As I said, once I got hold of ttomwv's RR Companions Vault and it's CM system, I decided I needed my own companions.
My cadre of sadistic cuties, as I like to call them. The girls have followed me through Oblivion and back, and other games beyond. One in particular has made appearances as far back as Unreal Tournament and the first Neverwinter Nights.
Naturally, they had to be revived, to continue aiding my brutal rampages across the new battlefield of the Capital Wasteland, circa 2277.
It took only a couple days to get the four I wanted made, placed, and bug-tested.
I agonized for several days, deciding whether I wanted to actually upload the work. It's not that it's intensely personal or anything like that... I'm just paranoid and a social recluse.
Still, after some encouragement from ttomwv, I decided what the hell, I'll do it.
Rather than just leave the four I wanted, I ran up six more, to give a little something for everyone. Good girls, bad girls, even a ghoul for those of you with serious issues.
(I played all the way through Seducing Women once... I know you sickos are out there)
To aid the player in keeping track of them, or finding them when they wandered off for whatever reason, I wrote up a tracking system, and added it to the Overseer's Terminal in the player's bedroom in Vault 1.
The tracking system uses a set of non-finishable, repeatable quests with markers to show you at any given time the location of any or all the companions. It's set up to allow you to choose individual girls to track, or can track all in a single entry. Because of the way the quests are written, markers can be turned on and off as many times as you like.
The tracking system is inelegant for my taste. I wanted an inventory item that would call and remove the quest entries, but the scripting didn't cooperate. The terminal was a stopgap just to get the system working. It ended up working so seamlessly and reliably that I decided to just make it official.
Altogether, you could call the Nos' Companions Mods (Companions mod, Alternate Guards, tracking system) my flagship release. I've put lots of time into it already, and it's just getting started.
Initially, it was simple. Straightforward companions who did what you said, and never retreated.
However, my goal from the start has been immersion. To make the companions live. Have daily lives when not following you around, distinct personalities, and even personal conversations and questlines.
Naturally, this is going to be awhile, as if you take a look at something like the Saerileth companion in Oblivion, just getting one companion that far takes months of work, and I'm going to try it for ten.
That said, I am making progress.
One of the first things I thought of to make them seem more alive, was the addition of sandbox AI packages. Rather than standing around blankly in their starting locations, the girls would live. Eat, sleep, work, roam.
Unfortunately, this had some unintended side-effects. Since the AI packages all revolved around Vault 1, most of the girls would leave their starting locations and go to the Vault to start living without awaiting your gracious invitation.
This was one of the things that necessitated the tracking system. Without it, two or three of the girls are virtually impossible to find until and unless they show up in the Vault... and even then it's damned hard to tell when they've arrived, and when they're still in transit.
Another side-effect was Celia. While she didn't usually go to Vault 1, she also didn't stay in the Rivet City marketplace, where I intended her to be found. Rather, she prefers roaming the bridge tower, occasionally having coffee or swiping a bottle of whiskey from a table. Why? I have no idea. I chalked it up as true AI manifesting itself, and just warn people about it.
The Cohen sisters are another interesting one. Twins, they have identical bodies, faces, and AI package loadouts. Yet, One goes to Vault 1 on her own, while the other never leaves the Abandoned Tent unless you go get her. Why? Beats the hell out of me. Again: tracking system to the rescue.
As it stands, I'm trying to work out how to keep them in place until the player arrives, but still allow them to sandbox and live in Vault 1 when not being companions. It looks like I'm going to have to use a scripted call to add the packages on the fly, when the player tells them to stay in Vault 1 the first time.
As my skills in the GECK improve, so too do the companions' faces.
You can see here two of the later version Cohens, after I redid their faces to fix that weird spot around the mouth.
The bikinis help a bit, too, I suppose...
Rather than post all of them, if you're looking for more pictures, I'll suggest you hit the Picasa Folder where I've stored all the images.
There's a lot I could go into here about future plans, the girl's personalities and whatnot, but I don't want to spoil too much...
...I also don't want to set myself up too much for when I change my mind and abandon the project...
Still, for the moment I'm not tossing it onto the "too much trouble" pile.
In fact, I'm getting close to releasing a new version. The new "AV" version. Alternate, or Adult, take your pick.
It uses Dimon99's Type3 Body and textures in different combinations, coupled with height settings, to create nine distinct bodies for the companions and guards. Different heights, breast sizes, and personal grooming habits make - I feel - the girls seem more unique and realistic.
I had been holding off on releasing it not only until I received Dimon99's permission, but because I had intended to include a new set of activators and some modified scripting to further improve the companions. The additions are, however, not playing nicely, and I've decided to upload it anyway, without the additions.
Also in the new version, I'm making inroads towards the girls' actual personalities. For instance, Maeva - being a Goddess of Death - will gleefully enact slaughter to the bitter end, no matter the odds. On the flip side, Kate is a fifteen year old science enthusiast, and is (quite sensibly) prone to running away when things look too grim. The others fall into various points on the spectrum.
This will doubtless be frustrating for some players, but I'm not out to create an army of mindless bots.
In all likelihood, I will leave a version together without the personality. Where they don't have backstories or quests or run away, and are basically just packmules and killers and eyecandy in general.
Sounds boring, I know.
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