I wasn't sure if I wanted to start a thread about this, but I would like some feedback. I'm working on a companion mod that's more than just a pack donkey/meat shield because I don't like how the default ones have nothing to say after you've talked to them and hired them. I feel Bethesda dropped the ball on that, but I can understand why - what with time and money constraints. Anyway, I'm writing a companion that knows what's going on and has her own opinion on it. Right now I've been focusing on the MQ (Project Purity), Moira's tasks (the Wasteland Survival Guide), and saving Megaton. I may move onto other quests later if there's a request for them, but I'd like to finish the MQ stuff so that I can write Jasmine's backstory and her quests. Anyway, the reason why I'm posting is that I'd like to know what is good in a companion (I'm using a modified version of the RR system) and what isn't.

So far, Jasmine has the following features:

Will warp to you if she falls behind (2500 units right now).
Has most of her dialog in the greetings concerning the MQ and Moira's tasks.
Her skills are: Energy Weapons, Small Guns, and sneak.
She won't stand up if you're talking to her while sneaking.

Some screenshots: http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m313/gulfwulf/Fallout%203/Jasmine/Jasmine2.jpg, http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m313/gulfwulf/Fallout%203/Jasmine/Backshot1.jpg, and a http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m313/gulfwulf/Fallout%203/Jasmine/Vacationphoto.jpg I took out in Port Last.

One thing I would like to know is if she should follow you into the Tranquility Lane simulator and Raven Rock. Because of the scripting I'm using, she'll follow you anywhere: even to the DLC areas. I think I can prevent the former, but the DLCs would require that they be used and I'd like to stick to just Fallout and maybe BoS later on. Any constructive feedback is welcomed. Thanks in advance.

I have similar scripting in my follower so she will go anywhere you do. I have a teleporter too in case a mod has borked the navmesh or she's stuck in the geometry in an interior cell and I can't get far enough away for the auto-move to kick in.
It doesn't break anything if they follow you to TL or Raven rock. I did something special for both of these events. Even if you go the 'Pint sized slasher' route, the companion will just help The quest script doesn't care who does the killings, just the count. I take her through vault 87 and she gets flash-banged and falls unconscious with the player, then to Raven Rock.
I've taken her to Point lookout several times. Very little scripting will be required for this one - just to make her wait till the boat docks, then move her to you.
I'm just finishing up on a plugin for Operation Achorage to make her fit in with the simulation, though others have taken her there without a CP - just give her a bunch of stimpaks before you go
Zeta - haven't tried it yet, but some scripting will be required to keep her from killing that first NPC you meet.
Pitt - haven't tried it. Should just follow, but in order to fit the lore will need scripting to dress her for the part.

In addition to the Greeting situational dialog, you could have a quest script that monitors your location and stages of other quests (say the player has just made a choice, and it just set a quest stage), and have your quest script add a dialog script package to her (force greet) the player for some spontaneous 'this is what I have to say about it'. This way you avoid changing vanilla scripts.

Thanks, Ricker, but I'm more interested in what I should have her do than how to make it happen right now. I'll deal with the later once I figure out the former. Anyway, I would rather not script for the DLCs unless I'm going to be adding in dialog concerning them and I don't really have any plans to do that right now. I may in the future if this mod is used, but I don't plan on redoing any of them (except for BoS, which I never got far into), so it'll depend on how this is received. I haven't touched any of the vanilla scripts to avoid conflicts, which is why most of her dialog is in the Greetings topic. I may just have her get flash banged and follow you to Raven Rock - that would make some interesting conversation right there... Thanks again. I now have a few things to think about.

Very nice. We don`t get that many black companion Mods nice to see one.

My views on companions.

I`ve used a lot of companions and in my humble opinion Good companion mods are ones that :

1. Allow you to configure the companion from the game dialogue itself. Say if you`re having trouble with her falling behind then set her distance from you to very close in the Dialogue as well as a warping option. A recall teleporter might also be useful (although I don`t like them).

2. Allow immersive qualties like you can tell them to go to sleep, then you watch them find a bed and sleep. Or just sit around and chill. In one Mod I was quite happy and surprised to see my companion watering the plants when I told her to relax and chill out. Gave her a `human` quality.

3. A `Stay\guard in one place, DON`T MOVE` command. This one`s really important and is different from the relax, chilling, wander command. . I hate it when I`m sneaking in a difficult raider-infested building after I tell my companion to `Wait` or `Stay` or `Guard` and she wanders off 20 feet anyway into enemies and starts a fight. I would call this a combat-stay command as its really important for her NOT to be independent in tense potential fights.

4. "A stick with me no matter what, even if you get hit!" command would be incredibly useful. Sometimes I can`t or don`t want to take on that creature in the distance and just want to run wide past it, but, oh no, my companion wants to kill everything. This command would help her stay with me as I run out of range of any enemies.

5. Plnty of audio basic speech from the companion (ripped from the game) and lots of text waffle about their life, mission etc (which is what I think you`re already doing) which is good.

6. A command to make them know a new home and to send them there.

7. Ability to equip them as needed.

8. Good starting kit, but nothing uber that lasts forever and kills everything. Let the Player provide the companion later and allow the companion the abilty to pick up equipemnt and stuff from dead enemies (which I`ve seen some mods do).

9. An option to set the Bravery level of the companion from too brave to cowardly. See the Jessi mod which does this really well, she hardly ever charges into the enemy on `cautious`.

10. Finally, an Essential on\off option as I tend to play with my companions Essential off, but I play a careful game.

As for entering places like Tranquility Lane I would just have my companion stay back. If you need a reason, maybe the sim can only take one more person and still function correctly. I don`t know about the others as I haven`t been there yet.


OK, I know this is probabaly a lot more than you expected, don`t sweat it. These are just my opinions take what you want or don`t want from it and try your best.

Morrowind has Julan, Jasmine (:hehe:), and other great companion mods. Oblivion has several too, Vilja in particular. Fallout 3 is in need of a companion mod with an opinion too so this sounds good!

The editor said I exceeded the maximum number of quotes, so I put Shield Watcher's replies in quotation marks.

"1. Allow you to configure the companion from the game dialogue itself. Say if you`re having trouble with her falling behind then set her distance from you to very close in the Dialogue as well as a warping option. A recall teleporter might also be useful (although I don`t like them)."

You can set how far away she stays (near, medium, or far), but I don't have a teleporter because I haven't seen a script for one yet. I think I can change the warping distance, though.

"2. Allow immersive qualties like you can tell them to go to sleep, then you watch them find a bed and sleep. Or just sit around and chill. In one Mod I was quite happy and surprised to see my companion watering the plants when I told her to relax and chill out. Gave her a `human` quality."

Hmm. If that doesn't need FOSE to do, I'll look into it.

"3. A `Stay\guard in one place, DON`T MOVE` command. This one`s really important and is different from the relax, chilling, wander command. . I hate it when I`m sneaking in a difficult raider-infested building after I tell my companion to `Wait` or `Stay` or `Guard` and she wanders off 20 feet anyway into enemies and starts a fight. I would call this a combat-stay command as its really important for her NOT to be independent in tense potential fights."

Jasmine already has that - my wife berated me because she lost her once. :bonk: Jasmine will now stay in one place or wander around depending on what you tell her to do. I have to keep the wife happy, especially since she's my main alpha tester. :wub:

"4. "A stick with me no matter what, even if you get hit!" command would be incredibly useful. Sometimes I can`t or don`t want to take on that creature in the distance and just want to run wide past it, but, oh no, my companion wants to kill everything. This command would help her stay with me as I run out of range of any enemies."

Hmm. I'm afraid this might require FOSE, but I'll look into it.

"5. Plnty of audio basic speech from the companion (ripped from the game) and lots of text waffle about their life, mission etc (which is what I think you`re already doing) which is good."

My wife was thinking about recording her dialog, but we'll see what happens because I'll probably have more than a few pages worth when I'm done. I am planning on implementing a family for Jasmine and some quests that she'll ask you to help her with after I'm finished with the MQ stuff.

"6. A command to make them know a new home and to send them there."

That should be easy enough, I'll have to ask how it's done though.

"7. Ability to equip them as needed."

Already implemented. You can access her inventory anytime she's traveling with you.

"8. Good starting kit, but nothing uber that lasts forever and kills everything. Let the Player provide the companion later and allow the companion the abilty to pick up equipemnt and stuff from dead enemies (which I`ve seen some mods do)."

She starts out with Charon's leather armor but I may give her another set. She also has a regular hunting rifle. I've set both to unequipable so she'll always have armor and a weapon, but I may change that. She has picked up weapons on her own - I can't tell you how many times I've accessed her inventory to find a weapon and ammo I didn't give her. Clever girl that. :ninja:

"9. An option to set the Bravery level of the companion from too brave to cowardly. See the Jessi mod which does this really well, she hardly ever charges into the enemy on `cautious`."

I heard there were issues with setting the Bravery level below brave, but I think I can implement that without any issues.

"10. Finally, an Essential on\off option as I tend to play with my companions Essential off, but I play a careful game. "

She's set to Essential by default, but I can change that as well I think.

"As for entering places like Tranquility Lane I would just have my companion stay back. If you need a reason, maybe the sim can only take one more person and still function correctly. I don`t know about the others as I haven`t been there yet."

Hmm. I may have her wait if you talk to her before you enter the simulator by telling you that there's only one functioning pod available.

"OK, I know this is probabaly a lot more than you expected, don`t sweat it. These are just my opinions take what you want or don`t want from it and try your best."

Oh no, it's exactly what I wanted. It's given me some more ideas to ponder. Thanks. :thumbsup:

@povuholo: Oh, she'll definitely have her own opinions on things. And yes, I did get the idea for her from my Morrowind mod, but she's not as...picky about things. :whistling:

Looks great, jac. If the Essential thing could be optional that`d be nice, but if not, that`s ok.

Well if you`re missus could do the voice that would be mighty fine of her and thanks in advance, just in case she does.

Thanks for the replies and good luck on it all.

The only one I'm a bit leery of is the toggle essential and only because I'm not quite sure how to display it in game. I guess I could do a Toggle Essential function and put it in brackets: [Toggle Essential]. Her reply would then be in brackets ( [Essential On/Off] ), but it wouldn't have a voice file attached to it. How do other companion mods handle it?

Example (can't remember what mod I saw this method in before, or should I say the similar method):

Character Dialogue Option: To access the essential settings you could use something simple but identifiable - "How tough are you?"

NPC Provides Response: Something fitting as a retort to the player statement in the proper voice (if voiced), potentially with a different retort depending on the current state of the character (this could then be tagged in brackets at the end) - "I'm a freakin' badass! [Essential On]" or "I dunno, tough enough I guess. [Essential Off]"

Character Dialogue Options: "I think you could stand to be a little tougher. [Essential On]" or "Cut the tough chick/dude crap! [Essential Off]"

NPC Provides Response: "Let's kick some ass! [Essential On]" or "Alright, alright - have it your way. [Essential Off]"

Just some general ideas - again, pretty sure I have used some Companion mod at some point that utilized something along these line for running through that process with the characters.

Unfortunately, I have a very limited knowledge of the Geck. In fact, i`ve only just started looking into it to change some dialoge lines of a companion! But I hope to even make my own in time. Point is I don`t know much of it to suggest methods. To be honest, I hope to make an incredibly comprehensive, full verbal companion mod one day, but that`s a long time down the road (once I`ve studied the Geck).

Perhaps what Red eye said or maybe have two separate datafiles- One with essential on and one off.

Update:

I finished with the MQ stuff except for Rescue from Paradise seeing as how that's an optional quest, but I'll probably still write it in for her. I have a pretty good idea as to what her background is and what she'll ask you to do, but I'm still working on how to initiate it in the mod. Some other features I've added are a guard this spot and a confidence changer: she'll either be brave or cautious. I may add in a cowardly option later. My wife and I are working on how to implement the essential toggle via dialog.

Ok. I just found that the way Jessi had it set worked very well. There was a `Don`t attack unless twice as strong as the enemy` setting. This combined with the `Stay closest` command meant that in firefights she always stayed nearby and used cover which was pretty realistic and kept her from instantly running to her death like most companions tend to do. She only ever ran to attack face-to-face if I only gave her a melee weapon. I was always impressed by this- Here`s a pic I took of a typical fight.

[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v31/SeaFireLIV/Gargantuan.jpg[/IMG]


She always stuck near or by me. Even if she wandered away a bit she never ran into any enemiesif they were a lot or too strong.


Anyway, hope you`ll figure a way to put this in one day- Or maybe I will! The original Modder of Jessi hasn`t been around for a while.


Will be watching and good luck with Jas..

That should just be a confidence setting: maybe making the companion cautious would do that. At brave, Jasmine tends to go looking for enemies, but she has cried for help a time or two...

In the result script for the dialog, you set the confidence you want:

SetAv Confidence X

Where X can be 0 thru 4, from cowardly to Foolhardy. http://geck.gamesas.com/index.php/Confidence

Well great. whatever it is, it works very well in my game, since I don`t like to charge into things and since most of my companions are non-essential, I like them to be careful as well. What`s really nice is as long as it`s not on the lowest (coward) level they will still shoot and fight but stay near the Player.

I highly recommened it for Companions anyway imho. I`ll certainly use this to configure other characters I have in my game.

Thanks, Ricker. That should make things easier.

http://fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=15758

Looks like someone just released a 'jasmine companion' based on a popular face from a savegame character called Jasmine.

Well, name's aren't copyrighted. Anyway, mine's going to be a different type of companion.

Looks very nice and has some of the options I like. I must try it. Is this yours, Jac?

Edit?:
Ah, no, just seen your reply.


Bit of a coincidence isn`t it? Same name, similar character? You should change the name when you make yours then.

Of course. I just thought I'd point it out, it can get confusing if people are looking for your mod and they're accidentally downloading the wrong one with a nearly identical title.

SW: mine's from a Morrowind mod I made. The one on Nexus looks to be based off of a saved character someone asked to be made into a mod.

Povuholo: I'll make sure I call it Jac's Jasmine or something.

One of the things I was planning on doing was adding in a new area or two out in the wastes. Does anybody know of any areas that aren't touch by other mods? I may just pick one of the existing areas and convert it to my needs provided there's not something there already added by another mod. Thanks.

Beta's up at http://wolflore.fliggerty.com/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=109! Let me know if you come across any issues. Thanks.

Current features:

Dialog options:

• Set Essential on/off.
  
• Set following distance.
  
• Set confidence level (cowardly, cautious, or brave).
  
• Set attack style (melee or ranged).
  
• Set home location and send her back there.
  
• Stay or guard this spot.

Other features:

• Comments on the various quests in Megaton.
  
• Comments on Moira's Wasteland Survival Guide quests.
  
• Comments on the main quest.

Planned features:

• Fully voice acted. I may add in default voices for the time being.
  
• An expanded back story along with associated quests.
  
• Commentary on the various DLCs, starting with Brotherhood of Steel.
  
• Immersive qualities like eating, sleeping, or just hanging out like other NPCs.

OK, good stuff. Looks like I`ll have to register to download. Been also using the other Jasmine and it will be interesting to see what yours is like. One thing I did find with the `other` Jasmine was that she still attacked (running from me into overwhelming firepower) too much even on cautious mode. The modder reduced her `energy` state and this did a lot to stop her attacking and making her hold back when on cautious.


Anyway, I`ll see how this goes.
Thankd for the effort.

Elaura found two issues: it seems that there's a red X in Megaton and Jasmine's "go home" option is missing. I'll be fixing both of those later and uploading a fixed beta version soon after she's done more testing. I'm also doing some work on where Jasmine's family lives, so if you see some fences around a burned out city that aren't there in the vanilla game, just ignore them for now. :whistling: