Should be, although it's fairly theoretical, since I've never quite understood what constitutes "companion friendly" and I didn't get a ton of testing feedback on it. The manor's pathgridded and has quarters for a companion, anyway.

Well, if you have done the parts mentioned in my first post, it should be companion friendly. Have you brought any companion there? If they sit, sleep and walk around in a good way, it's companion friendly. Most likely, it is

The most companion-friendly home I know of is http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=20630. The bottom floor has six beds to offer, as well as COBL-self-replacing barrels, food, and drink. No books, or items that are valuable but easily lifted. The upper floor has a great layout for the mage, with an enchanting/spellmaking altar, COBL grinder and sorters for potions and ingredients. Excellent library, lots of flavorful stuff lying around, too. The only drawback is the complete lack of display space for armor and weaponry, but I use a recall (LAME) to the latest Armory Lab upgrade, for that.

Since I'm something of a companion-rat, and like personality-heavy companions, they tend to mount up. This mod's a great place for that.

I "should" have definite input about the manor in AFK_Weye since it is our base-of-operations this play-through. Vilja (v2.3.2) is set up to sleep in the second-floor master (double) bed, which she does, and wander in the outside garden. Alas, I've not had to heart to put her in "wander mode", relying instead on either "relax" or "wait here". Problem with relax is that so far as I know she doesn't change cells, so I can't test out the garden or see if she moves to the second-floor bedroom if left in the first-floor entrance room (which is where I told her "home" was).

Last play-through I had the Verona manor-house set up as Neeshka's home, having her sleep in one of the guest-wing bedrooms. (She chose between them at random.) She was also set up to spend her afternoons in one of the Verona Inns, and part of her time in one of the first-floor rooms. That all worked perfectly, with Neeshka moving between rooms and cells as needed. I've not yet tried Vilja in Verona, but assume that if it worked well for one companion it should work for the other?

-Decrepit-

I'll add AFK_Weye, Verona Manor (if it works with Neeshka it should work with others as well) and Tchos Mage Tower (if Fable2 with party has lived there and it has worked well, I'm convinced it's companion friendly) .

Decrepit, if you have told Vilja that a place is her home and you tell her to "relax" she'll be in wander mode in her home, doing all the AI-packages she should. If you have shown her a nice outdoor spot where she can wander, "relaxing" will including going there as well, if the weather is nice (if it's raining she'll remain indoors).

@Decrepit - Thanks for the input.

@Emma - Not to clog your thread, but a question. What's the purpose behind the persistant chairs? I think I can kind of guess, but I have precisely zero companion experience myself, so. There are a few in AFK_Weye's manor, but most of them are meant for its own NPCs. If that's a big deal, I'll see about adding a few more in the next update.

Dwip, the truth is this: I'm more and more getting the impression that persistant chairs aren't that important.

When I started to mod Oblivion, "everyone" told me that companions needed persistant chairs in order to sit down, and I read posts about it at various places. Also Korana told me this, and she has as you know a considerable knowledge in house modding.

However, I have been testing with Vilja, and *she* seems to sit everywhere, as long as she can reach a chair (i.e. proper pathgridding and sufficient distance between table and chair). I have seen other companions do the same. I have however tested only with a limited number of companions, non of them being a CM Partner and non of them from CSR. So it could be that some companions indeed need persistant chairs. When I make a house-mod I make the beds persistant and some of the chairs (those where I like companions to sit).

What is more important is that if you add an ownership to a bed or a chair, that will prevent a companion from sitting down, even if the player is the owner. This is why companions cannot sleep in inns (and the reason why I made the mod Companionfriendly Inns). So, some chairs without ownership will make a huge difference when it comes to companionfriendliness.

Ok, that makes sense. I'll keep it in mind. Thanks.

It's the only house I've found that really seems to work well with a good-sized companion group, frankly. I've used it now for more than 2 years. I certainly wouldn't mind finding alternatives, but I've used to discover one that handles a party like that, while providing good alchemy and magical facilities, as well as storage areas that don't simply look like someone dropped in a generic bunch of furniture and boxes for that purpose.

Well, considering what you mean by a "good-sized companion group", you'll probably need a castle :laugh:

Talking of castles, I didn't mention castles in my original post, but of course it would be very interesting also to know about companion friendly castles.

I am surprised no one has mentioned the http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=9769 mod, by indefiance.This mod is companion friendly (it adds a wing with lots of spare beds) and has several extensive quests. The only drawback is that it requires the original Frostcrag DLC.

http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=36074 by Dunmermaiden, labelled as specifically companion friendly by the author herself.

Added http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=35485 by Stroti to the list.

If it has not been mentioned before, Your Imperial City House Mod http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=2814 worked fine with Vilja, she used the bed

I'll add it to the list.

I added two more houses by me, which I released today.

I have just uploaded my wee house http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=36343 to Nexus and it is completely companion friendly.

I am not sure if you want to add houses from Shezrie's Towns or prefer to keep to mods that are specifically house mods. There are ten player houses in the mod and all are correctly pathgridded and all have no ownership on any furniture. However only two have furniture that is specifically persistant reference for companions....

*Amber Cottage
*Seaview House

Seaview House and Amber Cottage have been made companion friendly in every way possible with lounge chairs/beds set as persistant reference....but like we were discussing earlier, persistant ref furniture doesn't seem to make a huge difference.....http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n99/Shezrie/ViljjaSitting.jpg :laugh:

OMG... I BET she had had too much Christmas food and just NEEDED to...

I'll add your Holly Cottage to the list and add a new cathegory for villages etc with companionfriendly player houses, that should work, shouldn't it?

Btw, I was going to ask you if you know if the other 12 mods of Christmas are also companion-friendly?

Added Cheydinhall Home by Dunmermaiden.

:rofl:



That sounds like a good idea.



I am not too sure. I had Vilja tagging along when I videod and checked out all the houses and there were no pathing problems, that I could see.

I do know that mine are all pathed correctly...

Snow Lodge and Blue Rose Cottage.

Ill be happy to add them, but currently the only link to them that I can find is this http://oblivionsrealestate.com/Find_A_Home/find_a_home.html and I suppose this will not be where we'll find them later?

I wouldn't say no to this. Well, I would if I could get away with it.

But...with all the companion-friendly houses that assume 1 companion, you'd think there would be a few more that offered a series of rooms. Well, *I* would think so, at any rate.



The problem I've had with castles (and I've checked out a lot of larger house mods to find ones suitable for 5-10 companions) is that they often don't provide the companion rooms, plus they add those loooong, loooong corridors, and can't find much to put of interest in very large rooms besides a lot of empty space, or more identical containers. But that's just my way of looking at it.

Fable, it sounds like I should try to print down the number of beds in the houses (when I know about this, of course).

I can tell you that within a few weeks I will release an upgraded version of my Aleswell Home, where you will have totally five beds (so if your char sleep in a chair, there will be enough beds for five companions ).

Sometimes, using housemods together might be a solution. I love Khettiennas Amenthala's Well House but it only have two bedplaces. But, I also have my own Waterlily Cottage on the other side of the road (not conflicting at all) which also provides two bedplaces - i.e. a perfect "extra house" for Amenthala residents.

I do use something of a combo: Tchos Alchemy Tower for the companions, and the Armory Lab Revised for mannequins, weaponry, armor, etc. I could link them in the construction set, but it's easier (and more in-game) to use a Mark/Recall via Supreme Magicka. I know that isn't what you mean, but having two houses would make one not feel "lived in" as a base of operations. But if I could find two mods that allow for, say, 5 companions a piece...

Still, I always look around for new houses with the hope of finding something that offers:

1) A lot of beds for companions, and lack of access to rooms where they could pull a Constance on my goods.

2) A nice magical area, complete with enchantment/spell creation, and a COBL potions/ingredients area.

3) Good armory/weapons display, and plenty of room to display mannequins.

4) A nice library. I like it stocked, because it's next to impossible even using the mods provided to put up books properly in Oblivion, but that's secondary.

5) Creativity, very in keeping with the game world.

Other than that, I don't have any requirements.

I have added all Dunmermaiden's houses to the list, with link to her Nexus profile.