As the release of Companion Vilja ver 2 is getting close, I'm just checking again if anyone has spotted any flaws in the released ver 1 - badly filtered dialog entries, oddities in behaviour etc - that I'm not yet aware of.
I do know about and have cured that she was talking about go riding when already on the horseback, and I do know about the quest for the countess of Bruma which she kept talking about also after completing it.

I think it's also time to introduce some of the new features that will hopefully make the new version a huge improvement compared to the existing one.

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.

Here are some of the things that are new in the ver 2:

First, a few screenies to illustrate some of the news:

http://lovkullen.net/Emma/OB/Viljariding676.JPG

http://lovkullen.net/Emma/OB/Neeshka752.JPG

http://lovkullen.net/Emma/OB/Stoker747.JPG

http://lovkullen.net/Emma/OB/Viljatalk744.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, that 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, 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 will recognize and interact 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 (yesterday, she practiced spellcasting with Saerileth after she had convinced Vincente and a Partner to sweep the floors in our cottage).

- 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, almost 2200 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)


I have probably forgotten a few things - we have been working on her for four months now, and by now I hardly recall what the ver 1 was like, as so much has been added.

More information about Vilja http://www.gamesas.com/?showtopic=1068423

Just getting better all the time...just ANOTHER reason why this game is literall never-ending!

The only 'problems' I've encountered are her not following me and getting left behind.
I use a teleport to home (clep) and she usually follows me there, and then back again, but then isn't in her armour and then doesn't follow me, until I tell her to.

Other than compaining about the 'rags' she's wearing (despite costing 500 septims (base price ~150) ) she's pretty much the best companion I've had.

(Now if only I could find that shyroot of hunger picture, she'd be alot less annoyed with me )

AMAZING indeed, Emma!

Just want to say great mod, easily the best companion I've used so looking forward to version 2.

Thank you very much for all this work.
I imagine Vilja should be quite scripted which lead sometimes to ineractions with others mods that use scripts on NPCs;

I have just an idea. Since you are experienced with companion dialog voices why not enlarge the view? I mean a mod providing a general script and diverse spoken dialogs for (companion) female NPCs in Oblivion.

Thank you for the kind words!




The problem with her occasionally going into wander mode and switching outfits after fasttravelling is long gone - I think it was the first thing that CdCooley sorted out. Which was good, as this seems to be a very common problem amonst also the most stable Oblivion companions.

Girls always find their outfits 'rags' after a while, don't they?
I can't recall if I have timed this chat-entry or not, but regardless she has much more to say now so she shouldn't bring this up very often.

Shyroot of hunger:

This looks like its going to be awesome!

Finally...a new update! I'll reserve my thanks for later, if you don't mind, but I do have one question. I assume that the quick "wait here" button or something similar on the main dialog menu is included here (when Vilja is following the player)? You know, like what we http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1068423-relz-companion-vilja-release-thread-2/page__st__60__p__15741994__fromsearch__1&#entry15741994.

Otherwise, it looks very promising.

Thank you

Yes, she interacts with other npcs, like you said, but she doesn't *conflict* with anything or anyone as far as we have seen during testing.

Isn't there already a mod that adds new voices with new dialog to companions? I thought i read of something like this that people use on CM Partners and others. Diverse spoken dialog is easy to do for one companions, but... well, I've voice-acted Vilja myself, with my scandinavian accent. I guess it can be kind of nice with one npc that has a distinct accent, but if every female in Cyrodiil started to sound as if she was born in Sweden, I bet it would get rather boring after a while .

I do see your point, though... I think generic companions could be much improved if the original voices entries for Oblivion was cut up and re-used so that it would fit for companions. But that would be quite a work indeed!. Still, it has been done very well (but in a small scale) with companions like Neeshka and Rhienna, where you have a 'real' voiced dialog with them before they become your companions.

I've been haveing problems with http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1095643-melting-body-bug/ (*see post #9), and when I tried Vilja, she began showing the same symptons, I haven't got any possibles on what might be causing it, I have seen a few other posts with people with the same problems, but nothing in the way of answers... :confused:

4 more fuzz testers eagerly looking forward to meeting the new Vilja @ my abode. :wave:

Yes, I admit this upgrade has taken some time. But, as CdCooley wrote to me yesterday, what we are releasing here isn't really ver 2 of Vilja ... it's rather ver 4 or 5 as so many new ideas have been added and implemented along the road. We've been working together on her since february-march, and when we started, I thought she'd be released in mid-april.
And I don't think this will be the 'final' version of her, either... there are still many things I'd like to add. but that will surely take another 6 months.

As for your question: yes, of course you can now ask her to wait here and follow from the main dialog menu - I added it to the mod as soon as we had had that discussion. And, of course there is no longer any signs of a little 'light' in her hand even if she should happen to die in the middle of a spell casting animation.

I have been following your threads about this issue but never posted as I have felt I don't have much to add. I'm not at all experienced as an Oblivion mod-user, and I don't have any ideas at all what might cause this conflict.

What *would* be interesting to know is what happens if you leave these deformed companions in an interior and stay away from them for +72 Game Hours. Will they still be deformed when you return? If iit's an effect like a spelleffect causing this, I reckon they would be OK, if it's a serious skeleton problem, I doubt simple general solutions like the 72-hours feature will help.

Woohoo! I love that NPCs will comment on her now...that was one of my favorite things in the Constance mod. :laugh:

Looking forward to the update!

No change there, I do recall the First time I noticed it, I had given Randi a curiass that was a high boost in Mana and a drain to one of her vitals, I'd thought that was the problem for a while, but ruled it out when Bree was affected. (Randi & Bree are both Default CM characters) I tried switching to Vilja, and she would get through a door behind me, then fall Flat on her face(that's how it generally starts)
I was suspecting something with Undead playable armor, but haven't been able to nail anything down yet, I Do forget the three day wait period most of the time though, have to test that more thourghly... :cryvaultboy:

Hi Emma

Just noticed this new topic and had to come and visit to see what was happening. Vilja v2 sounds absolutely amazing!!!

I am certainly looking forward to your release - have already decided that, when it is available, I will reluctantly remove my favourite companion so I can relive the complete Vilja experience

Many thanks for all the hard work, care and attention you have devoted to this forthcoming release - I, for one, am very appreciative of all the effort.

It is not exactly as in the Constance mod, though... There, every npc would have somethinng to say about Constance, but often it was just generic talk. With Vilja, I have only added comments to npcs that would realistically know her or have met her before... i.e. mostly people in Anvil, Skingrad, Cheydinhal, Bruma, Chorrol, and not at all everyone. On the other hand, those who have something to say about her will indeed have something 'real' to say, i.e. unique or almost unique comments that relates to her past, her person etc. As there are so few topics for each npc in Oblivion (well, compared to the abundance of topics in Morrowind) it should be easy to spot when someone has something specific to say about Vilja

Speaking of Constance ^_^ may we ever see her in Oblivion?

That is what I want when I did...72 game hours...instead of 72 virgins!

It isn't really a bug, but Vilja is still asking, if I ever heard of the ghostly watchmen south of Bravil, after both of us released his soul and completed the quest. Beside of this, there was a strange problem that she refused to follow while wearing armor, which I could solve by leaving her at home for more than 72 hours.

I eagerly await your new version of Vilja. Maybe she will even do her long planed haircut. ^_^

Emma, I have been watching this mod and it sounds wonderful. It would be interesting in trying this mod once your new version comes out. She sounds like she might be a great friend for my wood elf mystic archer, Buffy. I am rather novice with mods though so please bear with my questions. I have reviewed the TSNexus info on your current version of Vilja, but have some very basic questions. Sorry if I missed the answers somewhere.

1. I understand Vilja requires CM Partners Basic Mod as a prerequisite? Are there any other required prerequisites? I have BAB and cosmetic compilation so I would assume those would work for Vilja as well?

2. As I said, I am rather novice with mods. I can use OBMM to create an omod and install mods that way. I find some mods (it seems those with no or multiple esps) however are too much for me to figure out. I just don't use those mods that OBMM and I can't figure out easily. Would you envision that the next version of Vilja would be simple to install with OBMM? Even better, any chance of an omod or omod ready version?

Emma, Vilja is already great, and the best companion I've had. I'm looking forward to v2. The only problem I've had with her (beyond those already mentioned) is that she and Red Sonia tend to get into fights with each other. I'd like to think they were jealous of each other over my character, but it is likely that they inadvertently hit each other in fights. I get tired of repairing their armor and weapons, so I've generally had to leave one of them home. This may be mostly Red Sonia's problem. She often beat up Ruined Tail, too.

I would be happy to create an OMOD (and possibly BAIN) version of Vilja v2 for Emma.

Emma, just PM me if you would like me to put something together for you - it wqould be my honour.

Thank you for your very kind words, Surazal. I'm so glad that you enjoy her company .

And thank you ever so much for the offer to create an OMOD (and possibly BAIN) version!
To be honest, I read the post with the request for an OMOD version half an hour ago (am in the middle of the evening chores right now, which is why I'm behind with replying here) and for the umpteenth time I realized what a complete newbee I am when it comes to Oblivion utilities.
I'm sure that OMMM and other utilities are excellent for those who have learnt how to use them, but... I never learnt how to do this! :blush:
Being an old Morrowind modder/player, I simply extract zip-files to a folder on my desktop and then drop the zip-file content into the Data-folder of my Oblivion folder. Works like a charm, but I reckon for those who are accustomed to the more elegant solutions, manual installations might be like using a typewriter instead of a computer :blush:

So, all in all, I quite happily accept your offer to make the user-friendlier OMOD etc versions. Again thank you