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About this mod
Styx is a shadowy, skeletal wolf puppy! Adopt her, and watch her grow from a tiny cowardly puppy to big brave alpha wolf!
She is a custom follower, off the vanilla follower framework.
- Requirements
- Permissions and credits
- Changelogs
- Donations
Get the SE version here!
I stumbled across the mesh for Spectral Warhounds, which I didn't even know were a thing before,
and instantly thought how cool it would be to have an undead/ghost dog follower!
But why make a dog, when you could make a wolf! ;)
And you know what would be even cuter?! A puppy!
'Cause undead/ghost things should be cute... right?
So...
Meet Styx!
You can find her as a puppy near the Lady Stone!
Then, once every 12 in-game hours,
advance her growth(via the dialogue option) until she a full grown adult wolf.
I stumbled across the mesh for Spectral Warhounds, which I didn't even know were a thing before,
and instantly thought how cool it would be to have an undead/ghost dog follower!
But why make a dog, when you could make a wolf! ;)
And you know what would be even cuter?! A puppy!
'Cause undead/ghost things should be cute... right?
So...
Meet Styx!
You can find her as a puppy near the Lady Stone!
Then, once every 12 in-game hours,
advance her growth(via the dialogue option) until she a full grown adult wolf.
Features!
- Custom behaviors! Dogs bark too much, and I wanted howling. So Styx does mostly dog animations, with idle barking replaced with howls!
- Levels with the player. So she'll always be helpful!
- Will not detect stealth, will not set off traps! Because followers doing that is just.. bad.
- Essential. Because killing your companions is sad. Especially when they're pupper dogs. :(
- Off the vanilla follower system. She will not take Meeko's spot! <3
A tip from Gunrunner66: "And a trick, for folks who'd like her to hit harder: Give her an item that enhances unarmed damage. Same enchantment as Gloves of the Pugilist; there's a number of "unarmed combat" mods with similar items of greater power. She'll start doing serious DPS. It works with any animal companion with an inventory, too."
Dynamic Growth System
- Includes an actual puppy mesh! This isn't just a scaled down adult wolf. She will actually look like a puppy!
- Growth is gradual! It utilizes the weight slider system! Not just 'poof' you're an adult now. But instead, it is a natural (adorable) transition~
- Pause or restart her growing at any time. Options available in the MCM.
- Confidence, Damage and Carry Weight scale with her maturity. She starts cowardly with a carryweight of only 50.
Shes the size of your boot, what do you expect?
Appearance System
- Spectral Options! Choose between a frosty or shadowy version, with either white or red eyes!
- 'Normal' Options! Styx has a custom 'normal' skin, or can use vanilla black, red or ice wolf skins, compatible with any wolf retextures!
(Options available in the MCM!)
"Help! I installed the mod but Styx has no interaction whatsoever!"
I believe this is an engine issue where start enabled quests (which is where the dialogue comes from) don't get initialized properly on the first load.
It should be fixed with the included .seq file, but if it happens anyways, try just saving and reloading. Reinstalling also works, reportedly.
Please let me know if it happens to you! I've only seen 1 case so far and I'm curious if it's just a 1-off fluke..
"Help! Styx just ran off without me!"
As a puppy, she is cowardly. She'll run from combat, even if you don't know you're in combat yet.
She'll come back when it's safe, and she'll grow out of it soon enough. Just keep telling her how good she is!
Future plans?
Yeesss!
Check the sticky in the comments!
And I'm also always open to feedback/suggestions! :)
Compatibility
Styx will work along side any Follower management mods! I don't recommend actually managing her with them though.
Feel free to experiment if you want though, just be sure to make a backup save first! ;)
UFO - Styx will just ignore all UFO dialogue/commands. I'm not sure how to remove the option from the dialogue menu.
AFT - Haven't tried managing, but they ignore each other just fine.
EFF - Haven't tried managing, but they ignore each other just fine.
NFF - If you try to manage Styx with it, NFF's sneak transparency feature will mess with her spectral effects, even if you toggle it off. Nothing game breaking, she just won't be semi-transparent when in spectral form, so it might look a little odd. She'll look fine if you use her 'normal' skin options instead!
Tel Nalta II - Telvanni Home - Recruit Styx before you begin building, and it should be fine!
For any other mod that adds additional options via dialogue, the options will show up even if they are not relevant.
(Eg. Convinent Horse's "You should buy a horse." or Simple NPC Outfit Manager's "Let's talk outfits...")
Credits/Thank Yous!
I switched between many different guides while making this mod!
I didn't follow any of them tooo exactly, but they all taught me different things!
So thanks to all of them! :)
Jenna's Animal Followers (scripts - and tutorials) (Mod page) - I started with this one, but ended up abandoning this method. It's still good tho, and taught me the basics!
DDproductions83's Skyrim CK Custom voiced follower Quickie Tutorial (YouTube) - Tried this one next, but also didn't end up using this method. Good for 'quick and easy'. ;)
CrEaToXx's Creating custom Follower Framework (Text guide) - Of all of them, this is the one I really stuck with most.
Deck16's Making a Unique-Voiced Follower in Skyrim (Text guide) - I haven't actually went through this whole one yet, but it looks good for future 'dialogue' expansion!
Mara's Creation Kit: Making a Custom Voiced Follower (YouTube) - Used bits and pieces for visual reference.
Ceruulean's Notes on Behavior Editing - I used the 'Easy Way' and didn't do step 3, because I don't want to mess with FNIS.
It seems to work, but if anyone who knows what they're doing could let me know if I'm doing it right, I'd appreciate it! :)
Wolfgrimdark for the beautiful header and cover pictures! See more of his pictures in the user uploaded image section!
MyFilippo94 & Gunrunner66 for super helpful testing and reporting!
Check out my other mods! :)
Less Confrontational Animals (For SkyTEST)
More Horses
Breezehome Extra (Less) Breezy With General Stores (SE)
Underwater Visibility Fix (SE) Coming soon to Oldrim!
Vibrant Eyes (SE) Coming soon to Oldrim!
Werewolf Feral Beast Run (SE) Coming soon to Oldrim!
Bigger Werewolf Tails (SE) Coming soon to Oldrim!
Healthy Skeevers (SE) Coming soon to Oldrim!
Note: If you want any of the 'Coming Soon's faster, I tend to prioritize the ones that are getting the most comments.. ;)