Better Stealth AI for Followers – No Torch while Sneaking
Improves the stealth AI for followers, so they don’t rush into combat before the enemy has fully detected the player. Followers will also unequip torches while sneaking. Works with all standard followers. Compatible with most follower mods.
This mod improves the stealth AI for followers, so they don’t rush into combat before the enemy has fully detected the player. Followers will also unequip torches while sneaking.
This will work with any follower who uses the default follower system, including followers added by other mods and even animals (if they use the default follower quest). It also works for Cicero and the Dark Brotherhood Initiates, as well as the Thieves Guild quest followers. The Dawnguard version also adds Serana.
WHAT THIS MOD DOES
This mod changes follower behavior in three ways. These changes only occur while the player is sneaking. If the player is not sneaking, then the follower’s behavior will be unchanged.
While the player is sneaking, the follower won’t initiate combat with nearby hostiles until after the enemy has actually attacked. Once either the follower or the player is attacked, the follower will enter combat like normal.
If the follower has a torch equipped, they will unequip the torch while sneaking.
When sneaking, the follower will make fewer random comments.
HOW TO USE It
After installing the mod, a new dialogue option (“Let’s discuss stealth combat tactics…”) will appear when you talk to your follower. Selecting this dialogue will assign your follower to one of the Better Stealth aliases. After this, you will have two options: 1) normal combat behavior or 2) the modified stealth combat behavior. You can choose to switch back and forth between these modes any time you talk to your follower. Followers who have been assigned to Better Stealth aliases will always unequip torches while sneaking no matter which combat mode they are in.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
You must select the initial dialogue topic before your follower will exhibit the new stealth behavior.
If you dismiss your follower or have them wait, they will retain the chosen behavior the next time you ask them to follow (unless you clear the aliases).
You can have up to 25 followers assigned to Better Stealth aliases. If you exceed this number, a message box will come up asking you if you want to clear the aliases. Selecting “Yes” will clear all aliases. This means you will have to speak with any followers to reassign them.
For some reason, followers don’t always put away their torch the first time you sneak after hiring them. This issue can be corrected by dismissing/rehiring them. It also seems to naturally correct itself after the first combat engagement.
If you give your follower a torch while they are already in sneak mode, they may choose to equip it. If you don’t want them to use the torch, simply exit sneak mode, wait a few seconds, then re-enter sneak mode. This will trigger them to unequip the new torch.
Cicero and the Dark Brotherhood Initiates are already assigned permanent aliases, which don’t count toward the twenty-five follower limit.
It’s possible that you will not have a dialogue option to apply the Better Stealth AI to Cicero and the Dark Brotherhood Initiates unless you install the mod prior to completing the Dark Brotherhood quests.
I realize some follower mods add a lot of additional dialogue options. If you want to still enjoy some of the features from this mod, without adding an extra dialogue option, you can hide the stealth dialogue by opening the console and typing: set followerstealthdialogue to 0. The dialogue options can be re-enabled by typing: set followerstealthdialogue to 1. This will only hide or reveal the dialogue lines, whatever stealth settings you’ve previously requested from your followers will stay in effect regardless of whether or not the dialogue lines are hidden.
QUEST FOLLOWERS
In addition to standard followers, a few quest followers have been given this modified behavior. The better stealth behavior has been added to Mercer Frey (during the quest Speaking with Silence) and Brynjolf & Karliah (during the quest Blindsighted). These quest followers will automatically exhibit the better stealth behavior and do not have the dialogue option to toggle the behavior on/off.
COMPATIBILITY
This mod is fully compatible with other mods that alter the NPCs and mods that change NPC appearance. It should also be compatible with follower overhauls and mods that alter the follower quest or add new follower dialogue. NOTE: When used with some follower overhauls, it may be necessary to reset the follower back to vanilla combat behavior (using the dialogue option “Attack first” or “Initiate combat whenever enemies are near”) before dismissing the follower.
As of Version 3.4, conflicting changes from Even Better Quest Objectives have been incorporated into this file (with permission from WilliamImm). You no longer need a patch for these two mods as long as you load Better Stealth AI for Followers AFTER Even Better Quest Objectives.
USING UNIQUE CUSTOM FOLLOWERS
This mod is designed for followers that use the standard follower system. Followers added by other mods that use a custom follower quest structure will not automatically have the Better Stealth AI dialogue options. If you are using one of these followers, you may be able to get them to work with Better Stealth AI if you follow these steps:
Open the console and select the follower you want to apply the Better Stealth AI behavior to
Type: addfac xx002dbe 1 (replace the “xx” with the mod’s load position). If you don’t know the mod’s position number, you can type “help BetterStealthAICustomFollowerFaction” to check the number.
You should now see the stealth dialogue options when you talk to your follower. Please keep in mind, though, that the stealth behavior may not work perfectly with unique followers. Some of these followers may have special combat packages or other scripted AI behavior that will override the packages from Better Stealth AI.
