Tii Guar
The New Companion Mod


The General Goal.

The general goal of this mod is to make a more lifelike companion for Morrowind. The companions I have used to date are mostly clunky NPCS that don't do anything special except follow you around and have simple dialogue options such as "Heal", "Stats", "Follow", etc. and are just over all boring. They don't do anything interesting, Tii Guar on the other hand will have many features that will make her seem more involved and actually interact with what is going on in the game. And her dialogue topics won't be commands but actual questions with reasonable responses that will lead to the customization found in most companion mods.

Features

Implemented
Currently there are a few things put into the mod.

Dialogue: Right now Tii Guar has a fair amount of dialogue, which tells you about her back story and gives you basic customization for Following. More companion customization is being added right now so this will be updated.

Dialogue options include:

• Asking her to follow you (only if she has a disposition of 65 or higher)
  
• Telling her to stop following you.
  
• Asking her how she is on supplies.
  
• Asking her to use different weapons. (see Weapon changing)
  
• Asking her to heal you. (see healing)
  
• Asking her to wait outside or to come inside with you. (see Stay outside options)

Resupplying: This feature is one that took the most time so far and is one of the biggest features on the list. Tii Guar is able to resupply her goods at Arrille's Tradehouse. If she is low on supplies she will let you know and will ask you to make a quick trip to Arrille's Tradehouse, when you enter she will tell you she is going to go restock and sell her hides (she is a hunter after all) and will head upstairs to talk to Elone (she tells you why she trades with Elone in another topic). She then completes selling hides and buying equipment during this process her armor and weapons are all repaired and her arrows/potions are restocked. Then she will walk up to you and tell you she is done and give you half of her profit. Buying her supplies costs 200 drakes which she will always have enough money but I have a planned expansion for using the profit she makes when she does resupply. (see Planned/Being Developed)

Weapon changing: The basic idea for this is quite simple. The Player is able to choose which type of weapon Tii Guar uses out of the four that she is skilled with, these options are:

• Bow and Arrow
  
• Spear
  
• Dagger
  
• Long sword

Whichever one the player picks has two possible responses. One agreeing which makes Tii Guar use that weapon, and the other is used when Tii Guar is already using that weapon. By default Tii Guar is using the Bow and Arrow.

Companion share: Currently Companion share is implemented though this may change in time. It conflicts with the Changing weapons feature.

Healing: Tii Guar is now able to heal herself. When she has a low amount of health she will cast Hearth Health spells on herself until she heals completely that is, if she has the magicka for it, this way she is less likely to die during combat. She also has restore health potions which are resupplies at Arrille's Tradehouse.
She is able to heal the Player as well, If you tell her "I'm low on health" Then she will cast a heal companion spell on you no matter what she will oblige and heal you but she has a few different responses based on what your health is at.

Stay outside options: Tii Guar now has a dialogue option that makes her either wait outside or makes her come inside with you whenever you enter an interior cell such as a house or a dungeon. It is defaulted to her following you into the interiors.

Auto sneaking: When Tii Guar is your companion she will sneak at the same time you do.

Player determined speed: Tii Guar is ten points higher in her Speed attribute then the Player. This helps so if you are to put on, let's say the Boots of Blinding Speed she will be able to catch up.

Planned/Being Developed

Leveling: The leveling up bit is tricky. I know a lot of people don't like NPCs leveling up with the player and being as strong or stronger then the Player. So I believe I will have her level up with the Player but she will never be as strong as in any way (except speed which will be +10 to the Player's speed). Though this is definitely up for change so if you have any suggestion on this please tell me as I would love for this mod to be liked by as many people possible!

Comments: I am really excited about incorporating this one. Tii Guar will comment when specific in game events happen through a message box at the bottom of the screen, she won't vocally say it but when events occur such as Tarhiel falls out of the sky a message box will appear saying something like "Oh no. Help him!" And she will be able to comment on other things to If Tii Guar gets the killing blow on a cliff racer it might say "Filthy things. It got what it deserved." This is another way to make Tii Guar a much more lifelike companion and will allow her to react to events in real time.

Hiding: Tii Guar will cast a chameleon spell at 75% when the player casts an invisibly or chameleon spell.

Better Arrows

Tii Guar will be able to upgrade the arrows she uses. This will be accomplished by having a dialogue option, "Do you have any better arrows?" in which she will respond that she doesn't because arrows cost a lot of money but if you are willing to give her the money she would be more then happy to buy some next time she resupplies. Then there will be four dialogue options:

• Sure I can, here is 250 Drakes.
  
• Sure I can, here is 500 Drakes.
  
• Sure I can, here is 1,000 Drakes.
  
• No sorry I can't afford it.

Then once she runs low on supplies and asks you to head over to Arrille's Tradehouse after you have given her the money she will purchase enchanted arrows instead of the normal chitin arrows that she normally gets. The more money you give her the better the enchantment will get. I made the prices high because you can make money very fast in Morrowind and I would like her to actually even it out a bit in that sense. Plus enchanted arrows can cost quite a bit of money.

Requirements

All that is required for this mod to run is Morrowind and Bloodmoon.

Fin

So that is all there is to it at this moment, this post will be updated frequently (and when it is I will also make a new post saying so). And if you have any comments, suggestions, or constructive criticism they are always welcome and appreciated so please post your thoughts!

Update Log

Update #1: Weapon changing has been implemented.

Update #2: Tii Guar now requires Morrowind and Bloodmoon.

Update #3: New dialogue options added, Companion share functionality, Auto sneak, Healing, and Player determined speed. Have all been implemented.

Update #4: Bugfixes~ All known bugs were repaired. Everything works exactly as planned as of right now. New idea added, Better Arrows.

bo yah! sounding good!

This sounds like it could be quite good, although I probably won't use it myself as I'm rather fussy about my companions. I find them often to be a hindrance rather than a help; I've only recently started using one at all, and that's Julan, who's supposed to be one of the best.

Nonetheless, you have some good ideas. I like the idea of the commenting on events like Tarhiel, but I think you'd need to put it a lot of work for it to really pay off, as the Morrowind world is so big that the comments are in danger of being either too generic or too infrequent.

I'm curious as to how you're planning to implement your own companion share... I guess through dialogue would work, but like you said you'd need to program in every weapon, and even then custom enchantments wouldn't work. Also unless you programmed in repairing every weapon, she would use them unless they broke, as you said. And then there would be no way to get the weapon back, as far as I can see, resulting in her encumberance slowly filling up...

I would encourage you to not shy away from the expansions if you have them - most people do have them, and I think most people would probably prefer a well-functioning mod that uses expansions than a rough job that doesn't.

If you do use the Companion Share functionality, though, as you suggested you would, bear in mind that if people remove her original equipment, the whole "repair and restock" aspect of the mod might break.

Basically, I think this has potential, there's just a lot to think about...

This is an NPC not an actualy Guar creature? kk

Yea a 'supply' companion is something that hasnt really been done well before imho so theres definately some room for this to take off.

The only problem i can forsee is scripting the message boxes for events. Not that this would be intrinsically difficult, just that it would be really tedious to script and the script would be massive, assuming you put in lots of scenarios (one for every major quest? or something elaborate to make it feel like she is involved with every quest).

good idea tho to branch off from more traditional companion-dom

I plan on making the comments quite frequent, and randomized (if that is possible) as in my previous example with Tii Guar geting the killing blow on a cliff racer she might say one of many things, such as the example I gave, "Putrid thing, I wish I could rid the planet of them." and others, all randomly selected when the event occurs.



To tell you the truth I wouldn't find it tedious at all, because I will be able to come up with some really cool things for Tii Guar to "say" that are fitting and hopefully fulfill my goal of a more lifelike companion.



Though I am reluctant to share because I don't know if it actually will work. Here is my idea:

Basically I have a chest, out of view in an interior cell. Then I have that container set to Tii Guar's ownership. That means that everything inside of it can be equipped by her. So I add a dialogue option saying "Let me equip you" Which would then open the container. And whatever you put in there Tii Guar can wear. There will of course be problems with this, as I am not coding every item she may, or may not equip it. And she does have pre-set skills so like I said, heavy armor that is put in there will not be worn. I may make options for this like: "Wear your Light armor.", "Wear your Medium armor.", and "Wear your Heavy armor."



Yes, I do have the expansions being the reason why I will be making a patch for them adding extra features, giving more dialogue and tweaking the features that will be broken with it in there (such as the restocking) probably to make them only add the smaller items, such as arrows or potions.

The reason I am currently making this mod for Morrowind alone, is really because my cousin doesn't have the expansions and I really want him to play it. :violin:



:P Yes she is an NPC, she tells you about her name in her back-story.

Thank you very much, I do hope this all goes into making Tii Guar a unique companion to have and people like her.

And last but not least. This is my first mod so troubles will happen, but the weapon changing feature is being held back until I can figure this out, if you want to try and help please view my thread for details.
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1185754-stop-picking-the-bow/
EDIT~~ Problem solved read thread for more details.

Thank you!

~~Update~~

Weapon changing has been successfully implemented! See original Post for details.

EDIT

I am now going to work on adding more customization to Tii Guar.

Please anyone that has any suggestions, comments, or constructive criticism please let me know, I want this mod to be enjoyed by as many people as possible!

Changed and fixed the OP.

Alright so I am thinking about loading up Tribunal and Bloodmoon. That would make this mod require both. I have given the current version to my cousin so now I would be doing it for the expanded features and so I can add all of the features now instead of making a patch.

What is everyone's thoughts on this? Should I keep it as a Morrowind only companion? Should I upload the mod in it's current state so people that want the Morrowind only version (which won't be nearly as good because not all of the Morrowind only features are even added yet such as commenting, leveling, and healing)?

I think it would be best to just switch over to the expansions now for the best and quickest scripting possible and all the extra functions. And not upload the current version.

But I want to know what the community thinks on this.

Also please post your thoughts on the current state of Tii Guar and let me know if you have any suggestions all of which are greatly appreciated. This is my very first mod and I want it to be the best it can be.

To be honest, I think very few people are going to want to play with an unfinished mod.

If I were you, I'd finish it (expansions or not, whatever's easier, although unless you have a reason to not use the expansions, I think you might as well), and then release it.

That is what I was thinking, the mod is completely playable as of this moment but it doesn't have all of the features I want to implement.

Alright Tii Guar now requires Morrowind and Bloodmoon expansions.

This is to give me all the scripting functions possible and there for a lot more possibilities with this mod. Check back often because this weekend is probably going to be a rapid update time.

Please post any comments, questions, suggestions, or constructive criticism!

~~Update~~

New dialogue options added, Companion share functionality, Auto sneak, Healing, and Player determined speed. Have all been implemented. See original post for more details.

Please let me know your thoughts I would love to hear some comments!

Sounds like some good progress. Does she have any spells?

Yes the spells she has are:

• Command Creature
  
• Heal Companion
  
• Hearth Health
  
• Resist Fire (75%)
  
• and Ancestor Guardian

These will all be controlled by the 'AI' that I am making for her, just as I control her healing.
I will also put in:

• Water Walking
  
• Swift Swim
  
• Levitate
  
• and Chameleon (as it says under Hiding in the OP).

Water Breathing is already on a CE Item (she will tell you about the item in a dialogue topic).

~~Update~~


Bugfixes~ All known bugs were repaired. Everything works exactly as planned as of right now. New idea added, Better Arrows.


~~Thoughts~~


So I am seriously thinking about removing Companion Share. This would be a great thing as there would be no conflicts in my script whatsoever. I would of course make up for this in a sense. She will be able to upgrade her equipment depending on how much profit she has made over time, and how much money the Player gives her. If she has enough money she will start buying better weapons and she will have options unlocked for allowing the Player to choose which type of armor she has.