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BFF Animal Companions

Tried the Skyrim followers? Annoyed at them getting in the way of combat? Tired of them blocking you? Wished they could take better care of themselves? Ever try an animal follower and thought they were even worse? Kind of ugly and bark way too much? Always bumping and pushing you? Were you relieved when your dog got lost and never made it back? Wish you had more options?

Well, that's why there's BFF Animal Companions! With BFF, have you animal run away from combat when their health drops too low (or even heal itself if you've given them some home made doggy biscuits), tell your animal to get out of the way when you attack your enemy, even tell them to back up if they block you. Your BFF Animal Companion will gain additional abilities as they adventure with you and can even be trained for better combat damage as they level up. Oh, and let's not forget, there's over 30 different animal textures to give the animals the look YOU want!

All this plus more! You can learn a Dog Whistle (power) to call your animal when it's out-of-sight (even if you told it to wait somewhere). Most of the animal characteristics are configurable such as Mortality, Aggression and Confidence levels to get the companion experience you want. And, the animals still have some unique animal traits all their own. Now, on to the mod:

Rumor has it that Ran’dir, a traveling Khajiit animal trainer, has just made her way to Skyrim, from devastated Morrowind, with two unique animal companions. She’ll let you adopt for free and just asks that you take good care of them and return to her when they are ready for more training. Do you have a favorite or do you want both? Head out her camp near Refugees Rest in Dunmerth Pass, located at the end of the road heading to Morrowind. Her camp is not visible from the road so finding her is a test in itself and not for the feint of heart!

BFF Animal Companions adds two unique followers to Skyrim: a dog and a fox. Each animal features unique character traits and requirements to unlock additional bonuses. Adopt one or both animals to follow you through your journey in Skyrim. BFF uses its own dialog for communicating with the animals, including the option to customize your animal personality and behaviors. (No additional mods required.)

Features:
* Unique Fox and Dog Animal Follower
* Each animal features unique character traits and bonuses
* You choose how your animal looks (download BFF Textures from Nexus site)
* Unlockable features as animal gains experience
* Training for your follower’s combat skills as he gains levels
* Learn Dog Whistle (power) to call your animal from anywhere
* Tell your animal to avoid your Archer or Hostile Magic combat target
* Tell your animal to run away from combat when health drops too low
* Doggy Biscuits - provides boost of healing in combat
* Custom sounds for both animals
* Make any location the animals “home”
* Changes the vanilla dog behavior to remove the annoying constant bark
* Does not conflict with the vanilla animal follower

Custom animal companion system with the following dialog options:
* Follow Me/Wait
* Back Ups
* Follow Closer/Keep Distance
* What do you have there? (ask to see inventory)
* Hungry? (Give food menu)
* Go Home
* Behavior (Opens config menu)

Customize Personality Settings:
* Aggression Level (Unaggressive, Aggressive, Very Aggressive, Frenzied)
* Confidence Level (Cowardly, Cautious, Average, Brave, Foolhardy)

Gameplay Options:
* Mortality Options (Essential, Protected or Mortal)
* Survival Settings to take cover after health drops to specified level
* Option to avoid combat targets


Credits:

Grace Darkling - co author
Tobias Kosmos: Sounds - including Dog Whistle, all the fox sounds and some of the dog sounds (mixed with vanilla sounds)

FAQ:

Q: How do I find the camp?
A: Starting at Windhelm, travel across the bridge. On your left is the carriage. Turn left and follow the road behind the carriage. You’ll be heading almost due North toward the river. Soon you will pass Brandy Mug Farm on your right. Continue traveling along the road and pass two more farms on the right. Keep going. You’ll come to Traitor’s Post, an empty house on your left. (Watch out for bandits!) Directly ahead is a broken tower called Refugees Rest. Keep traveling along the road then cut over to the trees on your right. Ran’dir’s camp is on the right side, on top of the snow bank. You made it.

Q: How will I know when my animal has gained levels?
A: Talk to the animal about his behavior. This will open the config menu and notify you of any new abilities.

Q: The Animal Configuration shows Untrained Levels, how do I train him?
A: Return to Ran’dir and ask about to training. Training costs though, and gets more expensive as the animal gains levels.

Q: How do I make the Doggy Biscuits?
A: Use a recipe at a cooking pot

Q: I'd like to know more about the animals?
A: There's more information on the animals in the README

Q: How does the Dog Whistle work?
A: It will summon your companion that is either Waiting or Out of Sight. (Does not summon animals sent home.)

Q: How do I uninstall?
A: Just send any adopted pet home then you can uninstall safely.

Q: I see the pictures with all the different animal textures, how do I change my animal(s)?
A: Since Steam does not support custom installers, you need to download the BFF Animal Texture Pack from the Nexus site: http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/20812

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NOTICE:

Bethesda's latest patch (1.7.7.0.6) has broken the dialog in MANY mods. Read more about it in this thread:
Dialogue no longer works: http://forums.bethsoft.com/topic/1399783-dialogue-no-longer-works/

If Ran'dir won't talk to you, try saving the game and immediately reloading that save (game restart not required).

I will NO LONGER be maintaining my mod here on Steam. This is the current version of the mod, but all updates will only be available on Nexus.