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IMPORTANT NOTES ON GAMEPLAY
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A. Vilja's new combat system.
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Vilja has three combat settings:
1. Only attack enemies that attack us. This is her default setting! With
this setting, she will not engage in combat until a) enemies attack and you
raise your weapon OR b) she is directly attacked by an enemy OR c) you have
taken a few hits from an enemy (i.e. you have started to take damage). This
means that you can gladly run past wild animals and sneak past enemies
without having to fear that she will charge ahead and ruin your plans.
However, if you are injured after a battle and don't heal yourself before
continuing, she will get protective and rush in to defend you against any
potential threat. So, if you want her to obey your orders on a long term
basis, don't run around injured.
If you like to play stealthy, this setting should be excellent. She will
never attack enemies that haven't spotted you, and I have been sneaking my
way through whole dungeons, without Vilja acting up at all.
If you play as a mage and choose not to carry a weapon that you can raise,
this might not be the optimal setting if you want her to be your tank while
you attack with spells from a distance. The best solution to make her respond
quickly is that you carry some kind of weapon and raise it as an
'attack-sign' for Vilja to follow.
2. Attack any enemy upon sight. I don't think this one needs any further
explanation
. What you get is traditional Oblivion companion behaviour and
a Vilja that is happy to bash everything from rats to daedras.
3. Let's avoid fighting. With this setting Vilja will not fight, and enemies
are very unlikely to attack her. There are two things that will make her
disobey your orders: a) if she still is directly attacked by an enemy, then
she will defend herself OR b) your health is so low that she fears you will
die very soon. Then she will rush in to rescue you - after all, she is your
loyal friend, and as such she couldn't just stand there and watch you dying,
could she? As with setting no 1, she will continue to disobey your orders if
you refuse to heal yourself. And realistically, why would anyone follow
orders from someone who hasn't got enough sense to take a healing potion
instead of running around half dead?
Oh, there is one more thing that will make her disobey you! If someone
attacks her horse Bruse, she will rush in to defend him. Don't blame her for
that. It's her horse and she loves him dearly.
You will note that the original Oblivion enemies respond differently to
Vilja than to other companions. Whereas most enemies by default attack
companions rather than you (which is a nuisance when you want to level up
your combat and armor skills), they will in most cases rather attack you
than Vilja. This may not be valid for enemies added by mods, though.
B. Vilja and other companions.
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With Vilja ver 2 we are introducing a new system for companions from
different mods to interact with each other. You can introduce Vilja to any
of your followers and she will know that this is a fellow companions. With a
number of unique companions, she also has unique interaction. She will
recognize them by name, discuss with them as individuals when in wander mode
conversations, and sometimes smalltalk with you about them.
These companions are so far: Neeshka, Rhianna, Arren, Stoker Wolf, Viconia,
Saerileth, Sonia, Valeria, Vincente.
However, Vilja won't recognize a companion until you have properly
introduced them!
In Viljas main topic "Let's just talk for a while", you will find a
sub-topic called "About my other companion". Choose this topic, and then
choose which companion you want to introduce her to. She will then prompt
you to introduce her to the other companion as well (i.e. you have to talk
to the companions). After this, the introduction is finished and Vilja will
'know' your mutual friend.
If you should make any mistake when introducing a companion, the
introduction can be undone in the same topic. Tell Vilja that you made a
mistake, and then tell the other npc.
Vilja will know if a companion has died. But if you have removed a companion
mod from your game, you have to do something manually. Go to Vilja's
option-book (you'll find it in her skillreport menu) and mark which
companion should not be around any more.
C. Vilja's option book.
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With Vilja ver 2, we are introducing the Options book - a book where you
can toggle various features for Vilja in-game. For instance if she should be
set to essential or non-essential, if she should sell lockpicks, if she
should provide you with armor hammers, if she should get encumbered like the
player or not, if she should wear her swimsuit or not (if you turn her into
an argonian the swimsuit won't fit very well). Here you can also delete
companions that have been removed from your game, so that Vilja won't talk
about companions that aren't around anymore.
Her default settings are non-essential, sells lockpicks, provides armor
hammer, will wear swimsuit, will get encumbered.
You'll find her Options book in her Skill report menu - click on it and pick
your choices.
D. Extra storages
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Apart from her main inventory, Vilja now has a Pyjamas bag and a Blue and a
Red storage bag INSIDE her inventory. She will wear anything you put in the
pyjamas bag when she sleeps. The items in the Blue and Red storage bags she
will never wear or use - these storages are for items you just want her to
carry for you.
E. Upgrading from ver 1
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From what we have seen, upgrading from ver 1 of Vilja should be easy:
Put Vilja in an interior cell, leave the cell and save your game. DO NOT USE
QUICK-SAVE!
Leave the game. Replace the old esp with the new one (keep a backup of the
old esp in case something should go wrong and you need to re-do the
upgrading)
Ingame, return to Vilja and ask her to join you again. Important! You must
give her new combat instructions! Else, it won't work properly.
This should be enough... you are ready to continue your adventures in
Vilja's company. However, there is no way to grant that this easy-upgrade
will work in your game. Should you find that the 'new' Vilja acts odd in any
way. Try this: Put her in an interior cell and leave her behind for +72 game
hours (i.e. you can just go somewhere else and rest for +72 game hours).
Return to her, and hopefully she should behave well again.
If nothing helps, and you are not happy with how your 'new' Vilja behaves,
use this recommendation from TESPOSitive on how to update saves:
sites.google.com/site/oblivionpoinfo/runoblivion/updatesaves
