- Let's Go (armored or unarmored)
- Lead the Way
- About this Place
- We need to separate
- Eat/Drink/Sit/Nap
Over time Vilja has grown so complex and her dialog has evolved so far that even her creators can't keep track of all the features and how to access them. There are many surprises tucked away in her dialog topics and we encourage you to try them all, but even we sometimes need a guide to find our way through the dialog maze.
4. Let's just talk for a little while
6. How are your skills progressing?
Quick commands:
Get off that horse, please
Let's go
Let's sit down
Wait right here, please
Want to relax here for a while?
Why don't you ride?
We have done our best to make Vilja a good follower who won't spoil your fun. She'll mimic your behavior when you sit, sneak, run, and draw your weapon. She won't report your crimes
Vilja is an alchemist and starts the game knowing a few spells. She can heal herself, cure herself of diseases (but not poison), walk on water, breath water, summon her horse, and teleport to various locations. In the course of the game, she will eventually learn more spells, but she'll never become a great mage throwing fireballs at her enemies.
She will automatically switch into armor if combat starts and also automatically switch into a swimming outfit when she enters the water (unless you disable that option).
Vilja should not get lost when following you. She should teleport to your side if she gets separated from you for too long. If she really does get lost, you can use the summoning spell to call her to you.
Vilja is very talkative and will chat with you wherever you go. However, the lip-sync in Oblivion only works when you are facing the talking npc. This means that sometimes, her lip-movement will appear once you turn around and look at her, i.e. she will then appear to be talking but you won't be able to hear anything.
If she complains that you are nude (or that she is), then it's because whatever you are wearing has a total cost of zero. She can only identify clothing and armor based on it's value. Put on a ring or amulet worth at least one gold, and the problem will go away.
Sometimes she decides that she wants to go do something else. And very occasionally she will!
It's a very different experience to be able to travel side by side with your companion instead of having her trailing along behind you. It's great for roleplay and can even be practical to let her take the lead if you get lost.
This feature can be a lot of fun or a great source of frustration, sometimes both at the same time. So here are some helpful hints for making the most of the experience.
She will occasionally ask to take the lead, but if you are in the middle of a quest or just don't feel like it you don't have to let her. You can also say yes, and then tell her that you need to take over for a little while but you'll let her lead when you are done.
Her default speed is a "dynamic walk" and she will try to stay a few steps ahead of you. If you start to move faster, she will speed up the tempo to stay ahead. You asked her to lead and that's what she'll try to do, but she will wait for you if you fall behind.
As she will remind you, she doesn't get lost. But there are places, especially in the northern mountains, near water, and in some interior cells, where she might have difficulties and choose a long, inefficient route to her destination. She doesn't really see the game world, but follows invisible path grids instead. Mods frequently make changes to the game world without modifying those path grids, so be patient when she starts trying to walk through rocks and buildings. You can always ask her to stop if she seems stuck, or you temporarily take the lead to get her through the area causing a problem.
You can ask her to hurry up and she'll break into a run. But that makes it even more likely she'll get confused and take a wrong turn, so you'll probably want to save it for when you're traveling on the roads between cities.
You can also ask her to slow down. That lets you walk side-by-side with her, which is very nice if you are roleplaying a romance or just wanting to take a slower stroll through the countryside using the third-person view.
If she summons Bruse, you'll know that she plans to travel a fairly long distance. And if ask her were she's going, she'll show you the destination she has chosen on your map (with the Vilja quest active). But it can be fun to let it be a true surprise.
If you've told Vilja to relax, she'll go through a daily routine of activities that varies depending on her current location and even the weather.
She likes to sleep from 1am to 6am. If she's in a location without a bed and you are around she make ask if you have a suggestion about where she can sleep. You could choose to lead her to another room, just tell her no, or help her find a good spot to use her bedroll.
For Vilja to use a bed it has to be completely unowned. She can use the beds in the Mages and Fighters Guilds, in some player owned houses, and in many houses added by modders, but not the beds in the various inns. One option is simply to not tell her to relax if you're going to stay in an inn because if she's following she'll stand guard over you instead.
Vilja's choice of beds and chairs to use seems to be somewhat random. So don't be surprised if she's standing next to a perfectly good chair or bed and then walks across the room or to the other side of the city to find one she likes better.
Vilja is not intended to be a high maintenance companion and really only has a few needs.
But Vilja also has a personality and for roleplay purposes there are a number of things she wants and that you can give to her. The actual list is too long to provide here, but keep in mind that if you stopped to give her a bottle of wine every time she mentions being thirsty she would probably be too drunk to walk. There's no excuse to not give her a bottle occasionally but don't take all of her idle chatter too seriously. If she really wants a drink she just might go get one for herself.
You can use can use the skill report to see her current disposition and learn which of her requests are just idle chatter, which are minor requests, and which are really important to her. But here's one hint: If you have 2 million or more gold, you better give her a pretty big shopping allowance when she asks, but if you're poor she'll be much more understanding if you say no.
Enemies will usually attack you instead of Vilja, except for some added by mods. Not only is it insulting when enemies run past the player to get to a companion, it's a nuisance when you want to level up your combat and armor skills. So we've attempted to make you feel like the hero again by letting the enemies focus their attention on you.
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 you can gladly run past wild animals and sneak past enemies without fear that she will charge ahead and ruin your plans. However, if you are injured after a battle and don't heal yourself before continuing, she will get protective and rush in to defend you against any potential threat. So, if you want her to obey your orders on a long term basis, don't run around injured.
If you like to play stealthy, this setting should be excellent. She will never attack enemies that haven't spotted you, and I have been sneaking my way through whole dungeons, without Vilja acting up at all.
If you play as a mage and want her to be your tank while you attack with spells from a distance. You might want to carry a weapon you can raise as an 'attack-signal', although it will also work to simply raise your fists.
With this setting Vilja will almost never fight, and enemies are very unlikely to attack her. She'll even try to stay a little farther away when combat starts so she's not in the way.
There are still three things that will make her disobey your orders and join in the fight.
You can interact with Vilja during combat and give her new instructions, either by initiating dialog with her or by casting the Vilja Summon spell, which will bring up a menu with various options (switch ranged/melee, stop fighting, heal me, etc.).
If she gets disarmed during combat she'll try to find her weapon after the fight is over. And if you lose your weapon you can always ask her to help you find it.
The option to romance Vilja has been requested since version 1, and now it is finally here. She can romance both male and female player characters, and will occasionally confirm in dialog that she is aware of which gender your character has.
However, our intention has never been to make her a "romance companion". Therefore, the romance is highly optional - in fact, you must choose the romance option in her Options Menu book before anything will happen. It will then be Vilja who triggers the romance, you'll just have to wait. And if you have just added her as a companion, you will have to wait for quite some time. Only some time after the first questline has been finished and the second has started will things start to happen.
Do not expect any "adult content"! This mod includes no more "adult content" than Disney's cartoon version of Snow White!
Vilja does love to talk, but even she knows that it's good to be quiet some of the time. She will stop talking entirely in certain places and during certain quests. (For example, she'll be quiet through most of the end of the main quest because there many conversations by other NPCs that you will want to hear.)
She'll talk less often while you are sneaking, but she will still talk. If that bothers you, then just ask her to be quiet. In that case she really will understand.
You can also just alter how often she makes her comments. By default it's about every 30 seconds, but you can change that with the Options Menu book.
Having companions from different mods interacting with each other can be fun.
You can introduce Vilja to any of your followers and she will recognize them is fellow companions. She can even make small talk with and about specific unique companions, recognizing them as individuals. However, Vilja won't recognize any of the companions until you have properly introduced them.
The specific companions she can recognize by name so far are: Fergus, Ruin (works only partially as this mod is using a different dialog-setup), Neeshka, Rhianna, Arren, Stoker Wolff, Viconia, Saerileth, Sonia, Valeria, Vincente, Ramy, CM Partner Valtierro and the Adoring Fan, Mazoga and Eyja (works with both modded versions of them and the original npcs).
To introduce a companion either choose a specific companion name or the generic "my partner" option. She will then prompt you to introduce her to the other companion as well (i.e. you have to talk to the companions). After this, the introduction is finished and Vilja will 'know' your mutual friend.
If you make any mistake when introducing a companion, the introduction can be undone in the same topic. Just tell Vilja that you made a mistake, and then tell the other npc.
Vilja will know if a companion has died. But if you have removed a companion mod from your game, you may need to go to Vilja's Options Menu book and mark which companion should not be around any more.
Once you have introduced companions to her, they will (in most cases) get an extra dialog topic "Other Companion: Guidance" which allows you to ask them to do some of the things Vilja can do. But not all of the features work well with all of the other companions. For example, the CM Partner companions will teleport back to your side instead of following Vilja properly.
This brings up her inventory, where you can give or take equipment from her. Activating her while sneaking (or holding the Grab key if you use OBSE) will also access her inventory and you won't be pickpocketing her.
Vilja has extra storage containers which you can access from her main inventory screen.
At any moment she'll only agree to wear armor or normal clothing. It's very rare that she chooses to wear some of each. If what looks like clothing acts like protective armor, then it's armor. If an enchanted ring or amulet has a combat-oriented enchantment it will usually only get equipped when she's wearing armor and vice versa. And rings in the game come in left and right hand styles. While the player can wear them on either hand, NPCs are bound by the ring's hand designation. So if you want her to wear two rings, you'll need to find one of each type.
Vilja does not repair her own armor and weapons, but you can use the "Companion Master" mod to teach her that ability.
This brings up a report where you see her current skills, attributes, armor rating, health, disposition, etc. Base values are only shown if the current attribute is different.
Vilja is an alchemist and gains skills based on her profession rather than improving specific skills through training. As the player gains levels, Vilja will also but remain three levels behind.
Vilja has some optional features that you can configure in the game by selecting her Options Menu book that appears a the top of the skill report.
From the book you can decide if she:
You also have the ability to choose:
By default, she is non-essential, will get encumbered, sells lockpicks, provides repair hammers, is somewhat more hardy than the typical NPC, comments on quests about every 30 seconds, uses a white swimsuit based on Robert's female body, and is not interested in you as a romantic partner.
These items are at the bottom of her dialog options, but only when they would make sense.
Get off that horse, please - Useful if she starts riding some horse other than Bruse (If she's riding Bruse, you can just activate Bruse to get her to dismount.)
Let's go - She'll start following you (you'll need to use the choices under Travel together to switch between armor and weapons)
Let's sit down - Make her sit down if there is an appropriate chair in the neighborhood. This has been added for roleplay-purpose; you can sit down once she is seated and thereby sit next to her.
Wait right here, please - Equivalent to guard and stand watch from the Travel together topic.
Want to relax here for a while? - She will go through a daily routine, possibly wandering to other nearby locations. If you're going to be away for a long time you should probably use the separation choice on the Travel together topic instead.
Why don't you ride? - She can ride while you walk. She'll summon Bruse if needed. (If Bruse is nearby, you can activate him to get her to mount. In Shivering Isles and modded world spaces, she can ride with you but not if you are walking.)
We have made our best to make Vilja function as flawlessly as possible. However, it is a mod in a game world where many of you are using hundreds of mods together. And realistically, there must be situations we haven't foreseen that you might run into.
Therefore, we have built in "emergency-solutions for you". These are included in Vilja's Start Combat spell (which you normally use to help her pick a combat-target).
If you cast the Start Combat spell on Vilja herself you will get a new menu, where you can reset her temporary variables and animation. It should sort out most kinds of issues with her.
You can do the same with Bruse and Wolfgang if they should begin acting oddly.
A time-honored way to resolve NPC problems is to leave them in some interior cell, then go somewhere else and wait for at least 72 game hours. When you go back, that just might have resolved whatever problem you were having.
If you for some reason still decide that you have to uninstall and reinstall the mod, the Start Combat spell will help you to upgrade Vilja's storyline to approximately where you were before you uninstalled. In this case, you'll have to cast the combat spell not on Vilja but on the Dunmer witch Heneri in Cheydinhal (you'll find her either in the Cheydinhal Bridge Inn or strolling in the towncentre). If you haven't met Heneri yet, you haven't gotten far enough into her first quest to worry about using this option.
And don't forget to read through the Conflicts & Limitations section of the ReadMe file to make sure you're not experience a known problem or conflict that has a simple solution.