Companion Fergus

[Emma]

Marek, please give a shout here when you upload him

Also... as you are now releasing him, I will add him to the interactive companions list. Maybe you and I should have a separate talk over how we can improve interaction between him and Vilja and make it more unique and interesting. I'm absolutely honest about that this is the most interesting companion for Oblivion I have seen (well... with one exception, of course - I am biased ) so I think it would be fun to add some unique things for these two.

[marek0712]

@lorile, wow, you would save my day if you can run his esp in a spellcheck! I'm getting old and my English is messing up itself. Also, I hope there aren't very horrible pronunciantion problems, I'm not used to speak.


@emma, sure, I was thinking to add interaction with other companions in Fergus too, but I still didn't understand completely the scripts in Vilja. Maybe, for a deeper talk between them, it would be interesting to have a separate esp that depends on both mods, my idea, this way, both Fergus and Vilja could have dialogue entries that can recognize certain aspects in the development of their stories - and if you decide to add romance in Vilja and don't want players to have romance with both at the same time, they could recognize it and that would kill the romancing options on them hahahahaha

Particularly, I'm thinking to improve the "story" to accomplish the romance part, but probably I would need some monthes to come with a more interesting idea and I NEED to play some other companions in Morrowind, there is a lot of good things done for this game (still didn't got my GOTY, I'm waiting for my computer to be upgraded now)

[loriel]

Here is what I found from my first run through the dialogue:
FormID: 0101C0CC FCMFergusQuest 90FCMFlirtDMakeLove 0 Ohnn... don't touche me like that...
touche->touch

FormID: 0101CADB FCMFergusQuest 90FCMFlirtDMakeLove 0 Come on, girl, let's do someting really crazy!!!
someting->something

FormID: 01023265 FCMFergusQuest 0FCMGreeting3ACA 0 I'm impressed with your good deeds, you're trully hero!
trully->truly a (or possibly "truely a") - "... you're truly a hero!"

FormID: 0101FC3E FCMFergusQuest 82FCMChatInfo 0 The Drunken Dragon Inn looks a bit hidden. You need to walk a lot to arrive there. But the publican has a wide sellection of spirits!
sellection->selection

FormID: 0101FC3A FCMFerguFormID: 010130FA FCMFergusQuest 0FCMGreeting3A 0 Sure, well, here's the reward I promised. 300 septims for your help and for comming with me to this City. Thank you again!
comming->coming

FormID: 0101FC3A FCMFergusQuest 82FCMChatInfo 0 I heard rumours that the Count of Cheydinhal may have killed his wife in an accident. But the official records tells another thing...
rumours->rumors [rumours is the UK spelling, rumors is US spelling]

FormID: 0101FC3D FCMFergusQuest 82FCMChatInfo 0 I wish I could have visited Kvatch before the attack. When I travelled to Anvil I needed to walk so fast that I couldn't stop by.
travelled->traveled [Again, travelled is UK, traveled is US]

FormID: 0101C0D0 FCMFergusQuest 82FCMChatInfo 0 I have a friend wich is very good in Speechcraft. He is Varon Vamori and he is a bard in Bravil.
wich->which [actually "who" would be better, but would need to be re-recorded]

FormID: 0101CAD3 FCMFergusQuest 82FCMChatInfo 0 There's a former member of the Guild that teaches Alteration in the Elven Gardens, he's a dumner called Doryn Aren.
dumner->dunmer

FormID: 010254B4 FCMFergusQuest 82FCMChatInfo 0 I'm worried about Morrowind. People are saying that the daedra overruned the town of Ald'ruhn. I hope that my friends in Balmora are okay...
overrunned->overran

FormID: 010254B5 FCMFergusQuest 82FCMChatInfo 0 I heard the kajiit saying that the daedra is making a mess in Elsweyr. Half of Senchal is in ruins, I wonder if my family is okay...
kajiit->khajiit

FormID: 0100898E FCMFergusQuest CreatureResponses 0 Let's talk about something elset? I'm tired to talk about goblins and mudcrabs.
elset->else

FormID: 0100898B FCMFergusQuest CreatureResponses 0 I ran into a Minotaur the other day... it almost took of my head.
of->off

FormID: 0101F726 FCMFergusQuest 84FCMDrinkDWine 0 Do you want me to get drunk? This wine is pure alchool... but I'll take it, I'm so thirsty... thank you.
alchool->alcohol

FormID: 010130FA FCMFergusQuest 0FCMGreeting3A 0 Sure, well, here's the reward I promised. 300 septims for your help and for comming with me to this City. Thank you again!
comming->coming

FormID: 0101673C FCMFergusQuest 81FCMStory06BA 0 Yes, it was sold to the former husband of a kajiit widow, probably you know her, that's Ahdarji.
kajiit->khajiit

FormID: 0102013A FCMFergusQuest GREETING 0 Sorry, I don't feel confortable here, can I go and meet you elsewhere?
confortable->comfortable

FormID: 010130F5 FCMFergusQuest GREETING 0 Thanks a billion for comming with me to the Imperial City!
comming->coming

FormID: 0101CAC0 FCMFergusQuest GREETING 0 I don't like that Falcar. There's someting strange in him.
someting->something

FormID: 0101F726 FCMFergusQuest 84FCMDrinkDWine 0 Do you want me to get drunk? This wine is pure alchool... but I'll take it, I'm so thirsty... thank you.
alchool->alcohol

FormID: 01016249 FCMFergusQuest 81FCMStory02BA 1 She was a few monthes younger than me and very skilled, she used to train since she was a child!
monthes->months

FormID: 0101712B FCMFergusQuest 81FCMStory09CC 0 Hum? Is it your fetishe? Well, I have to admit you're not the only girl that says this to me.
fetishe->fetish

FormID: 010109BD FCMFergusQuest 73FCMAbltyPicksBF 0 These callipers will do the trick... give me a second... yeah, it's ready!
callipers->calipers

FormID: 0101713C FCMFergusQuest 81FCMStory11AD 1 I-I don't know what to say... well, I noticed you flirting with me but I thouth it wasn't serious...
thouth->thought

FormID: 01015D46 FCMFergusQuest 81FCMStory02A 0 Yeah, I was a good apprendice and I believe I have a gift for learning magic. Probably from the blood of my dad's family.
apprendice->apprentice

FormID: 01015D46 FCMFergusQuest 81FCMStory02A 1 My dad was sad that I didn't chose his path, but when he noticed that I was good in restoration, he started to accept my choice.
chose->choose

FormID: 0101C0AD FCMFergusQuest 91FCMDiscuss02BAN 0 Humpf... It's never the right momment, right?
momment->moment

FormID: 0101A7FD FCMFergusQuest 83FCMGuildDark 1 Thank you for invinting me. I promise to help you rebuilding the guild.
invinting->inviting

FormID: 01016C2C FCMFergusQuest 81FCMStory07BA 0 Right, one of those stupid Kajiit bandits stopped me and asked 100 septims to continue my way, can you believe in it?
Kajiit->Khajiit

FormID: 01016C2C FCMFergusQuest 81FCMStory07BA 1 I refused and he attacked me! I defended myself and puledl him out from the bridge, he falled in the river.
puledl->pulled
falled->fell

FormID: 010075CA FCMFergusQuest 61FCMMeetChorrol 0 I'll wait you in The Oak & Crossier.
Crossier->Crosier

FormID: 01020629 FCMFergusQuest Question 0 Do you have news about your research on the cure of skoome addict, my friend?
skoome->skooma

FormID: 0101C0BB FCMFergusQuest 91FCMDiscuss03AAB 0 Hum... okay, sorry too. I presume it's hard to have all the responsabilities of the world on your shoulders. Hope you'll be fine soon.
responsabilities->responsibilities

FormID: 01015D44 FCMFergusQuest 81FCMStory 2 I wanted to be a priest then. When I was 14, I decided to be the apprendice of a Healer, instead of apprendice of my father.
apprendice->apprentice [twice]

FormID: 0101623D FCMFergusQuest 81FCMStory 2 The Mastermind in that city, a kajiit named Sugar-Lips, owed a favor to my father and quickly took me under her wing... or paw hehe.
kajiit->khajiit

FormID: 01016248 FCMFergusQuest 81FCMStory 1 The steward was a dumner with a very bad temper. Ajhira didn't like her, but I never had a problem, so, I didn't mind.
dumner->dunmer

FormID: 0101712D FCMFergusQuest 81FCMStory 1 The work in the castle was pretty rentable and Orrin always asked for my help for several other tasks.
rentable->? [Not sure what you intended here, but I don't think "rentable" fits]

FormID: 01024601 FCMFergusQuest 81FCMStory 0 People say that Senchal is an infamous city because it's the favorite spot for smugglers and skooma addicteds.
addicteds->addicts ["addicteds" is OK, but very rarely used]

FormID: 01025E8B FCMFergusQuest 62FCMCmdGuideHome 0 This is a nice house, but I still don't like some of our neightbours...
neightours->neighbors

FormID: 0101673D FCMFergusQuest 81FCMStory00A 0 I spent some monthes working for S'drassa. I like Leyawiin, it reminds me my homeland.
monthes->months

FormID: 01000E9F FCMFergusQuest 71FCMAblyCombatMelee 0 Fine, I'll favor melee weapons and heavy armour from now on.
armour->armor [UK->US spelling]

FormID: 01000EA0 FCMFergusQuest 71FCMAblyCombatRanged 0 Okay, I'll train my marksman and light armour. However, you may need to provide me with some arrows sometimes.
armour->armor [UK->US spelling]

FormID: 010193D1 FCMFergusQuest 90FCMFlirtERelationA0 0 Yeah, I was thinking the same. You don't threat me well, I'm tired too.
threat->treat (?)

FormID: 01015D4F FCMFergusQuest 81FCMStory00A 2 I still thank the gods for my luck, the count wanted to meet her and found her naked with me in the ritual bathtube!
bathtube->bathtub (?)

FormID: 01015D52 FCMFergusQuest 81FCMStory00A 2 In the middle of the night, I travelled around the sewers to near where I lived and found my parents.
travelled->traveled [UK->US spelling]

FormID: 01015D52 FCMFergusQuest 81FCMStory00A 4 Before the guards come to look for me in my house, I took the first ship avaiable in the next morning. I was going to move to Morrowind.
avaiable->available

FormID: 01016244 FCMFergusQuest 81FCMStory00A 2 I started helping another kajiit, Ajhira, and I had classes with the Guild Guide, when I learned a lot about Mysticism and Teleporting Spells.
kajiit->khajiit

FormID: 0101673D FCMFergusQuest 81FCMStory00A 0 I spent some monthes working for S'drassa. I like Leyawiin, it reminds me my homeland.
monthes->months

FormID: 0101673D FCMFergusQuest 81FCMStory00A 1 I didn't stay there for more time because I received a letter from Ajhira telling that the lies were removed and that I could rejoin the guid.
guid->guild

FormID: 01016C36 FCMFergusQuest 81FCMStory00A 1 The Imperial City dungeoun is another story... I promise to tell about it later, if you're interested in hearing it.
dungeoun->dungeon

FormID: 0101ED3F FCMFergusQuest 81FCMStory12AA 0 I think it was Janice's father, a Rogue Kajiit, that taught him how to pickpocket. It was cute at the first time.
Kajiit->Khajiit

FormID: 01016245 FCMFergusQuest 81FCMStory04AC 0 Another girl... but... sorry, I'm not felling fine to talk about that now.
felling->feeling

FormID: 0101624C FCMFergusQuest 81FCMStory05AA 1 When I came back, the steward was possessed! She accused me to betray the guild, expelled me and spread rumours that I was a necromancer.
rumours->rumors

FormID: 01015D48 FCMFergusQuest 81FCMStory02AA 0 She is the wife of the count of Senchal. The most beautiful woman in that city and probably the most dangeous one too.
dangeous->dangerous

FormID: 0101CAEE FCMFergusQuest 81FCMStory03FB 0 I'm sorry to hear that. My father is a Masterming of the guild and I joined them too. They helped me a lot.
Masterming->Mastermind

I've done it on a similar basis to Vilja - mostly a spellcheck, using American English as the standard (to match the rest of Oblivion). I've also pointed out major syntax/grammar errors, but have ignored minor ones as that is just part of the charm of a character who isn't quite fully fluent in the language.

Whilst I've not got very far with Fergus yet, I don't see any serious problems with pronunciation - there is a significant difference from the "vanilla" voices in Oblivion, but that's a good thing.

I will probably read through the dialogue again over the next couple of days to pick up anything serious that I missed on the first run, but the standard was pretty good and I don't expect to find much more.

Loriel

[amgepo]

Tried the new esp. The changes work OK. The most impressive one is, when he stand up with the player, after suggesting him to sit down, as now both characters stand up at the same time in perfect coordination. By the way, the option to ask him to sit down in the first dialog menu would be handy.

When he didn't find a bed to sleep, he didn't complain. It's OK, as now he didn't sleep standing as earlier, but could be changed also. If you decided to change this, maybe it would be better to do for the next version, as it could be complicated.

Well, I hadn't advanced much in his quest yet, but even if he hadn't have any quest or histories, he is a very advanced companion. Fergus is definitely ready to be released. It was ready in the previous download indeed (at least in my own opinion).

[loriel]

One thing worth considering - it may not warrant a code change to fix the problem, but probably needs a note in the README.

I don't use Fast Travel - I use one of the mods which adds a variety of Morrowind-like transportation to Cyrodiil, such as Guild Guides. I also use the Hoarfrost Castle mod, which adds portals between the Hoarfrost Castle and the Castle in each of the main cities - thus fast travel isn't really needed.

Vilja and Wolfgang seem to work fine with these, and I think the other companions that I have tested do too, though I've not tested them much. Unfortunately, Fergus doesn't. As yet I've only checked the Hoarfrost Castle portals, but mostly he fails to follow the player through them. Long term this isn't a problem, the "Summon Fergus" spell gets round the problem.

However for the initial part of the quest Fergus followed successfully when I teleported to Hoarfrost Castle, but failed to follow from Hoarfrost Castle to the Imperial City. I therefore finished various parts of one of Vilja's quests, porting between Skingrad, Bruma and Cheydinhal, before returning to Imperial City in time to meet Fergus who had walked there. This made his reward of 300 septims for accompanying him to Imperial City seem rather over-generous...

I've not yet tested the other alternative methods of transport, but I would suggest a README - Known Limitations note to the effect that Fergus may not follow the player in some circumstances using teleport type mods - the workaround is to use the "Summon Fergus" spell or if that hasn't been obtained yet to use the map to locate him (ie make sure his quest is active) and meet him there.

Loriel

[amgepo]

In my game he follows me by 'Frostcrag reborn's' portals and teleport spell without problems. I'm downloading 'Hoarfrost Castle' to make some tests and find the difference between two teleporting methods.

[amgepo]

Well, it's not only Fergus. I have tested with Vilja, Fergus, Neeska, Red sonia, a CM partner and a Vanilla NPC recruited with Companion share and recruit. Vilja has been all the time in tow and had followed me perfectly. The same can be said about the CM partner. I had tried with other 4 CM partners with the same result.

The problem is related to the speed at which the partner is teleported before you, as well as how much it takes for the companion to be again in follow mode. If you walk away before the partners are teleported, or if you use a castle gate before the partners recover the following package, there is a risk of leaving them behind. This is aggravated, by the fact that after you use the power to teleport to Hoarfrost, the companions wait to be a huge time (more than ten seconds, I think), before following you again (Vilja and CM partners seem immune to this, as they appear instantly and are not 'paralised' like the rest).

So, If you wait enough after each teleportation and do not change cells again before he recover his following package, Fergus is 100% compatible with this travelling method.

[loriel]

A little more experience seems to support your suggestion - "wait for him". In this case I continued onwards after he had apparently failed to follow through one of the portals, and received a couple of "Fergus has fallen behind" messages, then he caught up when I entered the next cell.

I don't recall the same behaviour before he became a companion - on his initial trip to Imperial City he did follow the first teleport to Hoarfrost Castle, but then walked from there to Imperial City instead of following me on my various teleports.

So I will revise my earlier suggestion by adding "wait" as the first preferred option in the README - i.e. wait, then use "Summon Fergus" if he doesn't arrive, and go and find him if you haven't got that spell yet.

Loriel

[marek0712]

Wow, thanks a LOT for all the support!!!!

I'm really impressed Loriel, thanks a lot for the spellcheck. I'm going to re-record three lines tonight. About the "rentable", I took a while to get it, but I was with the word "rentável" in mind, which in English would be "commercial" but in a mean of profitable. So the sentence was written this way:

The work in the castle was pretty profitable and Orrin always asked for my help for several other tasks.

I think I just created that word hahahaha


About Fergus standing up in full coordination with the player, I noticed that but I thought it was just coincidence. I checked the scripts on him and did a small enhance, probably I'll test it tonight too, because soon I'll need to go out.


And Loriel, your suggestion for the readme is already integrated. Actually I picked what you wrote and changed it a little, in case you want to read:

Fergus' follow packages may fail or delay in some circumstances using certain teleport type mods, the first thing to do is to wait a few moments and if he doesn't appear (probably he's stuck in the old location) use the "Summon Fergus" spell or if that hasn't been obtained yet to use the map to locate him (ie make sure his quest is active) and meet him there.

I put "fail" too because I managed to use a couple of teleporting spells so fast that he got stuck in the old location. =P

I also added a note about his "pijamas", dunno if you all noticed, but he wears the outfit in the moment he picks any of his sleep packages and particularly, I like that effect.

[loriel]

Those both look good.

I will do a spellcheck on the README later - as I recall it needs a couple of Kaajit->Khaajit changes, and there were one or two other minor typoes in it.

I would suggest you give some thought to the Licence/Legal section, and make sure it covers what you want. In particular, I think there are two questions for you to address:
1) What restrictions (if any) to put on distribution/redistribution of the mod as it stands. Have a look at Emma's restrictions on Vilja for an example - she has her own site as the primary source, which you probably won't have, but in her circumstances the rules she sets out look good to me.
2) What restrictions to put on the re-use of parts of Fergus in other mods. I think you reserved the rights to the voiced parts, but nothing else. I don't think that Emma wants the dialogue in her mods to be re-used in other mods, without her permission, even if they are re-recorded in somebody else's voice. At this point you might not mind if somebody re-used other parts of Fergus, but perhaps after a few more versions there will be a lot more of your time invested in him, and your views might change.

Loriel

[marek0712]

Thank you, Loriel, I might take another look on Vilja's readme and consider better what you suggested. However, thre readme really needs a revision, from my part, but since I didn't make it public, I left the problem there for a while. I said that I would do something today, but I'm not really in the mood. =P

Ah, there was another thing that I forgot to say before, specially to amgepo, Fergus right now is more a LGNPC, he has personality, a story to tell, but no quests. I put several hints on his background of what kind of quests I can add to him, but I have only one in mind. I want to play Silent Hill again to pick some ideas, I want to create a House Dungeon with more puzzles than fights.

But creating puzzles isn't that easy haha

[amgepo]

Silent hill? So you want to make a terror quest? Certainly basing this in puzzles more than in combat is a wise idea, but anyway frightening someone in Oblivion is quite difficult, as people are used to deal with all kind of undead in a daily basis.

The best move is to use the surprise factor. Surely if Fergus invite the player to his old family house, everyone will suspect something, but you could wait untill the player has relaxed again. Maybe you could make a reconstruction quest, where the player must bring materials and when returns to the house with the second or third required object...

Once things start going wrong, the more you delay the first combat the better. But keep in mind that a long waiting will raise the players spectations, so if you delay much the first encounter you will need to come up with something very imaginative.

[marek0712]

loriel, I just uploaded the revision I made on the readme in my void space, here's the link.. Basically the legal part is similar to Vilja's, sure I don't have better ideas... Probably when things improve, I might add new considerations. Humm forgot to change the name of the txt. I'm opening a profile for the mod in TESNexus, I may add the link before uploading.

amgepo, I'm not very good with terror, I want to see the puzzles, because I recall that there are some nice ones better than in Resident Evil series. Probably the things might look like terror, but probably I would spoil the thing with some trash references. But I dunno, that's something that I need time to think... also I would like a better boss battle, like in Mannimarco Revisited... I have another project in mind, I'm planning to pick that one first to train my skills in scripts. Oh, yup it's somehow related to his family past. hehehe

[loriel]

One minor suggestion for an addition to the README - how to make him immortal (i.e. essential), for those who don't know. I think most companions come with that option, and usually have it on by default.

I will spellcheck the README later, and add any further suggestions that occur to me.

I've re-read the main dialogue, and I think I have found about 4 more minor typoes, which I will also post later.

Loriel

[marek0712]

Cool, loriel, I may add this, took all this time to upload the mod on TESNexus... -_-0
And still need to finish some homework.

EDIT:
Ah, actually in the "2.1 Companion Features" section, where I speak about the "How are your skills progressing?"; I say "(Opens a menu where the player can check his stats, atributes and major skills. You can also set fergus to be Essential -when you finish his intro, he's not essential anymore- and stop him from talking alone -whistles, yawns and so on)"

Do you think this info should appear again somewhere else?

AH!!! amgepo, you told about moving the sit command to the first menu, my idea is to let the first menu with only the most important options to avoid too much clutter. If more people think that's better to bring that one to the front, I can do it next time.