LE [REQUEST] Followers walk beside player

[IsharaMeradin]

I did put the clear function within both the change and end fragments. But it did not always clear. It didn't hurt anything to include the clear function on the other packages. Anyway, redoing the original package to be the when weapon drawn package does the trick. The follower has the correct package being referenced by all those triggers and walks beside the player now during peaceful moments. I removed the option to randomly walk behind, with the other two packages there is plenty of walking behind the player going on as it is.

 

I have discovered a few oddities. If you cut them off with something, they'll try to go around it and catch up. I went up a set of stairs to an inn. Lydia was on my left and the railing went between us. She tried walking along the outside of the railing until the next set of steps. Most times they'll path around you to get to the side chosen, but if you are directly in the way, you'll get pushed which keeps the follower trying to get to the spot. Fortunately, I guess, being pushed prevents movement and the "non-moving" package kicked in making her stop.

[IsharaMeradin]

A demonstration video of what I have so far.

[reyzark]

this looks interesting, keep it up

[IsharaMeradin]

One side effect I discovered today. Of course I was purposefully trying to see what would happen. If they are walking beside you on one side and you choose to walk along a cliff edge where their side would be in the air, they will walk off the cliff and fall to the bottom. Not that much of an issue for an essential or protected follower, but one that is not would fall to their death. Even worse, if you are on a narrow ledge such as a fallen tree crossing a deep gorge, the essential/protected follower can pop back in right beside you and push you off to your death.

 

I have yet to try a dungeon under these conditions. I'm actually afraid to see what might happen. I may need to add an additional condition that will only allow the follower to attempt walking beside when not in interiors.

[Arocide]

Very Promising work Ishara ;D, I would love to see a release on this once those kinks are worked out!

[IsharaMeradin]

Since there is no reliable event to cause the follower to not walk beside when their "point" would be in the air, I'm thinking it might be a good idea to incorporate a SKSE hotkey. The key would toggle a global variable which would be an additional condition to allow or disallow walking beside. This way the player can decide to stop the behavior whenever they need/want. Because it is toggling a global variable non-skse users can simply use the console to turn it on or off as needed.

 

There will always be a delay because packages are not constantly evaluated but rather evaluated on a fixed schedule. Which means that they'll keep doing whatever until the package stack is re-evaluated.

[IsharaMeradin]

I've been working with using a global variable to toggle the walk beside status. Seems to be working.

 

Oddities that I can't resolve:

1. Always have to wait for the package stack to be re-evaluated. This causes odd transitions some times.

1a. When transitioning from walking beside to drawn weapon, the follower sometimes walks sideways or backwards.

1b. Stopping while walking beside, the follower sometimes walks in place.

1c. Transitioning from idle & drawn weapon leads to a 50/50 of following at the closer idle distance or the further drawn weapon distance

2. Changing global variable value is not an instant change. The value updates but nothing happens till the package stack gets re-evaluated.

 

Does anyone know of a way to force a package stack to be re-evaluated?

 

EDIT: Just found it. EvaluatePackage()

 

Might need to create an alias script that looks for the same conditions and calls that function on the follower. If it provides for a faster transition without the oddities, I think it is worth it.

Edited January 28, 2015 by IsharaMeradin

[IsharaMeradin]

I have hit a snag. I had somehow gotten my follower to literally walk beside my character. I decide to create a MCM menu. A hotkey option to toggle the walk beside or walk behind. A hotkey to force the package stack to be re-evaluated. And an option to display notification text when the keys are used.

 

In the process of all that, I renamed the mod. Now the follower walks to the side but still behind the player. Tried on a fresh game, still the same. No idea what I had done to convince the follower to walk literally beside the player. Must have been a fluke.

 

The second issue is that despite having coded the strings to use a translation file, they still show the $ in front of all the text. No idea what was done wrong as it is setup the same as the other MCM mods I've done.

[IsharaMeradin]

Solved the translation file thing.... needed to be in a certain encoding.

 

Had to edit the offset distance to bring the follower up even with the player. It is not elegant but it works I suppose. I may figure out how to make the offset values configurable in the MCM. Let players tweak the exact position to their liking.

 

Before when I'd actually been trying to play while tweaking this I occasionally noticed the follower turn and walk backwards. Thought I had squashed it because I hadn't seen it in a while. But what was really happening was that I'd end up having something stop me. Whether it be casting candlelight, mining an ore vein, killing a wolf o worse. Just walking around Whiterun and doing nothing else causes the follower to eventually turn around and walk backwards. This might be due to the body mesh having a "front" that is actually the rear. I don't think it is solvable.

[IsharaMeradin]

Got it setup where the player can tweak the followers offset position as they desire from within the MCM menu. However, position won't update until the package is called anew.

 

Follower still can sometimes start rotating to keep facing a specific direction. Having it try to update every time the player changes angle would be a nightmare. Better to just switch package by drawing weapon, forcing package evaluation, putting weapon up, and forcing package evaluation again. It requires some hands-on hot key use but I think it is the best solution for now.

 

Only thing that I think is left is figuring out how to change the game setting that controls NPC greeting distance via script. It needs to fluctuate with the side distance from the player.