Vilja's Endless Arrows (Oblivion)

[inafog]

I notice that, although Vilja does fire arrows, the number of arrows she has never diminishes. If she has 25 arrows, she always has 25 arrows even after she has used several in combat. Is this just an unavoidable minor bug? 

[jgf]

Oddly I've never noticed. For me Vilja rarely uses her bow unless instructed to (I'm usually a marksman or mage and Vilja is the melee fighter); though occasionally she will fire a few arrows before drawing her sword. I only give her silver arrows, most are wasted on rats or bandits but at least she's prepared for encountering undead. If she is hit by arrows they will be added to her inventory (and I confiscate anything dwarven or better, lol), and you can instruct her to search for arrows after a fight.

And, from the manual:
"Vilja, like all NPCs and companions, is affected by an Oblivion bug which makes her forget to use arrows when firing a bow. You can cast the Vilja Summon spell to give her instructions during combat. If you have her switch to melee and then back to ranged fighting it will usually (but not always) make her start using arrows again."

So keep an eye on her when she uses her bow to see if she is actually firing arrows or just "going through the motions".

[inafog]

I have watched carefully. There were times when she used no arrows. Now, however, she definitely uses them--I see them in her bow, and I recover Elven arrows from bodies, and my character does not use them--but the number in her inventory remains the same. I'll continue monitoring this. 

[jgf]

Well, Vilja's arrow count should diminish (just stumbled on an old thread where this was mentioned) so I assume something has stalled a script. But Emma or Amgepo will have to address that.

Otherwise the only ways I know of to have unlimited arrows only work on the player - a mod or a simple cheat (go into god mode and fire arrows into a tree or, if in a dungeon, against the wall; retrieve them and you will have them plus your original arrows ...even if you only have one in your quiver you can have a couple of dozen in a few seconds).

[inafog]

I have confirmed the bug--but it is a minor one. I will try some enchanted arrows with her; perhaps those will diminish.