file 'NCCS Companion Creation Guide', available for download next to the master archive for complete details on creation.

Also included are two companion plugins; one by me (Nos), and one by Herculine, our resident expert on the creation of companions so disgustingly cute you'll end up in a diabetic coma if you use them too long. The plugins are completely independent of each other, and neither needs be run at all, if you don't find them to your liking.


*II : Companion Features:

As this is a beta release, companion features are still limited. They will be expanded, as time goes by, and the mod - and game in general - become more stable.

NCCS companions do not use the "Wheel". They operate via normal dialogue commands, just as in Oblivion and Fallout 3.

Currently, companions using the NCCS can be hired, follow, stay, sent to the Novac motel room, Atomic Wrangler room, Lucky 38 suite (note: options only appear if you have acquired the room in question), Go Home; and fired. As well, you can order them to equip or remove a Pip-Boy 3000, sunglasses, clear glasses, and/or a slave collar. Following is slightly different than before, as it now includes three options: "Stay Close" (distance 150 - this is the default setting), "Give Me Some Space" (distance 250), and "Keep Your Distance" (distance 350). This setting is persistent, and should remain even after being told to stay and follow again.

You may check/modify companion inventory at any time from the equipment submenu.

You may check on your companion's stats and skills at any time via dialogue. The stat check will also show aggression and confidence. Checking is done from the personal submenu.

You may change an individual companion's aggression and following distance at any time from the behavior submenu.

Companions will heal themselves when injured, provided you leave stimpaks in their inventory. They will also heal when you sleep. Currently, they do not heal you when you're injured.

Companions do not loot enemy corpses, as these AI packages have been found in the past to be extremely problematic.

By default, no companion will have any hiring requirements beyond you asking them to join you. They will also not refuse to rejoin your party if you've previously fired them.

Companions may use power armor by default.

Companions will share XP from their kills by default.

Companions' teleporting code is enabled by default.

Companions can use most vanilla game weapons, as long as you remember to include ammunition.

Companions have access to three classes: General Ranged (tag Guns, Energy Weapons, Explosives), Sniper (tag Guns, Energy Weapons, Stealth), and Melee (tag Melee Weapons, Unarmed, Explosives). Class can be changed at will from the behavior sub-menu. Combat style is automatically updated to match class. The class list will only show entries that your companion can change to; and not the class that they currently are.

Companions may be ordered to utilize their Pip-Boy lights, if they're wearing one. There are two sets of orders: one for single companions, one for your entire party at once. These commands are accessible from the behavior sub-menu.

By default, companions are essential, and thus can only be knocked unconscious - never killed.

Companions will ignore friendly hits from you, but may not from other NPCs. Please be aware of this if using vanilla followers and NCCS companions in the same party.

Giving your companions explosive weaponry or a Fat Man is a very bad idea.

Companions do not understand what a trap is, or that it should be avoided. Be aware of this when moving through potentially trapped areas - especially if you have the Light Step perk.

For quick orders, activate your companion while sneaking. A menu will pop up, granting access to class changing, a follow/reset command, stay command, and inventory access. Companions can not be hired or returned to the party after being told to stay in this way; and must still be hired or returned to party via normal dialogue methods.

As of Beta v0.5, companions may now sit when you do. This will vary based on the exact seat you choose; and the random "mood" of the companion in question. Companions who do not sit will still enjoy a refreshing Nuka Cola.

The System options dialogue menu allows you to toggle experience sharing for kills, teleporting, and to set your current location as home. Note that the default NCCS sandbox package is not centered on the home marker, so setting an exterior area as home is still not a good idea.



*III: Known Issues:

Unfortunately, FONV is even less companion friendly than FO3 was. There are numerous problems in the game with navmeshing that cause problems for all companions; even the ones included in the game, itself. The NCCS crew is no different in this regard, and will have unavoidable problems following you in places. Normally, they'll attempt an alternate route to catch up to you... but there are certain places in the wasteland that are so badly done that they "break" companions - leaving them either stuck, or "jumping" or teleporting after you slowly. When this occurs, there's no way to snap them out of it I've found, except to save your game; exit FONV, restart the game, and reload your save.

Even with the newly improved code, there are still incidents where companions won't follow you immediately through a cell-change door. There's nothing I can do about this - the engine is flagging them as in the same cell as you, but not moving them immediately; so the script won't fire. There's nothing to be done on a mod-wide scale to rectify this that I'm aware of; fixes will require a real patch from Bethsoft (yeah, right).

In other instances, companions can become "stuck" after combat ends - standing still, and keeping their weapon drawn even when you holster yours. This can normally be fixed by tapping the wait key and giving it an hour. In particularly bad cases, even after waiting you'll still need to speak to them and tell them to follow again.

Companions will occasionally make odd choices regarding equipping items. There's nothing you can do about this. If you want your companion to use a specific weapon or outfit, give them that one and no others. Make sure you also give them appropriate ammunition, if it's a weapon.

Companions will oftentimes charge into combat against targets you're trying to snipe from a distance discreetly. This behavior seems to be triggered by the enemy's compatriots targetting you; it doesn't occur unless you're detected. This is another behavior that happens to ED-E, as well, so I think it's an engine thing. I haven't found any way to stop it without completely breaking the companions' combat abilities. If you know of one, I'm happy to try it out.

When told to remove their equipped pip-boy, the companion's forearm will be invisible. This is an engine thing, and not something I can fix. The arm will go back to normal the next time they change clothes. Removing their armor, closing the share window, then opening a new one and returning the armor/clothing will reset the displayed body and fix the problem.

There is some... debate raging - okay, maybe raging is too strong a word... - between my partner and I regarding companion scripts. She's having excellent luck running them all on one script, where my experiences are mirroring the ones in FO3: two companions in your party work fine on one script, three work okay for the most part, but once you hit four things start having problems more often, and only get worse as you go further. If you notice repeated problems with your companions stopping/getting stuck after combat, you may want to try switching one or more of them to different scripts. The companions in my pack (NCCS Nos' Premade Companions) all have their own individual scripts, and shouldn't pose any such problems; nor eat into your safety margin for your own companions. Testing is still ongoing; once a better concensus has been reached, the creation guide will be updated to definitively state which method is better.

Lastly, there are parts of certain quests where you're teleported to a new area. Scripts attached to these move the vanilla followers with you; but not mod-added ones like NCCS. The teleporting code, if enabled, will pull your companions along with you. If you disable it, they will most likely not follow in such instances.

As always, any bugs you encounter that aren't listed here should be reported in as much detail as possible, so that I can attempt to fix them.


*IV : Installation:

To install, simply extract NosCo Companion System.rar to your Fallout New Vegas\Data\ directory. Other than the ESM files, there is one texture file that needs to go into Data\Textures\NCCS\ If you extract with paths intact, it should end up there automatically.

To run, you need only check the appropriate files in your load order. FOMM is, as always, recommended. Remember that the NosCo Companion System master must be loaded before any companion plugins.


*V : Uninstallation:

To remove, delete the NosCo Companion System.esm file, as well as textures\NCCS\

Once removed, you will not be able to use any NCCS plugins.


You can reach me here: http://www.fallout3nexus.com/modules/members/index.php?id=956857

You can reach Herculine here: http://www.fallout3nexus.com/modules/members/index.php?id=1464967

Or keep up with new developments at the Nos' Mods blog: http://nosmods.blogspot.com/