[Project]

Good catch. We really didn't pay attention to the FCOM patch since neither Emma nor I use it. You're right that the patch written for version 2 will break the AI packages for version 3!

For those that use Wrye Bash, those tags should work, but for anyone not using a Bashed Patch the FCOM patches really shouldn't be used with version 3 in their current form.

OK, thanks. FCOM requires Wrye Bash in order to work, so anyone using the patch should hopefully already be using Wrye Bash,

I'll make a note of the suggested tags in the BOSS thread.

[Ludivine Poussineau]

Many warm and heartfelt thanks to all of you who have brought Vilja to life... as life it truly seems within the world of Cyrodiil. Its quite marvelous how this has evolved as a companion mod bringing not only a new aspect to the game to detract from that "lonely wanderer" feel but to add something so "real" as to feel like you are almost playing with someone, not just an algorithm that can carry your stuff and fight.

It was Lora Craft back in Morrowind that added the not-quite-definable extra something special that rekindled my love affair with Vvardenfel.... but with Vilja, that something has been expanded and multiplied and has become something that can be felt on a whole new level. I can't help but wonder what Grumpy would make of her and her humour and character...

Now, Emma, I may be able to offer something of my own to Vilja if you would like it so. Given my predeliction for female characters I made a couple of unique sets of armour that never made it as far as having male versions and so were never released.. now simply gathering dust in Battlehorn castle One (or more) of these could be made available for Vilja if she wanted them, along with the usual accesories such as matching bow, arrows, sword etc... If you feel you may be interested in such additions and/or accessories, let me know and I'll send you a "catalogue" of samples to choose from.

Once again, thank you so much. What you have achieved between you is truly special. :foodndrink:

Vagabond Angel!!!!!!

How lovely to see an old friend back from the early Morrowind days .
I'm so glad to see that you're still around, and I'm so glad to hear that you enjoy Vilja's company ingame. Yes, I do recall that you enjoyed Laura Craft in Morrowind (and Lokken, if I remember it correctly), and I agree that it's so much more possible to make a talking Oblivion companion with facial expressions "come to live" than the silent, expression-free Morrowind ones. So, surely Vilja feels more like a "real companion" than Laura et al! And I do believe Grumpy would have liked her very much (and probably teasted me for my pronounciation). I also believe he would have been pleased with how she has 'grown' during this year since CDCooley and I started to work together on her.

Of course it would be lovely with a special armor or weapon for Vilja! By now, I have seen your screenshots, and the armors are absolutely beautiful, they shouldn't be collecting dust in Battlehorn castle . Not when they would fit Vilja so well!

[Dawn Porter]

Many warm and heartfelt thanks to all of you who have brought Vilja to life... as life it truly seems within the world of Cyrodiil. Its quite marvelous how this has evolved as a companion mod bringing not only a new aspect to the game to detract from that "lonely wanderer" feel but to add something so "real" as to feel like you are almost playing with someone, not just an algorithm that can carry your stuff and fight.

It was Lora Craft back in Morrowind that added the not-quite-definable extra something special that rekindled my love affair with Vvardenfel.... but with Vilja, that something has been expanded and multiplied and has become something that can be felt on a whole new level. I can't help but wonder what Grumpy would make of her and her humour and character...

Now, Emma, I may be able to offer something of my own to Vilja if you would like it so. Given my predeliction for female characters I made a couple of unique sets of armour that never made it as far as having male versions and so were never released.. now simply gathering dust in Battlehorn castle One (or more) of these could be made available for Vilja if she wanted them, along with the usual accesories such as matching bow, arrows, sword etc... If you feel you may be interested in such additions and/or accessories, let me know and I'll send you a "catalogue" of samples to choose from.

Once again, thank you so much. What you have achieved between you is truly special. :foodndrink:

Vagabond Angel!!!!!!

How lovely to see an old friend back from the early Morrowind days .
I'm so glad to see that you're still around, and I'm so glad to hear that you enjoy Vilja's company ingame. Yes, I do recall that you enjoyed Laura Craft in Morrowind (and Lokken, if I remember it correctly), and I agree that it's so much more possible to make a talking Oblivion companion with facial expressions "come to live" than the silent, expression-free Morrowind ones. So, surely Vilja feels more like a "real companion" than Laura et al! And I do believe Grumpy would have liked her very much (and probably teasted me for my pronounciation). I also believe he would have been pleased with how she has 'grown' during this year since CDCooley and I started to work together on her.

Of course it would be lovely with a special armor or weapon for Vilja! By now, I have seen your screenshots, and the armors are absolutely beautiful, they shouldn't be collecting dust in Battlehorn castle . Not when they would fit Vilja so well!

[Max Van Morrison]

Wow, I am really enjoying Vilja, she has so much more to say and I find myself laughing a lot at what she says with her wickedly brilliant sense of humor. It has got to the point where the Oblivion world is just too quiet without Vilja chatting away happily. Of course there are also those frequent uncanny moments where what she says applies so perfectly to the situation or location. It brings her to life so much that I cannot think of any companion in any computer game I've ever played that has been more lifelike or that I have enjoyed the company of more.

Thank you so much for bringing this incredible companion to us, she just keeps more and more incredible.

[Pat RiMsey]

Wow, I am really enjoying Vilja, she has so much more to say and I find myself laughing a lot at what she says with her wickedly brilliant sense of humor. It has got to the point where the Oblivion world is just too quiet without Vilja chatting away happily. Of course there are also those frequent uncanny moments where what she says applies so perfectly to the situation or location. It brings her to life so much that I cannot think of any companion in any computer game I've ever played that has been more lifelike or that I have enjoyed the company of more.

Thank you so much for bringing this incredible companion to us, she just keeps more and more incredible.

I'm so glad to hear that you are enjoying her, Meek.
Right from start, I wanted to create a character that would be equally enjoyable for male and female players. I'm having a blast with having her around, myself, and it's good to know that also other ladies enjoy her, in spite of some of her girlish whims.
I think most of the fun with her is that she just happens to be comical in an innocent way... i.e. just like you say, her innocent comments might match the situation so well - or so bad - that one cannot help laughing. So, it's less a matter of what she says than a matter of when she happens to say it. The other day she looked up from a pile of dead minotaurs that she had just killed, frowned and said "At least this is better than scrubbing castle floors". Oh dear...

[Invasion's]

Congratulations on releasing a closest thing to Artificial Intelligence in Oblivion that could ever be hoped for :celebration:. Or even in games generally. (You may want to make sure, though, that none of your player characters is ever named "Dave". Just to be on the safe side, you know... )

And... Terry Pratchett??? Whoa. There must be some truth in that "six handshakes" theory after all. Now I'll definitely *have* to start a new game.

...Now, any plans for v.4.0? :poke:

[Rudy Paint fingers]

Thankyou for a magnificent mod, you know one notices that it is a woman that has created this mod
because Vilja acts like a woman asking questions that no man wants to answer because you can never
answer them right. I like the accent though let me guess you are from MellanSverige somewhere, Uppsala
perhaps? Anyway I salute you for a magnificent mod! Forts?tt s? o god jul. :tops:

[gary lee]

Congratulations on releasing a closest thing to Artificial Intelligence in Oblivion that could ever be hoped for :celebration:. Or even in games generally. (You may want to make sure, though, that none of your player characters is ever named "Dave". Just to be on the safe side, you know... )

And... Terry Pratchett??? Whoa. There must be some truth in that "six handshakes" theory after all. Now I'll definitely *have* to start a new game.

...Now, any plans for v.4.0? :poke:

Thank you! Yeah, I can see the point with not naming a character "Dave", although Vilja doesn't hurt any players.

I'm not sure what the "six handshakes" theory mean, so better not comment on that(not native english speaker, as I'm sure you have heard when having Vilja in tow), but several of Vilja's new features, among them the upshot to the whole "Vilja-lead"-feature (which I personally find really adds to the sense of her being a "real" person) originates from thoughts Terry Pratchett had on her, and I'm truly so grateful that he has taken the time to discuss her with me.

Plans for ver 4? Heh, after Vagabond Angel's post, I think we are already having plans for ver 3.1 (although NOT until after Christmas ). The armor he showed me are among the most beautiful I have ever seen

[Emmanuel Morales]

I think the "six handshakes" theory is about something like if you handshake a person you know, this person do the same with a person that know and so on, in six handshakes you can reach any person in the world.

There are many variants to this theory, which I think is originated in chess, where you can reach any place in six moves using a knight.

The not naming a character ‘Dave’ though I find more obscure. I suppose I would end reading disk world anyway, so, it’s a good excuse to start.

[jennie xhx]

Thankyou for a magnificent mod, you know one notices that it is a woman that has created this mod
because Vilja acts like a woman asking questions that no man wants to answer because you can never
answer them right. I like the accent though let me guess you are from MellanSverige somewhere, Uppsala
perhaps? Anyway I salute you for a magnificent mod! Forts?tt s? o god jul. :tops:

Heh, yes, I can imagine that you guys find some of Vilja's questions a little.. inconvenient and wish she had never asked. Especially as she might respond in various ways depending on her current frame of mind. And I know there are some other questions as well where there isn't really a "correct" answer that will fully please her. But... that's how it is with real friends, too, isn't it? At times they ask the wrong thing or you say the wrong thing... but as you are friends, you'll sort it out.

No, I'm not from Mellan Sverige, I'm from the south, from Sm?land. I take it you are swedish as well .

I wish you a God Jul, too, and hope that you've seen at least one lovely Lucia today!

[Tanya]

A small suggestion regarding packaging future "major" releases.

Create two separate packages for download. One with the bsa by itself and the other with the rest of it.

The reason I suggest this is that you offer the Noise Reduction bsa as a separate download. (Which is great btw).
It's a pain to dl your entire package when the original bsa is going to get axed anyway.

Thank you so much for this. Love the role reversal part! :hubbahubba:

[Hot]

Xtudo's noise reduction package upgraded to ver 3

In spite of losing his old computer and having serious problems with the replacement one, Xtudo has managed to upgrade his previous noise reduction package for Vilja to ver 3. So, if you are experiencing any disturbing background noise with the original files, try out his version, which can be found among optional files on Nexus. It's a BSA-package, so you simply replace the original Vilja ver 3 bsa-package.

As the Vilja esp is already upgraded to ver 3.0.1, it basically should mean that you don't "need" the original Vilja ver 3.0 package.

*However* currently the documentation isn't included in the ver 3.0.1-esp package . It just hit me. I'll try to fix that up tomorrow, I've already realized I missed to credit some people so the readme should get updated anyway! And... you definitely DO need the documentation, it includes important notes of gameplay, a dialog manual and, of course, a readme. EDIT: Done! Why do tomorrow what you can do in the middle of the night

[Sista Sila]

A small suggestion regarding packaging future "major" releases.

Create two separate packages for download. One with the bsa by itself and the other with the rest of it.

The reason I suggest this is that you offer the Noise Reduction bsa as a separate download. (Which is great btw).
It's a pain to dl your entire package when the original bsa is going to get axed anyway.

Thank you so much for this. Love the role reversal part! :hubbahubba:

You're absolutely right about this, Aellis. It ended up in one file because we also enclosed the scripting for OBMM-installation in the package. However, we are now already at ver 3.0.1, so the main package is no longer needed. Anyone who prefers to use Xtudo's bsa can grab that + the latest esp and the package with documentation that I just uploaded .

Yes, the role reversal is quite fun! She has shown me places I've never even knew existed. And it's also quite nice to just tell her where to go and then walk side by side with her instead of having her some steps behind.

[Jade Barnes-Mackey]

I just DLed this...I heart Vilja!

[Danial Zachery]

For your convenience (and for mine) I have added a separate file with the documentation for Vilja on her page at TESNexus.
As Xtudo's package includes everything from the bsa, those of you who know that you want to use the noise reduction files won't have to download the main Vilja package - grab his bsa and the latest esp (currently 3.0.1) and you'll be fine, as long as you make sure to grab the documentation package as well! And DO download the documentation, please! It includes not only the latest version of the readme but also important notes on gameplay as well as a manual to Vilja's dialog, which by now is pretty extensive.

[Vicki Gunn]

I think the "six handshakes" theory is about something like if you handshake a person you know, this person do the same with a person that know and so on, in six handshakes you can reach any person in the world.

There are many variants to this theory, which I think is originated in chess, where you can reach any place in six moves using a knight.

The not naming a character ‘Dave’ though I find more obscure. I suppose I would end reading disk world anyway, so, it’s a good excuse to start.

I think this may go some time back to the game "Six degrees of Kevin Bacon" (the actor). He was in so many movies with popular stars that you could name an actor and through their roles with other actors trace their connection to Kevin Bacon.

[Lizbeth Ruiz]

EDIT: Done! Why do tomorrow what you can do in the middle of the night

But Emma, that is what separates us from animals, it is that we can do things tomorrow

[NIloufar Emporio]

Not sure what went wrong. Tried updating from 2.x to 3. Vilja was far far away in an interior cell in another city. After using OBMM to install main files and overwriting my old Vilja as vampire with the new Vilja as Vampire file all of my old saves would CTD as soon as I tried to load them. I can start a new game without a problem, but that is not a practical solution. I switched out all the new files for the 2.x version I was running and now everything runs fine again. Not sure what is causing the problem with updating to 3.

[saxon]

Not sure what went wrong. Tried updating from 2.x to 3. Vilja was far far away in an interior cell in another city. After using OBMM to install main files and overwriting my old Vilja as vampire with the new Vilja as Vampire file all of my old saves would CTD as soon as I tried to load them. I can start a new game without a problem, but that is not a practical solution. I switched out all the new files for the 2.x version I was running and now everything runs fine again. Not sure what is causing the problem with updating to 3.

I'm guessing it's rather related to the custom vampire Vilja than to the upgrade in general. How does it work if you just upgrade to ver 3 and Vilja's standard looks? Will you still have problems? (I cannot tell what might be related to the OBMM-install, as I haven't learnt how to do it - I find it easier to simply drop the esp and the bsa in the oblivion data folder)

[Auguste Bartholdi]

I'm guessing it's rather related to the custom vampire Vilja than to the upgrade in general. How does it work if you just upgrade to ver 3 and Vilja's standard looks? Will you still have problems? (I cannot tell what might be related to the OBMM-install, as I haven't learnt how to do it - I find it easier to simply drop the esp and the bsa in the oblivion data folder)

Will give that a try tomorrow night and post the result.

[Emily Jones]

Will give that a try tomorrow night and post the result.

Good. Is it Xtudo's vampire version you were refering to? If you hade made your own unique vampire Vilja, there were also some ai-packages you needed to transfer, following the instructions CDCooley provide in the Customization package.

[BaNK.RoLL]

Suver?nt!

I actually hadn't bothered trying any companion mod before, as I generally prefer playing without them anyway. But this is truly amazing, and I can't believe I didn't try it out sooner. Thank you!

[Leilene Nessel]

I just DLed this...I heart Vilja!

Hope you'll enjoy the new version even more, then

I think this may go some time back to the game "Six degrees of Kevin Bacon" (the actor). He was in so many movies with popular stars that you could name an actor and through their roles with other actors trace their connection to Kevin Bacon.

Ah, thank you for the explanation, both of you!

EDIT: Done! Why do tomorrow what you can do in the middle of the night

But Emma, that is what separates us from animals, it is that we can do things tomorrow

Yes, but I think few of us humans can come up with the same patience and endurance as a cat waiting for that little mouse to come out from that little hole in the wall...

[yermom]

Suver?nt!

I actually hadn't bothered trying any companion mod before, as I generally prefer playing without them anyway. But this is truly amazing, and I can't believe I didn't try it out sooner. Thank you!

Vars?god

Great to hear that one more who normally doesn't enjoy companions have been converted by Vilja .

[CRuzIta LUVz grlz]

Talking about hilarious Vilja-moments... this was posted by Xanordon over at Nexus, it made me laugh out loud:

Because Vilja has such a huge range of comments, you often get Vilja moments where Vilja seems almost psychic, don't you! Sometimes she even comments on events outside the game, such as when there was a clap of thunder (in real life), and Vilja responded "What was that noise?"

A classic case occurred this morning - My Dad came into my room, while I and Vilja were battling daedra. Dad said "Where's your Mum?" I said "I dunno!" Another daedra joined in the fight and Dad said "Are the car-keys gone from the fridge?" I said "Dad, I'm in the middle of a battle!"

Dad said "Do you know if she took her shopping-list with her?" I yelled "Dad, you're distracting me! I could get killed here!" but just then I managed to kill the last daedra.

As Dad turned to go, I sighed with relief and Vilja said "That guy asks way too many questions!"