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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INTRODUCTION

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 1400 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 available.


I wrote Lydia to center around the main questline, since for many of us, she stuck with us from the journey to High Hrothgar to the Confrontation with Odahviing on our first playthrough - I based this very heavily on what I imagined was going on between Lydia and the Dragonborn the first time I played Skyrim. With that, not bringing her along for the main quest will create a backlog of dialogue, so it's highly recommended you do so. While she has plenty of non-MQ content, she is, first and foremost, a main-quest follower. She has her own personal quest that functions independent of the main quest, however.

I didn't write Lydia to be a "historically accurate" (as if every Huskarl in pre-Christian Scandinavia was the exact same), type-a housecarl because that would have been boring. I wrote her to be a courageous and very good-hearted woman who's become disenfranchised with the state of the world around her, and has put up at least one defense mechanism to keep herself from what would be faltering in her view. She has a romance path and a specific attachment style that will be enticing for some players but not others - I think I've written Lydia to be a great romantic partner, but she's not one-size-fits-all. Her romance has some highly suggestive lines, but nothing extremely explicit. For the Mass Effect fans out there, she's a cross between Garrus and Liara.



Since this has been a persistent barrier for people trying to use the mod, here's a tutorial on how to make a patch for any appearance mod.





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.

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

CREDITS

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



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. EDIT: For version 4.0, I would suggest a new game, though it isn't necessary.
 
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: Why does Lydia say she's an Imperial in this when the she's a Nord?
A: I wrote her as having a Nord mother and an Imperial father. That should be pretty apparent from dialogue, but some people missed it. Yes, I know the in-game book "Racial Phylogeny" exists, but that doesn't mean she wouldn't be Imperial-influenced. 

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: Despite the power dynamic that's supposed to exist between a housecarl and thane, Lydia and the player will naturally form a balanced relationship should you choose to pursue romance. 75% of it is things women have actual done or said to me in real life, 25% is things I wish women would do or say to me in real life. This mod is still very substantive without romance.

Q: Will this mod ever have support for any other follower mods?
A: Support for Gore is in the works, but currently, no other follower mods that I want to make a patch with are on my radar. Goredev and I work well together, and for someone who hasn't been modding that long (he played this mod before even considering making his own), he's an extremely talented and innovative creator. 

Q: The moral rejection system needs to be removed immediately. Housecarls are supposed to be submissive, docile, and never have opinions of their own, and never consider the fact that the Jarl who appointed them to a Thane might revoke thaneship when someone joins a literal criminal organization. There's no possible way that Bethesda didn't make the player lose thaneship for egregious crimes because of timeline and budgetary constraints. In fact, in manuscripts from Norway, Denmark, and Sweden from the mid-800s A.D. all point to the idea that Huskarls only ever said "UWU THEGN-KUN, I'M SWORN TO CARRY YOUR BURDENS. AND BY BURDENS, I MEAN HOT LOADS IN MY LITTLE HUSKARLUSSY." As we all know, Skyrim is intended to represent pre-Christian and Early Middle Ages Scandinavia as closely as possible, and therefore, there should be no consequences for anything in Skyrim ever.
A: No.

Q: Will you please make a patch for Amorous Adventures?
A: Absolutely not. UPDATE: as of 4.0.3, I've made patches to disable the content AA and AA plus add to Lydia. I still don't advise that you use Amorous Adventures because of how it depicts power dynamics in relationships and sexual assault victims (Serana). I have nothing against hot women, romance, and sex in video games (obviously), but I do have a problem with rapey shit. 

Q: Does that "1400 lines" include or exclude what's added in the patches for Bruma, Wyrmstooth, and Legacy?
A: It includes them. Probably about 1100 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 in the United States.

Q: Why can't I just throw the Daedric artifacts anywhere in the ocean to get Lydia's romance back?
A: Scripting limitations. I wanna see if I can get around them at some point by just checking if the item is below sea level.

Q: WHY THE HELL IS LYDIA MAKING ME THROW A PRICELESS DAEDRIC ARTIFACT IN THE OCEAN?!
A: It's good for the environment. You need to recharge the enchanted eels.

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. Her lines that occur when certain skills are low can be disabled in the MCM.

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. Just don't bring your Nord-Imperial warrior wife who worships the Nine Divines with you when you go to do Molag Bal's quest.



Alright, those for those of you who have read until the end, my parting advice is that 3 sets of 12 is bullshit. For newer lifters especially, it can be very difficult to gauge how much weight you can lift for that high of a rep range. 5 sets of 5 is much better for building strength (or 4 by 5 for non-compound exercises), and 4 sets of 8 is much better for stimulating hypertrophy. There are a lot of quacks in the fitness industry.