this guide is PC specific and meant for beginners at using the console

Lydia...
has some issues...and i'm talking about how she sits in your bedroom making funny noises

her stats don't rise as she levels (this may apply to some other followers also).

to find out if your follower is levelling correctly go into first person get Lydia (or another follower) clearly in view (this is perhaps best done in your home btw).

save or quick save just in case you completely bork something. its not at all likely but better safe than sorry.

now and pull up the console by pressing the ` key.

the game will pause and a black shaded area will rise from the bottom of the screen and present you will a command prompt.

now click on Lydia with the mouse pointer and a number will appear.

in Lydias case the number will be 000A2C94

this number is her "RefID": her Reference ID. it will always be an 8 digit hexadecimal number meaning it contains both numbers and letters.

with Lydia clicked and the number still showing in the middle of the screen type the following:

getavinfo health

press Return

what this command does is Get Actor Value Info about Lydias Health stat

pretty straight forward ye ?

ok what do you see ?

you should see something like this (using example numbers):

GetActorValueInfo: Health on Lydia
...Current Value : 200.00 Computed Base : 200.00
...Base Value Components:
......Reference Base value 300.00 (Auto Calculated)
...Modifiers : Temp : 0.00 Perm : 0.00 Damage : 0.00

the first line is pretty self explanatory: this is the command you entered.

the second line is pretty self explanatory too. this is her current health value and following that the Base to which any Modifiers will have been added. we'll come back to Modifiers later.

the third line is perhaps the most important for this topic because this number is the Auto Calculated number she should have for the level she is at. for most if not all of you that number will be higher than the other two but really all three numbers should be the same.

the forth line is Modifiers which can be added to the character through various means. this includes gear and if she is wearing any +health items you will see their effects listed here.

ok so you've done this and your Lydia doesn't have the right amount of Health. what can you do ?

its actually very simple to fix:

first close the console again by pressing `

second talk to Lydia and tell her you are breaking up

she will say she's going home and leave your service and you will get a message in the top left of the screen saying so.

press ` again and open the console.

click Lydia and make sure the number is present in the middle of the screen again. be careful not to touch your mouse during this time and move it off her.

type the following:

disable

press Return

she will disappear. don't panic.

type the following:

enable

press Return

she will reappear.

type the following again:

getavinfo health

press Return

you should see that all three Health numbers are now the same and all is right in the world.

close the console again by pressing ` and pick her up again as a follower.

she probably will have equipped her default gear but don't worry she still retains her inventory through the disable/enable commands all you have to do to get her to wear it all again is take something off her and give her it straight back. this will cause a refresh as she examines her inventory and she will equip all her gear once more.

doing this does not just affect Health but will raise all her stats to a new higher level if she has fell behind. i simply use Health as an easy indicator of the issue but i'll cover how you can view and what you can do with some of the other stats in the near future when i extend this post.

you can repeat this process at any time and she will readjust to any new level you have reached.

i hope those of you who have never tried anything like this before found this post useful and informative

Weird I am on the ps3 and Lydia if she is not leveling is one bad ass low level lol tanking ancient dragons and basically holding her own any place we go heck I get one-shotted more at level 65 lol...

I wonder if its something I am doing or just the [censored] gear I have her in is making that big of a difference because in a fresh never been in before dungeon she holds her own pretty much.

well unless they fixed it in the last patch there were several know issues with her leveling along with you.

firstly she can/could ? get stuck at the level you first picked her up. her normal correct health is very high so even at say lvl 10 she she will have over around 200 Health making her easily comparable to a much higher level player.

secondly some say she does/did ? not recalculate her stats correctly when she leveled if at all and indeed this can be seen through console commands and comparing her with other followers who do level along with you as one would assume is intended for all.

thirdly given her base Health is high and you are probably kitting her out in ever better gear and she can't die except from splash dmg and the like she tends to stay up anyway. however, assuming they didnt fix the bugs (which i will check next time i level), she is under performing. my Lydia has over 600 health at level 42 and almost one shot a mob with a two hander (because her skills advance too) in short she's an utter beast.

anyway as introductions to console use go its a decent thing to check and a good simple and hopefully useful introduction i think.

my next planned post will get a bit more jucy and include altering her weapons skills and thus preferences and a few other follower related tips.