Question about modifying stats of a CM companion(custom race)

[ArtB]

Hello all.

 

This is my problem:

I often want to make modifications to my companions. Usually class, skills, combat style and sometimes looks. However....

 

 

If I have a companion mod based on custom race such as vampires or bloodelves, I can not modify their stats using the construction set without crashing when I enter the cell that the companion is in. So I found this tutorial:

http://www.thenexusforums.com/index.php?/topic/171504-creating-a-custom-race-cm-companion-3-part-tutorial/

 

And with it I have been able to, for example, make a new companion that is a knight instead of a mage but otherwise exactly the same as a the old one. However this is not quite the solution I was hoping for because it basically means I have to make a new companion everytime I want to make some small change.

 

So I am asking is there a way to modify my companion without cloning it and making a new one every time? The current system is leaving me with a bunch of unused companions idling in my house.

 

Thank you.

[kingtitan]

If I understand your problem correctly, try making the custom race .esp your active file when making your custom CM partner (follow the same process as outlined in the tutorial except you will be making the custom race .esp the active file instead of creating your own .esp). The in game crashing is probably due to the fact that there is no .esm for your custom race of choice and the .esp that made your companion can't recognize the dependencies in the custom race .esp (obviously, since they are both .esp's). If that does not work, take time to explain the issue in a bit more detail, as your first post was slightly confusing :P

[ArtB]

If I understand your problem correctly, try making the custom race .esp your active file when making your custom CM partner (follow the same process as outlined in the tutorial except you will be making the custom race .esp the active file instead of creating your own .esp). The in game crashing is probably due to the fact that there is no .esm for your custom race of choice and the .esp that made your companion can't recognize the dependencies in the custom race .esp (obviously, since they are both .esp's). If that does not work, take time to explain the issue in a bit more detail, as your first post was slightly confusing :P

Thank you for the reply. Let me see if I can clarify. I will use my bloodelf companion as an example. I just wanted to change her from a mage to a melee warrior. Hopefully if you can explain how to modify her, I can figure it out for the other races.

 

1)First I installed the race mod.(no esm here btw)

http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=38459

 

2)Then I installed this CM

http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=38468

 

3)I loaded the game and found her. She worked fine. Saved.

 

4)I decided I wanted to make her a melee user. Loaded her esp in the construction set. Removed her spells and changed her combat style.

 

5)Loaded my save and crashed.

 

6)Did some googling."modify cm partner" "change cm partner stats" The closest thing I could find was the tutorial in my first post.

 

7) Followed the tutorial which resulted in a brand new partner with the stats I wanted, and a Blood Elves.esm(Note: the original Blood Elves race mod did not have an esm, just an esp.)

 

This kind of works for me, but now I have two Bloodelves. The original caster and my copy which is melee. I want to know if it is possible to just change the caster to a melee.

 

P.S. - I tried to change my new melee partner's hair, this caused a crash as well. I am glad I backed up her esp because it was a lot of work to make her. xD

[kingtitan]

Hmm... Well the simple answer is yes. There is a way to do it. I think where you may have gone wrong is around #4 where you started removing spells (obviously :P). But that is exactly what is confusing me! Simply erasing spells from a partner's inventory technically shouldn't crash your game. If you didnt edit ANY scripts or AI packages a crash shouldn't have happened. The very best explanation that I can come up with that would be that somehow you mistakenly edited your blood elf custom race or your cm partners files. However, if you for some reason created or edited your partner with the race .esm you created (btw, which program did you use?) checked and then played the game with the .esm unchecked, that too could have caused a crash.

Anyway back to the question at hand.... read this straight from blackie (the mod's author)

 

6. Click on Combat Style, and choose a more appropriate one for your new character. You can always choose the DEFAULT, if you’re unsure. I tried to include some standard ones to choose from with “cm” prefix. The Combat Styles can be changed by clicking the Combat Styles item in the Editor File Window on the left in TES Editor.

 

This may help as well:

 

7. The Partner NPCs are set up with PCLevel Offset checked. This setting will automatically cause the NPC to level up when the Player levels, so that Partners will always keep up with the Player. You can uncheck this temporarily to uncheck the Auto-calc stats box in the Stats Tab and then recheck the box. Since you’ve made some changes, you need to do this to cause the stats to be recalculated for your new race, class, &sex.

 

There are, well, much easier methods to change your partner's combat style than the path you chose! One method is like you did, and to go into the CS and ONLY change the combat style drop-down menu (and maybe class to compliment that combat choice). Also, you can change the way they fight in game!! Choose the +combat option in the dialogue menu and take your pick from there.

 

If you need anymore assistance, post your questions. And dont forget, the more details the better and quicker the solution!!

 

Edit: It sounds like you do not have the cm partners mods original documentation, if that was the only tutorial you could find. I can send you the original documentation if you need it.

Edited June 6, 2011 by kingtitan

[ArtB]

Thank you for the reply, I think I may have found the problem. It appears that when I was loading the companion's esp into the cs it was automatically changing the race to another one. For example, I loaded my Bloodelf and it showed her race as a vampire race(another custom race I downloaded). So I guess when I removed the spells and saved, I didn't notice it had turned her into a vampire and that was what was causing the crash. I changed her back into a Blood Elf and that seemed to fix it.

 

 

It seems I can edit my companions now. I am going to experiment with a few more companions of a few other races and if I have any issues I will post here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks again.