==Multiple Followers (beta)==

This should enable recruitment of up to 10 followers who can each be ordered around/used as packmules/dismissed/rehired like in the vanilla game. They should also work properly with Blades recruitment and marriage, but these need further testing. Animal companions are untouched, so you still can only have one dog following you around at a time. Forced followers during the Companions quests will also stop booting out your current followers.

I've done very little testing so far, and given the number of things that required editing, I may have missed some function calls or dialogue conditions here and there. Make backups before installing, and please report any issues you encounter.

When reporting bugs, follow these steps:

• Ensure you've followed the installation instructions very carefully
  
• Make sure it's not a result of a conflict with another mod - disable your other mods and see if it persists
  
• Provide a detailed list of steps to take to reproduce the problem (where possible)
  
• State which version of this mod you are using
  
• Specify which NPCs are causing problems (where possible)
  
• Provide a detailed decription of the issue

[Known Issues]

• Not an issue as such, but the Companions questline needs testing, particularly the missions The Silver Hand and Purity of Revenge to make sure those quests' scripts don't break the system.
  
• As stated below, behaviour of the system when the game forcefully assigns/removes followers hasn't been tested (though there shouldn't be issues). *Thanks to Son of Skyrim for testing these two.

[Download]
v0.4b [14/02/12] - http://www.mediafire.com/?h8jd0jw11mbrch2

• As suggested by Zero Shift, the unplayable hunting bow and iron arrows have been removed from follower quest aliases. If they're still there after a clean save, use the console commands ShowInventory and RemoveItem to get rid of them.
  
• This, however, means that followers will use up arrows and have to be restocked. I'm currently trying to figure out a way around this, but if this isn't to your liking, use v0.4a instead - this is the only difference from that.

v0.4a **ALPHA** [12/02/12] - http://www.mediafire.com/?sk3hmsif9aiydrc

• This is alpha only because it's based on v0.3a; this has been tested somewhat and should be stable.
  
• Blades recruitment now works, but see the Misc Notes for caveats.
  
• aaa* messages have been removed and replaced with Debug.MessageBoxes
  
• Debug messages (except for a couple warning ones) are now controlled by a global variable aaaMultFollowDbgMsg which defaults to 1. To disable the assign/dismiss message boxes, set this to 0 with the console.
  
• Cleaned up some message box display code

[Installation]
Again, make backup saves. Make sure you dismiss any followers (except dogs) before installation, otherwise things will mess up.

I recommend using BAIN, as there are a number of obscurely-named script files to install. Otherwise, drag and drop into your Skyrim Data folder and enable the esp. All compiled script files from this mod must exist in the Data/scripts subdirectory; overriding/leaving out any of this mod's .pex files (particularly those named TIF*) will likely screw things up.

[Morchai's Detailed Installation]


[Uninstallation]
First dismiss all of your followers (such that "show playerfollowercount" returns 0), then disable the .esp and remove all the .pex files from this mod.

[Upgrading]
Ideally, install the new version and revert to a save prior to installation. Otherwise, dismiss all followers, make a save in a separate cell from them, and delete all files belonging to this mod. To be on the safe side, load up the save without the mod and verify that they can each can be recruited and work normally, then save again and install the new version.

From my understanding of the notes regarding the relation between Papyrus and save games on the CK wiki, there shouldn't be any issues by following the traditional clean-save method; please let me know if this isn't the case.

[Compatibility]
Naturally, any mod that has its own .pex files with the same name as those from this mod will be incompatible. Any mod that changes any of the DialogueFollower, DBCiceroStateSanctuary, DBCiceroStateFollow, HirelingQuestTopic1 or HirelingQuestReHireBranchTopic topics, or the quests DialogueFollower, DBEviction and RelationshipMarriageWedding will probably be incompatible; one needs to take a closer look at exactly what that mod changes to say for sure. Until TesVEdit gets released, http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1326892-rel-tesvsnip-skyrim-edition/page__hl__tesvsnip is probably your best bet for this.

Mods that use the generic follower system by making SetFollower and DismissFollower calls or using the PlayerFollowerCount global in Topic Info Fragments or other scripts will need to be modified to pass the ObjectReference of the follower being recruited/dismissed, and PlayerFollowerCount-based conditions modified to allow for more than one follower.

The following mods have been reported as being incompatible:

• http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=10203 by Mangue
  
• http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1346637-rel-tcg-tradable-companion-gear/ by fLokii - http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1346637-rel-tcg-tradable-companion-gear/page__view__findpost__p__20294161 for a workaround

[Misc. Notes]
This beta version has debug message boxes that pop up upon recruitment/dismissal to detail what slot the actor refs are stored in as well as some other info. If this annoys you, set the aaaMultFollowDbgMsg global variable to 0 with the console (set to 0)

Blades recruitment works, however, they will only recruit the follower in slot 0, and the dialogue option to induct a follower will only appear if slot 0 is currently occupied. There's no easy way to determine which follower is in slot 0 (but the system will fill lower numbered slots first), so you may have to dismiss/rehire your followers (ideally with dbg messages on) until you figure it out. Implementing a dialogue menu or similar I feel is needless bloat, so unless I hear otherwise, I'm assuming that this is an insignificant issue.

With a large party, friendly fire incidents may lead to fights breaking out between followers. For those who don't find this entertaining, try adjusting some of the game settings (in the console: "setgs ") listed http://geck.gamesas.com/index.php/Friendly_Fire, particularly iFriendHitCombatAllowed.

The max number of followers should be able to be increased without major difficulty: to do so, change the aaaMaxFollowers global to the appropriate value, duplicate the follower quest aliases in DialogueFollower, add more ReferenceAlias properties to DialogueFollowerScript and change the conditional branches in it as appropriate.

[Old versions]

Spoiler

v0.3a **ALPHA** [11/02/12] - http://www.mediafire.com/?afcmj72c2ge2ahm

• This is an alpha release for two reasons: 1.) v0.2b seems fairly stable and functional, 2.) The PlayerFollowerCount issue with the Companions should be fixed, but has not been tested at all thoroughly due to lack of saves. This release should be as functional as v0.2b.
  
• DB followers should work properly now with some caveats. All three DB followers exist separately from the generic follower system and PlayerFollowerCount - this is how it is in the vanilla game; changing this I feel would (further) bloat the mod with no real benefit. As a result, their dialogue conditions have been altered such that they won't join you if you already have the max number of followers, but they themselves won't count against your follower cap (to justify this, assume that DB members are extra stealthy and self-managing, but don't want to make you *too* conspicuous).
  
• The CK complained about some lines for DB initiates ("I am honored..." and "I am yours...") missing dialog end script source files and in this release have been compiled without them. This issue is present in the vanilla files and doesn't seem to have had any adverse impact, but just so you know.

v0.2b [10/02/12] - http://www.mediafire.com/?7u858fwcgephp6e

• Killing followers should no longer mess up the script.
  
• Hirelings should be working properly now.
  
• Fixed a rather silly error that broke the system when dismissing followers occupying slots >= 3
  
• Moved the script source folder to the data directory

v0.1b (Reupload - fixed issue with follower 1 being dismissed when some other follower has been waiting for more than 3 days)
http://www.mediafire.com/?xh6kz97i2bsc14t

Please don't reupload this to Nexus or other mod sites. Feedback of any sort, but especially bug reports is greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Very interesting!

I was working on a similar thing myself, but got stuck

Will try out (as soon as I have the time)
Is there anything specific you want us to look at/test?

Generally, just to verify that followers work properly and confirm there aren't any adverse long-term issues/conflicts with other quests or missed follower scripts/dialogue issues.

Specifically though, I haven't been able to test events where the game forcefully assigns/removes followers, such as during the Companions questline. I'm also not sure about how this interacts with dungeons where you're assigned additional followers - I think they're separate from the generic follower scripting, but this needs verification.

Cheers!

I tested it and it works as advertised, although I only had 3 followers (Aela, Lydia, and a hired mercenary Jenessa).

No problems w/ recruiting, obeying commands, accessing inventory, etc. I tested having Lydia wait in a dungeon and then I slept for 3 days, the script alerted that her correct alias was unassigned.

I still need test a forcefully assigned follower, but the mod appears to be working w/out any weirdness.

Thank-you for delivering this, I've been waiting for 3 months!

Been playing for a couple hours now w/ mod installed and no issues yet.

Thanks again for making this possible: http://www.imgplace.com/viewimg846/3129/20tworealfollowers.png

Thank you for this mod. This was exactly what I wanted to make myself, but was not able to, due to my lack of scripting knowledge.
The thread I made about followers now refers to your mod.

Thank you!

I've been waiting for a mod like this. I'l report back if I find any bugs :]

Will this work with newly created follower NPCs or is there something the NPC creators will have to do to get this to work alongside theirs?

(I'm currently working on one NPC, and planning a batch of NPCs later, all of which could be followers)

I have the same question as above?

Also, thank you for the mod!

Yay! Been waiting for this - I need me some more packmules

My hero. I thought I had figured out the basic concept of how to do this, but this Papyrus stuff is way over my head so far. This is the mod I've been looking for since the game was first released.

Like a charm. Now, let's see... who are the 10 most beautiful females of Skyrim... humm... I have Mjoll already, then there's Aela.. and... *goes away mumbling names*

This is the only mod I really wanted. Thanks for making it a reality.

I took my three followers to the mammoths outside of whiterun... and just for the hell of it spawned 10 ancient dragons.

Fire, fire everywhere

It works w/ any NPC that has follower dialog. For NPCs that don't have follower dialog, you still need to do some console tricks to force them to be followers.

If you do that, will you get multiple followers then (Which are not potential followers)?

For instance, can I grab Derkeethus then go to the Argonian Assemblage and make all those guys follow me with Derk?

Thank you thank you thank you. I really wanted a mod like this and i'm light years behind with the new ck and papyrus. Thank you.

^^ I don't see why not. First, you would need to force "Derkeethus" as a follower using console. Then, recruit him. If he is already being followed by others, they should follow him (who is following you).

If they don't follow him, then you just simply console each one of them and recruit.

you should upload this on the Nexus

My favorite kinda mod. Full party style Skyrim. Will download and test soon. Concerned about the install directions though. Scripts have to go into a different folder as opposed to where the plug file goes? A tad confused.

^^ the scripts folder is just like any other folder (textures, meshes, interface, etc). Just drop it into the Data folder along w/ the esp. Just ignore the source folder, that's for the devs.

Ah ok. Thank you, very much.

Hey! I created an account just to say thanks for this, and I'm starting a new game now and I'll head over to the companions to test if it works with forced additions for ya, let you know how it goes in a bit xD

What's the differences with this : http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=8469

First of all, thank you all very much for the support and playtesting.


As Son of Skyrim said, this should work with all custom followers that use the generic follower dialogue and scripts. If the follower mod in question modifies/clones some of the dialogue or scripts, it may or may not work; you'd need to take a closer look at exactly what's changed. Even if they do use modified versions of the generic dialogue though, it shouldn't be too tricky to get them to work with this.


I'm not sure as I haven't tried it yet, but it seems that that mod isn't fully operational yet. I'd take a look, but I'm not aware of any way to direct download files from the Steam Workshop without it chucking them all into the Skyrim folder.

EDIT: Typo