If you want a face overhaul that's guaranteed to work with no patch, use this. It's what's shown in the pictures. Other face overhauls will require a patch.

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Lydia is a character many of us love, but there hasn't been much reason for that other than pure sentiment. She has fewer than 50 lines of dialogue in the base game, all drawn from a generic voice type shared with other followers and characters voiced by Colleen Delaney. Now, Lydia has over 900 lines of dialogue voiced by the talented LMG Wilson, and written by myself. Her character is transformed from a generic set piece into a major supporting character in the main questline (and the game as a whole), without actually editing the main questline at all. Expansions for Legacy of The Dragonborn, Wyrmstooth, and Beyond Skyrim: Bruma now availible.




Also, the actress who did the voice of Lydia in this has a youtube channel. If you'd like to hear more of her work, click this link.

With this mod installed, Lydia will not just have a new voice, but she will:
1. Initiate conversations with you as you progress through the main questline. For this reason, it's highly recommended that you recruit Lydia the moment you unlock her as a companion and keep her with you until you get back from Sovngarde.
2. Make comments on the Companions, Civil War, College of Winterhold, Dawnguard, and Raven Rock questlines.
3. Comment randomly on her and the player's location, what armor you've given her, etc. as you travel through the world.
4. Start brief conversations with Serana, Mjoll the Lioness, and Erandur. 
5. Initiate conversations with you as you progress through the Dragonborn questline.
6. Require a very brief romance check tied to the main questline (again, keep her throughout the main quest) before marriage
7. Has a personal quest

For the main quest, Lydia will have full conversations when:
Spoiler:  Show


Compatibility:
1. RDO, FCO, anything that adds dialogue to Lydia without changing her voice type needs to be loaded BEFORE this mod.
2. USSEP has a patch already
3. EFF, ATF, and NFF all work perfectly fine.
4. Any mods that alter Lydia's appearance needs a patch to be made in xEdit. Bijin patches have already been made.
5. Housecarl Companions Refine and Migal's Housecarl Beauties have their own patches.

Credits:
Lydia - LMG Wilson
Eselda - Thea Salone
Kolgar - KurtMoney
Fenrar - TheSteg 
Eorald - SpawnOfSheogorath 
Vonjar - DaveVA
Falcius - KurtMoney

FAQ:
Q: Lydia's voice is silent.
A: That's probably because you have another mod installed that edits Lydia's NPC record. Load all you mods in SSEEdit, open the .esp for this mod, expand the "Non-playable characters" category, click on "HousecarlWhiterun" to see what mods are editing her other than this one. There's a boatload of tutorials on youtube on how to make a patch for them. I think this one should be pretty good though.

Q: Why isn't this mod compatible with [Insert name of face overhaul that may or may not be a coomer mod]
A: In short, the reason why the two mods conflict is because ALL of the data relating to Lydia is stored in one record - her appearance, her voicetype, her inventory, factions, etc. Both mods edit Lydia's form. Bijin (or similar mods) changes Lydia's appearance, this one changes her voicetype from FemaleEvenToned to FemaleUniqueLydia. When you have that mod installed, it overwrites the changes made to Lydia's record through this one.

Q: Can I update this mod mid-game?
A: Yes. If you install the mod mid-game, you'll get a backlog of dialogue that goes all the way up to the point you're at in the main quest. It doesn't matter where you are, Lydia will speak to you as if you're somewhere else at an earlier point in the plot for a few conversations, but then the mod will work as normal. It's the simplest, least intrusive way to make this mod work alongside the main quest.
 
Q: How do I start Lydia's personal quest?
A: Either wait 8 in-game weeks or complete the "Diplomatic Immunity" quest. A character originating in Western Haafingar will find you to start the quest.

Q: Can I please make a translation of this mod?
A: Yes.

Q: How exactly would you describe Lydia's personality in this? I saw there's a romance option, and I'm concerned it's super cringe and forced.
A: People complain about her being "bitchy" from time to time, but it wouldn't be very interesting if I just threw a completely subservient, turbo-horny warrior at you. The romance is a very notable part of this mod, but it's never the core of Lydia's personality. If the Dragonborn was Anakin Skywalker, Lydia would be Padme and Obi-Wan coalesced into one character. That's how I've always thought of this mod.

Q: Okay, I really want to see a version of Star Wars where Obi-Wan and Padme are just one character now. 
A: Yeah considering how old Obi-Wan is in Episode I, we definitely need to call Space Social Services. It does sound like an interesting alternate version of Star Wars, though. 

Q: Did you fix Lydia's dialogue being weirdly quiet yet?
A: Yes, it's louder now.

Q: Will this mod ever have support for Indigogo Capaign, Lucien, and other follower mods?
A: Probably not. I looked into it in the past, and generally, it's not easy to add content in when I don't use those follower mods myself. I don't use Serana Dialogue Addon either, before anyone asks.

Q: Does that "900 lines" include or exclude what's added in the patches for Bruma, Wyrmstooth, and Legacy?
A: It includes them. Probably about 750 lines in the base mod, 150 in patches, and then another 100 from additional characters.

Q: How do I romance Lydia?
A: There's one dialogue option you have to pick right after you meet Paarthurnax in "The Throat of the World", and another after you find the Elder Scroll in "Elder Knowledge". You could alternatively do her personal quest if you miss that.

Q: Why does the filename "ImprovedCompanionsBoogaloo.esp"?
A: Because I had initially tried to make this in 2018 using spliced audio (an even released it), so when I was making this, it felt like a sequel to a first failed attempt. It's not really viable to change the name of an .esp after it's been made, especially with lots of dialogue and script. It has absolutely nothing to do with the libertarian extremist movement in the U.S. I had heard the word used for that back when I was making this, but back then, it was really just an eclectic meme, and "boogaloo" meant "sequel" to most internet weirdos. I do not support or advocate for violent revolution. My mods will also never impose any political beliefs on the player. While there may be political themes in future mods, I always intend to give players a choice, as well as consequences for those choices.

Q: Hi, it's me, your FBI agent. I really don't think that's a sufficient answer, we're keeping you on the watch list.
A: Can you at least send a female agent to pose as my girlfriend and make sure I don't have any unregistered SBRs in my apartment?

Q: Wait, do you have any unregistered NFA items in your residence?
A: No. But you'll have no way of knowing unless you send me a narc gf.

Q: Lydia is WAAAAY too rude to me. She tells me I'm not worthy of Thanehood well into the main questline when she's seen me slay multiple dragons and says I'm "not much of a warrior" when I've killed several hundred people.
A: First, installing this mod while you're partially through the main quest is BOUND to cause a backup of dialogue. It's possible but not recommended. Second, a lot of her lines that criticize certain skillsets are played when you lack... certain skillsets (physical combat or "warrior" skills, magic skills, stealth skills, etc), so if you're levelling at the standard rate because of console commands or a mod, don't expect Lydia's commentary to change. There are limitations on what conditions she can say certain dialogue under.

Q: Did you even consider roleplay when making this mod? It's absolutely awful if you're trying to be an evil character.
A: Most of my mods cater to the good guys more, because that's how I play the game myself. Bad Karma playthroughs can be fun - I did a lawful evil playthrough of New Vegas where I did bad Karma NCR once, which was pretty cool, but to be totally honest, I suck at writing dialogue for a chaotic evil protagonist without making them sound like a complete edgelord. Granted, that's kinda what chaotic evil is. I'm talking to you, people who went Sith in Knights of the Old Republic and then complained the Kylo Ren was too edgy when the Star Wars sequels came out! (That's not to say the Star Wars sequels are any good)

Alright, those for those of you who have read until the end, my parting advice is that 3 sets of 12 is bullshit. Do 4 sets of 5 with heavier weight, or 5 sets of 5 plus warmup if it's a compound lift. And if a program tells you to do a bodyweight exercise for a specific number of reps instead of just going until failure, it's kind of a stupid program. The fitness industry is full of quacks.