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About this mod
Universal fix that makes the new voice from Improved Follower Dialogue compatible with any Lydia replacer mod through Skypatcher. No more silent complaints that "I am sworn to carry your burdens."
- Requirements
- Permissions and credits
Now it's easier than ever to get a modern looking Lydia with more dialog. There's a new appearance replacer for Lydia released almost every month, but if you've installed a mod that edits Lydia alongside Improved Follower Dialogue - Lydia, you'll either get the blackface bug or you won't get Lydia's new voice which would make a lot of her lines silent. Through the magic of Skypatcher this is a single patch that adds Lydia's new voice from IFD Lydia to any appearance mod, Lydia outfit mod, Essential Lydia mod, etc.
There are existing workarounds, like using the Synthesis patcher FaceFixer, zedit Visual Transfer, or an .esp plugin custom-made for each Lydia overhaul. With this Skypatcher-based mod, there's one less conflict to worry about every time you try out a new appearance. For example, you can switch between MO2 profiles with different Lydia appearances without installing separate patches for each MO2 profile.
This does not patch any new dialog added to Lydia, for example AI-generated lines, to ensure they don't have silent lines when combined with IFD Lydia.
All this does is ensure that the VoiceType from IFD Lydia is used no matter what other plug-ins you have overwriting IFD Lydia.
Hard Requirements:
Improved Follower Dialog - Lydia: This mod does nothing without IFD Lydia installed.
Skypatcher version 2.4.15 (04 June 2024) or greater. Versions 2.4.9 through 2.4.14 of Skypatcher has a bug that will cause CTD with this mod.
As of mid-2024 Skypatcher doesn't support VR.
Installation:
Install the requirements above, then install this mod at any point in your load order.
This mod itself should be safe to add or remove mid-game. The same may or may not be true for the other mods this mod patches, like appearance overhauls. Adding a plugin mid-save that simply edits a character record, or overwrites a facegen file is usually safe but has some risks.
Load Order:
In order for this mod to work, the other mods need to be in a specific order:
This follows the general rule that appearance replacers go late in your load order to prevent an minor unpatched NPC change to result in a major appearance issue like blackface. It's the pattern followed by modlists like Lexy's Legacy of the Dragonborn list. You may have been using different load order if you've been relying heavily on automated patches like Synthesis Facefixer.
This mod itself can go in any order. Skypatcher mods generally only conflict with mods that have the same name, or mods that try to alter the exact same thing.
Compatibility:
Compatible with most mods, including EasyNPC.
Installing alongside existing appearance patches for IFD Lydia, including those generated by Synthesis, is redundant but won't break anything.
This can't do anything to resolve other conflicts you have outside IFD Lydia's changes. For example Any mod that adds lines to Lydia, such as Inigo, NFF, or
Follower Dialogue Expansion - Lydia, will have silent lines when combined with IFD Lydia without other patches. To keep USSEP's changes to Lydia you would
need a patch applying them to any appearance overhaul you have.
Troubleshooting:
Crash to desktop: Skypatcher versions earlier than 2.15 (4 June 2024) has a crash when patching VoiceType that's seen when loading the main menu.
Blackface bug, whiteface, or otherwise messed up appearance: This mod itself isn't the cause as it doesn't do anything to appearance. See the
Load Order section of this page and the installation requirements for your appearance mods.
Silent lines: you have to determine if those are new lines added by IFD Lydia, or added by another mod:
Other alternatives:
If you don't want to use SkyPatcher or you have another conflict you're trying to resolve like USSEP's changes to Lydia, and if you're OK with running something like xEdit or Synthesis every time you download something new that modifies Lydia, you can try the following instead of this mod:
FaceFixer Synthesis Patcher:
My mod isn't designed to be used alongside FaceFixer. When set up correctly FaceFixer resolves the same issue, so you wouldn't even need this mod. However FaceFixer is designed to apply your modded appearance to the record from IFD Lydia, while this one is designed to apply the voice from IFD Lydia to on top of your appearance. So your load order would would be the opposite of what's recommended here.
zEdit Visual Transfer or Wrye Bash:
I've never used these to patch appearances, but I believe it would resolve the conflict, just like Facefixer Sysnthesis Patcher.
Custom Patches:
Traditionally you had to hope someone else made a patch for your appearance mod, or make one yourself. Patches already exist for a lot of popular Lydia overhauls like Bijin Warmaidens, Lydia Refine, or Lovely Lydia. Making a patch yourself in xEdit only takes a minute or two, and RoadHouse699 posted a great tutorial here. I don't take this approach because custom patches like this get annoying when you have over a dozens mod with similar problems or multiple MO2 profiles.
Alternatives that Don't Resolve the Conflict:
Face Discoloration Fix is a good tool to make these kinds of conflicts into something perhaps acceptable, but it doesn't really resolve the original conflict. That mod works great in a narrow set of cases, and makes other conflicts outside that niche less obvious. See EasyNPC's explanation and examples of what Face Discoloration Fix does. If you have Face Discoloration Fix, you should still download a patch like this one.
Why is this mod necessary when other followers like SDA work without similar patches?
IFD Lydia revoices any of Lydia's Vanilla lines, just like Serana Dialog Add-on. Unlike Serana though, Lydia doesn't have a unique voice in the vanilla game, so IFD Lydia couldn't just add new recordings to Lydia's voice in Vanilla without affecting other NPCs like Illia. This unique combination requires changing the VoiceType of the NPC to point to the new audio.
A lot of Skyrim's information about an NPC is stored in one record, including outfits, AI packages, appearance, and VoiceType. If you have one plugin changing Lydia's outfit and another changing her appearance, you get a conflict that potentially overwrites IFD Lydia.
Permissions:
As long as you attribute my contribution, you can re-upload these files, modify them, or integrate them into your own mod. Want to roll this into an All-In-One collection? That's fine with me as long as long as you make it clear where the files came from.
Credits:
RoadHouse699 and LMG Wilson for creating Improved Follower Dialog - Lydia. All I'm contributing is an easy way to use these authors' great work.
Zzyxzz for Skypatcher
Images are taken with the following mods:
There are existing workarounds, like using the Synthesis patcher FaceFixer, zedit Visual Transfer, or an .esp plugin custom-made for each Lydia overhaul. With this Skypatcher-based mod, there's one less conflict to worry about every time you try out a new appearance. For example, you can switch between MO2 profiles with different Lydia appearances without installing separate patches for each MO2 profile.
This does not patch any new dialog added to Lydia, for example AI-generated lines, to ensure they don't have silent lines when combined with IFD Lydia.
All this does is ensure that the VoiceType from IFD Lydia is used no matter what other plug-ins you have overwriting IFD Lydia.
Hard Requirements:
Improved Follower Dialog - Lydia: This mod does nothing without IFD Lydia installed.
Skypatcher version 2.4.15 (04 June 2024) or greater. Versions 2.4.9 through 2.4.14 of Skypatcher has a bug that will cause CTD with this mod.
As of mid-2024 Skypatcher doesn't support VR.
Installation:
Install the requirements above, then install this mod at any point in your load order.
This mod itself should be safe to add or remove mid-game. The same may or may not be true for the other mods this mod patches, like appearance overhauls. Adding a plugin mid-save that simply edits a character record, or overwrites a facegen file is usually safe but has some risks.
Load Order:
In order for this mod to work, the other mods need to be in a specific order:
- ImprovedCompanionsBoogaloo.esp
- [Any patches for IFD Lydia like ICLydia_USSEP_Patch.esp, except appearance patches]
- [Your other Lydia mods like appearance overhauls.esp]
This follows the general rule that appearance replacers go late in your load order to prevent an minor unpatched NPC change to result in a major appearance issue like blackface. It's the pattern followed by modlists like Lexy's Legacy of the Dragonborn list. You may have been using different load order if you've been relying heavily on automated patches like Synthesis Facefixer.
This mod itself can go in any order. Skypatcher mods generally only conflict with mods that have the same name, or mods that try to alter the exact same thing.
Compatibility:
Compatible with most mods, including EasyNPC.
Installing alongside existing appearance patches for IFD Lydia, including those generated by Synthesis, is redundant but won't break anything.
This can't do anything to resolve other conflicts you have outside IFD Lydia's changes. For example Any mod that adds lines to Lydia, such as Inigo, NFF, or
Follower Dialogue Expansion - Lydia, will have silent lines when combined with IFD Lydia without other patches. To keep USSEP's changes to Lydia you would
need a patch applying them to any appearance overhaul you have.
Troubleshooting:
Crash to desktop: Skypatcher versions earlier than 2.15 (4 June 2024) has a crash when patching VoiceType that's seen when loading the main menu.
Blackface bug, whiteface, or otherwise messed up appearance: This mod itself isn't the cause as it doesn't do anything to appearance. See the
Load Order section of this page and the installation requirements for your appearance mods.
Silent lines: you have to determine if those are new lines added by IFD Lydia, or added by another mod:
- Lines added by IFD Lydia are silent? Check that this mod and IFD Lydia are installed properly.
- Lines added by another mod are silent? For example the new lines in Follower Dialogue Expansion - Lydia don't seem to work? That mod needs a patch to work with IFD Lydia's new voice.
Other alternatives:
If you don't want to use SkyPatcher or you have another conflict you're trying to resolve like USSEP's changes to Lydia, and if you're OK with running something like xEdit or Synthesis every time you download something new that modifies Lydia, you can try the following instead of this mod:
FaceFixer Synthesis Patcher:
My mod isn't designed to be used alongside FaceFixer. When set up correctly FaceFixer resolves the same issue, so you wouldn't even need this mod. However FaceFixer is designed to apply your modded appearance to the record from IFD Lydia, while this one is designed to apply the voice from IFD Lydia to on top of your appearance. So your load order would would be the opposite of what's recommended here.
zEdit Visual Transfer or Wrye Bash:
I've never used these to patch appearances, but I believe it would resolve the conflict, just like Facefixer Sysnthesis Patcher.
Custom Patches:
Traditionally you had to hope someone else made a patch for your appearance mod, or make one yourself. Patches already exist for a lot of popular Lydia overhauls like Bijin Warmaidens, Lydia Refine, or Lovely Lydia. Making a patch yourself in xEdit only takes a minute or two, and RoadHouse699 posted a great tutorial here. I don't take this approach because custom patches like this get annoying when you have over a dozens mod with similar problems or multiple MO2 profiles.
Alternatives that Don't Resolve the Conflict:
Face Discoloration Fix is a good tool to make these kinds of conflicts into something perhaps acceptable, but it doesn't really resolve the original conflict. That mod works great in a narrow set of cases, and makes other conflicts outside that niche less obvious. See EasyNPC's explanation and examples of what Face Discoloration Fix does. If you have Face Discoloration Fix, you should still download a patch like this one.
Why is this mod necessary when other followers like SDA work without similar patches?
IFD Lydia revoices any of Lydia's Vanilla lines, just like Serana Dialog Add-on. Unlike Serana though, Lydia doesn't have a unique voice in the vanilla game, so IFD Lydia couldn't just add new recordings to Lydia's voice in Vanilla without affecting other NPCs like Illia. This unique combination requires changing the VoiceType of the NPC to point to the new audio.
A lot of Skyrim's information about an NPC is stored in one record, including outfits, AI packages, appearance, and VoiceType. If you have one plugin changing Lydia's outfit and another changing her appearance, you get a conflict that potentially overwrites IFD Lydia.
Permissions:
As long as you attribute my contribution, you can re-upload these files, modify them, or integrate them into your own mod. Want to roll this into an All-In-One collection? That's fine with me as long as long as you make it clear where the files came from.
Credits:
RoadHouse699 and LMG Wilson for creating Improved Follower Dialog - Lydia. All I'm contributing is an easy way to use these authors' great work.
Zzyxzz for Skypatcher
Images are taken with the following mods:
- Bijin Warmaidens SE
- Seraevy-FarodaDesti's Scarlet Follower or Lydia replacer
- Northbourne NPC's of Whiterun Hold
- Bijin Skin