Vilja's Stats

[dualm]

First let me say what a great all around companion mod Vilja is, however, not without her bugs.My current problem involves her statistics which is probably to do with her integration along side other running mods rather than the Vilja program alone.

I'm at about level 30 right now and her magic stats are horrible. Her destruction is 7 while mine is 100.I was under the impression that she was to level somewhat with me and in past plays with her I recall them being much closer to my character stats.

I'm using "Companion Master" mod to allow me to teach her spells and to enable her to fix her own armour but her level in armorer is level 20 while mine is about 80. I'm running a mod that uncaps levels so they go up to 200 for all game characters which I suspect is the culprit here. I'm guessing that though my level is 30 Vilja's program is interpreting me to be half that and adjusting her stats accordingly.

I've tried training her though the companion master mod which works but will reset in time and will definitely reset if I cast Vilja's reset spell on her as is required periodically (excellent innovation BTW). I've tried using the "setav" console code on Vilja to set her stats to what I think is reasonable but they reset as soon as I reload the game.

Is there a permanent solution known for this? Some file editing I could do perhaps, without resorting to the tool set?

[amgepo]

The problem here is that Vilja is not designed to be used with companion master, neither companion master with Vilja.

There is a lot of mods messing NPCs stats, which makes her stats resetting a must. Besides, some of them have extra functions like her personality that is used to control her aggresion mechanics. If her personality is not at the correct 80 value, she may start attacking everyone or not fighing at all. I think armorer has not special uses, neither destruction, but I could be wrong.

Vilja is a very complex companion and companion master is designed for less complex ones. They can work together, but you can't make Vilja be totally managed by another mod (otherwise there would be hundreds of mods breaking her AI).

Then there is the destruction problem. Destruction spells in Oblivion are as dangerous as they were in Morrowind. If you want to end up fried, you only need to give your companion a fireball spell. Success granted. Obviously Emma and CDCooley don't want Vilja becoming the worst nightmare of most players, which is a good reason to make her unable to cast fireballs.

[dualm]

In Emma's read-me for Vilja she mentions use of a mod called "Companion Share Recruit" for armorer abilities but I found that program to be far more invasive and buggy than Companion Master. All I use Companion Master for is to enable armor repair and to teach spells. As I mentioned there is also a component which allows training a companions skills but it's rather counterproductive if the statistics persist in resetting. The lowest level one second touch-paralyze spell I can teach Vilja requires a skill level of 25 and she's not even one third of the way there.

As I said in my previous post I'm fairly certain the culprit is the level uncapper which still begs the question of a work around. I'm about ready to dump the uncapper and just use the console to reset major skills periodically to allow continued leveling.

Thanks for your response but is anyone aware of an actual solution to the problem as opposed to the reasons for it?

[loriel]

The short answer is "Stop using incompatible mods".

The long answer is to define what you are trying to achieve with those incompatible mods, and see if there is an alternative method.
1) I would recommend dropping the aim of teaching spells to Vilja - (a substantial part of the story line involves teaching spells to Vilja...)
2) Personally I prefer my character to carry out the repair of weapons and armour - in order to raise skills - so don't see why you want Vilja to do it for you.
3) What is the intention behind removing the level cap? As I understand it, vanilla Oblivion adjusts the level of most enemies to be similar to the player's level, so raising the player's level only results in encountering more powerful enemies (until you run out of "more powerful" enemies, so that the game becomes unbalanced).

Regards
Loriel

[Emma]

Aug 16, 2012 22:13:23 GMT dualm said:

In Emma's read-me for Vilja she mentions use of a mod called "Companion Share Recruit" for armorer abilities but I found that program to be far more invasive and buggy than Companion Master. All I use Companion Master for is to enable armor repair and to teach spells. As I mentioned there is also a component which allows training a companions skills but it's rather counterproductive if the statistics persist in resetting. The lowest level one second touch-paralyze spell I can teach Vilja requires a skill level of 25 and she's not even one third of the way there.

As I said in my previous post I'm fairly certain the culprit is the level uncapper which still begs the question of a work around. I'm about ready to dump the uncapper and just use the console to reset major skills periodically to allow continued leveling.

Thanks for your response but is anyone aware of an actual solution to the problem as opposed to the reasons for it?

The mod I've recommended for armor repair IS Companion Master.

However, I wouldn't recommend it for changing Vilja's stats. You must remember that different from vanilla companions or CM partners, Vilja *is* already tailored to do certain things (like healing you) and to not do other things (like casting destruction spells).
I assure you that you do NOT want Vilja to throw fire-balls. You WILL regret it if you teach her this. Oblivion doesn't cater for companion spell casting; npcs won't recognize if you are standing in the way for their destruction spells. If Vilja (or other companions) is using destruction magic, it's likely that her fireball will be the last thing you see before you have to reload the game because your character is dead, killed by friendly fire.

During Vilja's questlines, she will learn a number of useful spells that won't harm you and that will improve her as a fighter. You can of course use mods to teach her other spells as well, but the outcome won't be that wonderful for someone who doesn't have the skills. And her skills are supposed to be reset - we have added that to the mod in order to ensure that other mods or console commands won't indefinitely turn her into something she isn't supposed to be.

Calling our deliberate attempts to keep her true to our intentions "bugs" isn't really appropriate.

Also, be aware that if you start messing with Vilja's stats, there is no way to ensure that she will continue to behave the way you like towards enemies and potential enemies. For instance, any attempt to lower her personality will make enemies attack her instead of you, and will make her attack actors you might not want her to attack at all.

[dualm]

There's no need to get defensive with me about the Vilja mod I'm a fan for sure and having tried half a dozen or so companion mods I will testify as to the vast superiority of Vilja over any of them.

The bugs I was referring to were not related to her stats but rather common problems like not dressing for battle or having to be reminded to follow. Casting her attack spell on her has always fixed these minor issues but also undoes any training I've given her in Companion Master, which is why I asked about a possible work around.

Having gone through the Vilja read-me again, I see that the Companion Master mod is the one mentioned as being compatible as Emma says, so, Is her armorer stat supposed to be so low at this level or is there an issue with another mod interfering with the script?

Much admiration to you Emma for still showing an interest in your creation and offering support so many years after it's inception.

[Deleted]

Hey ya; SOME SPOILERS

I have played through and completed Vilja's quest line with 5 different characters and I have used the companion mods mentioned here (cm partners, share and recruit, masters). In my opinion Vilja works much better without these mods. One way or another they always messed her up. Some a little while others a lot.

There is really no reason to use the masters mod with her. She does learn her own spells. It is part of her story arc. With my main character (a level 56 sorceress with midas spells) Vilja is stealing beers at the inns while paralyzing deadra in battle. In fact she is too strong in battle. Now I have her with a vanilla bow and arrow in the back tagging along just for the company. I give her all my scrolls and she fires fireballs and electricity blasts and ice cubes very well. I also give her all my staffs. I play at 3/4 full difficulty and she does alright.

Vilja is meant to be roll played. Take your time and enjoy her like a good bottle of wine. Play her story and quests out completely. You will see that you won't need to add anything. I load her up with shield rings and amulets and magic armor that her armor breaks so rarely that I don't mind repairing it. As I mentioned she learns spells and even learns one destruction cold spell that she uses with all the other spells that she learns in her story arc. There are not many but she does use them sufficiently.

If she is not following you into battle or changing into her armor for battle it is 100% a problem on YOUR end. My guess is that one or more mods are interfering with her AI and it may even be beyond repair at this point. I had to quit two characters level 30+ because "I" was not aware of how those mods functioned in relation to Vilja AI. I now use cm partners (or whatever it is called) with the magic ponies mod (because it is hilarious to go into battle with the brightly colored pony warriors ;D ) and my main game I don't use any other companion mods. I do however use some stand alone companions. In these two games Vilja works like a charm. But I do pay extra attention with the cm partner game.

If you look at the size of Companion Vilja's BSA file it should give you a hint that this is no ordinary companion mod. She should not be treated as so. Take my word on it and you will enjoy her all the better.

Have fun and give her lots of strawberries! If she likes you maybe she'll make you a strawberry pie. ;D