So, recently I set out to make a fully voiced (by me. I have a decent recording set up) companion / quest mod. To begin with, I've been immersing myself in tutorials and wiki pages while at school, and messing around in the CK while at home. Obviously, this is a daunting task I've set before myself, and I'd like a bit of guidance before I proceed. Mostly, I want to see if I have the right idea about how to set up the core of the mod - the Actor, VoiceType, and the quests responsible for the core NPC dialog / follower functionality. I'm really hesitant to just rush in and try this on my own, since this would be the first time I actually worked on a serious project, or did anything beyond what I was clearly taught in tutorials. Hopefully my procedure will work without breaking anything!

• First, here's the easy bits - I'll create the Actor, create a Voice Type, and then assign the Voice Type to the Actor.
  
• Next, I intend to create a copy of the PotentialFollowerFaction, DismissedFollowerFaction, PlayerFollowerFaction and CurrentFollowerFaction Factions, then rename them by prefixing them with my prefix for this mod.
  
• Next, I intend to do the same (copy & rename) the DialogFollower, FollowerCommentary01, FollowerCommentary02, and FollowerCommentary03 Quests.
  
• Next, I'll assign my Actor to my renamed PotentialFollowerFaction and CurrentFollowerFaction copy Factions, and set his rank in the CurrentFollowerFaction copy Faction to -1.
  
• Next, I'll go through my copies of the DialogFollower, FollowerCommentary01, FollowerCommentary02, and FollowerCommentary03 Quests, delete all but one of the infos for each topic, and then edit each remaining info so the conditions match up with my Actor, Voice Type, and Faction *
  
• Next, I'll similarly go through all the scripts & extra such bits, and replace the references to the original Factions with references to my new Factions, using ctrl+f to search through every script.
  
• Next, I'll change the text for all of the infos to match the NPC's personality, record them, and generate a LIP file. Once I'm done with everthing else, I'll go through my Data\Sound folder, find all the new files (should be easy to find, since the only thing in already my Data\sound\Voice folder isn't even a sound file), and clean them up with my editor.
  
• Finally, I'll put the finishing touches on the Actor (appearance, stats, all that stuff), and place him in the world.

If I do all of this, I should end up with an NPC that functions like a normal follower, has all custom voiced dialog, and doesn't conflict with any other mods, right? Also, I understand that once I'm done with this process, my NPC still won't have any combat lines, or other such misc. dialog. To give them that, I assume I'd have to undergo a somewhat similar process (copy+mess with copies) for whatever quests govern those things. Am I wrong?

*

My first instinct is that you're probably doing it wrong if you'll be reimplementing that much. But the main question is whether you want this NPC to NOT be considered a follower by the main game. But then I haven't gotten far into looking at follower stuff yet. I'm still working on learning the scripting language and how it interacts with the game. I've always relied on Emma to know everything about dialog. My recommendation is to contact Emma and ask to see how she's setting up Vilja for Skyrim.

Thanks for the direction!

You are trying a bit too hard.

Most of what you have is fine (Your own FollowerDialogue Quest, in particular).

You don't need to make new Factions ... that will probably give you issues. It's fine to add/remove your NPC to/from the existing factions. There's no potential conflicts - as far as I know - in doing that (so long as you do it at RUNTIME via scripts, at least)

Conflicts with other mods ... You should be safe

cdcooley makes a good point in that the core matter is understanding the pros and cons of not using the game's default follower system. By not using it, you gain a lot more control and can add a greater deal of personality, but you'll likely need to do more work. This is because while your mod won't conflict with other mods, it also won't benefit from the features that other mods have added to followers (riding horses, skills leveling with the player, sandbox/relax mode, etc.). So if you want those features--and I imagine users of your mod will--you'll need to code them yourself. Your follower also will not benefit from the built-in accommodations the game makes for followers; for example, your follower won't instantly appear next to you when you ride a carriage, instead you'll have to wait 20 seconds or so for them to catch up. None of this is insurmountable--several people, myself included, have decided that it is the preferable way to go about our projects--but it is more than just a copy-paste-rename process.

A few specific comments:

- You don't necessarily need to copy PlayerFollowerFaction, as that isn't used for any of the default follower system logic, I don't think. It might be beneficial to add your follower to that when following, in terms of how the game decides who is friend and who is foe to each actor.

- Because of the property system, updating scripts is not so much a matter of search-and-replace within scripts, as it is of changing their properties to reflect your new factions. (Technically you probably don't even need to edit the DialogueFollowerScript at all, although in practice you probably should create your own copy, to avoid incompatibilities with other mods that edit it.)

Good luck!

This will be quite a project! There's some good advice above so I don't have much to add. Only thing I would recommend is starting by getting a follower going that works in the existing framework. From your list you seem to have all the bases covered but it can still be helpful to tinker with what's already been done. It's easier to get help, feedback, and you're not faced with such a huge task. Once you're able to use everything the game does you might find it easier to strike off on your own.

Good luck and I hope you end up sharing whatever you create!