Creating a Light Follower Mod

[baronaatista]

So I've done a bunch of looking around and haven't found much in the way of a light, compatible follower mod.  There is Multiple Followers Lite - https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=87578317 but it's old and (as far as I know) abandoned.  I know exactly what I'm looking for here, and it isn't much;

 

 - The ability to have multiple followers.  Specifically, 3/4.  Don't want or care for anything more than that, as I don't see how that would be stable or even useful - they'd all be bumping into each other constantly, and jamming every doorway around.  Not even sure I'd ever travel around with that many (3/4) followers, mostly just there for a play-through or perhaps a quest where a "party" seemed appropriate.

 

 - This is the big one; a quick-menu to control them, with a configurable hotkey.  Ideally, options to tell group to; wait, follow, go over there/pick that up/attack that, defend (wait, but combat-ready) - pretty sure all those commands are available for individual followers in the vanilla game (maybe not defend? I can't remember), I'd just like them applied to the whole group, through a quick menu.  Possibly options to slow/pause or even keep time running regularly when using menu.  Finally, to also give commands to individual group members through that same menu.  

*EDIT - oh, and ideally able to "tell" a follower to stop waiting or whatever from a distance (ie. when you leave them in a cave in the Reach, and don't realize till you're halfway to Riften.  I play w/o fast travel, so this is especially useful.)  No teleport function though.  Followers either show up where you are after some time, or go back to whichever appropriate "home" destination they should go to. 

 

 - The ability for followers to ride horses owned by the player would be cool, but is not necessary thanks to Simple Follower Mount https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/70823/?

 

 - Finally, some small AI tweaks to followers would really be awesome - all followers able and likely to use potions, ranged attackers genuinely attempting to use cover/evade damage, attempting to maintain distance between themselves and target, light-armored warriors using a lot of movement, and heavy armored being ultra-aggressive and attempting to take on the most dangerous close-range enemies.  Target prioritization improvements in general.  Finally, some kind of healer mechanic - anyone with decent restoration skill will attempt to heal allies.  Maybe better/easier to use created "healer" followers instead, as attempting to add that AI to existing followers might get messy? In general, the AI part might be beyond me, especially in light of compatibility with other mods (specifically Immersive Citizens).  

 

I've only ever started up the Creation Kit, I know almost nothing about how to do this - but I'm really good at teaching myself, given the right resources (my current setup is STEP:Extended + parts of SRLE + parts of Explorers edition + Dreadflopps modular packs; Dovahkin Reborn, Gameplay Rebalance and Deleveled Loot with Survival pack by smille44 and Hishutup, all sewn together with Dreadflopps' modular patches) and I'd love to make this mod - which is something I think a lot of people would find useful - even just for the quick-menu with one follower.  

 

I'm wondering if anyone could point me in the right direction here?  Hit up a link with a tutorial that might help, or just some general advice would be appreciated, as well as comments on features.  My initial thought is to open up a mod that uses a quick menu like Immersive Horses and attempt to see how it accomplishes that?  

 

*EDIT one issue I'm aware of is the seperate follower system used by some NPC's in the game that can conflict with changes made to the regular system.  Pretty sure this is why most follower mods include the "force-recruit" option... I'd rather not go that route, unless there is just no way around it.

Edited April 26, 2016 by baronaatista

[TechAngel85]

Good for learning the basics and knowing what all the windows and settings do: https://ck.uesp.net/wiki/Main_Page

 

This is a good resource for information and how-to's: https://tesalliance.org/forums/index.php?/forum/113-esv-skyrim-school/

 

This will be helpful to you: https://youtu.be/tLgSYzOaTnA (Detailed Followers Tutorial - knowing how followers are made will help you better your mod)

Also check out this ^^^ YouTubers channel for a lot more helpful tutorials: https://www.youtube.com/user/DARKF0X127/playlists

Darkfox is one of the better ones on YouTube.

 

Finally, bookmark this page for a list of video tutorials which cover a wide range of topics: https://forums.bethsoft.com/topic/1343653-creation-kit-video-tutorials-merged/

 

Mod deconstruction like you're mentioning with Immersive Horses to see how things are accomplished is also a good learning tool for the "self-teachers". Self-taught people, like yourself and myself included, will find deconstruction a multiple learning experience where you learn to use the CK as mush as learning how certain things are accomplished. It's how I learned HTML and CSS, and I'm still using this method to learn things in the CK.

[baronaatista]

Much appreciated Tech, thanks.  I'll be checking all of those articles out in the next couple days, just finishing nailing down my epic mod pack.