Enhanced Skyrim Followers: Aela the Huntress
By DreamKing
Version: 0.4.7, 8 June 2013

- Introduction
- Getting It Working: Upgrading from a Previous Version, Installation, Compatibility, Uninstallation
- Features
- Known Issues
- Contact Information
- Disclaimer
- Legal, Distribution, and Use of Assets
- Thanks & Credits
- Change Log


= Introduction =

The character of Aela the Huntress impressed me from the first encounter with the degree that she felt like her own person, living her own story. Aela had her own opinions, her own expertise, her own family history, her own plans and goals. She wasn't just waiting around to assist my character--if anything, my PC had to prove himself worthy of assisting her. It made for a refreshing change in a game that's otherwise so focused on how special the PC is. I was quite disappointed, then, that after Aela became available as a follower, most of her personality and individuality vanished. This woman whose years of hunting and questing had given her extensive knowledge of Skyrim, who had a vested interest in its fate, was unaccountably silent as I went about shaping her land's future. Enhanced Skyrim Followers: Aela the Huntress aims to correct that discontinuity.

ESF: Aela is a project to add story content and new follower features to Aela the Huntress, of the Companions. It picks up after the end of the vanilla game's Companions questline. In the current version of the mod, most of the core new follower functionality is complete, however writing is still underway for the story content. I'm releasing this version for testing purposes, and because I think players will find it fun and useful even in its current state.

Please note that this is not an "adult" mod, but neither is it meant for children. In American movie terms it would be rated PG-13 for adult humor, sexual innuendo, and references to violence and gore.

If you're curious about where future development will take ESF: Aela, you can read the main project thread at the Bethesda forum:

http://forums.bethsoft.com/topic/1336512-wipwipz-enhanced-skyrim-followers-aela-the-huntress-of-the-companions/


= Getting It Working =

You must be using Skyrim version 1.9 or above to use this mod. The version number is displayed in-game when you view your Journal.

This mod has several conversations presented without voices, so you will need to have both dialogue and general subtitles turned on.

* Upgrading

To upgrade from an earlier version of the mod, just overwrite the ESFAela.esp and ESFAela.bsa -- existing saves should work fine. You do not need to, and should not, make a "clean save" (a save with the previous version uninstalled or deactivated) when upgrading.

Upgrading to 0.4.7 from recent versions of the mod is as simple as that. If upgrading from a version older than 0.4.3:

1) To enable the new wander behavior, you must first dismiss Aela back to Jorrvaskr, then after she starts walking away, ask her to follow you again.
2) If you had used the ability to set custom homes to send Aela to, you will need to re-set those homes.

* Installation

You can start a new game with this mod installed, but it will change very little until after the end of the Companions questline--the only change is that during the questline Aela should be a slightly better fighter because of the perks this mod gives her.

When installing this mod into an existing save game, you must meet the following conditions:

1) Aela is not currently following you--if she is, just dismiss her before you install this mod.
2) Aela is not your spouse.
3) Aela has not been inducted into the Blades.
4) Aela has not been made a steward (if using the Hearthfire DLC).

It has been reported that installation works more reliably when done into a "full" save rather than an autosave or a quicksave.

This mod is packaged in an archive compatible with Wrye Bash's BAIN installation method and with the Nexus Mod Manager. To install manually, extract ESFAela.esp and ESFAela.bsa from the archive with 7zip (http://www.7-zip.org/) or a compatible program and place them into your game's Data directory. For most users this will be something like C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\skyrim\Data (although if it is, you may want to read up on moving Steam out of the Program Files directory to avoid permissions problems).

Use a load order management tool (Skyrim's launcher, Wrye Bash, Nexus Mod Manager) to ensure this mod loads after any other mods that impact either followers in general or Aela in specific. See the section on "Compatibility" below. I recommend using BOSS (https://code.google.com/p/better-oblivion-sorting-software/) to automatically sort your load order in a way that resolves common problems.

This version of the mod was cleaned with the version of TES5Edit current at time of release, 3.0.30.

You should keep at least one save game from before you installed this mod, that you can revert back to in case of any problems.

* Compatibility

- This is compatible with all official DLC released to-date. There are some areas in both Dawnguard and Dragonborn where Aela will not follow you, as per Bethesda's intentions; she will catch up with you after you exit those areas.

- Mods that alter all Nords, all female bodies, all faces, and so forth, should be compatible. Mods that alter Aela specifically--that remove her warpaint or otherwise change her face or hairstyle, or that give her new perks--will conflict. Make sure ESFAela.esp is lower in your load order than these mods, or not all of the features of this mod will work.

- Mods that alter all followers (UFO, Amazing Follower Tweaks, Extensible Follower Framework, BDO, etc.) should be compatible; however, any improvements they try to make will not impact Aela. To be safe, position ESFAela.esp lower in your load order than any of these mods.

- Mods that alter werewolves (Tales of Lycanthropy, Werewolf Mastery, La Femme Lycana, etc.) should be compatible, unless they change the race that the player transforms into, to something other than the werewolf race. The popular new (at the time of this writing) werewolf mod Moonlight Tales causes some problems--Aela will often transform in combat, and neither that mod's controls nor the controls in this mod can change that behavior. I'm aiming to improve compatibility once development of Moonlight Tales stabilizes.

- The "Kingthings Petrock font" mod by DarthBehemoth does not work properly, causing some dialogue items to not be available. Using Kingthings Petrock in combination with the EZ2C dialogue mod (see below) appears to fix this. Other font mods appear to work without needing EZ2C.

* Other Recommended Mods

Enhanced Skyrim Factions: The Companions
http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/22650
My "companion" mod to this one, improves the experience of the vanilla Companions questline by introducing requirements to complete more radiant quests, have appropriate combat skills, etc. Also restores some cut content for Aela and makes various other improvements.

EZ2C Dialogue Menu by steve40 and Deathless Aphrodite
http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/18466
Spend enough time with Aela and her dialogue choices will all become the hard-to-read gray of "already clicked." This mod can make the dialogue choices you've already selected more legible.

* Uninstallation

Depending on where you are in the game, it may or may not be possible to fully uninstall this mod. Bethesda's official stance is that uninstalling mods is not possible with Skyrim. I have nevertheless tried to provide a procedure, but I can make no guarantees, and can offer no support if the uninstallation procedure below does not work for you.

To uninstall, take anything you want to keep from Aela's treasure sack and outfit storage, then dismiss Aela back to Jorrvaskr, wait a few seconds, then open the console (usually the "`" key) and enter:

startquest ESFAelaUninstall

A box should appear telling you that all quests added by this mod have been stopped. Wait a few more seconds, make a save, and exit the game.

You can then use your mod manager to uninstall the mod, or manually uninstall by removing ESFAela.esp and ESFAela.bsa from your skyrim\Data directory. It is best to remove these files, or copy them to a directory outside your Data directory, rather than simply deactivating or unchecking the mod; scripts and variables from this mod may remain in your saved games as long as its files are in your Data directory.

If after following these steps Aela or another potential follower complain that you already have someone following you, use this console command:

set playerfollowercount 0


= Features =

* Basic Changes

- Aela has been removed from the default follower system--other followers will join while she is following, and she will join even if others are already following. You don't need a "multiple follower" mod to use Aela plus another follower.
- She has also been removed as a potential marriage partner (for now; future versions of the mod will include expanded romance/marriage options).
- She now has both an equippable, "at-hand" inventory, and a "treasure sack," the contents of which she will never equip. The capacity of the treasure sack is adjustable via a SkyUI MCM.
- She has a realistic set of mid-level perks in the light armor, archery, and stealth trees--including lightfoot so she will not set off traps.
- Her stats--health and skills--will now level correctly with the player up to a maximum level of 9999. See below for info on using skill uncappers.
- She has a custom class, to avoid snafus with mods like the Unofficial Skyrim Patch that make questionable changes to her class skills.
- She should no longer turn hostile from actions you take while in werewolf form.
- She has a "warp" function that increases her speed to 2.5x normal if she falls far behind you, and a teleport function that will move her to you if she really gets lost.
- She has a Serana/Dawnguard-like "wander" mode when the player stops moving, but only in cities when the player isn't sneaking and doesn't have a weapon drawn. This can also be toggled off.
- The constantly re-appearing Hunting Bow and endless supply of arrows associated with the vanilla followers are now gone. This does mean you will need to supply her with arrows.
- She will now sit when the player sits. (She'll pick the closest chair or bench to where she is standing when the player sits.)

* Respect

Before Aela will agree to certain requests, you'll need to earn her respect. Respect is earned through combat victories, exploring Skyrim, and completing quests while Aela is with you to witness them--victories won while she is dismissed, or waiting, do not count. And on the other hand, you may lose respect if you show too much of an inclination to learn spells or commit crimes while Aela is present; or if you ask her to wait for you and then take too long to return to her. As well, certain dialogue choices will also increase or decrease her respect for you.

* Enhanced Dialogue

ESF: Aela adds over 1,000 lines of new dialogue as of version 0.4.7. The additions include:

- New, context-sensitive greetings and farewells (voiced).
- New and expanded context-sensitive comments when encountering dungeons, after combat, etc. (voiced).
- You can now ask Aela about a variety of subjects (mix of voiced and unvoiced). However, she's not one for casual chit-chat or frequent deep personal conversations--after a few queries, she'll get tired of answering your questions. You can ask more in 24 hours; gaining her respect will increase the number of topics you can ask about per day.
- New commentary and extended conversations for several game quests, locations, and situations (mostly unvoiced).

If Aela initiates conversation with you, it means she wants to talk about current or recent events. Please don't tab out of these conversations (unless threatened by combat or other peril); none of the conversations are especially long, and all will end on their own. This aspect of the mod is still very much in-development: what is there now is just a small part of what is to come. Try the "Ill Met by Moonlight" quest in Falkreath with Aela following for an example of what I'm trying to accomplish with these conversations.

You will need dialogue subtitles turned on (in Settings > Display) to see the unvoiced dialogue. "Unvoiced" means silent: I'm using existing voice assets where I can, but there are things I want her to say that there are not assets for. So for now, you will need to use your imagination. I hope to have all the new content voiced eventually, but this will take time.

* Enhanced Tactical Choices

- Ask her to use ranged weapons only, melee weapons only, choose between the two on her own (the default), or switch based on the player's weapon.
- Have her attack at will (default), only after she or the player has been hit (good for sneaking), or never attack.
- Control whether she dismounts to fight, or ignores combat when mounted.
- Set her follow distance to close (default), medium, or far.
- Toggle her as essential (unkillable). Although note that some quests override this; in practice, depending on where you are in the game, it may not be possible to make her *not* essential. If she is made not essential, she can use health potions placed in her inventory and can also be given health potions outside of combat.
- She can light torches automatically when it gets dark (game default), automatically except never when sneaking (mod default), only when the player lights one, or only when the player asks that one be lit.

* Beast Form

- By default, Aela will now use her beast form when the player uses their's, if the player is a werewolf. Once the player earns enough respect, they can ask her not to do this.
- The player can also ask Aela to shift to beast form at any time independently of their own transformation, using the Ask of Aela lesser power. (The choice is in the Combat Style menu, although you can also ask her to transform for roleplaying reasons other than combat.) She will only be willing to shift if you are away from civilization. She will stay in beast form for one hour of game time.
- In "dungeon" locations (ruins, caves, etc.) she may transform on her own, if her health is low. Again, once you've earned anough respect, you can ask her not to do this.
- While transformed she will regenerate health. The default is 2 health/second; this can be adjusted (or turned off) via the SkyUI MCM.
- Like the player, Aela can only transform once per 24 hours, unless the player can find a way to alter this limit.
- Fast travel, most conversation options, and most Ask of Aela commands are disabled while Aela is in beast form (you can still ask her to wait).

* Outfits and Equipment

- Aela now has three separate outfits--Combat, Travel & Exploration, and Town. As you earn more of her respect, you will gain the ability to set the contents of each of these in turn, through the "traveling together" dialogue topic. You can also have her change into the appropriate outfit automatically, or only at your command. And you can always continue to put armor in her inventory, which will override the outfits if the gear in her inventory is better than the gear in the outfits.
- You do not need to set all three outfits. You could have just Combat and Town outfits, for instance, and she will use the Combat outfit while exploring.
- Do not put armor you have enchanted or improved through smithing into her outfit slots--it may revert to its default, unimproved form. You can use improved armor and weapons in her normal, at-hand inventory without problems.
- As a matter of personal preference, she will not be willing to use Elven equipment--think about the history of the Companions, never mind recent history in Tamriel--and will also reject any heavy armor or two-handed melee weapons you try to give her as not fitting her talents.
- To go along with this, her default combat outfit is now a version of the Ancient Nord Armor that is light armor, rather than heavy. Because really, does it look like heavy armor?

* Teleportation and Location

By default, Aela will seamlessly teleport to you if she gets stuck too far behind while following you. You can turn this off in the "traveling together" dialogue menu, and it may be advisable to do so before some quests.

If Aela gets lost while this is turned off, or if you need her at some point when she is not following you, you can use The Ring of the Blood Call (which will be in her inventory if she did not give it to you) to teleport her to you--at the cost of 20 Health. If the player is a werewolf, you can also use the Ring to teleport yourself to Aela. This is meant to be used mainly when one of you is lost or stuck; using the Ring as a solution to puzzles may break quests and is not recommended.

If you put on the Ring and then take it off without teleporting to/from Aela, the awareness of her location granted to you by the Ring will linger for 30 seconds. During that time, you can go the Miscellaneous section of the Quest Journal, select the entry that the Ring has added, and then use the "M" key to see Aela's current location on the map.

* Mounts and Riding

Aela can ride horses and other mod-added mounts.

- You will first need to aquire a mount that you will give to Aela. The easiest way is to buy a horse for yourself; you can also use a mod like Horse Branding. Basically you need a mountable animal owned by either the player, the CurrentFollowerFaction, the PlayerFollowerFaction, or nobody.
- The player now has a power called "Give Mount to Aela." Equip that power, target the mount in your crosshair, and cast the power as if it were a spell. Within a second or two, a message will display in the upper left corner of the screen saying that ownership of the mount has been transferred to Aela.
- That mount will now be Aela's, and you will need to find another for yourself (buy one from a different city, or use the Horse Branding mod).
- Aela's mount will usually be found right next to yours when she is following you. Whenever you mount, the mount you have given Aela will appear next to her if it is not already close by, and once you start moving she will mount and follow you. When you dismount, she will dismount as well. You do not need to worry about losing her mount: just pretend it is always right beside your own mount, blocked from view.
- Aela can only have one mount. If you try to give her a second mount, the first will revert in ownership back to you. You can also cast the "Give Mount to Aela" power on a mount that you have given Aela to revert its ownership back to you, or your other followers.
- Note that many game systems are disabled while riding. Most notably, you cannot fast travel while Aela is riding with you. You will also not be able to use the "Ask of Aela" power to issue commands, nor will she change outfits while riding.
- Aela cannot fight while mounted. In the "combat tactics" dialogue area, you can control whether she will dismount to fight, or stay mounted when you are attacked.

* Camping, Sleeping, and Healing

- Aela has a simple portable bedroll. If you are in an appropriate location, you can use the "discuss this place" dialogue topic to tell Aela that she should get some sleep here. She'll then unroll her bedroll directly behind where she is standing (if it is raining or snowing, she'll also pitch a tent) and go to sleep. She'll sleep until you click her to wake her up, or 8 hours pass, whichever comes first. "Appropriate locations" are typically either unowned locations--outdoors away from cities, or in dungeons--or inside a house owned by the player. Note that the ground needs to be very flat for this to work well.
- Also, if Aela is within a few steps of an unowned bed or bedroll (including spare bedrolls from the Frostfall mod), an option will appear in her "discuss this place" dialogue where you can ask her to sleep there. She will move to it and sleep for 8 hours, or until the player wakes her by clicking her.
- When using either of these functions, if Aela is not essential, she will heal while she sleeps. She'll heal 1/8 of her total health for each hour she rests.
- If you're looking for a place to make camp, Aela--having grown up hunting across Skyrim--knows of several, although by no means all of them. If you're reasonably close to a good campsite she knows of, she'll speak up about it between the hours of 8pm and 2:30am (this notification can be turned off in her "traveling together" dialogue), and an option for Aela to lead you there will appear in the "discuss this place" dialogue. (If anyone can suggest some other nice places to make camp, feel free to send them to me for inclusion in the mod.)
- There is a choice in her combat tactics dialogue that controls whether she will drink potions to heal after, or outside of, combat, when not set as essential. You can also give her healing potions to drink by asking her status, when her health is under 100%.

* Wait Here, Relax Here, and Meet Me Elsewhere

- In addition to the vanilla "wait here" option, there is now also a "relax here" option, which will put Aela in a "sandbox mode" where she will unequip her weapons and sit, eat, move around, and otherwise interact with her immediate environment.
- She will stop waiting for you and return to her usual schedule after only 1 day (24 hours) when using either "wait here" or "relax here." Other followers wait 3 days; Aela isn't that patient.
- In addition to resuming her default duties back at Jorrvaskr, you can now ask Aela to meet you at any of the default player houses you own, or any of the Inns in habitations that you have visited. She will stay there for 7 days before getting tired of waiting around, and resuming her normal Companion schedule.
- The player homes from the Hearthfire and Dragonborn DLCs will work; however, you will need to save and reload for her to be aware of a house after you've come into ownership of it.
- There is a facility to add up to three houses from other mods to the list of houses you own, that you can meet Aela at. For this to work, a house mod must follow the vanilla system where 1) the house has its cell set to be owned by the player and 2) that cell must be defined as a Location with the keyword LocTypePlayerHouse. While in such a house, you will see an option to tell Aela about it in the "about this place" dialogue.

* Support for Uncapped Skills

Per game default Aela's skills will stop increasing when they reach 100, and her attributes will stop increasing when she reaches level 81. If you would like skills and attributes to continue increasing in conjunction with a player skill uncapper such as Elys's Skyrim Community Uncapper, you can enable this option. Use the SkyUI MCM menu to do so; or, open the console and enter the following line:

SetPQV ESFAelaCoreDialogue bUncapSkills True

Changes will show up the next time her skills recalculate. The easiest way to see this is to simply wait 24 hours.

To undo uncapped skills, open the console and enter

SetPQV ESFAelaCoreDialogue bUncapSkills False

And again, wait 24 hours.

Note that Aela's level is not actually raised above 81, the default maximum. When uncapped skills are enabled, her skills and attributes are calculated based on the players level when that level is above 81. On her status screen, you will see two numbers: the level her skills are calculated based on (the player's level) and her actual in-game level.

* Quick Command Menu

When Aela follows you for the first time, you will gain a new Lesser Power named "Ask of Aela." You can add this to your Favorites list and press "Z" to activate it when it is equipped. The exact commands available will depend on how close you are standing to Aela, the tactics you have set, and whether you are in combat.

Normal Mode:

- Set Combat Style (ranged/melee/mix/match, or switch immediately to beast form)
- Open Treasure Sack
- Move: if she is blocking a doorway and won't move on her own, stand close to her, facing in the direction you want her to move, and use this command.
- Change Outfit: only displays if you have elected to manually change her outfits, and at least two outfits have been unlocked.
- Light Torch/Put Out Torch: only displays if you have selected that she should only use torches when you ask her to.
- Do This: activates the "use" cursor for her, just as if you had held down the "E" key while targeting her. The difference is, you don't need to be close enough to target her to activate this, which can lead to some interesting combat tactics, among other things.
- Hold Position/Catch Up

Combat Mode:

- Disengage/Engage: force her to exit or enter combat.
- Change Combat Style (as above)
- Do This: as above, use this to get her to attack a specific foe, hold a certain position, etc.
- Give Health Potion: when she is not essential, her health is less than 100%, and you are close to her, you can use this to give her a single health potion which she will immediately consume to regain some health.


= Known Issues =

- Occassionally Aela will appear without armor after installing this mod. If this happens, 1) make sure you are installing the mod into a proper save game, rather than an autosave or quicksave; and 2) if that does not work, open the console while Aela is on-screen with the ` key, click her, type "tai" (without quotes; this stands for "toggle AI"), close the console, wait a few seconds, open it again, enter "tai" again, and close the console again. If this does not work, I can't help, sorry; try a clean install with no other mods to determine if you have a load order conflict.
- Do not put more than one type of any item into an outfit, or more than 10 items into any outfit. And do not have armor in *both* her at-hand inventory and her outfits, as due to some engine oddities this can result in the armor in her inventory disappearing. Also note that outfits do not always switch correctly when using fast travel; this is due to a game bug.
- When set to match the player's combat style, because of an engine bug/limitation she will not switch when the player equips a different weapon type via a hotkey. You must select your weapon from either the favorites list or the main inventory screen for her to know that you have equipped a new weapon.
- When using the carriage system, Aela won't arrive at your destination with you--you'll have to wait a few seconds for her to catch up.
- If you try to give Aela armor she won't wear (Elven or heavy) multiple times, her body may disappear until you close the Inventory screen.
- The game considers actions such as standing and stirring a pot to be sitting, so if the player sits and a cookpot is closer to Aela than any chair, she may start stirring it. The main room in Breezehome is one place this can easily happen.
- Aela still uses her human voice while in werewolf form. Since Sinding does this as well, this seems to be "normal," if odd.
- In werewolf form, Aela may flee from high-level opponents such as giants.
- When using the Frostfall mod to chop firewood from nearby trees, Aela will occassionally become stuck. This can be resolved by asking her to wait, then asking her to follow again. Also when using Frostfall, if she is sleeping on a Frostfall-added bedroll, always wake her up before packing your tent!
- Occassionally if you command Aela to put out a torch, the torch will disappear but her arm will remain outstretched as though holding it. Drawing and then sheathing your weapon will usually fix this.
- The "Totems of Hircine" quests require some special attention: 1) do not dismiss Aela while one of these quests is active, 2) you must initiate dialogue with Aela after recovering each totem for the quest to advance, and 3) after placing each totem in the Underforge, wait 10 seconds before speaking to Aela or leaving the Underforge.
- Aela won't immediately recogize homes and inns added by the Hearthfire and Dragonborn DLCs; to conserve performance, the code with those checks is run infrequently. You can make a save after you've built/acquired/discovered the place and then load that save to force an update of her awareness.


= Contact =

If you have problems, suggestions, or questions about the mod, the best way to get in touch is via the thread for the mod in the Skyrim Mods area on the Bethesda Forum (http://forums.bethsoft.com/forum/183-skyrim-mods/). One of the reasons that I'm releasing this testing version is to see if there are any problems; I'd like to hear from you. As of this writing, the current Forum thread for the mod is:

http://forums.bethsoft.com/topic/1336512-wipwipz-enhanced-skyrim-followers-aela-the-huntress-of-the-companions/

You can also send me private messages as DreamKing (preferred) on the Bethesda Forum (http://forums.bethsoft.com/) or on the Nexus Forums (http://forums.nexusmods.com/) as DreamKingMods.


= Disclaimer =

Use of this mod may lead to broken quests, corrupt or bloated save games, and other issues. Make sure you keep a save game from before you installed this mod, than you can revert to in case of any problems.


= Legal, Distribution, and Use of Assets =

In part or in whole, you may not upload, re-host, or otherwise make this mod or an edited version you derive from it available at any other location under any circumstances, except as specified here.

This version (0.4.7) of the mod is authorized for release on the Skyrim Nexus (http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/) only. If you downloaded it from an unauthorized location, be advised that there may be newer versions of the mod available with important fixes and additions posted on authorized sites.

I'll be making the source of the scripts used by this mod available as a separate download; feel free to use these scripts as a base for creating follower mods for NPCs other than Aela, which you may release as you wish. I apologize for the sloppiness of the scripts and their lack of generality: I was learning as I went. You may release scripts that you derive from my work, provided that you credit me and remove all references in the scripts to ESFAela. I welcome suggestions for improvement of the scripts.

If I do not respond to attempts to contact me via the methods listed in the "Contact" section of the latest release of this mod for 6 months, and have not given prior notice of planned absence, then consider this mod and its assets released to the community.


= Thanks and Credits =

Anyone who has used follower mods in previous Bethesda games will quickly see that very few of the ideas I'm implementing here are original: I'm combining features from follower mods that I enjoyed. Most notable influences in this release are Emma and CDCooley's Vilja for Oblivion, RickerHK's Brisa for Fallout 3 and Wendy Gilbert for Fallout: New Vegas, and llamaRCA's Willow for Fallout: New Vegas. Much thanks and credit to these modders; if you play those games, I recommend those mods.

Thanks to Alek, whose "Auto Unequip Arrows" mod for the player provided the inspiration and basic method for Aela unequipping her quiver.

Thanks to Kevin Kidder AKA sushisquid whose Specialized Followers mod inspired Aela's transformation when her health is low.

Thanks to Wrye, whose "Summon Bed" mod for Oblivion supplied the basic logic for placing the bedroll and tent.

Thanks to Ethatron for the BSAopt extraction tool, and Agnahim for FUZ Extractor, which together allowed me to begin editing the voice files before the Creation Kit's release.

Thanks to Oranges13 and crash_oxide for their campsite suggestions.

Thanks to Michael Kirkbride, for inspiration and a few specific sentences on Nord culture that I adapted into dialogue.

Thanks to the SKSE and SkyUI teams, who have enabled so many great things.

Thanks to the members of TES Lore area on the Official Bethesda Forum (http://forums.bethsoft.com/forum/16-elder-scrolls-lore/) and to the maintainers of the Imperial Library website (http://www.imperial-library.info/), for many interesting ideas backed up by lore sources.

Thanks to the Unofficial Elder Scrolls Pages (http://www.uesp.net/) for being a frequent and valuable reference.

Thanks to the Nexus Network (http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/) for providing a platform for mods and the community that exists around them.

Thanks to the users of this mod--in particular Svammelie and namz--for their encouragement, bug reports, and ideas.

And of course credit and thanks go to Bethesda Softworks, for releasing and supporting modding tools for their games--without which this mod could not have been made.


= Change Log =

Version 0.4.7
- Removed respect/friendship/romance changes when Aela goes into bleedout that were introduced in 0.4.6, pending further study.
- Aela will now more reliably use health potions placed in her inventory even when set as essential.
- Aela now has a chance to turn into a werewolf on her own in combat if her health goes under 33%; this will only happen in caves, ruins, and other "dungeons," where she knows she's out of public view. Can be turned off through dialogue.
- Moved her werewolf behavior dialogue topic from "traveling behavior" to "combat tactics" section (requires respect to unlock).
- Aela's health now regenerates in werewolf form (configurable via MCM).
- Aela should now be invulnerable during her werewolf transformation.
- Tried to fix a bug where Aela could die when leaving werewolf form if her health was low and she was not essential.

Version 0.4.6
- Added missing silent audio files so random forest comments in Falkreath and Riften/Fall Forest should now display properly.
- Added a few more random comments to Dawnstar and Riften.
- Added a time element to unlock various features, in addition to respect: inventory access takes a few days, and outfits take about a week each.
- Giving a horse to Aela should now turn off that horse's reporting of crime (should work retroactively for users who are updating).
- Fixed a bug that could prevent Aela from being dismissable after completing the Cidhna Mine quest with the Hearthfire DLC installed.
- Fixed a bug that was preventing her "lead to camp" feature from working in fresh installs of the mod.
- Various small tweaks to respect calculations, dialogue, etc.

Version 0.4.5
- Added a SkyUI-based MCM configuration menu with a few options.
- Added the ability to limit the capacity of Aela's treasure sack through the MCM.
- Added better death behavior when she's not essential--treasure sack contents and outfit items can now be recovered from her corpse.
- Split the former "tactics" dialogue topic into two: combat tactics and traveling behavior.
- Added more mechanisms to heal her outside of combat when she's not essential--check her Combat Tactics dialogue, or ask her status when she's not at full health.
- Added ability to adjust her comment frequency, in the traveling behavior topic.
- Added the ability to send Aela to wait for you in homes added by the Hearthfire and Dragonborn DLCs.
- Fixed a bug where Hjerim was not always showing up on the list of owned houses when it should.
- Aela will now recognize and use spare bedrolls from the Frostfall mod.
- Aela's custom light Ancient Nord Armor can now be tempered.
- Added several unvoiced conversations during the quest "No One Escapes Cidhna Mine."
- Added an unvoiced conversation the first time you kill a dragon with Aela following. And another one, which you'll have to discover for yourself!
- Added more unvoiced location-specific commentary--especially in the city of Markarth, many of the smaller towns, the forests of Falkreath and Riften, and the island of Solstheim.
- Tweaks and fixes to combat and riding AI.
- Added a temporary visual effect after using the Ring of the Blood Call.

Version 0.4.4
- Functionality will no longer work if the mod is installed when Aela is already married to the player, as per the stated requirements.
- Added a new feature for Dawnguard players where Aela will take werewolf form when the player takes vampire lord form.
- Aela will now be stronger in werewolf form for players using Dawnguard, in line with the new player werewolf perks that Dawnguard adds.
- Changed the way Aela gives you the Ring of the Blood Call; it should now be more compatible with other mods.
- Fixed a bug where Aela could attack your opponent when brawling.
- Fixed a bug where Aela's horse could appear inside buildings if the player rode after Aela had been dismissed.
- If Aela has dismounted to fight while the player fought mounted, she will now automatically remount her horse at the conclusion of combat.
- More efforts to fix the issue where Aela would sometimes not engage in combat. I think I got it this time. Let me know.
- Added a new feature where Aela will make periodic comments.
- Added more unvoiced comments when visiting cities and locations.
- Fixed a few missing perk dependencies.
- Generated SEQ file to fix The Dialogue Bug.
- Cleaned the mod in TES5Edit.

Version 0.4.3
- Added a new feature where Aela knows the locations of several campsites around Skyrim, and can lead you to them if you're in the general vicinity. The topic will appear in "Let's talk about this place" if there is a campsite nearby.
- Added more unvoiced comments when visiting cities and locations.
- Added a Dawnguard/Serana-like AI package for Aela where she'll wander around if the player stops moving--but only in "friendly" locations, and only while you're not sneaking or have a weapon drawn. Can be turned off in her tactics dialogue.
- Added a custom class for Aela to avoid snafus with the Unofficial Skyrim Patch after it changed her class's armor specialty to heavy armor.
- Added a fix for an issue where Aela would sometimes not attack in combat even when set to do so.
- Added a fix for setting her custom home markers--she should actually travel to them now instead of just standing still. You will need to re-set any custom homes you had previously set.

Version 0.4.2
- Removed "sit" debug message that was displayed whenever Aela sat.
- Reduced number of hours before "let's talk" topics are available again.

Version 0.4.1
- Added an unvoiced conversation when entering the Temple of Talos in Windhelm with Aela after the Civil War is over (must wait at least 4 days)
- Added a random chance for an unvoiced conversation when entering Jorrvaskr with Aela (requires a bit of respect to unlock).
- Added a "What do you think about me?" dialogue option which gives a summary of the mod features you've unlocked.
- Added some new voiced comments in and around dungeons, and a new voiced greeting.
- Added a tactics choice to control whether she stays on her horse and doesn't fight, or dismounts to fight, when the player fights while mounted (in the "aggressiveness" topic).
- Added a tactics choice to automatically teleport her to the player if she gets too far away (in the "follow distance" topic). This is now on by default; it may be advisable to turn it off for some quests.
- Added a tactics choice to control whether she unequips her weapons while in town (in the "manage outfits" topic). She now does not by default. Requires respect to unlock.
- Added a fix so that if Aela takes beast form after you've told her to use ranged weapons only, she'll melee while transformed instead of not being able to attack.
- Added a fix to a bug that could result in fast travel remaining disabled after Aela shifted back from werewolf form.
- Added a fix to--I think--remove her cowardly comments during combat (e.g., no more "I'm getting out of here!")
- Miscellaneous script optimizations to take advantage of changes in Skyrim 1.6. Mod features such as Aela dousing a torch when sneaking or catching up after using a cart for travel should now happen more quickly.

Version 0.4
- Added several unvoiced conversations during the Ill Met by Moonlight quest.
- Added an unvoiced conversation during the Elisif's Tribute quest.
- Added an unvoiced conversation when approaching a Nord ruin for the first time with Aela following.
- Added several minor voiced elements--new greetings and goodbyes, plus a random chance of a post-combat remark.
- Added a function to tell Aela to transform into werewolf form via the Ask of Aela > Set Combat Style menu (the choice only appears when you are away from populated areas).
- Limited Aela's werewolf transformations to once per 24 hours, unless extended by magical means.
- Aela now uses the same extended transformation animation as the player does when shifting to werewolf form outside of battle (she still uses the quick animation if you ask her to transform while already engaged in combat--the extended animation was behaving oddly).
- Added a map marker for Aela that will appear for 30 seconds if you put on the Ring of the Blood Call and then take it off without teleporting (map marker will appear via an objective added to the Miscellaneous section of the Quests screen).
- Added a new tactics choice in Tactics > Torches to have Aela use torches automatically except when sneaking.
- Added a tweak that removes torches from Aela when she mounts, and adds them back when she dismounts, to prevent her from holding a lit torch against her horse's back.
- Added functionality so that if you use the Ring of the Blood Call to bring Aela with you on the main quest's final stage, she will properly return with you.
- Added infrastructure for three more outfits--at home, asleep, and swimming--which will be made unlockable in future updates.

Version 0.3.3
- Added a fixed version of the outfit system changes attempted in version 0.3.1--swapping outfits should now be faster and more reliable.
- Added a tweak so that Aela will no longer dismount to attack foes unless the player does first.
- Added a tweak so that Aela's mount will now automatically match the speed of the player's mount when using mods that increase the speed of mounts.
- Added the Savior's Hide to the list of armors that Aela will refuse to wear.
- Fixed an issue with other quests removing Aela's essential status when the player has set her to be essential.
- Fixed a bug where Aela would not be properly dismissed if left waiting/relaxing for longer than 24 hours.
- Fixed issues where an active Totems of Hircine quest would override the mod's following/riding AI due to its higher quest priority, and finishing a Totems quest would remove Aela as a teammate (but read "Known Issues" above).

Version 0.3.2
- Reverted to previous outfit system due to problems with changes introduced in 0.3.1.
- Added random unvoiced commentary when entering Solitude Fletcher store.

Version 0.3.1
- Added uncapped calculation of attributes (Health and Stamina) to go along with uncapped skills when using a player level/skill uncapper.
- Added an unvoiced greeting to Belethor, an unvoiced "Ask about Kodlak" dialogue topic, and a voiced comment on the weather when it's raining.
- Fixed a bug where her combat outfit sometimes wouldn't change until the second, travel outfit had been unlocked. Outfits in general should now update much more quickly and reliably when adding/removing items.
- Fixed a bug where if Aela's mount died, its corpse would continue to follow you around until you assigned her a new mount.
- Fixed a bug with Lydia not "saying" the closing line of an unvoiced banter with Aela when entering Jorrvaskr.
- Fixed a typo in Elrindir's unvoiced greeting.

Version 0.3
- Added ability to ride horses and other mounts via "Give Mount to Aela" lesser power.
- Added "match my combat style" tactics choice.
- Added optional preliminary compatibility with player level & skill uncappers.
- Added more archery and light armor perks.
- Added several silent, location-specific comments.
- Fixed bug where asking her to extinguish a torch after fast traveling could take several repetitions.
- Fixed bug preventing Arch-Mage's Quarters from appearing on the list of player-owned dwellings.
- Fixed bug where Hjerim could appear on list of player-owned dwellings before it was actually owned.

Version 0.2
- Added a portable bedroll and tent for Aela.
- Added ability for her to sleep in existing unowned beds and bedrolls.
- Added ability for her to regain health when sleeping.
- Added "Ask of Aela" lesser power, which opens a menu of quick commands for common features.
- Added a "warp" feature that increases her speed 2.5x normal when she falls too far behind.

Version 0.1.4
- Fixed a bug with the outfit system where removing outfit items would fail, causing the whole outfit to not appear in-game.
- Fixed a bug where Aela would not use torches when set to use them on her own initiative, and any torches placed in her inventory in that mode would vanish.
- Fixed a bug where if the player sat down while Aela was waiting or sandboxing, she would start following the player again.
- Fixed a bug where completing a Totem of Hircine quest would re-add Aela to the default follower pool, making the "follow me" dialogue choice appear when she was already following you.
- Immersion tweaks for sneaking and for unequipping items while in town.

Version 0.1.3
- Fixed bug with dismissing Aela back to Jorrvaskr

Version 0.1.2
- Fixed a problem with Aela only using Beast Form once.
- Fixed a line of dialogue that was linking to the wrong topic on completion.
- Added Dwemer/Dwarven and Falmer to the types of elven weapons Aela won't use.

Version 0.1.1
- Repacked BSA to add missing scripts.

Version 0.1
- Initial release.