We started to talk about her already back in 2003. Now, she is finally reality, and we hope you will enjoy her company as much as we have been enjoying working on her:


Constance the thief companion
by Grumpy and Emma
with Potion Handler by DinkumThinkum and bows by Zyndaar


Screenshots and download


Requires: Tribunal

She's unpredictable. She's unreliable. She's greedy. She's trouble.
As a companion, she is probably worth her weight in... scrap metal. On the other hand, she might be an amusing company. At least if you can stand a companion that love to chat your ears off, to drink your booze and to pick the pockets of your friends.

Constance, the woodelf thief, will be happy to follow you on your Morrowind adventures. And once she knows you better, she will let you play an important role in HER Morrowind adventures, too.

Please note! You don't have to play as a thief in order to enjoy Constance's company. It's entirely up to you how she will behave (OK... that was only partially true... As said above, she is definitely unpredictable and troublesome...)

Anyway... hope you will enjoy her! We surely enjoyed working on her!

- Emma and Grumpy

EDIT: She is north west of Gnisis, just follow the road... I forgot to write so in the readme

Some of the features:

- Timed chats: every now and then, Constance will have new topics she wants to discuss with you. As time passes by, you will learn more about her background, her life in Morrowind, and some interesting skills she has that might be useful for both of you.
- Thief skills: right from start, Constance can help you to charm other npcs, and to pick their pockets. She can also help you to track down hostile animals, enchanted items and keys. Later on, her chats will reveil other skills as well.
- Extensive dialog. 248 pages of dialog, including chats, special greetings, storyline.
- Interaction with other npcs. Other npcs will be aware on Constance's presence and comment on her. She will also interact with other companions by Emma (Laura Craft, Lokken companions, Witchgirl companions, some Lost Heir companions, child companions).
- Class and race-based level system. Constance will always be at the same level as the player, but her skills and attributes are based on those for a female woodelf thief character.
- Enhanced movement script. Constance's movement script is an enhanced version of Grumpy's companion project ver 3.1.
- Several fighting options, including melee, marksman, mimic, stay out of fight. If she is ordered to use marksman, she will automatically switch to melee if engaged in close combat.
- Numerous traveling options,including recall to any exterior area, divine and almsivi intervention and several meeting-points.
- Telepathy amulet (based on the telepathy ring made by The Other Felix for Laura Craft Romance) which makes it possible for you to get in touch with her during battle and when you are separated.
- Potion sorter by DINKUMTHINKUM; whereas companion normally drinks all healing potions available during a battle (thanks to a Bethesda-bug), Constance will only drink one potion at the time, thanks to Dinkum Thinkum's potion handler. Limitation: this is only valid for MW-original potions; if you give her home-made potions, she will consume them at the same rate as other companions.
- VE-compatibility and compatibility with MadMax' Galleon, thanks to script fixes by PETER.
- Two beautiful bows by ZYNDAAR - one for Constance and one for you - are included in this mod. You'll have to play a while to get them, though, as they are part of Constance's own story.

This post has been edited by Emma: May 26 2005, 02:02 PM

I've been looking forward to this for months, downloading now

Sorry... I forgot to add the credits list


CREDITS

- Zyndaar for Constance's bow and the bow of Azura's eye. Please note: The bow models is made by and belongs to Zyndaar, not to us. If you want to use them in your own mods, you have to contanct Zyndaar for permission to do so. Contact address: http://rethan-manor.net/phpBB2/index.php?c=12
- DinkumThinkum for the potion handler, which keeps companions from gulping health potions at their own rate during combat.
- Peter for adding VE- and Galleon-compatibility and for helping us to sort out a vital problem with the recall-script.
- The Other Felix - for the telepathy script and for many other ideas and functions that Constance has adopted from Emma's other companions ( scripting for npc-interaction functions, to mention something that instantly comes to mind).
-Devlor and Reznod for great help on the original Companion Project mod.
-Ulfgeir for the SWJ mod on which much of all existing companion mods are based
-Mana User for his understanding of a completely sensless question
-Simpleton for the math solution used in the "warp-behind" section
-Vorwoda the Black for his inspiration and script help with the Cally/Gabran mods.
-RX31 for Constance's dancing animations (you will have to play the mod for a while before she shows you her dancing skills).
-Peter, Grizz, Vorwoda_The_Black, TMartin827, Straydog, Sunsi and GarryB (Garry and Vorwoda also proofreading) for playtesting and adding numerous valuable suggestions.

Awesome! I love your stuff Emma, very glad to see this new wonderful work.

Great work emma and grumpy.
qwert

This is Cool. Time to replay Morrowind again, then. Thanks Emma (and Grumpy too) for giving me a new thing in each of your release.

Wow! This sounds like a really fun an entertaining mod! Congratulations Emma and Grumpy for another quality releas!

Thanks again Emma! This Next work of art is Downloading at the moment and I can't wait to try it out. Take care.

Cheers,
Ravenholme CP42

She looks and sounds very neat I think. I will sure be using her. Thanks Emma and Grumpy and all who provided the assets used here. A grand new companion for my game, cool!

She only looks neat, I assure you. Remember above statement "She is unpredictable."


Nope, she will be using you. :*)

Have fun, she is a masterpiece. Many thanks to Grumpy and Emma!

hehe This sounds like fun, downloading now and gonna have to go play

Thanks guys She sounds fun!! Im looking forward to trying her out:)

Yippie! Can't wait to try her... my altmer hasn't found a companion yet that suits her!

A definite DL, been waiting for this a while now!

Very curious on Constance, btw are your cuirass included?

Like to thank Emma for all of the hard work she did here.

Also like to thank DinkumThinkum for his code for the potion saver. Ellegant piece of work. Should be noted that this only works for standard, quality, and exquisite health potions.

Don't make the mistake of thinking that this will make her invulnerable either. The effect is roughly equivalent to the player "quick-keying" health potions and there can be times where she just gets hit too hard, too fast to recover long enough to take a potion. Same as with you, the player, and that's what I liked about it: Closer these guys come to having the same capabilities as the player, better it is in my eyes.

Included in the mod is DT's readme for this section of script and he states in there that it can be used in other mods, so feel free.

The almsivi/divine/recall script is generally a stand alone script, and you also have my permission to use it as well. Be advised that a global variable and one blank attack voice entry is used in that as well, so you'll need to either not use that or add it to your companion's dialog section along with a suitable global variable (please don't use the same one I did (should thank Qarl for figuring this out too)).

Other sections of the script, most notably Emma's and Felix's telepathy amulet are specific to them and you should contact Emma for useage on that.

Hope you people enjoy...

Will we have to discuss my FEELING'S too??






This post has been edited by Baphomet: May 26 2005, 11:09 AM

YAAAAAY! I've been waiting for this. Oo, Laura is going to be JEALOUS!

Thank you, Emma, as always for bringing us joy with your hard work!

Excellent!

Nope, Constance don't discuss feelings... she's your buddy, not your girlfriend.





Hardly jealous, for reasons above . but probably pissed, if Constance decide that Laura has something that she - constance - would like to grab

Looking good

Geesh!!!

I wrote the readme to quickly!! I forgot to add where to find her!!

Constance is outside Gnisis, to the north-west if you follow the road!!

I was just about to ask. Thanks for the new companion Emma & Grumpy!

I think the porting (almsivi/divine/recall) should be clarified a bit:

She has to be in follow mode or this will not work. Use Emma's telepathy amulet for other recall operations (although that won't work to interiors either (scripting limitations)).

Almsivi Intervention and Divine Intervention should be self-explainitory. From anywhere on the standard game map (both interior and exterior), you do an almsivi or divine intervention and the companion will follow.

Recall to an exterior location and she will follow.

Recall to an interior and she will not follow, but at that point all you have to do is exit the interior that you recalled to and she will show up. Then you can re-enter the interior with her in tow again.

Example: You get loaded up in some Daedric shrine and use a recall ring to get back to the interior of your abode. She will not follow, but at that point all you have have to do is walk outside and she will show up, then you can go back inside normally.


Levitating through doors:

I'm still not recommending levitation through doors with this. It WILL work, and it will work 100% as far as I can tell, but you have to be able to move away from where you landed at least 300gu (roughly 14 virtual feet) in order to get her to show up. Works fine as long as you can move that far away, but in the case of some shacks, for instance, you may not be able to do it (not enough room). If that happens, I'ld try moving back and forth through the door several times to see if she'll pop up outside again, but have seen this falter on several occasions which then requires a restart.

Examples: Shacks seem to be too small, but the Census and Excise office where the captain is has enough room.

Just try and make sure you have enough room to move away from the door the required distance to keep this from happening.

Grizz noted in PMB that the entrance has very little room at all... forward and back, but if you are levitating, you can accend the required distance and get her to show up that way.

Major score! I've always been amazed at how well made Emma and Grumpy's mods are. Downloading now. I'm sure I will once again be amazed by the quality of their work.

She sounds like fun! Thank you for her

Fantastic! That sounds like a fun companion to go adventuring with and to discover with time. Thank you very much Emma and Grumpy for another great mod.

Yippii!! Now I want to start Bosmer Thief/Assasin and find him worthy companion. Lallalalaa! Bosmers are fun!

does she have those cool rx3 animations like laura

by the way downloading thankyou emma

<* grumbles .... happily *>

Just when I thought I had my *perfect* game set up .... another wonderous mod comes along

Thanks, Emma!

She has a dancing animation by RX31, but not the same as Laura. She will not show it to you from start, though. Constance hasn't got any kissing animation. She's just a buddy .

Such a thing doesn't exist. :*)

Adding Constance to a running game works without any problem, she mod shouldn't be conflicting with anything. No cottages near Vivec or such stuff (wouldn't make sense with her story).

You can always dump her at the next Imperial prison, though. :*)

Nobody can script a companion like Grumpy and nobody puts the heart and soul into a companion like Emma. You two are the Pasteurs of companion-making. I just hope she doesn't try to steal my stuff!

Timed chats remind me of Knights of the Old Republic. Was this an inspiration for the idea? Regardless, it's a superb addition to companions. Too often they felt like human-looking droids (can anybody tell I'm playing KOTOR2?), imitating whatever the player did. It always seemed a little spooky that they never seemed to want to speak unless they were spoken to or do anything unless given permission to.

Well, I guess all that's about to change.

248 pages of dialog! My jaw dropped when I read that. This is an ambitious project. You two have pulled off a real coup here. I am very eager to get to let your new thief loose on the world of MW, to unravel her story and read some of those 248 pages of new dialog. Excellent work, Emma and Grumpy!

dang and just when i thought i had a hot wood elf girfriend too oh well hmm now here did laura get to ohh laura honey

i wub laura

This post has been edited by he just stands there: May 26 2005, 02:52 PM

This caught my attention.
And that's what I call a quality companion mod.
The options she has are very interesting.

LOL thanks I was looking in the theives guild. This sounds really incredible. You two are really taking companions to the next level. Maybe now I will have one I can actually play nicely with. Usually I get so annoyed with their silent and uninteresting following I just stick them in a house someplace and leave them.

Thanks again!!

~sc

If it has Emma's name on it I DL it. Kudos to Emma and Grumpy on this mod.

Now a question.......please explain

This within the game or in the CS??

Just need a little clarification then she can go meet Janica, Laura, Morgana, and the gang.

This will probably will be the most Baldur's Gate - like companion (Lilacor excluded) up to date... downloading!

You simply have to put her in wander-mode ingame. If you plan to add a new mod, before you leave game, tell her that you want to be on your own for a little while. She won't mind.

Putting her in wander mode will stop a script that is active while she is in following mode. If you don't put her in wander mode before you add a new mod, the game will give you an error message regarding this script when you reload. And you will probably have to restart the script by telling her to wait and then telling her to follow again. (There was actually a playtester who got a CTD when he tried to reload after adding a bunch of new mods without putting her in wander mod. I don't know what caused his crash, but this is one reason why I'm pointing out that she should always be put in wander mod before adding new mods.)


Hope you will like her...

This post has been edited by Emma: May 26 2005, 03:46 PM

Oh, she's so cute! Awesome job.

I've played around a bit tonight, and she is great! a real character

I did give her a custom head , I like seeing my own work in game

Anyway:

Lady Yselinde and Constance

Thank you very much Emma, it looks like you and Grumpy did it again!

Hooray! I can't wait to try this out. Great work.

Woohoo!



What else can I say?

Congratulations, Emma and Grumpy!

Constance is my ultimate solution to the "do I play a male or female character?" debate! I can play the male character and have a great companion who can wear all of that awesome female clothing and armor that's been released recently.

Thanks, Emma and Grumpy! Your contributions continue to make MW a great diversion!

My character's entourage of chums is getting larger by the day...

Wow! This sounds awesome! I like feisty girls! How the heck did you come out with this so quickly after releasing your children mods???

Technical question: How did you test for the existence of Laura and your other companions in this mod?

I love heavily personalized NPCs, especially when they'll travel with me. Thanks for this!

This mod sounds amazing, and I hope to try it out this weekend.

Just out of curiousity, will she do a force greeting when she has a new topic/new info/etc? I ended up missing a lot of dialogue with Lara at first b/c I kept forgetting to talk to her

Not sure about the regular dialog, but the timed chat is set up in such a way that you have to run it in sequence. In other words, let's say that "x" time passes and the "-chat" topic pops up with the next installment of dialog. It's set up in such a way that that installment will remain active untill you click on it and complete that sequence of dialog, so the "-chat" topic might pop at four game days but will not advance until you click on it and complete "that" sequence. You could leave it there for a month if you want and still get the correct section. Upon completion of a particular chat topic, the counter is restarted and in "x" number of days the next installment will activate.

To be honest, we have been working on Constance longer than the children project has lasted. And we have been playtesting her for quite a while (adding several upgrades during the testing)

As for your technical question:
I use a combination of a global for each companion which is set to >=1 when the companion is present and in followmode, and a local variable - emmasnpcid - which has a different value for each of "my" companions.
I have been doing so for quite a while now - it was The Other Felix who came up with the idea of this kind of interaction long ago. And since then, I have prepared all my mods for interaction. Constance have been in the works for a long time, so later versions of Laura, the children mod and - I believe - the Lokken mod also already has was it takes to further interact with her.
Right now, I'm implementing something similar to Korana's cottage mod, so that the Morrowind children will have unique dialog when they are there.

There are many ways to accomplish npc interaction like this, I'll be happy to continue discuss it with you if you are interested.

Wow thanks Emma and Grumpy for another great compainion mod.

Now all we need is an update to Witchgirl Adventure

Keep up the great work.

Although you are right, Grumpy, I'd still say that players should take the chance to talk to her every now and then. She has got lots of special greetings and such as well; will for instance comment not only on various places but also on various npcs at various places. If you are in Khuul, she might tell you what happened when her uncle and the tradehouse owner got drunk together, when you are in Sadrith Mora, she might give you her opinion on slave traders, when you are in Caldera you might get her to tell you how to make a breton alchemist sound like a khajiit who has got his tail squeezed in a door... etc etc...


PseronWyrd:


Uhm....


Shadowschylde:


Well.. it's probably not her silence that will make her annoying...


Sorcha,


I think your version looks a bit more mature that our Constance . But she does look great, and I'm glad that you like her!

She is just great

Great....this is exactly what I needed. Thanks

Between this, your children, and Lokken(yeah..I know I told ya I was going to play it a looooooonnnnnnnnnnggggggg time ago), I really have to get back to game play. I've been DL'ing and tweaking mods(not your..don't need to) so much, it's been ages since I've played.

You definitely give people the incentive to actually play.

Hmmmmmmmmm...maybe tonight.

ive played withe her and shes been scoring some rubys off of people for me oh does she have any quests like laura

Nice. I'll download this in after I get back from Washington DC this weekend.

I love Constance so much I took her on a flight!
Taking Constance for a Ride!!!!!
Landed near Vivec
Adventuring & Exploring


I love the dialogue with Constance. Having her around is an interesting experience, but I will have to keep my eyes on her because the girl is light fingered!

This post has been edited by highpressure: May 26 2005, 07:17 PM

Thanks for this, Emma and Grumpy! I've been looking forward to this.


Very well said, and I couldn't agree more!

Very nice, Emma and Grumpy. Just downloaded this little masterpiece (maybe not so little; only Emma could make a 1.28 meg companion mod ), and I am really looking forward to trying it out when I get some time to try to salvage some of my old saves from before I wiped my hard drive.

This post has been edited by baratheon79: May 26 2005, 07:09 PM

Yipee, skippy, my bosmer girl now has a wood elf friend to travel with her. Thanks Emma and Grumpy for creating this wonderful companion

Great companion, much more interesting than usual. I played with her for an hour or so, raided some Daedric ruins (she can stand up to Dremoras pretty well ) but I have two questions: I didn't get a telepathy ring, does that come later or did I do something wrong? I can't get her to follow me to Aragon's Tel Magus (using a return ring, not recall). She's not outside but rather where I left her. Is this a problem with return rings or will the telepathy ring help this?

You will get a telepathy amulet at your second chat. I.e. if you drag her around, it should take you 4 days ingame. If you are in a hurry to get it, justrest for 24 hours and then talk to her again until you get the amulet.

If you use a traditional teleport ring, it isn't suitable for companions and they won't follow you. You could try out my VTA travel agency, though, there your companions will follow you.

OK, thanks, I'll just set a mark there and skip the ring for now.

Where is that nifty katana-for-companions from?

Little more on this...



I was kind of a proponent of "ForceGreet" for awhile. Thought it would make the companion more intresting.

Problem with it is in this game is that the game is not linear.

In a game like Baldur's Gate2, you can use it to great effect because your path is controlled as you proceed through the game, so you can set up activators to trip the dialog. Cell "A", ForceGreet, dialog "A"; Cell "B", ForceGreet, dialog "B"; etc..

So let's say that I set up an activator to trip a ForceGreet in Pelagiad and the player never goes there. At best, you could only offer up some mundane chit-chat that could in no way be related to any quests... Unless the ForceGreet itself initiated a mini-quest, and we could get back to square one again if the player never goes to the location where the activator trips the ForceGreet. If once a quest were initiated, you could then use some ForceGreets, but they would have to be linear in form. ForceGreet at point "A", then "B", etc...

Other problem is that they can be abused. What could be comfortable for one player might be too much of a distraction for another or too little interaction for yet another.

I think both Emma and I hope that this timed dialog and the way it's set up (taken at you're leisure), will present a workable alternative. New stuff, so I hope it will prove a useful tool for future mods.

Quest will be found in this timed dialog BTW...

That's VagabondAngel's Hissyo Katana

Thank you, Emma and Grumpy! I've so enjoyed your other mods (companions/quests) and I've looked forwards to a new one. Your mods are among the classiest around!

I have to confess that I go so excited about this I nearly forgot to download it!

This post has been edited by Sorrano: May 26 2005, 10:14 PM

Hello Emma and Grumpy

What a great time I had playtesting the Constance mod...the surprises were hysterical, lol! She makes the game come alive once again for me wondering what she would do next..."Is she asking me a trick question?"..."What's she got planned this time?" Very clever dialog and in my game she's caring around an Uzi...seems to fit her personality.


Grumpy:


During playtesting I wrote you Emma that Constance was dying too easily and she was only level 1 and you wrote back that she would be the same level as my character.

I make so many characters that I forget who has what stats but I was SOOO sure that all my characters were at least level 20...and even if they weren't it was no problem because of a certain "special" companion made by Grumpy at my request which has "God mode" so my companions never really have to level up or even fight (I only play for pretty clothes and weapons now, lol...thanks, Grumpy )

I went back ingame and checked my characters level AND it was at level 1 ...so it was my fault for Constance dying all those times!

Don't worry though because I give her all the Matze she wants now to make it up to her.

HAY emma does she have quests like laura and morgan

Yes, there is a little story-line included; it's about the beautiful bow she is carrying on the screenshot. You will however wait until Constance thing the time is right before you get the quest. It's in one of her chats. Will show up once you know her better. So, just drag her along with you and things will happen as time passes by.
Apart from the quest, she will make sure that other things happen as well.

But, like Laura, Constance is "a-companion-with-a-storyline" and not "a-questmod-with-a-companion" (as is the case with for instance White Wolf of Lokken). So, don't expect any 20 hours playtime for the quest...

Wow Emma, I'm impressed. First the children and now Constance!
Thank you!

An Uzi-personality...?? Our sweet little Constande!
Yeah, in a way maybe she has...

And if she indeed keep you on wondering what she has planned for you next, she should be an interesting enough companion!



Although you were talking to Grumpy here, I just thought I should bring up something we ran into during the playtest.

It doesn't matter how much you raise your skills by using your console. It will never raise Constance's skill. Cause she is not a clone of you. Her skills are completely based on the LEVEL of the PCChar; she has the same level, but her skills and attributes are adjusted for a female woodelf thief.
If you want to raise the level of your char by using the console, you should be aware of one thing: this will not have any effect on Constance until the player has slept once!

Also, there's no point in checking for constance's level in the console. It will always be level 1, as levels for npcs doesn't exist. It's her skills and attributes that alters as the player levels.




I'm sure she wants quite a lot... maybe you should ask her to help you carry the booze...

Much of the work on Constance has been made by Grumpy, so it isn't that odd that she could be released only a little while after the children. She has been in the works for a very long time

Sterling,


Yes, she will over time "find" various items, among them the cuirass you mention. But, as I said over at my forums, I'm not a good armor/clothing maker, her outfit is certainly very mediocre compared to what others can do.

But, there are two rare and really beautiful items included: the bows by Zyndaar!

(Actually, there's a very nice sword by Grumpy as well . Looks a lot better than the clothings I made for her)

Grumpy, aren't you forgetting somthing here
We do have kind of "activators" as well, and you were the one who set up the first of them. I won't say more here in order not to spoil something, but if I say Sedas and uhoh, I'm sure you know what I mean

Excelent news.
Going to install it asap:)
Tks grumpy and Emma for another amazing plugin!

But she's so sweet, it's impossible to get really angry with her, even after the 'Sedas' incident

Thank you Grumpy and Emma for another companion "with brain".
Excelent work as always. Dl now...

I was only involved with this project for a short time, but I was very impressed by Grumpy's and Emma's hard work and real dedication to making this a high quality mod: a big pat on the back to both of them for their contributions to Morrowind!

And another pat on the back to all the others who helped get this mod finished, tested, and ready for release.



As Grumpy says, the PotionSaver code is freely useable by other modders, although I would appreciate it if you give me credit. (I'd like to be remembered for something besides dirty saves, remove item bugs, etc. )

The readme he mentions wasn't in the version of the mod I downloaded, so I'll paste in a copy of it here. After that, I'll add some suggestions for modders who'd like to use the code in their own mods for companions or other NPCs.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

NPC PotionSaver by DinkumThinkum - Information for players:
****************************************************

Players: you can skip most of this, but I recommend at least reading item #4
below.

Modders: you don't have to include all this in your mod's documentation,
although it might be useful to you mod's users, but I would recommend including
at least the information from item #4.

1. What's this for?

If you've played with companions in your game, you may have noticed that any
Restore Health potions in their inventory get used up very quickly. This is
caused by a bug in the game's AI.

This PotionSaver code fixes the problem for Exclusive, Quality, and
Standard Restore Health potions, which should be enough to make a major
difference in the game.

Bargain and Cheap Restore Health potions are not handled; they're too weak to be
worth the extra coding required to deal with them. And there's no way to code
for potions created in the game using the Alchemy skill.

2. The bug:

When an NPC's health falls below 50% of maximum, the game's AI will cause them
to automatically drink Restore Health potions if they have them in their
inventory. However, Restore Health potions don't work instantaneously, but heal
the NPC gradually over time.

The bug is that the game's AI doesn't allow them time to work. So the AI may
cause an injured NPC to drink several potions one after another in one big rush,
without giving the first one time to take effect.

In my testing, I sometimes saw NPCs using five or ten potions at a time, even
when the first one was all that they actually needed to completely restore their
health.

End result is a large number of potions wasted.

Note: this game bug also affects Restore Fatigue potions, but my code just
handles Restore Health potions, which are the ones most critical to keeping a
companion alive.

3. The fix:

The NPC PotionSaver is a block of code inserted into the existing local script
on a companion NPC, where it controls the rate at which the companion can drink
Exclusive, Quality, and Standard Restore Health potions.

How it works:

When your companion is alive, conscious, and the game is not in menu mode (i.e.,
you're on the main game screen), the PotionSaver code removes all but one potion
from the companion's inventory. When the companion drinks that potion, the code
replaces it after a very short time delay (currently 1 second; can easily be
adjusted by modders).

The time delay allows the potion time to take effect before the NPC is given
another one. This prevents the game's AI from wasting potions by drinking them
too fast.

When the companion dies, becomes unconscious, or the game is in menu mode, all
the potions will be returned to the companion's inventory. This allows the
player to view, remove, etc. the potions using Companion Share or by looting the
dead/unconscious companion's body.

This swapping of potions in and out of the companion's inventory should be
completely invisible to the player: anytime you view your companion's inventory,
their full supply of potions will always be there.

Note: the PotionSaver code does not cause the companion to drink potions; that's
handled by the game's AI programming. All PotionSaver does is add a short delay
to prevent potions from being wasted by too-fast consumption.

4. Tips for players:

a. The PotionSaver code is set up so the companion will use Exclusive Restore
Health potions first, as long as they have them; Quality and Standard potions
are ignored when the companion has Exclusive potions available. If they don't
have any Exclusive potions, then the companion will use Quality potions. The
companion will only use Standard potions when they're out of Exclusive and
Quality potions.

So if your character is just starting out (i.e., still at low level) I'd suggest
just giving your companion Standard potions. They're fairly cheap, but should
be enough to keep your companion alive while fighting low level opponents. Wait
until you level up and have more money (and are facing tougher opponents) before
you give Exclusive or Quality potions to your companion.

b. A potential exploit: because the potions are removed from inventory when the
game is not in menu mode, their encumbrance isn't figured in when the companion
is moving or fighting. So you can give your companion 10,000 Restore Health
potions without the weight slowing them down.

Obviously, whether or not you take advantage of this is up to you. The
encumbrance shown on the Companion Share screen will be the correct value (i.e.,
including the weight of the potions); use that as a reference to see if your
companion's load is realistic.

If you decide to exploit this to use your companion as a potion packhorse, keep
in mind that the game does have limits on how many inventory items it can
handle. I did some quick testing and didn't see any obvious problems with
several thousand potions in a companion's inventory, but I don't recommend
pushing your luck. Exploit at your own risk...

NOTE: This is not related to the various encumbrance bugs in the game. This a
harmless side effect of the script: it has no effect on the player's
encumbrance, and the only effect on the companion is that the potions will
appear weightless outside menu mode.


5. The time delay:

To get an idea how short the one second time delay is, the swirling graphics and
sound effects you see when an NPC uses a potion last several seconds. So when
your companion uses a potion, they'll already have a replacement while the
graphics and sound effects for the one they just used are still being displayed.

But, short as that one second delay is, it's enough for the potion to start
healing them and to keep the game's AI from causing them to guzzle more potions
they don't need.

-------
Credits:
-------

Grumpy, Emma, and The Other Felix for ideas and inspiration that led to this
bug workaround. GhanBuriGhan for "Scripting for Dummies", without which I'd
never have been able to do anything like this. Bethesda for Morrowind and the
whole TES series.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

To keep this post from getting too big, I'll put the tips for modders into a separate post (shortly).

(The following is rough, since I'm doing this off the top of my head. But it should cover most of what modders need to know to use the PotionSaver code for their own companions and other NPCs.)


Modder's tips for DT's NPC PotionSaver code:

The readme file I posted a little earlier in this thread has a general overview of how the PotionSaver works; you might want to read that first (if you haven't already).

Note: Please keep in mind that I haven't played or done anything else with Morrowind for several months. I'll try to support my code as best I can, but without Morrowind installed on my computer I won't be able to write or test any code changes, etc.

When I refer to 'potions' in the following, I'm talking about the potions handled by the PotionSaver code: Standard, Quality, and Exclusive Restore Health potions. My code doesn't handle any other types of potions: it doesn't have any affect on them, and just ignores them completely.

A. Adding the PotionSaver code to a companion:

The code is completely self-contained, so adding it to a companion is just a matter of copy and paste. Copy the local variable declarations and code from Constance's local script, and paste them into the local script for another companion.

No extra scripts, no global scripts, no customizing, etc. required; just two minor details to keep in mind:

EDIT: I meant to say 'no global variables...' above.

1. The NPC PotionSaver code needs to be inserted into the companion's local script before any 'Return' statements in that script.

The PotionSaver code includes code that has to run in menu mode, outside menu mode, when the companion is dead, when the companion is unconscious, etc. So it needs to be added to the companion local script before any 'Return' statements that might interfere with the code being able to run every single frame.

2. As mentioned in the readme I posted above, the PotionSaver code works by removing potions from the companion's inventory when the companion is alive, conscious, and the game is not in menu mode.

If your script or dialogue needs to count or manipulate potions, do it when the companion is dead, unconscious, or when the game is in menu mode and my code has has finished putting all the potions back into the companion's inventory.

For example, add a block of code similar to the following to your companion's local script after the PotionSaver code:



That will make sure my code has placed all the potions back into the companion's inventory before your code tries to work with them.

B. What to copy and paste:

1. Variables: all the PotionSaver variables start with 'DTNPS_' (DT's NPC PotionSaver); seven total, all in the variable declarations at the beginning of Constance's script.

Just paste them in with the rest of the variables in your companion's local script.

2. Code: one small 'If' block and one large 'If' block, one right after the other, near the beginning of Constance's local script.

The code starts with



and ends with



Just copy that entire block of code and paste it into you companion's local script, somewhere before any 'Return' statements.


C. Performance impact:

None that I ever noticed.

I didn't do any formal timing tests, but I did test with several NPCs in my game all running the Potionsaver script at the same time, and I didn't see any signs of slow downs or other problems.

Note that the PotionSaver looks like a lot of code, but most of that is 'While' blocks that move the potions in and out of inventory as needed. That code only runs once each time the companion dies, goes unconscious or revives, or the game goes in or out of menu mode.

Most of the time, only a few lines of code are running, and none of that includes any functions that impose much CPU load.

D. Stability:

1. Bugs: I'm not aware of any bugs remaining in the PotionSaver code, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that none show up now that it's been publicly released.

2. Conflicts: the only possible conflict I can think of is if other code or dialogue for the companion is trying to deal with potions at the same time my code is handling them. As long as other code only tries to manipulate potions after my code has returned them to the companion's inventory, there shouldn't be any conflicts. See A.2. above for suggestions.

E. Trimming the code size:

Most of the bulk of the PotionSaver code is in the 'While' blocks which move the handled potions in and out of the companion's inventory.

If the code is too big to fit into your companion's local script, some of the 'While' blocks could be eliminated:

Currently, there are three sets of 'While' blocks to move each type of potion into inventory, and three sets to move each type of potion out of inventory. In each case, the 'While' blocks move potions in increments of 64, then 8, then 1 at a time.

Increments of 64, 8, and 1 work well even with very large numbers of potions: no noticeable pauses going in and out of menu mode even with several companions each carrying several thousand potions.

To make the code smaller, you could use just two 'While' blocks for each type of potion. If I were doing this, I'd probably try using increments of 20 and 1 to start with, then fine tune after testing. I haven't personally tested this, but I would guess that fewer while blocks would still work fine (i.e., no noticeable pauses), unless a player gives their companion(s) ridiculous numbers of potions.

C. Code notes:

1. The variables:

Short DTNPS_MoveOnce_NotMenu: 'Do Once' control variable for the 'While' blocks that move potions out of the companion's inventory and into the control of the PotionSaver code.

Short DTNPS_HandlePotions: Control variable used by the large 'If' block: when this is zero, the first 'If' branch is used and the potions are placed into the companion's inventory and left alone. When this is one, the second branch is used and potions are removed from the companion's inventory and handled by the PotionSaver code.

Long DTNPS_Count_HealthExclusive; Long DTNPS_Count_HealthQuality; Long DTNPS_Count_HealthStandard: counters used to keep track of how many of each type of potion are currently being handled by the PotionSaver code. When all the potions have been placed into inventory (i.e., companion dead or unconscious, or the game in menu mode), all these will be zero.

Long DTNPS_Count_HealthTotal: tempory counter, set to the total of the above three counters. Used as a 'Do Once' variable when moving potions into the companion's inventory, and used to skip the main brains of the PotionSaver code when there aren't any potions to handle.


Float DTNPS_Timer_Health: counts out the one second time delay after a potion is used before putting another one into the companion's inventory.


2. About the code:

Most of the code bulk is just the 'While' blocks that move potions in and out of the companion's inventory.

The actual 'brains' of the PotionSaver code is the small section near the end, just after the last 'While' blocks. This keeps track of how many potions are in inventory and how many are being handled by the PotionSaver code (i.e., stored as the 'count' variables).

As long as there's at least one potion in the companion's inventory, this section of code just keeps resettting the timer to zero and exiting. Once the last potion in inventory has been used, the counter is allowed to count up; when the timer reaches one second, another potion is placed into the companion's inventory ready to be used.

This post has been edited by DinkumThinkum: May 27 2005, 08:39 PM

Emma:


Well maybe it's not an Uzi...but she looks so sweet holding that big gun, lol




One of her better little tricks I'd say!

Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you!

That sure was one annoying bug that you have fixed, and I'm speechless with gratitude that you are sharing and explaining the code.

holy cow thats one cool gun can i have one

Yea my Constance wants one too! She looks very cool holding it.

DinkumThinkum,

So glad to see you around ! And thank you for the thorough explanation of the potion handler, both here and at my forums !


Regan,



Tha's good
I can't get really angry with her, either... I get mad at Grumpy, instead, because the idea was originally his


As for the gun I can only say that I am... shocked...
Sweet, innocent little Constance with such a weapon in her hands

Believe it! 248 pages, as I can attest from proofreading them. Your jaw may have dropped, but my eyes popped out of their sockets and went bouncing around the room. This mod is truly a masterpiece, and it richly deserves all of the love and attention that went into it. Constance is not a piece of code, she is a person. Not always a nice person, but if she were any more advanced, she could have a crack at the Turing Test.

Grumpy and Emma, this is truly your magnum opus! Many, many heartfelt congratulations on this, the pièce de résistance of the Companion modder's art!

Hm, Bosmer Mithrin might actually enjoy the company of Constance. Nice work Emma and Grumpy!

Oh, my, she is so much fun! And you never know what she will do next

And she even got me a nice present when she went to visit Balmora on her own...

Best companion ever

You are lucky! Last time I sent her to visit Balmora on her own, she was drunk as a skunk when I met her again!

And the time before that, she was pissed because she had had a boring time and flamed me for staying away too long!

But the time before that, she had some very nice "gifts" for me, as well

Funniest companion ever

The next time she went she came back drunk for me as well

But she keeps 'finding' little things for me... my character is becoming increasingly paranoid and has started avoiding Guards, just in case

I haven't played her that much, but thanks to Vampire Embrace and my amateurish attempts with the editor, she won't die in sunlight (neither will I, the virtuous vampire the romance novels are written about.
I hope you won't be angry that I turned most of your companion NPCs into vampires.
Anyway, here they are in my 'family'
and here they are
I'm the altmer, Elmwood.
The only ones I didn't make vampires were Laurenna (who CTD's whenever I try) and Mirear, who was a Morrowind Comes Alive vampire.
And is there any way of fixing the fact that Laura Craft is faceless (possibly because of adding-removing-adding it.

This post has been edited by maw3193: May 28 2005, 06:22 PM

Great mod Emma, too bad I had no internet so I couldn't test this, but atleast it has been realised the day I came back! Well good luck on further projects and make sure you remember that I am willing to test all mods you make!

Will play this when I get time!

Constance stole all their clothes? :*)

I'm glad to hear that you are enjoying her company

Yes, the outcome should be very random when you send her on a city-tour on her own...
She also has lots of extra greetings for various places that will show up randomly... This is a girl with a past, and sometimes she will tell you about her previous adventures.

TrojanX,
too bad you couldn't test her - you were of great help with the children mod, and if/when I need playtesting help again, I will for sure contact you
In the mean time, I hope you will enjoy Constance - she might have some "talents" you will appreciate.

maw3193,
Nope, won't be angry because you have turned the companions into vampires, and neither will Grumpy . A bit surprised that Laurenna refuses to co-operate. I would believe this is a local problem, as I'm 100 % sure that others have sent me screenshots to show me her new vampiric looks after an embrace.

Is Laura faceless after an embrace? Or after removing and again adding the mod? If the problem is the former, I really don't know what to do, as I haven't played as a vampire. If it's the latter, please read the faq-section on my site, where I have given detailed instructions on how to fix this. (I bet ps33 has a good answer if she is faceless after an embrace... let's hope he reads this thread again ).

ps33




Vorwoda and ps33,

Thanks a million for your support on this project. I think you both know how much it meant

Well I'm looking for a companion for Mithrin. I already downladed it and you just helped me to get the kids to work. Great mod so I might as well install Constance now too and explore Vvardenfell with a hot companion.

I don't know what makes you assume I have answers to all that stuff.

Faceless because of Vampire Embrace is quite unlikely, as VE doesn't replace the face but instead adds a dummy armor with the vampire face. Their real face is still the original and remains changed.

Sounds to me the reason is removing/adding/removing Laura from an ongoing game, that indeed does cause the faceless issue, which can be fixed with the instructions on Emmas FAQ page.

I embraced Laura several times now, and the only minor problem I have are the new animations which slightly interfer with the VE drinking animation, as they replace some standard ones. Looks quite funny, Laura having a nap everytime after feeding. :*)

CTD with Laurenna? No idea, never tried. Embraced Wulfren, though, and that worked flawless.

Edit: Typo. Don't drink and type.

This post has been edited by ps33: May 29 2005, 02:19 PM

Well thanks a bundle Grumpy and Emma!

We thought we had probably the best companion ever in our GR mod
and then you have to go and roll out Constance.

She is without doubt the most believable companion ever to set foot in Morrowind. Her distinctive personality is honed to perfection and her unpredictability uncannily mirrors real life.

Congratulations to the both of you (the best modding team ever).

Kat rapidly scuttles off and harangues her scripter to soup up our own companion or suffer the dire consequences.

This sounds like an excellent mod indeed.

A companion with a mind of her own, a true 3d character, who could resist that? Well I certainly can't.

And it comes even with an enhanced movement script. Constance's movement script is an enhanced version of Grumpy's companion project ver 3.1. And there I was thinking that Grumpy's companion project ver 3.1 already was perfection in it's true form.

Like someone told me yesterday, this is a mod that will make you play Morrowind once more and you'll love every second of it.

Greedily grabbed.

Many thanks to Emma and Grumpy.

This post has been edited by TommyKhajiit: May 30 2005, 05:34 AM

Tommy,

when reading your words, I can't help but fondly remember a certain Correspondence between Grandpa le Hex and Imperial Tom.

And, my guess is that anyone who have appreciated Witchgirl Morgana's company, will certainly enjoy Constance as well. Although one of them is a breton and the other one a woodelf, I dare say that the ladies have something in common when it comes to personality.

They do interact, too, as a matter of fact. Although maybe not always in a way that will make life easier for the player...

Kathryn,

Thanks . I'm looking forward to your Glory Road companion. I know how much time you and Tommy have spent on your mod, so I'm sure also the companion/s will be extraordinary!

Texturefreak,

I'm sure that with both Constance and the children around, MW will be a bit different from what you are used to. Hopefully, it will add to the experience...

ps33,

Thank you for helping out here! If there normally isn't any problem with VE and my companions, I'm sure the problem is disabling the mod and then enabling it again. If so, all the answers on what to do are available in the faq-section of my site.

This thread needs a bump, for those in the U.S. who missed it because of the Memorial Day holiday weekend , so I'll toss in some more notes on the PotionSaver code.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

First, I should point out that the PotionSaver code can be used for any NPC in the game; it's not just for companions. The PotionSaver code works fine as a stand-alone script: there's no need for a full-fledged companion script to go with it. (I did most of my testing and development on a guard NPC with just the PotionSaver code attached as a local script.)

One possible use would be a quest NPC in a mod who joins the player character for a specific battle or adventure, but isn't meant to be an actual companion. Attach the PotionSaver code as their local script and put some Restore Health (Standard, Quality, or Exclusive) potions in their inventory to give them a better chance of surviving.

Or use the PotionSaver code and some potions to make a hostile NPC a more challenging opponent.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Also: I'm fairly certain my code doesn't use any script functions that were added or changed by Tribunal/Bloodmoon, so the PotionSaver should work fine for companions and other NPCs with just the original game and no expansions installed.

(I did all my testing with Tribunal and Bloodmoon installed, so you probably should double-check to be sure nothing slipped into the code that wasn't in the original game.)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

My two previous posts should have more than enough information for modders who just want to use my code for their companions without any major changes. The rest of this post will be mostly more detailed information that may help out modders who want modify my code or write their own scripts based on my ideas.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Overall layout of the code:

The original concept for the PotionSaver code was to just remove the potions from the companion's inventory and replace them one at a time as they were used. Grumpy pointed out that there should be some way for the player to see how many potions the companion had and suggested putting them back into the companion's inventory when the inventory window was open.

This led to the final organization of the PotionSaver code: most of it is a single large 'If' blcock with two branches. One branch to put the potions into the companion's inventory for convenient access by the player, and another branch to remove the potions from inventory so the PotionSaver can ration the potions and prevent the game's AI from guzzling them.

End result, thanks to Grumpy's idea , is that the PotionSaver code is effectively invisible to the player: anytime the player checks the companion's inventory the potions will be there.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Reason the small (first) 'If' block checks for death and unconsciousness, in addition to MenuMode, when setting the variable 'DTNPS_HandlePotions' (which tells the main 'If' block when to move potions in or out of the companion's inventory):

This was done to avoid a bug I encountered in the game engine. If an NPC's inventory window is already open when a script uses 'AddItem' to add items to the NPC's inventory, the inventory display won't always be updated to show the new items.

For example, if the companion has one potion in their inventory and a script adds ten more while the inventory window is open, the window will often continue to show just one potion in the inventory listing; the display won't be updated to reflect the added potions.

The original version of the code used a single large 'If' block, which moved potions in and out of inventory based on just 'MenuMode'. This worked fine when the companion was alive and conscious: the potions would be moved as soon as the dialogue window was opened, so they'd already be in inventory when the companion share window was opened.

However, if the companion was dead or unconscious, clicking on them would go straight to the inventory display (no dialogue window), so the script would add potions to the inventory after the inventory window was already open. End result was that the inventory display window would only list that potions that were already in inventory when the companion died, and wouldn't list ones added by the PotionSaver code after the inventory window was opened.

Adding the small 'If' block and the variable 'DTNPS_HandlePotions' corrected the problem: now the potions are moved back into the companion's inventory as soon as they die or become unconscious (before the inventory window is opened), so the inventory display will show the correct number of potions.

Note:

I originally thought this was a problem in my code that was somehow losing potions. By the time I figured out that it was a display bug in the game engine and found the correct way to code around it, I had probably spent as much time on this one part of the code as I did on all the rest of the PotionSaver.

So if you want to modify any of the logic that controls when potions are moved in or out of the companion's inventory, please be careful!

Edit:

Note2: this is only a display problem. The items actually are added to the NPC inventory; they just don't show up in the display if they're added while the window is open. Manually adding or removing inventory items (with the mouse) while the window is open will trigger a display update and cause the added items to be correctly listed.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Time delay:

This line, near the end of the code (in the 'brains' section after the last 'While' block), sets the one second delay used to keep the companion from guzzling potions:



Change the '1' to change the delay. Larger numbers will increase the delay and slow down the companion's use of potions, but may make the companion more likely to die. Smaller numbers will let the companion drink faster, possibly wasting more potions but increasing their chances of staying alive.

One second seems to hit a good balance between keeping the companion alive and stopping the AI's wasteful potion guzzling.

----

One possible tweak to the timing: instead of just a fixed one second time delay, change the delay based on how badly injured the companion is. (Check their current health with 'GetHealthGetRatio'.)

For example, if the companion's health drops below 10%, reduce the time delay or just set it to zero. This would allow the companion to drink potions faster if they were getting really beat up in a tough fight.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

How the game's NPC AI appears to use restore health potions:

1. From my testing, the game's AI only seemed to use potions when an NPC was in combat: actually trying to attack an opponent. If their health dropped, even to a very low level, when they weren't in combat (i.e., just standing around), they would just ignore any restore health potions in their inventory until they started fighting something.

Another tester reported that he could get NPCs to drink potions even when they weren't in combat: use the console to lower their health, and they'd drink a potion immediatey even if they were just standing around.

No idea why the discrepency: different AI settings or packages, observer error, the phase of the moon, or what...

2. The trigger point for drinking restore health seems to be 50%: NPCs won't use restore health potions unless their health is below 50% of maximum.

Most of the time, NPCs will drink a potion as soon as their health drops below 1/2. But sometimes they'll wait longer.

I've seen NPCs wait until their health was at 20% or 10% of maximum before drinking a restore health potion that was in their inventory.

And sometimes the NPCs would go all the way to 0% health and die without ever drinking a potion, even though they had one or more potions available in their inventory. (I tested this extensively, and it's definitely caused by the game itself, not by anything in my code: even without my code, NPCs would sometimes die without drinking restore health potions that were in their inventory.)

No idea why there's a variation in when NPCs will drink available potions: it could be intentional randomeness in the AI or it could just be a glitch.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Some other potions besides restore health:

1. Restore Fatigue:

Restore Fatigue potions seem to work the same way as Restore Health potions, with the same problem with the AI guzzling them too fast. I didn't write code to handle Restore Fatigue, since the Restore Health potions are the ones that are critical for keeping companions alive.

If somebody wants to expand the PotionSaver code to also handle Restore Fatigue potions, it should be trivial to accomplish:

Add a third large 'If' block that duplicates the existing one, then change some of the variable names as necessary to avoid conflicts, and change the object IDs to refer to Restore Fatigue potions instead of Restore Health potions.

(During discussions with Grumpy and Emma , the consensus was not to bother with Restore Fatigue potions, which was fine with me! But if other companion modders want to do it, it wouldn't take much work.)

2. Restore Magicka potions:

As far as I can tell, the game's NPC AI just ignores Restore Magicka potions. If a spell caster runs out of magicka, they'll charge into battle with a weapon even if they have a good supply of restore magicka potions in their inventory.

Since my code depends on the game's built-in AI to actually drink the potions, code to use Restore Magicka potions would have to written from scratch; my PotionSaver code can't be adapted for this.

Maybe something like this would work:

1. Timer to wait out a delay after the last Restore Magicka was used (to prevent guzzling problems).

2. Code to compare the NPC's current magicka to their maximum.

3. If the current magicka is below a trigger point (maybe 50%), select an appropriate restore magicka potion from their inventory and force the NPC to use it.

Since the AI doesn't use Restore Magicka potions, there's no need to move them in and out of inventory the way my PotionSaver code does.

This post has been edited by DinkumThinkum: Yesterday, 09:04 PM

Wow DinkumThinkum, longest post in this thread I think...and a good one!

This post has been edited by TextureFreak: Yesterday, 08:30 PM