The mod does not yet feature everything I have planned for it. I will continue working on this, little by little, whenever I find the time and inspiration to do it. I have some ideas I want to try out, but I also have other things to do.
EDIT: It appears another mod is causing this, nevermind my post below. I'm pretty stumped here lol
Alrighty, after playing around with this mod, I've had no problems but one, Is there a particular reason you can ask any member of the guild you're in to follow you even if you are a lower rank? I just find it odd that a low ranking member of the Dark Brotherhood for instance can just go and ask Ocheeva to accompany him.
I mean no ill will with this comment, just someone odd I noticed. Other than that, I've enjoyed the mod very much so.
When using the default INI settings you can ask anybody to follow you (providing they aren't in combat with you). I'm not at home right now so I can't give you the exact INI setting to change but it should be obvious by it's name.
Be aware that if you turn off the ability to recruit anybody you will need to create your own followers using the instructions in the readme.
If all goes according to my plan, I hope to get started on creating some followers for FFF when I get back home after putting my boat away for the winter.
I'm also considering enabling FFF compatibility with certain vanilla game characters. What I'm primarily thinking of is NPCs that aren't involved in any quests and are not merchants (what I'll term "low impact" NPCs). If you have any suggestions for NPCs fitting that general criteria feel free to offer your suggestions.
I will continue working on this when I have the time and access to my desktop again (there are some renovations going on, I had to pack it away). If you run into any issues, feel free to report. There is also the bug reports tab you can use if you want. If it looks like a bug or something that does not quite fit there in the mod, feel free to post it there. It is a handy way to make sure I will eventually do something about it - a checklist, of sorts.
Also, there is no readme. But that is just me being too lazy to write one. There is, however, an article in the articles tab, but it will probably need to be updated, as well. I will get to that when I update the mod, but it might take some time. If you find out where the issues came from, I would love to hear it. The only "follow" topic added by this mod is the "Follow me, I need your help." Which version are you using of this mod? And if you use the experiemental faction follower plugin, then that might cause some follow topic issues, since I have not been able to test it.
When I have the new version ready, a clean save would probably be handy, I might have missed some String_var destructions in the mod, so there might be lots of those in your savegame. Or might not. I will add the String_var destructions there, regardless. Sorry.
The reason I was confused at first, was mainly because after disabling the mod, the options to ask an npc to follow you were still there. Not sure why it happened, as it only occurred once and that was when I posted this.
As when I was freeing up my load order (193+ mods are great) I had to remove quite a few mods to play around with stability, and see which ones I could keep and which I couldn't, removing this mod did remove the original options.
but yeah, this mod is excellent, but I just find followers themselves to be tedious in Oblivion, I originally downloaded this mod with the intention of testing it with such a heavy load order, and it worked greatly, aside from that one nitpick with the followers.
I have found that as I use this mod and it influences my gameplay style it has settled into two niches.
My primary use for it is to move NPCs around the gameworld. One of my "mini-games" is to use bandits and marauders as "house dressing" in my various houses. I've learned some tricks that allow you to "reset" what they consider their editor location.
After I have defeated and "befriended" them (I have no problem with using the console for my own purposes) I get them to follow me to whichever house I want them to live in (side benefit of FFF ... you can get bandits/marauders/conjurers/necromancers inside cities ... no way possible to do that via the console). After I get them where I want it's simply a matter of console killing them (so they stay my friend) and leaving the cell, save and then exit the game. After you have restarted the game go back and resurrect them and they now consider that cell their new editor location. I use SPAWN to make all player owned cells have a very long time before reset (and I kept the vanilla behaviour so whenever I visit it restarts the timer).
The second way I'm using FFF is I also have a collection of my favourite marauders stashed in the Fluffy dimension (my Valkyrie Corps). Any time I want them as followers it's a simple matter to cast the spell and go and recruit one or more, come back to Tamriel and set up the battle. When I'm done I just take them back to the Fluffy dimension so they're not in my way.
Far superior to having followers all the time, and no need to go and find where they were left after last time, like most followers.
striker: can you do that "trick" with turning a new location into the home of your followers into something that is integrated in this mod? instead of having to kill them or disable them? or somehow make it happen behind the players back? do you know why this happens? (that they change "home" )
The vanilla bandits etc use AI packages that are "current location" rather than "editor location" for their default wander (same with mod added bandits etc that use the same vanilla AI packges). I've found in the time since making these posts here that killing them is not necessary ... all that is required is disabling them enough that they don't leave the cell you want them in before you can leave the cell and save.
My latest method is to reduce their fatigue below zero (I just use the console ... modav fatigue -500 works for any bandits/marauders/conjurers/necromancers I've seen in the game). Leave the cell and save, exit and load that save. They will now execute all of their AI packages in that cell, and if it's an interior like one of the vanilla/mod added houses they won't leave the cell on their own.
If they have a sleep package (all marauders and bandits except bandit wizards and archers ... none of the conjurers or necromancers) they will sleep in any unowned bed (interior cells only).
- Edit - It already is incorporated into this mod, because it simply involves getting them to follow you to where you want them. Fluffy is the only method that I know of to get leveled list NPCs (those with refIDs starting with "ff") into cities (i.e. into a world space other than Tamriel, which is the one they were spawned in).
- Edit 2 - Some updates on the latest methods I use ...
All that is required is have the "befriended" bandit/marauder/conjurer/necromancer follow you into the cell you want them to call home. While they are still following you save the game and then exit. Load that save and tell them to part ways and they now consider that cell their new "editor location".
Some caveats to consider ...
If your character has not been in that cell for some time they will often disappear rather than follow you into the next cell (house/inn/city/dungeon). What I do is save before entering the cell ... if they disappear then I exit and load the save from just outside the door, tell them to part ways (now that spot outside the door is their new "editor location") and then enter the cell I want them in. Then it's just a matter of going back out, recruiting them and getting them to follow me where I wanted them.
If I have already moved at least one NPC to that location previously and they are still there (i.e. the cell hasn't reset) then they will follow you in without any issue, even if it's been a long time since you were last there (SPAWN really excells at giving me what I want in that respect).
(...tree years later) I haven't seen your reply until now because of Nexus's amazing update system. But I have been playing with CS&R and with a small group of female bandits that I had a "head-quest" to deliver to the guard house in Skingrad, all disappeared at going through the gate except two of them. What is the difference between the follow package of CS&R and this one's? Is it because you teleport them to the island and then from there into the town? Or something else? Because I am going to do my own companion mod, I want to know what the best way to make them follow you is.
I haven't tried CS&R so I can't say if my trick works with it or not.
With this mod you can use the Fluffy dimension as a go between spot when getting bandit/marauder/conjurers or necromancers into the cities or other cells.
I tend to stick with my save outside the city gate/dungeon/house entrance rather that using the Fuffy dimension method as if it works to get them into the cell without trouble some extra steps are saved. If in fact they do disappear when changing cells it's just a matter of exiting the game without saving and then reload the outside the city save and tell them to part ways. They stay close to the city gate/cell entrance while you go into the city and then when you come back to get them they'll follow through without problem.
Many things can factor in with the behaviour of NPCs you create yourself and combat (confidence, aggression, combat style come to mind off the top of my head). Designing NPCs to be what you are looking for falls outside this mod and you'd be more likely to find ideas to explore by posting in the Oblivion forums.
What do your NPCs do if you go into sneak mode before combat starts and then center the cursor over the enemy and press and hold the X key until you see a whitish glow appear on the target?
They tend to ignore everything I do except to follow me, and they wont even defend another npc of their faction. and they have 25 aggression, 100 confidence, and has the DEFAULT combat style. Is there a way to make them automatically attack monsters while being peaceful to friendly npcs? and to also defend each other and me?
As I said, this is going into things that aren't releated to Fluffy Follower Frill, but what faction have your NPCs been assigned (Fluffy adds it's own behind the scenes).
Also you didn't answer my question ... go into sneak mode before an enemy spots you and get reasonably close while remaining undetected. Once close enough aim the sneak cursor onto the enemy and press and hold the X key until you see a whitish glow appear on the enemy.
Well I added them to the fluffy potential faction and to the player faction, and I didnt see the X key near the enemy when i sneak, but the followers from fluffy follower frill seem to have a big delay, as in they would be standing for around 15-90 seconds idly while theres a enemy right in front of them, and not all of them will attack at once, unlike CSR's companions that do, its a shame really because I love how the voice lines are set up for this mod
Contra hasn't been on the site for a year, so unless he returns to modding what you see is what you get.
What particular scenarios were triggering a crash for you? If you give me a very specific step by step way to recreate your crash I can look and see if it's something I have run into.
I use this mod all the time, and use it extensively to move NPCs around the game, so if there are quirks I've run into them (for the most part ... not saying you haven't found a new way to break things, but I did a lot of weird stuff while beta testing and trying to break stuff).
- Edit - After having a look at my Fluffy Follower Frill.ini and the default one I notice one change I made that may explain your problems. Change "set FluffyQuest.bAllowSandboxing to 1" to "set FluffyQuest.bAllowSandboxing to 0" (which turns off the sandboxing) and see if that clears things up. I can't recall all of the details, but it seems to me I found the sandboxing to be troublesome and it didn't add much to the way I use the mod (primarily to move NPCs from A to B).
First, by default all NPCs in the game can be used as followers, so option A is just add your NPCs to the game and go talk to them and the FFF dialogue options will be there.
If instead you want your NPCs to be possible followers but no other NPCs in the game you will need to change "set FluffyQuest.bShowGlobalTopic to 1" to "set FluffyQuest.bShowGlobalTopic to 0" in Fluffy Follower Frill.ini (so now only followers in the proper faction will have the dialogue option). Next you will need to create your follower NPCs using Fluffy Follower Frill.esp as a master (either via Construction Set Extender or by using Wrye Bash's ESMify) and add the faction from Fluffy to your NPCs.
I really like the idea of a simple, straighforward, follower system like this. I really don't need anything CM Partners fancy. I understand that it's not complete yet, and may not be up to your standards, but I'd like to give it a go anyway. Are you looking for any feedback on it? I like to give feedback where I can, but don't want it to seem like I'm pressuring for an update or criticizing your work.
As an aside.. I notice that the UOP enables the No Low Level Processing flags on a lot of NPCs that the team deems unnecessary to have higher AI. I've received warnings in the past from Companion Share & Recruit that the NPC I'm trying to recruit has no low level processing & may behave strangely. Is this something that your mod handles by any chance? I don't know if this is something that can be scripted around, such as altering the NPC's ref to clear the no low level flag, or perhaps spawn a new ref with the flag already cleared? Thanks!
Contra will need to address the technical aspects of this, but I regularly recruit bandits and marauders, and they both have the No Low Level Processing flag set. I'm not sure why, but using FFF is the only way I've found to get them into cities (without FFF you can't even use the console to get them into cities ... their refID doesn't exist once you enter a city).
The mod indeed needs some work, lots of work! I would say this is one of the potentially less buggy ones of my mods, so the things I have in mind are mostly reworkign the internals for simplicity and hopefully performance if I can squeeze a little more out of the mod. If you have any ideas, feel free to share! :) And yes, I also like the idea of a simple follower management mod. CM Partners (which I have never actually used) sounds like a chore to use, already based on the fact (?) that it requires custom NPCs for companions. Like, no recruiting that poor old random necromancer that deserves your mercy and that could actually be of help somewhere. Or some random legionnaire. There is a reason behind that aspect of CM Partners, I think. Recruiting anyone might, at some point, potentially cause an issue. For example, FFF allows you to recruit Sheogorath, the actual one sitting in the Palace at Shivering Isles, and features voiced dialogue (sort of, dialogue...) for the various standard options the mod offers, like for any NPC. Hehe.
That part about random NPCs existing with FFF and not existing without it might also have something to do with reference persistence, I think? Like, persistent references are always loaded in memory (if I remember correctly) by the game, regardless of where they are. As long as the persistent box is ticked, the reference can be accessed without it having to be in a loaded cell. Or it could indeed have something to do with AI. I have not looked into it. It has been a while since I wrote the scripts, but if I remember correctly, whenever the player activates a door, FFF finds the target marker for the door (the marker at the other door, to which the current one teleports) and moves all followers to that marker before the door is "activated" by the player. But I need to check it. I have not really looked much into low level processing and followers, I only test the mod with random NPCs I find, mostly bandits, and it works, and that is enough for me! Being as lazy as I am. :P
I currently use Mad Companionship Spells, MCS Extension and Human Touch (can't link, they exist on a site not allowed here, but a google search works), but will be giving this a try. Hope it can replace MCS.
I use it with a couple of mods that add options to NPCs without any issues (Give A Gift and NPCs Yield Refined are the primary ones) ... please report how your other mods respond to having Fluffy added to the mix.
And if there is something both possible and relatively simple to implement (technically) that those ones have, that this one does not, let us know. Not everything can be implemented, but if it is something simple enough, it might be possible to add it. Maybe. It depends...
Was not aware until just recently that you were modding together. Sounds interesting and I'll be giving it a whirl real soon. But on to the business at hand. I received a submission for this on the BOSS forum page and was wondering if you as the authors have any specific load order suggestions. Anything in particular that it needs to load before or after, aside from the items listed on the description page?
I have loading it just above my bashed patch and I believe Contra has it below the bashed patch but those are just positions we find convenient when testing. Contra believes it should be OK in any load order below it's masters.
Unfortunately I won't have access to my gaming computer until fall to do some load order testing for you (another of those "to-do" list things that I ran out of time for). Outside of a separate world space for the Fluffy home it is just scripts.
The only potential conflict I could see is with mods that add options to NPCs, but even those should be a non-issue as this mod is only adding options, not overwriting anything vanilla. I use it with mods like NPCs Yield - Refined and Give a Gift (which also add options to NPC's dialogue menu) without any problems being caused by Fluffy being lower in load order than those mods.
A similar load order position to those mods would likely make a good starting point (it is where I would start my testing, were I able to do so right now).
Indeed, the mod is pretty much completely scripts and dialogue, nothing existing has been touched. The idea is to maintain compatibility. The optional untested experimental plugin to change the vanilla systems to this one modifies some dialogue topics, and is the only one that can cause conflicts, and only with things that modify the same dialogue topics. Currently only Mages Guild and Dark Brotherhood follower topics have been touched.
Fluffy Follower Frill.esp --> does not matter at all, place it somewhere where it looks nice, you can check in TES4Edit if you want
Fluffy Follower Frill - Additions.esp --> will conflict with mods that change the same dialogue topics, you can check it in TES4Edit
Feel free to ask if you have any other questions. Striker will not be testing the mod for a while, but I still have an update planned (heh, living a dangerous life of risk and excitement, as can be seen) to fix some issues and make the mod's internals less of a mess, I hope. Hopefully there will not be too many bugs to slip past my one person tests. The plan is to slowly try and add some new features, too, I have a fine to-add list, thanks to Striker.
Hey I can't script to save my life, so I have to contribute something (wouldn't that make a fine mess ... two people writing scripts for one mod).
Thanks for looking at this M Hahn ... being recognized by BOSS is a big deal to me, even if we need to make some adjustments down the road. My load list isn't very exotic (and probably never will be) so in a way we're counting on users reporting issues.
If it would help you at all I can PM you my load order.
For now I just went off of the info you supplied. Since the mod is mostly scripted and shouldn't in theory conflict with much out there, I've placed it in the base mods category near some other similar mods. It's fairly high up but still sits well below the masters it depends on. Happy to re-adjust if the need arises.
Congratulations on finally releasing this mod! I've never really found a follower system mod I liked. Hopefully this one changes that.
A few questions, regarding the following bug, is there anyway I could do it myself until an update is released?
I notice one of the requirements is the Unofficial SI patch, I have the renamed to "dlcshiveringisles.esp", would there be any problems with just changing the master?
Also, would you advise I place the mods esp anywhere after its masters or will I have to look at my load order and figure it out?
At the risk of getting my hand slapped and sent to the corner (and I hope I don't get grounded from dipping into the cookie jar ... that would be disaster) I have uploaded version 1.0.4, which does not have the followers not following problems.
And for the record, in version 1.0.5b they will follow, just not very well. If you run a short distance away and wait a few seconds they will start to run over to you. If you then start running before they reach you they will continue running after you, as long as you make sure to check they don't get too far behind. If they do drop back too far and warp to you you'll need to go through the run a little ways/wait and then run cycle again.
All just a side effect of using the accompany package instead of a follow package.
- Edit - Also just noticed that version 1.0.4 doesn't include the folder for the HUD Status Bars Enhanced INI ... pretty sure you could just use the version 1.0.4 Fluffy Follower Frill.esp from the extracted download to replace the ESP from version 1.0.5 and all would be well. There weren't any changes to Fluffy Follower Frill.ini and the Fluffy Follower Frill.esp.ini found in the Ini\HBSE folder is the same as the one found in versions 1.0.3 and 1.0.5 (so no changes there either).
- Edit 2 - One other caveat about the version 1.0.4 Fluffy Follower Frill.esp ... it has a file date set way back to year 2000 (Contra thinks probably a Mod Organizer side effect) so be sure to sort it after your masters either manually or using BOSS User Rules.
Sorry, I have been a bit busy. Yes, Mod Organizer would seem to manage the dates for all plugins automatically (as does Wrye Bash, I think, at its heart, since sorting plugins for Morrowind using Wrye Mash worked by changing the dates manually, too). Changing the date would be little work for even less gain, since everyone always sorts and checks their load order, regardless, or at least they should.
You can place it anywhere, for example right after the unofficial patches, it should not matter. No need to place it near the bottom, either, just make sure all the masters are before the mod.
Maybe you could replace the master. No direct edits were made to anything, although the mod does use assets from both Oblivion and SI. I cannot remember if any of them came from the unofficial patches, though. The dependencies are there mostly just so that people do not use the mod without Shivering Isled, since I packed in some Shivering Isles voice files, and the mod uses some Shivering Isled assets in the player home.
You can change the type of the "FFFAIFollow" package (or similar, cannot remember) from "Accompany" to "Follow", and make sure player is the target reference. If you feel like taking the risk, that is.
And Striker: that was a great idea! Wonder why I did not think about it myself. Hmm. Odd. Thank you. You have earned your cookies. Maybe if I ate less of them myself, I would not feel so dizzy, and the mods could work for a change.
Great. I hope the mod will get most of bugs and problems fixed and will become successor of old CM Partners.
Really looking forward to it and have a question will there be a feature that allows mortal partners to die only after being knocked out once in a day/ or a week - customizable feature? I would like to play with a sense of fear that I can lose my comrade if we won't play it out right, but wouldn't like to lose him after few hits from a very strong mob especially when I play with triple/4x damage.
Hmm. Chances are I will not be able to add too many features into this one. Currently, the NPC itself is not modified at all, and I really mean at all. The first versions had a faction added to an NPC, but I disposed of that, and now the NPC is not modified at all. And when the NPC is not modified at all, I cannot, for example, change their essential status, aggression, responsibility, name or anything. And pretty much every command I have found modifies the base object, like if all Bandit Marauders share the same base object, renaming one renames all Bandit Marauders from the same base object. CM Partners appears to use separate custom NPCs, so it can modify them as much as it can. This mod, however, has the idea to keep it simple and not do permanent changes, and therefore will always remain limited.
And just a heads-up: Striker reported the "following" feature to be broken in 1.0.4. Haha. I swapped it from "Follow" to "Accompany" for testing purposes, and apparently it does not work that way. I will revert it to "Follow" in the next version. So if this "follower" management mod fails to make your "followers" actually follow you, that is a known issue, and will be fixed. Sorry about it.
I was actually thinking about something like that, maybe via an OBSE event handler, to prevent followers from dying, and make them fall unconscious instead. But I have no idea if enemies will let them be, because I have not managed to stop any combat between a follower and someone else. The fight just keeps going on. So I have no idea if any of that can be made. But I can check it. The plan is to first restructure the mod's internals a bit, to make it less confusing to develop. The amount of tiny bits is getting out of hands.
I use NPCs Yield - Refined which affects NPC to NPC interaction as well as player to NPC. Now granted, I have things tweaked in the INI to make it less predictable who will yield and who won't, but the same seems to apply to the other NPCs. Sometimes a guard/Legion patrol will accept an NPC's yield, sometimes not, and occasionally they'll accept the yield and when they are halfway back to their horse/guard post they change their mind and kill the poor unfortunate.
Not sure if that could be a source of inspiration for you Contra. What Lux is asking for (essential until certain conditions are met if I understand correctly) could bring that same unpredictability.
And it was version 1.05b that had the not following behaviour ... version 1.04 was what I used to confirm it wasn't a glitch on my end.
Whoooops. Yes, sorry. That was a typo, it is late and I am getting a bit tired. Obviously version 1.0.5, also known as "the follower mod without the following feature".
The "b" in the name was meant for "beta", but I think I will drop it. The logo/name in description can say it is beta. The version number field apparently does not accept spaces, so I am not sure how to add "beta" to it. I need to think about it. And that mod is definitely worth checking out, thank you. I was almost banging my head on the wall, because I have not managed to produce any effect at all to stop the fights. Thank you, I think you pointed that one out earlier in a PM, too. This time I need to read through it thoroughly.
So here's some of the things I've been using FFF to do.
I'm always wanting to mess with those pesky Highwaymen. If I happen to run into Oghash gra-Magul when she's on her run to the Imperial City it's often in the same area as the Highwayman who hangs out near Fort Chalman. I'll recruit Oghash, get close enough to the Highwayman that you can see him but not so close that he comes running up with his "Money or your life" and then send Oghash after him. Because he's not a hostile NPC at that moment she won't attack him ... she just takes all his stuff!!!
Never gets old for me.
I'm a great one for collecting things. One of my favourites is NPCs like bandits or marauders. I also use NPCs Yield - Refined so sometimes they will yield rather than fight to the death (but I'm not above using a little "console tom-foolery" when needed). Used to be I kept some of my favourites stashed in various Ayleid ruins (I also use SPAWN and I have Ayleid ruins set to be a long time before they respawn). Back when I used console commands to make them followers it was a pain to get group A to the right spot to fight group B (marauders vs bandits, bandits vs conjurers etc). It always seemed you ran into a mudcrab or Legion patrol before you got to that "good fight" you were looking to start.
Now I use the Fluffy home as one of my stashing spots (well for my marauder Valkyries anyway). It's a simple matter to spot a group of bandits (for example the pair at Vilverin), move just out of sight and away from any interfering Legion patrols and summon the portal to the Fluffy home. I pop in there and get one or more of my Valkyries to follow me back to where I was near Vilverin. Then I either set up a nice ambush and lure the bandits into it or get the girls to follow me over close to Vilverin.
Either way the Vilverin bandits aren't going to come out on the clean end of the stick.
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The mod does not yet feature everything I have planned for it. I will continue working on this, little by little, whenever I find the time and inspiration to do it. I have some ideas I want to try out, but I also have other things to do.
Alrighty, after playing around with this mod, I've had no problems but one, Is there a particular reason you can ask any member of the guild you're in to follow you even if you are a lower rank? I just find it odd that a low ranking member of the Dark Brotherhood for instance can just go and ask Ocheeva to accompany him.
I mean no ill will with this comment, just someone odd I noticed. Other than that, I've enjoyed the mod very much so.
Be aware that if you turn off the ability to recruit anybody you will need to create your own followers using the instructions in the readme.
I'm also considering enabling FFF compatibility with certain vanilla game characters. What I'm primarily thinking of is NPCs that aren't involved in any quests and are not merchants (what I'll term "low impact" NPCs). If you have any suggestions for NPCs fitting that general criteria feel free to offer your suggestions.
Also, there is no readme.
When I have the new version ready, a clean save would probably be handy, I might have missed some String_var destructions in the mod, so there might be lots of those in your savegame. Or might not. I will add the String_var destructions there, regardless. Sorry.
As when I was freeing up my load order (193+ mods are great) I had to remove quite a few mods to play around with stability, and see which ones I could keep and which I couldn't, removing this mod did remove the original options.
but yeah, this mod is excellent, but I just find followers themselves to be tedious in Oblivion, I originally downloaded this mod with the intention of testing it with such a heavy load order, and it worked greatly, aside from that one nitpick with the followers.
My primary use for it is to move NPCs around the gameworld. One of my "mini-games" is to use bandits and marauders as "house dressing" in my various houses. I've learned some tricks that allow you to "reset" what they consider their editor location.
After I have defeated and "befriended" them (I have no problem with using the console for my own purposes) I get them to follow me to whichever house I want them to live in (side benefit of FFF ... you can get bandits/marauders/conjurers/necromancers inside cities ... no way possible to do that via the console). After I get them where I want it's simply a matter of console killing them (so they stay my friend) and leaving the cell, save and then exit the game. After you have restarted the game go back and resurrect them and they now consider that cell their new editor location. I use SPAWN to make all player owned cells have a very long time before reset (and I kept the vanilla behaviour so whenever I visit it restarts the timer).
The second way I'm using FFF is I also have a collection of my favourite marauders stashed in the Fluffy dimension (my Valkyrie Corps). Any time I want them as followers it's a simple matter to cast the spell and go and recruit one or more, come back to Tamriel and set up the battle. When I'm done I just take them back to the Fluffy dimension so they're not in my way.
Far superior to having followers all the time, and no need to go and find where they were left after last time, like most followers.
do you know why this happens? (that they change "home" )
My latest method is to reduce their fatigue below zero (I just use the console ... modav fatigue -500 works for any bandits/marauders/conjurers/necromancers I've seen in the game). Leave the cell and save, exit and load that save. They will now execute all of their AI packages in that cell, and if it's an interior like one of the vanilla/mod added houses they won't leave the cell on their own.
If they have a sleep package (all marauders and bandits except bandit wizards and archers ... none of the conjurers or necromancers) they will sleep in any unowned bed (interior cells only).
- Edit - It already is incorporated into this mod, because it simply involves getting them to follow you to where you want them. Fluffy is the only method that I know of to get leveled list NPCs (those with refIDs starting with "ff") into cities (i.e. into a world space other than Tamriel, which is the one they were spawned in).
- Edit 2 - Some updates on the latest methods I use ...
All that is required is have the "befriended" bandit/marauder/conjurer/necromancer follow you into the cell you want them to call home. While they are still following you save the game and then exit. Load that save and tell them to part ways and they now consider that cell their new "editor location".
Some caveats to consider ...
If your character has not been in that cell for some time they will often disappear rather than follow you into the next cell (house/inn/city/dungeon). What I do is save before entering the cell ... if they disappear then I exit and load the save from just outside the door, tell them to part ways (now that spot outside the door is their new "editor location") and then enter the cell I want them in. Then it's just a matter of going back out, recruiting them and getting them to follow me where I wanted them.
If I have already moved at least one NPC to that location previously and they are still there (i.e. the cell hasn't reset) then they will follow you in without any issue, even if it's been a long time since you were last there (SPAWN really excells at giving me what I want in that respect).
I haven't seen your reply until now because of Nexus's amazing update system.
But I have been playing with CS&R and with a small group of female bandits that I had a "head-quest" to deliver to the guard house in Skingrad, all disappeared at going through the gate except two of them.
What is the difference between the follow package of CS&R and this one's? Is it because you teleport them to the island and then from there into the town? Or something else? Because I am going to do my own companion mod, I want to know what the best way to make them follow you is.
With this mod you can use the Fluffy dimension as a go between spot when getting bandit/marauder/conjurers or necromancers into the cities or other cells.
I tend to stick with my save outside the city gate/dungeon/house entrance rather that using the Fuffy dimension method as if it works to get them into the cell without trouble some extra steps are saved. If in fact they do disappear when changing cells it's just a matter of exiting the game without saving and then reload the outside the city save and tell them to part ways. They stay close to the city gate/cell entrance while you go into the city and then when you come back to get them they'll follow through without problem.
What do your NPCs do if you go into sneak mode before combat starts and then center the cursor over the enemy and press and hold the X key until you see a whitish glow appear on the target?
Also you didn't answer my question ... go into sneak mode before an enemy spots you and get reasonably close while remaining undetected. Once close enough aim the sneak cursor onto the enemy and press and hold the X key until you see a whitish glow appear on the enemy.
What do your NPCs say and do then?
What particular scenarios were triggering a crash for you? If you give me a very specific step by step way to recreate your crash I can look and see if it's something I have run into.
I use this mod all the time, and use it extensively to move NPCs around the game, so if there are quirks I've run into them (for the most part ... not saying you haven't found a new way to break things, but I did a lot of weird stuff while beta testing and trying to break stuff).
- Edit - After having a look at my Fluffy Follower Frill.ini and the default one I notice one change I made that may explain your problems. Change "set FluffyQuest.bAllowSandboxing to 1" to "set FluffyQuest.bAllowSandboxing to 0" (which turns off the sandboxing) and see if that clears things up. I can't recall all of the details, but it seems to me I found the sandboxing to be troublesome and it didn't add much to the way I use the mod (primarily to move NPCs from A to B).
First, by default all NPCs in the game can be used as followers, so option A is just add your NPCs to the game and go talk to them and the FFF dialogue options will be there.
If instead you want your NPCs to be possible followers but no other NPCs in the game you will need to change "set FluffyQuest.bShowGlobalTopic to 1" to "set FluffyQuest.bShowGlobalTopic to 0" in Fluffy Follower Frill.ini (so now only followers in the proper faction will have the dialogue option). Next you will need to create your follower NPCs using Fluffy Follower Frill.esp as a master (either via Construction Set Extender or by using Wrye Bash's ESMify) and add the faction from Fluffy to your NPCs.
The first way is by far the simplest.
As an aside.. I notice that the UOP enables the No Low Level Processing flags on a lot of NPCs that the team deems unnecessary to have higher AI. I've received warnings in the past from Companion Share & Recruit that the NPC I'm trying to recruit has no low level processing & may behave strangely. Is this something that your mod handles by any chance? I don't know if this is something that can be scripted around, such as altering the NPC's ref to clear the no low level flag, or perhaps spawn a new ref with the flag already cleared? Thanks!
That part about random NPCs existing with FFF and not existing without it might also have something to do with reference persistence, I think? Like, persistent references are always loaded in memory (if I remember correctly) by the game, regardless of where they are. As long as the persistent box is ticked, the reference can be accessed without it having to be in a loaded cell. Or it could indeed have something to do with AI. I have not looked into it. It has been a while since I wrote the scripts, but if I remember correctly, whenever the player activates a door, FFF finds the target marker for the door (the marker at the other door, to which the current one teleports) and moves all followers to that marker before the door is "activated" by the player. But I need to check it. I have not really looked much into low level processing and followers, I only test the mod with random NPCs I find, mostly bandits, and it works, and that is enough for me! Being as lazy as I am. :P
Was not aware until just recently that you were modding together. Sounds interesting and I'll be giving it a whirl real soon. But on to the business at hand. I received a submission for this on the BOSS forum page and was wondering if you as the authors have any specific load order suggestions. Anything in particular that it needs to load before or after, aside from the items listed on the description page?
regards,
M Hahn
Unfortunately I won't have access to my gaming computer until fall to do some load order testing for you (another of those "to-do" list things that I ran out of time for). Outside of a separate world space for the Fluffy home it is just scripts.
The only potential conflict I could see is with mods that add options to NPCs, but even those should be a non-issue as this mod is only adding options, not overwriting anything vanilla. I use it with mods like NPCs Yield - Refined and Give a Gift (which also add options to NPC's dialogue menu) without any problems being caused by Fluffy being lower in load order than those mods.
A similar load order position to those mods would likely make a good starting point (it is where I would start my testing, were I able to do so right now).
Feel free to ask if you have any other questions. Striker will not be testing the mod for a while, but I still have an update planned (heh, living a dangerous life of risk and excitement, as can be seen) to fix some issues and make the mod's internals less of a mess, I hope. Hopefully there will not be too many bugs to slip past my one person tests. The plan is to slowly try and add some new features, too, I have a fine to-add list, thanks to Striker.
Thanks for looking at this M Hahn ... being recognized by BOSS is a big deal to me, even if we need to make some adjustments down the road. My load list isn't very exotic (and probably never will be) so in a way we're counting on users reporting issues.
If it would help you at all I can PM you my load order.
Congratulations on finally releasing this mod! I've never really found a follower system mod I liked. Hopefully this one changes that.
A few questions, regarding the following bug, is there anyway I could do it myself until an update is released?
I notice one of the requirements is the Unofficial SI patch, I have the renamed to "dlcshiveringisles.esp", would there be any problems with just changing the master?
Also, would you advise I place the mods esp anywhere after its masters or will I have to look at my load order and figure it out?
Cheers, have a good day and good luck!
And for the record, in version 1.0.5b they will follow, just not very well. If you run a short distance away and wait a few seconds they will start to run over to you. If you then start running before they reach you they will continue running after you, as long as you make sure to check they don't get too far behind. If they do drop back too far and warp to you you'll need to go through the run a little ways/wait and then run cycle again.
All just a side effect of using the accompany package instead of a follow package.
- Edit - Also just noticed that version 1.0.4 doesn't include the folder for the HUD Status Bars Enhanced INI ... pretty sure you could just use the version 1.0.4 Fluffy Follower Frill.esp from the extracted download to replace the ESP from version 1.0.5 and all would be well. There weren't any changes to Fluffy Follower Frill.ini and the Fluffy Follower Frill.esp.ini found in the Ini\HBSE folder is the same as the one found in versions 1.0.3 and 1.0.5 (so no changes there either).
- Edit 2 - One other caveat about the version 1.0.4 Fluffy Follower Frill.esp ... it has a file date set way back to year 2000 (Contra thinks probably a Mod Organizer side effect) so be sure to sort it after your masters either manually or using BOSS User Rules.
You can place it anywhere, for example right after the unofficial patches, it should not matter. No need to place it near the bottom, either, just make sure all the masters are before the mod.
Maybe you could replace the master. No direct edits were made to anything, although the mod does use assets from both Oblivion and SI. I cannot remember if any of them came from the unofficial patches, though. The dependencies are there mostly just so that people do not use the mod without Shivering Isled, since I packed in some Shivering Isles voice files, and the mod uses some Shivering Isled assets in the player home.
You can change the type of the "FFFAIFollow" package (or similar, cannot remember) from "Accompany" to "Follow", and make sure player is the target reference. If you feel like taking the risk, that is.
And Striker: that was a great idea! Wonder why I did not think about it myself. Hmm. Odd. Thank you. You have earned your cookies. Maybe if I ate less of them myself, I would not feel so dizzy, and the mods could work for a change.
After I did it, and then went "Oops" a couple of times and made my edits I was beginning to think "Hmmm, maybe this isn't such a good idea after all".
So now you're blaming sugar for the accompany thing? LOL
Really looking forward to it and have a question will there be a feature that allows mortal partners to die only after being knocked out once in a day/ or a week - customizable feature?
I would like to play with a sense of fear that I can lose my comrade if we won't play it out right, but wouldn't like to lose him after few hits from a very strong mob especially when I play with triple/4x damage.
And just a heads-up: Striker reported the "following" feature to be broken in 1.0.4. Haha. I swapped it from "Follow" to "Accompany" for testing purposes, and apparently it does not work that way. I will revert it to "Follow" in the next version. So if this "follower" management mod fails to make your "followers" actually follow you, that is a known issue, and will be fixed. Sorry about it.
I was actually thinking about something like that, maybe via an OBSE event handler, to prevent followers from dying, and make them fall unconscious instead. But I have no idea if enemies will let them be, because I have not managed to stop any combat between a follower and someone else. The fight just keeps going on. So I have no idea if any of that can be made. But I can check it. The plan is to first restructure the mod's internals a bit, to make it less confusing to develop. The amount of tiny bits is getting out of hands.
Not sure if that could be a source of inspiration for you Contra. What Lux is asking for (essential until certain conditions are met if I understand correctly) could bring that same unpredictability.
And it was version 1.05b that had the not following behaviour ... version 1.04 was what I used to confirm it wasn't a glitch on my end.
The "b" in the name was meant for "beta", but I think I will drop it. The logo/name in description can say it is beta. The version number field apparently does not accept spaces, so I am not sure how to add "beta" to it. I need to think about it. And that mod is definitely worth checking out, thank you. I was almost banging my head on the wall, because I have not managed to produce any effect at all to stop the fights. Thank you, I think you pointed that one out earlier in a PM, too. This time I need to read through it thoroughly.
I've seen mods with the whole word Beta in the version number. So what are you thinking ... changing the name to FnFF?
I'm always wanting to mess with those pesky Highwaymen. If I happen to run into Oghash gra-Magul when she's on her run to the Imperial City it's often in the same area as the Highwayman who hangs out near Fort Chalman. I'll recruit Oghash, get close enough to the Highwayman that you can see him but not so close that he comes running up with his "Money or your life" and then send Oghash after him. Because he's not a hostile NPC at that moment she won't attack him ... she just takes all his stuff!!!
Never gets old for me.
I'm a great one for collecting things. One of my favourites is NPCs like bandits or marauders. I also use NPCs Yield - Refined so sometimes they will yield rather than fight to the death (but I'm not above using a little "console tom-foolery" when needed). Used to be I kept some of my favourites stashed in various Ayleid ruins (I also use SPAWN and I have Ayleid ruins set to be a long time before they respawn). Back when I used console commands to make them followers it was a pain to get group A to the right spot to fight group B (marauders vs bandits, bandits vs conjurers etc). It always seemed you ran into a mudcrab or Legion patrol before you got to that "good fight" you were looking to start.
Now I use the Fluffy home as one of my stashing spots (well for my marauder Valkyries anyway). It's a simple matter to spot a group of bandits (for example the pair at Vilverin), move just out of sight and away from any interfering Legion patrols and summon the portal to the Fluffy home. I pop in there and get one or more of my Valkyries to follow me back to where I was near Vilverin. Then I either set up a nice ambush and lure the bandits into it or get the girls to follow me over close to Vilverin.
Either way the Vilverin bandits aren't going to come out on the clean end of the stick.