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About this mod
Fergus returns! A custom-voiced follower mod from Oblivion, lovingly recreated to join you once again in Skyrim! Featuring interactions with Vilja!
- Requirements
- Permissions and credits
-
Translations
- Mandarin
- Changelogs
INTRODUCTION
Fergus was a custom-voiced follower created and voiced by sylar0712 for The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion back in 2011, before Skyrim had even released. Although he never achieved the popularity that Vilja had, he was very much inspired by her and followed in her footsteps in many regards.
Fergus was an indispensable friend and companion to me in a game where there weren't many, and he remained one even years later when I returned to play Oblivion.
As the years have gone on, I found myself playing Oblivion less frequently and, when I did, only for short bursts and minimally-modded. The leaps and bounds made by modders that increase the immersion we're able to achieve in Skyrim is hard to give up, as someone who values that sort of thing a great deal. But whenever I was walking around Skyrim with Vilja, I couldn't help but wish Fergus were there with us.
And so, a few months ago, I reached the obvious conclusion: I'd bring him here myself.
CHALLENGES
It would be foolish to say this is a "port" of an Oblivion mod. It simply doesn't work that way. Fergus had to be recreated from the ground up. Fortunately, with the original mod to use as a guide, adapting all his dialogue to Skyrim's improved follower systems was a simple enough task. The real problem? A great deal of his dialogue was written for Oblivion - a game that takes place 200 years before the events of Skyrim. Fergus loved to talk about various people and events in Oblivion, but many of those people are dead, and those events have long since passed.
By going through his dialogue and finding what still works, as well as through careful dialogue splicing and trimming, I've adapted him to a world set 200 years later. Of course, it's important to me that it sound as seamless as possible - something I feel I've been successful at in his current dialogue. You hopefully won't even be able to tell what was spliced. It's a time-consuming process, and there are still limits to what can be done with the existing lines. I also clean up the recordings where I can, and make sure they're all normalized to sound consistent.
As such, you'll find that Fergus is quite modest in content. He has no quest, and he'll generally have less to say than your typical Skyrim follower mod. Even the original Oblivion mod had less than 1000 lines - compared to what you're used to today, even that's downright meager. But of course, I wasn't concerned with that. Fergus was not made to compete with the likes of Inigo and Lucien.
Fergus was a passion project. I wanted him back, and so I made him for myself.
But I naturally thought that perhaps I should release him to the public - surely there was at least one other person out there who played with Fergus but had moved on to Skyrim, and missed him as I did, wishing he was around. If I could make that happen, it would make all the work worth it. And so, I contacted Fergus' original author, who gave his blessing - which I thank him for.
FEATURES
Fergus is a friendly Imperial from the city of Senchal, in Elsweyr. He's a jack of all trades who has been wandering around Tamriel - and more recently, Skyrim - doing odd jobs and seeing the world. He's currently in Rorikstead, staying at the Frostfruit Inn, and is thinking about taking up work as a mercenary, which is where your needs and his align.
Fergus likes to use a bow, but has no issues getting close and personal with a blade, either. He also knows how to heal himself and use a ward when things get dicey. He prefers heavy armor.
Fergus currently has just over 50 idle lines. Many of them he'll only say at maximum once a day, to prevent him from repeating himself too much. They've also been given an low chance of occurrence, so he won't get on your nerves by constantly talking. Some of the lines will only be said in certain locations, or at certain times, or during certain weathers. Of course, he has many more lines for combat and commands and such.
AVAILABLE PATCHES
Vilja in Skyrim - Adds voiced dialogue for both Fergus and Vilja! Both will make comments to one another and occasionally share thoughts about the other with you when spoken to.
Beyond Skyrim - Bruma - Gives Fergus a few more idle lines exclusive to Cyrodiil and swaps out his Steel Sword for its Cyrodilic equivalent. More lines to be added when all of Cyrodiil is released.
FUTURE PLANS
Expand dialogue through careful splicing
Patches for other various mods to let Fergus comment on them:
- Clockwork
- I'm Glad You're Here
...and more!
OTHER NOTES
There are no overt implications made as to this Fergus' connection to the Fergus from Oblivion. I wanted it left intentionally vague for player freedom. It's up to your personal head-canon whether this is the same Fergus somehow, or perhaps the Fergus from Oblivion never existed, or perhaps this Fergus is the great-great-grandson of the Fergus from Oblivion - much like Skyrim's Vilja being the great-great-granddaughter of the Vilja from Oblivion. While I personally believe that to be the most "realistic" idea, I have not put in any dialogue confirming such.
While Fergus does run on a custom framework with the basic follower functions, I found no issues importing him into Nether's Follower Framework to take advantage of the extended options that framework provides.
Fergus was a custom-voiced follower created and voiced by sylar0712 for The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion back in 2011, before Skyrim had even released. Although he never achieved the popularity that Vilja had, he was very much inspired by her and followed in her footsteps in many regards.
Fergus was an indispensable friend and companion to me in a game where there weren't many, and he remained one even years later when I returned to play Oblivion.
As the years have gone on, I found myself playing Oblivion less frequently and, when I did, only for short bursts and minimally-modded. The leaps and bounds made by modders that increase the immersion we're able to achieve in Skyrim is hard to give up, as someone who values that sort of thing a great deal. But whenever I was walking around Skyrim with Vilja, I couldn't help but wish Fergus were there with us.
And so, a few months ago, I reached the obvious conclusion: I'd bring him here myself.
CHALLENGES
It would be foolish to say this is a "port" of an Oblivion mod. It simply doesn't work that way. Fergus had to be recreated from the ground up. Fortunately, with the original mod to use as a guide, adapting all his dialogue to Skyrim's improved follower systems was a simple enough task. The real problem? A great deal of his dialogue was written for Oblivion - a game that takes place 200 years before the events of Skyrim. Fergus loved to talk about various people and events in Oblivion, but many of those people are dead, and those events have long since passed.
By going through his dialogue and finding what still works, as well as through careful dialogue splicing and trimming, I've adapted him to a world set 200 years later. Of course, it's important to me that it sound as seamless as possible - something I feel I've been successful at in his current dialogue. You hopefully won't even be able to tell what was spliced. It's a time-consuming process, and there are still limits to what can be done with the existing lines. I also clean up the recordings where I can, and make sure they're all normalized to sound consistent.
As such, you'll find that Fergus is quite modest in content. He has no quest, and he'll generally have less to say than your typical Skyrim follower mod. Even the original Oblivion mod had less than 1000 lines - compared to what you're used to today, even that's downright meager. But of course, I wasn't concerned with that. Fergus was not made to compete with the likes of Inigo and Lucien.
Fergus was a passion project. I wanted him back, and so I made him for myself.
But I naturally thought that perhaps I should release him to the public - surely there was at least one other person out there who played with Fergus but had moved on to Skyrim, and missed him as I did, wishing he was around. If I could make that happen, it would make all the work worth it. And so, I contacted Fergus' original author, who gave his blessing - which I thank him for.
FEATURES
Fergus is a friendly Imperial from the city of Senchal, in Elsweyr. He's a jack of all trades who has been wandering around Tamriel - and more recently, Skyrim - doing odd jobs and seeing the world. He's currently in Rorikstead, staying at the Frostfruit Inn, and is thinking about taking up work as a mercenary, which is where your needs and his align.
Fergus likes to use a bow, but has no issues getting close and personal with a blade, either. He also knows how to heal himself and use a ward when things get dicey. He prefers heavy armor.
Fergus currently has just over 50 idle lines. Many of them he'll only say at maximum once a day, to prevent him from repeating himself too much. They've also been given an low chance of occurrence, so he won't get on your nerves by constantly talking. Some of the lines will only be said in certain locations, or at certain times, or during certain weathers. Of course, he has many more lines for combat and commands and such.
AVAILABLE PATCHES
Vilja in Skyrim - Adds voiced dialogue for both Fergus and Vilja! Both will make comments to one another and occasionally share thoughts about the other with you when spoken to.
Beyond Skyrim - Bruma - Gives Fergus a few more idle lines exclusive to Cyrodiil and swaps out his Steel Sword for its Cyrodilic equivalent. More lines to be added when all of Cyrodiil is released.
FUTURE PLANS
Expand dialogue through careful splicing
Patches for other various mods to let Fergus comment on them:
- Clockwork
- I'm Glad You're Here
...and more!
OTHER NOTES
There are no overt implications made as to this Fergus' connection to the Fergus from Oblivion. I wanted it left intentionally vague for player freedom. It's up to your personal head-canon whether this is the same Fergus somehow, or perhaps the Fergus from Oblivion never existed, or perhaps this Fergus is the great-great-grandson of the Fergus from Oblivion - much like Skyrim's Vilja being the great-great-granddaughter of the Vilja from Oblivion. While I personally believe that to be the most "realistic" idea, I have not put in any dialogue confirming such.
While Fergus does run on a custom framework with the basic follower functions, I found no issues importing him into Nether's Follower Framework to take advantage of the extended options that framework provides.