Enhanced Skyrim Followers - Aela the Huntress

Enhanced Skyrim Followers

Aela the Huntress

By DreamKing Version: 0. 4. 7, 8 June 2013

Upgrade Information for 0. 4. 7

To upgrade from 0. 4. 3 and above, just overwrite the ESFAela.esp and ESFAela.bsa -- existing saves should work fine. For older versions, consult the readme. Note that Skyrim 1. 9 is required.

Introduction

The character of Aela the Huntress impressed me from the first encounter with the degree that she felt like her own person, living her own story. Aela had her own opinions, her own expertise, her own family history, her own plans and goals. She wasn't just waiting around to assist my character--if anything, my PC had to prove himself worthy of assisting her. It made for a refreshing change in a game that's otherwise so focused on how special the PC is. I was quite disappointed, then, that after Aela became available as a follower, most of her personality and individuality vanished. This woman whose years of hunting and questing had given her extensive knowledge of Skyrim, who had a vested interest in its fate, was unaccountably silent as I went about shaping her land's future. Enhanced Skyrim Followers: Aela the Huntress aims to correct that discontinuity.

ESF: Aela is a project to add story content and new follower features to Aela the Huntress, of the Companions. In the current version of the mod, most of the core new follower functionality is complete, however writing is still underway for the story content. I'm releasing this version for testing purposes, and because I think players will find it fun and useful, as it is one of the most advanced follower mods I know of for Skyrim. See the screenshots for a quick tour, or read the sections below for a more detailed list of improvements made.

Getting It Working

You must be using Skyrim version 1. 9 or above to use this mod. The official DLCs are supported but not required.

This mod has several conversations presented without voices, so you will need to have both dialogue and general subtitles turned on.

Installation

You can start a new game with this mod installed, but it will change very little until after the end of the Companions questline--the only change is that during the questline Aela should be a slightly better fighter.

When installing this mod into an existing save game, you must meet the following conditions:

1) Aela is not currently following you--you should dismiss her prior to installing ESF:Aela. 2) Aela is not your spouse, and you are not "engaged" to her. 3) Aela is not a Blade. 4) Ae