[WIP] Cerwiden -SMART Healer- AI Configurable Companion

[SwordManPL]

Voted for "Backstory/quests for Ceri" and "Replacing the default "voice" with completely custom dialogue".

Her intelligence is much higher than the rest of the followers in the game. I would like to know more about her, having her full voiced and sometimes hear a comments from her as Serana (from Dawnguard DLC) is doing.

I am seriously against some archtypes/other variations of this follower. As you stated you don't have a much time, so you should just polish this single mod to the point where it would become the best follower ever. Optionally you can release source code so others can make variations for themselves.

Edited August 19, 2012 by SwordManPL

[Moraevik]

Thanks for your reply, Mujuro. Enjoy your time with the family. Meanwhile, here's my update ...

 

I've never had a follower actually disappear in Skyrim, although I've had it happen a few times in Oblivion. On the flipside, I really haven't used followers much in either game, especially in Skyrim where the developers introduced some really aggravating behavior into them (like the constant bumping, for instance).

 

Ceri's refID, for anyone who wants to know is xx001d14, where "xx" is "1d" in my game. That's where your mod is in my load order, so other people's will differ. The last six digits should be the same for everyone, though. I used "player.moveto 1d001d14" to go to her location and I found her standing around doing nothing a little lower than the scripted frost troll encounter on the way up to High Hrothgar. No idea why she was there, and after interacting with she fast traveled to Riverwood with me. Most curious, but problem solved.

 

I gave her weapons just to see if she would continue her insubordination and use them, anyway. It's not as if I actually spent any money on them. They were dropped by the Draugr, or found lying around in Shroud Hearth Barrow. It was just an experiment to test the limits of her AI.

 

I'll keep watching more carefully with her around traps. No, none of the traps she's set off so far are among those the devs set to ignore Light Feet.

 

I understand that she'll get noticed in Sneak Mode sooner than I will. I've come to expect this with followers in Skyrim, because my Sneak rating is nearly always higher than theirs. My problem is that as soon as she's discovered she just barges into combat, usually without considering that staying behind with me is generally the best strategy, at least until the enemies actually close on us. With that refinement added to her AI, alone, it would make her a much more capable follower for players who prefer a stealthy approach to an engagement.

 

I know about the pathfinding issues in Skyrim. They were horrible in Oblivion, and, if anything, are even worse in Skyrim because the environment tends to be much more complex in this game than in previous ES games. My problem is that Ceri, like all NPC followers in this game, will attack before actually coming under direct attack. She rushes to attack at the first sign of possible action against her, even when the opponents are out of striking distance for either her or them.

 

Anyway, here are her relevant configuration settings:

 

Dynamic Spells Initialization: Complete

Healing: Combat, post-combat cure

- Combat Heal Trigger: 30%

- Combat Heal Reserve Required: 30%

Combat AI: Minimize attacking

Combat Magic: Single Target / Paralyze

Combat SMARTCast: SMARTCast Enabled

Combat Weaton Use: Do not use any weapons

Wardrobe Status: Cerwiden chooses outfits

Dismiss Venue: Riverwood Inn

 

I've been working with her as I advance the main quest and haven't seen a repeat of the trap-tripping. I had reverted to a save just prior to my first entry into High Hrothgar. Could be that later game save was somehow corrupted and it was the cause of the problems I was having with her.

[Mujuro]

@Moraevik Looks like the default settings, which are very similar to the ones I use (only difference is that I have her para off and she hangs out where dismissed). Something to keep in mind regarding stealth and attacks: NPCs register "attacks" against them slightly differently than the player in the sense that once the NPC/follower gets "spotted" and then enemy goes into the Bethesda default combat AI and initiates an attack against the follower, the follower then switches to the "hidden" combat AI as well. To the follower, it doesn't matter that the opponent is half a screen away, etc., it simply registers to the follower as "I'm being attacked". That's why you're seeing what you're seeing. There may be a way that I can hack around that without the Bethesda code source but, as I mentioned earlier, I'd prefer not to duplicate functionality that may already be built into framework mods that the majority of users apparently have. I'd be introducing an override to another override, and I'm already spending at least 2/3 of my time with Ceri troubleshooting mod conflicts. :P

 

Could I make Ceri work outside of the generic follower archetype completely? Probably, but it would likely take some time. But I believe that doing so may end up with more issues on my plate with people asking why they can't manage XYZ function using UFO, EFF, AFT, Followers Relax, etc. Plus, I'd be reinventing variants of functionality from those mods, which I've really, really tried to avoid doing. :P

[RaycerX]

Does anyone else find it jarring to hear the default follower voice when talking to Ceri and then hearing the custom VA when listening to her custom dialogue??

[Moraevik]

Understood, Mujuro. Keep in mind that I'm not really complaining about these things, but just pointing them out as issues. Ceri is only a month old. I'm impressed that you've come this far with her, already, and I'm sure she'll only get better as time goes on.

 

RaycerX, short answer -- yes. Long answer -- be thankful you have at least some original dialog. This is a known issue, and is likely on the back-burner since Majuro is still trying to work out bugs and develop the really essential features of this follower. Perhaps completing the voice-acting will come later, but if it doesn't, Ceri is still a very good follower, compared to the vast majority of followers in this game.

[BugNexus]

http://forums.nexusmods.com/public/style_images/Dark/bullet_star_rated.png Replacing the default "voice" with completely custom dialogue

FTW !! :dance:

[Mujuro]

Thanks folks, keep the feedback coming! Also, if I've left stuff off the poll list, please feel free to do "write in" suggestions.

[MstrShakta]

First of all I would like to say... HAPPY BIRTHDAY CERI !!!!

 

 

I use UFO with Ceri and I have no issues with her AI. As a matter of fact, there are numerous times after combat, I know she's there because she is healing me, when I look for her she comes walking out from behind a bush or rock or something. I tried giving her a weapon and letting her make her own decisions about combat, it was then that she had a tendancy to charge into toe-to-toe combat. Being a archer type character, I think I may have hit her more often than hitting my actual target. (I did not say I was a GOOD archer!! LOL) Now it's much better, she stays out of toe-to-toe combat unless she absolutly has no choice, then she just blasts them with spells. It's awesome!!

 

Please Mujuro, dont underestimate your mod, Ceri is THE best companion mod out right now IMHO anyway. I played Oblivion with Vilja and Viconia and they were great mods, but Ceri is much better when it comes to combat AI, healing, and all around base structure of a companion mod. I think it was a good idea to "tweak" those things first, and now that they are almost complete you can concentrate on other aspects of her personality and other things. A suggestion I would really like to see in the future, I dont know if it's just me, but there have been plenty of times I found myself wanting to thank Ceri for saving my butt and have no dialog to do so. It would be great to be able to just say thank you and have her react to it. I play with "Dovakiin Relaxes Too" which gives me the option to hug my spouse, but being a role player, I think jumping into the marriage thing without getting to know someone first is a bad idea. Anyway I think it would be cool and definately unique.

 

The ONLY issue I have with the whole Ceri concept is, for some reason, I cannot get the customization patch to work properly. I have no idea what I am doing, let alone, what I am doing wrong. I follow your step by step instructions, but for some reason it still does not work. Like I said I have no idea what I am doing, so explaining "where" things go wrong exactly is not that easy for me.

 

But anyway, I voted for the "Backstory/quests for Ceri" because I think being able to get to know your companion would be the next most important thing on the list.

 

Peace

[Bushhog]

I've got somewhere between 20 to 30 hs in with Ceri and have to applaud what a wonderful job you have done with her AI develoment. I have been using her with Extensible Follower Framework and have noted no problems (I'm actually a convert from UFO). I am also a fan of the Companion Vilja mod from Oblivion. Given all this.....my 2 cents; purely in the spirit of giving you something to chew on, if you were to stop development of Ceri today I'd be still using her 6 months from now and probably beyond. I guess that's my first statement.

 

I believe you've matched the utliity of the Companion Vilja mod, if I may use it as a bench mark. What I found charming about the Companion Vilja mod was her personality; Emma did an awesome job of fleshing her out. I felt it was a combination of her back story (with the mini-quests) and the comments that came out of her that 'showed' she was aware of the current quest or location she was in. The other plus, was that her voice was unique. That helped a lot and went a long way to saying that 'this follower is different'. I've noted that after a play through or two a lot of Skyrim players start upping the difficultlty of thier games through mods like ASIS, ACE, SKYre and others. So, companions become more important, even multiple companions. Everyone is seeming to use the same two or three voice types (female), if you want to make her more unique/identifiable a Ceri - voice would go a long way.

 

I don't for a moment claim to know anything about just how difficult and time consuming it is to put together a companion as advanced as Ceri let alone adding a back story and voicing.....just a fan wishing out loud....

 

Thanks again for a wonderful mod!

[Mujuro]

@MstrShakta Thank you! Regarding the ability to express gratitude to Ceri, that's a nice suggestion; never even thought about that one. About the customization patch, let me know what you're trying to do and I may be able to provide some additional info. Most of the time if it "doesn't work right" is because of multiple dependent mods that need to be set as masters (particularly if the dependent mods are ESPs).

 

@Bushhog Thanks, glad to hear it! Comparing Ceri to Vilja is quite the honor; Vilja was one of my favorite companions from Oblivion (I used her along with Viconia and Stoker Wolff). Ceri's personality is nowhere near Vilja in terms of personality (and I doubt I'll ever be able to get there, Emma set the "platinum standard" for companions in that regard and I've never seen any mod achieve that since Vilja). If voting continues the way it's been going, I may try to add a bit more to Ceri's personality via backstory and quests, and try not to embarrass myself (or Ceri) in the process. :)

 

BTW, I understand that Emma's been working diligently on "Skyrim Vilja", so Ceri may have some company. :)