» Mon Nov 01, 2010 1:02 pm 
I'm of course very happy for this - as I have been making companion mods since 2002, I'm glad every time I hear that players do enjoy company in their game.
The old thread is available here: http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1099210-relz-companion-vilja-ver-2/
NOW UPGRADED TO VER 2.1!
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With ver 2.1 the infamous problem with companions vanishing from Oblivion planes and later returning with reset inventories should be *almost* gone. Well, for Vilja, that is (not for every companion mod)
Read the readme for more information.
You still need to download ver 2.0 for voicefiles, meshes and textures!
NEW IN VERSION 2.0!!
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http://lovkullen.net/Emma/Vilja.htm
http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=28977
What's new?
First of all - this time I'm not working alone on Vilja. CdCooley, wellknown from the Morrowind community for his scripting knowledge and interest in companions, has fallen for Vilja's charms and offered to work on her scripts. This has indeed meant a huge difference! Her AI is now very much improved.
First, a few screenies to illustrate some of the news:
http://lovkullen.net/Emma/pics/Vilja_bruse808.jpg
http://lovkullen.net/Emma/pics/vilja753.jpg
http://lovkullen.net/Emma/pics/Vilja747.jpg
http://lovkullen.net/Emma/pics/Vilja799.jpg
http://lovkullen.net/Emma/pics/vilja781.jpg
http://lovkullen.net/Emma/pics/Vilja773.jpg
- Bonus questline. Shortly after you have completed the original quest for Vilja, a new one will start, which will keep you busy for some hours and add some new bonuses.
- Tired of companions that promise to stay out of trouble and then still charge as soon as you see an enemy? Well, Vilja shouldn't... If told to stay out of combat, she will indeed do so... until you are so badly injured that you desperately need her help to survive. The behaviour with all enemies attacking your companion is also gone - if she is set to defensive fighting or no fighting, it is more likely that you are their main target, which makes it much easier to level up. I.e. it is no longer a problem to have Vilja in tow from level 1 - you will still be able to level up your fighting and armor skills. And if you want to sneak your way through dungeons, she will do so, too... unless, of course, you have told her to attack anything hostile.
- Vilja is now much more aware of what is going on around her. She will comment frequently on many (currently like 40 %) of the original Oblivion quests you are doing together, and your actions might please or displease her. And don't be surprised if she also comments on other things in the gameworld. "Oh look! A butterfly! Isn't it beautiful?"
- Vilja is now aware of your other companions (after an introduction by you), with some of them she will interact on an individual basis and also comment on them in her dialog with you (similar to how my Morrowind companions interact with other companions). Currently, she has special interactions with Neeshka, Rhianna, Sonia, Viconia, Stoker Wolf, Saerileth, Vincente, Valeria and Arren, but she will also recognize other companions and CM Partners as fellow companions. If you want to relax at the computer for a while, just leave Vilja and your other companions in wandermode, and I'm sure there will happen things you hadn't expected.
- Vilja will also know about other things. For instance, she will know if she is nvde or if your character is nvde, she will know if your character is ill, she will know if she is swimming (and put on a swimming suit), she will know what kind of dungeon you are in and what kind of enemies you are facing.
- Her daily schedule has been much expanded. If you leave her in wandermode, you can watch her perform her schedule, and when she is making potions, she will literally be making potions, provided that you have given her some of the simple ingredients that she can use (she never claimed to be an excellent alchemist, so don't expect anything too fancy)
- apart from her regular inventory, she has a special pyjamas-bag (where you can choose what she should wear... well, or not wear, obviously... when she sleeps) and two extra storage bags for items you want her to carry without using.
- Vilja now has her own friends in Cyrodiil. Don't be surprised if she decides to go and have a chat with one of them! Those who know her will also have an extra "Vilja-topic" where they will comment on her (those who have played my Morrowind companions will recognize this).
- Option-book where you can set various features on the spot, like for instance: essential versus non-essential, will wear swimsuit - or not, can get encumbered versus never gets encumbered (yes, if you wish to, she can get encumbered, just like the player. But, it is your choice)
- Various details that might improve roleplay. For instance, she can now ride her horse also when you are walking.
- She will offer a few new services. Nothing fancy and no 'cheats', but she will for instance be able to make you a new outfit if you give her cloth. And you can tell her to work in your garden (just for immersion).
- Her dialog has been much expanded and better filtered - the mod now contain over 2800 voice files, more than 2300 of these belong to Vilja. You will find a much broader variety of comments from her, and some dialog is timed so it won't show up too often. (It does get boring after a while if she keeps on asking if she looks fat in this outfit)
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More information:
COMPANION VILJA VER 2
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Character, story and voice by Emma
Scripts by CDCooley
Featuring Zrenk Dungeon by Blockhead
Vilja in swedish means willpower, guts, determination. And that is something Vilja has got lots of!
When her sister was put in prison on bread and water for selling beauty creme with unexpected effects to the Vvardenfell nobility, Vilja instantly decided to help her. But things hasn't turned out the way Vilja expected... She is now waiting for a friend of her sister in The Bloated Float at the Waterfront in the imperial city. But, the days are passing, and the friend hasn't shown up. Meanwhile, her sister is suffering in prison.
Will you help Vilja? Will you let her come along with you in her search for ingredients for an antidote potion that might make it possible for her sister to help those unfortunate that used the beauty creme?
Vilja is a young nord girl, born in Solstheim and living in Cyrodiil since... well, that she will explain to you, herself, when she knows you better!
She isn't the best fighter in the world (why would she then need your help?), nor the best marksman, and when it comes to spells, she has only learnt waterwalking, teleporting and some healing ones.
But she will certainly change your lonely life in Cyrodiil, as she is talkative, curious and very unpredictable.
Background
General (ver 1):
Although I - Emma - have made several companion mods for Morrowind, Vilja is my first companion mod for Oblivion. When I had played through the game for the second time in spring 2009, I started to feel lonely and looked around for companions similar to my Morrowind ones. After a lot of research, I found my favorite - Companion Neeshka by Rsdnt_Evle, an absolutely lovely Dunmer lady who I recommend every companion user to use in their game. After using her for a while, I got so intrigued that I couldn't resist starting out on my own companion. At first she was just a clone of Neeshka (which is why also Vilja will be found in the Bloated Float in Waterfront) but as time passed, Vilja took her own path and Neeshka would today probably disagreeingly shake her head if I insisted that Vilja was a 'distant relative' of hers...
Vilja is in many ways similar to my Morrowind companions - she has her own story, her own personality, her own missions, and lots and lots of dialog.
Version 2:
The most important difference between ver 1 and ver 2 is that this time I have not worked alone on Vilja. CDCooley, who I have previously worked together with in Morrowind projects, had fallen for Vilja's charms and offered to work on her scripts. This has meant a huge leap forward when it comes to functionality and general AI. All her scripts are thoroughly reworked. The small, but annoying, glitches from version 1 should be gone, and Vilja ver 2 is not only a hopefully nice company but also a well functioning companion that can be an asset rather than a burden in combat and other situations. On top of this, we have introduced interaction between companion mods - something that since long is standard for Morrowind companions but has to my knowledge never been implemented for Oblivion companions.
Vilja is also very much aware of what is going on around her. She will comment on your ongoing quests and actions, and sometimes your decisions will please her... or make her really angry.
What to expect
What to expect
- There is a quest-line connected to Vilja which will keep you busy for a number of hours; you will have to fight, convince, guess and maybe do some less honorable things in order to help her. However, don't expect a long, involved storyline with new landmasses! Instead, it's a relatively short, simple story that is mostly there to give you a background and a reason why Vilja will want to team up with you and be your side-kick. Those of you who have played my Morrowind companion mods (Laura, Constance, Witchgirl et al) will know what I mean.
- Vilja has her own life story, her own goals, her own wishes and needs. If you talk to her, you will learn more and more about her over time. Treat her well and your friendship will grow stronger and stronger.
- Vilja's level is set to 3 levels below yours. This means that if you start out with her when you are at level 1, it will take a while before she reaches higher levels (should happen when you are level 4).
- You will get a Vilja SUMMON SPELL that will bring her to you, should she ever vanish.
- Vilja has her own horse, and when you mount your horse, she will summon hers and go riding with you. New in ver 2: She can also use her horse when you are walking.
- She is very talkative, but you can tell her to shut up if you don't want to listen to her.
- You can't bribe her or play the speechcraft game with her. But you will find other ways to improve her disposition towards you. (Do you like strawberries? Well, hope you are not too fond of them, as Vilja will want them all).
- You can tell her to eat, drink, take a nap, go swimming, go home, meet you in various cities. She will recognize your home as her home as well, once you have told her that this is where you will live.
- When she is in wander mode, she has her own daily routines, and unless you tell her to stop, she will continue small-talking to you.
- She can make some simple potions for you if you give her an ingredient. She can collect ingredients for you. She can later on heal you if you ask her to. When you are at home, she might surprise you with one of her pies. You can send her to do some shopping for you, but it's quite hazardous as she might not have the same idea as you on what is a bargain. If you run out of lockpicks, you can buy some from her, and she can help you with a hammer if necessary. Oh, she can light a torch, too. And rake your garden. Give her cloth, and she will make you a new outfit - but don't expect anything fancy, just ordinary Oblivion clothes. The 'service' isn't there to be a cheat, only add to the immersion.
- She can be ordered to fight aggressive, defensive or not at all. If she is not supposed to fight at all, she will only fight back if she is attacked or if you - the player - is so badly injured that she has to rush in in order to save your life.
- On top of that, she offers heaps of advice and suggestions on what to do - but her ideas might not always match yours.
- She is not a romance companion, but she does offer affection, loyalty and friendship.
- When left in wander-mode together with other npcs and companions, she will small-talk with them as well, sometimes using standard topics, sometimes bringing up her own topics (note that in ver 2, she will be able to recognize and interact with specific companions from other mods on an individual level).
- As I have voice-acted Vilja, myself (where else would I find a lunatic that would voice-record and lip-sync 2400 voice-entries?), she is speaking english with a strong scandinavian accent (I'm from Sweden) and she is probably making quite a few mistakes, especially when it comes to pronouncation. Please let me know of unacceptable mistakes that should be attended to in later versions (her english won't be flawless no matter what, as my english isn't flawless).
Known issues
- Vilja is very talkative and will chat with you whereever you go. However, the lipsync in Oblivion only works when you are facing the talking npc. This means that sometimes, her lip-movement will appear once you turn around and look at her, i.e. she will then appear to be talking but you won't be able to hear anything.
- Vilja can fight both melee and ranged, but like every companion in Oblivion, she sometimes "forgets" to load her bow with arrows! (If you are already using companions in Oblivion, you are probably familiar with this problem). We haven't found any way to 'fix' this, but she will start using arrows again after you have switched cells.
- Like any other companion, Vilja will only sleep in beds that have no owner assiged to them, and she might not sit in chairs that aren't marked as "persistant". If you tell her to take a nap and she refuses, it's not her fault - there simply isn't a suitable bed at the location. She will then revert to her daily schedule and do what she would normally have done at that hour of the day.
- Some modder-made houses are companion-friendly, others aren't. If there are no pathgrids, no persistant chairs and no beds without ownership, companions won't behave very well. Thank you Korana for explaining all the important things regarding this, and for always making your houses companion-friendly!
. What you get is traditional Oblivion companion behaviour and
So unless Cdcooley comes up with some kind of scripted arrow remover, theres nothing we can do about this particular "issue".
