Name: Companion Valfar
Author: Omesean
Release date: 19/10/12
Version #: v1.2.1

Description:

- Valfar is a highly customized companion mod. He has completely custom armour (actually, a preview of the much bigger package called �sir Armour),
a custom voice (taken from what in my opinion is one of the most awe-inspiring NPC's in the game) and even a custom beard. He's an
accomplished warrior, wielding his battleaxe like only a true Nord could. And even amongst the great heroes of Nordic myth, this
warrior is a giant. Taller than most Nords, and even taller than some Altmer, this mead-crazed barbarian will surely prove a worthy
companion in your travels. He has a distaste for anything not native to Skyrim - the Empire and Aldmeri Dominion in particular. One
of his great aspects is that he often speaks his opinion whilst idle. This breathes life into an otherwise dull companion, making him
similar to Bethesda's great companions, Mjoll and Erandur, or even Serana. Of course, his voice is based off of a vanilla source,
which gave me a limited supply of dialogue. As such, he won't comment appropriately if the player happens to be riding a pink pony
whilst enjoying a lollypop and singing Zimbabwe's national anthem. But I still feel they make a great addition, and hope you do so
too!
He lives as a hermit on the slopes of the Throat of the World, Skyrim's highest mountain. You'll find him right next to the road, on
pretty much the only hill that could support a campsite. There he sits, enjoying what he does best: drinking mead, surrounded by dead
elves. His armour is his own - don't try to take it from him. Actually, I'd like to see you try. Valfar's not a packmule, and as such
I have decided to remove his inventory commands altogether.
During his years as a hermit, Valfar has learned a shout or two from studying old Dragon walls and snippets of Greybeard knowledge.
You'll find seeing him shoutin a draugr off of a cliff a most satisfying event, and when he disarms a whole group of Thalmor bastards
a sight to behold. I always hated the silent shouts that most NPC's in-game use, and as such I have added those as well. You'll find
they're a damn close match to his own voice.

I hope you will enjoy playing with Valfar as much as I have enjoyed creating him. There's a lot of love put into him, and I hope you can all appreciate that!
- Sean, the author

Installation:

- Drop the .bsa and .esp file into your Skyrim data folder, typically located at C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\Skyrim\Data
- Activate the .esp through either the game launcher or the Nexus Mod Manager
WARNING: When using the popular follower overhaul U.F.O. (Ultimate Follower Overhaul), please make sure to place CompanionValfar.esp BELOW the UFO .esp
Questions caused by failure to heed this warning will not be answered. I'll simply frown, then smile, then continue doing something useful.

Location:

You'll find him at his campsite on the slopes of the Throat of the World. It's a snowy place, right next to the road, on a small hill.
Cheaters amongst us will find the console command "coc HHPathshrine03" very useful. It'll drop you right in his tent. To acces the console, press
the tilde (`) button on the far right corner of your keyboard. Then type in the command as listed above without quotation marks.

Compatibility:

Companion Valfar should be compatible with the popular follower mod "Ultimate Follower Overhaul", provided you load CompanionValfar.esp BELOW the UFO one.
Issues might arise when using other complex follower mods, such as the "Extensible Follower Framework".
The armour draws textures from a great amount of vanilla assets. Provided your installed texture mods don't alter the vanilla appearance (e.g. add alpha textures
or completely change the UV maps), there should be only benefits.

Recommended Mods:

- The armour Valfar uses (my soon to be released �sir Armour) draws textures from a huge amount of vanilla resources. As such, the armour will benefit
from any high resolution textures you have installed. Some of those texture mods are:

Hvergelmirs Armor Retexture - HAR http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/3261 - for the iron base armour and fur parts - by lthot
Hvergelmirs Shield Retexture - HSR http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/7045 - for the shield on his back - by lthot
aMidianBorn steel plate armor http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/20792 - for the little fur piece in the middle of his kilt - by CaBaL120

- To achieve the exact same appearance as in the screenshots on the mod's description page, you'll want to download:

XCE - Xenius Character Enhancement http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/2356 - - by Xenius
Gizmodians Scars http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/3574 - - by Gizmodian and Xenius
Better males http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/2488 - Faces - GeonoxFaces package - by Chris57 and FavoredSoul
HQ Beards - vanilla texture replacers http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/21620/ - Light Version package - by regnbagar

- Of course, this is not the full list of the textures he can use. I'm sure there are many more on the Nexus, but I just don't have the time to
browse through the massive database these days. If you would like to show your appreciation for this mod in another way than endorsing, please, post
a few images and links!

FAQ:

Q: "Could you please do a female version of his armour?"
A: Be patient and wait for the release of �sir Armour. It will have female support.

Q: "Could you please add support for (insert random follower overhaul mod here)?"
A: If demand is high, I might just do that.

Q: "ZOMG, cud u plz do a blck retex of his armur? Kthxbai!"
A: Shoo.

Q: "Could you please add more unique features, like a personal weapon or mount?"
A: It's in the works!

Q: "Could you please do a version without (insert random item attached to his armour here)?"
A: Go do it yourself. All it takes is NifSkope and knowledge of how to press a delete button.


Permissions:

- This mod, apart from being a follower mod, also serves as a preview of my soon to be released armour. As such, I will not tolerate any redistribution of either modified or unmodified
(that, in particular) files from the armour folder. It's still in development, and even if you wish to incoorporate it into your massively awesome complete overhaul, wait for me to release it!
You may NEVER, in any given circumstance, wether Naglfar appears on the horizon or newts fall from the sky, upload this mod to the Steam Workshop.
Do contact me if you wish to use these assets in an other way than aforementioned permissions. Especially in terms of translations.
Please respect my wishes in this regard!

Credits:

- Frankdema, for his continued support, beta testing, great conversations and help with the description page's layout. You're awesome, Frank!
- Aesir, for the lovely whisk(e)y chatter (amongst others), beta testing and incredible enthusiasm for the mod. I raise a glass in your name, Aesir! A Laphroaig, even.
- Mujuro, whom I can't thank enough for his with getting the dialogue quests to work. You rock, man!
- Deck16, for his incredible guide (http://deck16.net/post/22645519500/making-a-unique-voiced-follower-in-skyrim-part-1). This wouldn't have been possible without you!
- Hothtrooper, for his beta testing and great support. Keep producing mods, my apprentice!
- The Nexus and DarkOne in particular. Thanks, all of you!
- Again, Tom Waits, for keeping me going with his awesome music during mind-numbing dialogue modding. I'd have collapsed by now if not for these sweet tunes!
- Paul Eiding, the original voice actor (for Galmar Stone-Fist, Septimus Signus and Felldir the Old). No voice was more fitting for my companion than his'!
- The team at Bethesda Games Studio, because none of this would have been remotely possible without them. True legends, that lot!

Changelog:

v1.2.1 - 19.10.12 - Fixed several problems introduced by patch 1.2:
- Messed up landscape around the Imperial camp
- Previous modified race checks were running on Valfar rather than the player. It caused Imperials and custom races to be unable to recruit him.
v1.2.0 - 19.10.12 - Moved all follower functions to a custom quest to prevent further compatibility issues. This disables some mods from working on him, but at least he shouldn't screw it up for the rest anymore. Custom races should also be compatible now.
v1.1.0 - 13.10.12 - Added race check to his initial dialogue. Elves can't recruit him, Nords go without hassle and all other races require a mini quest (the camp is in Ivarstead!).
- Removed condition in DialogueFavorGeneric that checked the amount of followers. He should follow regardless of your current followers.
- Added quest objectives
v1.0.1 - 12.10.12 - Brooch texture path fixed.
v1.0.0 - 11.10.12 - Initial release!

Tools used:

- Blender
- NifSkope
- GIMP
- Creation Kit
- AVS Audio Editor
- Unfuzer (download it at http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/9797)
- A very loyal little coffee machine

Please show your appreciation for this mod by either leaving a message in the comments section, telling me stories of your adventures with Valfar or adding your images to the mod's page. An endorsement is nice, but feedback oh-so-much sweeter!

Enjoy!

With love,
Sean, the author