Changelog

0.1.0

Companions now teleport with the player through portals and dungeon entrances
Companions in Stay mode are excluded — only active companions follow through teleports
Works via ZDO position update so companions warp correctly even if their zone unloaded during the teleport
TraderOverhaul is now a soft dependency — mod works standalone without it

Companions now teleport with the player through portals and dungeon entrances
Companions in Stay mode are excluded — only active companions follow through teleports
Works via ZDO position update so companions warp correctly even if their zone unloaded during the teleport

Added voice audio system: companions play MP3 voice clips alongside or instead of overhead speech text
Gender-specific voice packs: separate Audio/MaleCompanion/ and Audio/FemaleCompanion/ folders, with automatic MaleCompanion fallback when female clips are missing
Per-gender speech config: independent toggles for overhead text and voice audio per gender (male defaults to voice-only, female defaults to text-only)
Added starter companion: a free companion automatically spawns when entering a new world for the first time (configurable via SpawnStarterCompanion setting)
Externalized speech lines to speech.json for easy customization without recompiling
Added 5-second per-companion speech cooldown to prevent overlapping text and audio
Added voice audio categories for all speech events: Action, Combat, Follow, Forage, Gather, Hungry, Idle, Overweight, Repair, Smelt
Merged RadialAction speech pool into Action (radial commands now use the same lines as mode changes)

Fixed smelter interaction deadlock: companion got stuck when pathfinding reached closest point but 3D distance exceeded threshold (moveOk=True at 2.6m vs 2.5m UseDistance)
SmeltController now accepts pathfinding "arrived" with relaxed distance tolerance for smelter insert and output collection
Increased smelter interact offset from 1.2m to 1.3m for better switch-side navigation

Improved controller support: dual-stick radial menu selection (whichever stick has greater magnitude)
Added camera direction lock on radial close to prevent camera jerk from held right stick
Added custom combat stance icons (Balanced, Aggressive, Defensive, Passive)
Increased inner ring stance icon sizes to match outer ring icons
Increased smelter interact offset so companions navigate to the correct side of smelters

Added combat stances: Balanced, Aggressive, Defensive, and Passive selectable from inner radial ring
Aggressive stance: extended 50m aggro range, no blocking/dodging, 15%/5% retreat thresholds, halved power attack cooldown, tighter flanking
Defensive stance: only engages enemies within 5m or targeting the player, 45%/25% retreat thresholds, faster dodge cooldown, tighter formation
Passive stance: suppresses all targeting and combat, companion only follows or idles
Enlarged radial menu with two-ring layout: outer ring for action modes, inner ring for combat stances
Added procedural fallback icons for all four combat stances
Added stance info to periodic debug logs (CompanionAI state dump and CombatController heartbeat)
Fixed SuppressAttack not clearing when switching from Passive to another stance without a combat target

Added Smelt mode: companions autonomously refill kilns and furnaces with fuel and ore from nearby chests
Companions collect smelted output (bars, coal) from furnace ground drops and queued output
Companions deposit collected output into nearby chests with available space
Smart per-smelter priority: ore first when fuel is adequate, fuel when critically low, kilns before furnaces
Inventory-first refilling: companions use fuel/ore already in their inventory before making a chest trip
Chest open/close animation and sound effects play when companions take or deposit items
Smelter sound effects and feeding animation play when companions insert fuel or ore
AI navigates to the correct side of smelters using switch interaction points
Increased carry capacity per trip: 20 ore, 40 fuel (coal)
Added Smelt segment to radial command wheel with custom icon
Added Auto Pickup custom icon to radial command wheel
Companions speak contextual lines while smelting ("Fetching fuel.", "Everything's running.", etc.)
Updated README with Forage and Smelting Automation documentation

Added Forage gather mode: companions find and pick berry bushes, mushrooms, flowers, branches, and stones
Changed Follow from a mode to an independent toggle (Follow ON overrides Stay Home, works alongside gather modes)
Added gather mode deselect: tapping an active gather mode turns it off
Replaced procedural radial menu icons with custom PNG textures
Added colored circle backgrounds behind each radial menu icon
Enlarged radial menu and icons for better visibility
Added foraging speech lines ("Found some berries!", "These mushrooms look good.", etc.)
Fixed female companion invisible body (bodyfem mesh vertex stride mismatch in VisEquipment)
Hidden overhead HUD bars when radial menu is open
Suppressed companion speech bubbles when radial menu is open
Lightened radial menu background and increased circle sprite resolution

Fixed Stay Home + Wander not working (companions stood still due to suppressed move interval)
Fixed Stay Home + Gather not working (gathering companions now wander to find new resource patches)
Fixed companions unable to return home when wander is turned off while far away
Fixed infinite re-approach cycle during harvesting causing companions to walk away and stand still
Fixed Eitr Weave and other cross-tier items not being repaired (added vanilla worldLevel fallback)
Fixed follow target not restored after closing companion UI during active harvest
Fixed STUCK detection false positives when companion is intentionally stationary in StayHome mode
Improved tree priority: fallen logs and stumps are now always preferred over standing trees (two-pass scan)
Added inventory slot hover highlight for mouse and controller
Added Command toggle to Dverger radial wheel
Added overhead speech when executing radial commands
Removed food slot separator line, tightened inventory panel spacing

Initial beta release
Hire NPC companions from Haldor with custom appearance (gender, hair, beard, skin/hair color)
CompanionAI: custom BaseAI subclass with follow, combat, sleep/wake, and stuck detection
Combat AI: melee engagement with retreat/re-engage, manual bow draw for ranged, defensive parry
Harvest system: gather wood, stone, and ore with full state machine (Idle → Moving → Attacking → CollectingDrops)
Auto-repair: companions walk to CraftingStations and repair worn gear
Food system: 3 food slots with auto-consume, health/stamina regen
Carry weight limit (300) with overweight speech and gather-stop
Stay Home mode with 50m home leash, works alongside any action mode
Auto-deposit: companions in Stay Home + gather mode deposit to nearest chest when overweight
Wander toggle for idle roaming
Auto-pickup toggle for nearby item collection
Door handling: companions open doors when stuck, close them behind
Directed commands: point at objects to command companions (repair at station, board ship, move to position, gather resource)
Radial command wheel (Hold E) with all action toggles and mode selection
Inventory-only interaction panel (Tap E) with 5x6 grid and 3 food slots
Overhead health, stamina, and durability bars
Context-aware overhead speech (combat, hunger, overweight, repair, gather, idle)
Full gamepad/controller support for all UI and commands
Companion tab injected into Haldor's TraderUI via Harmony patches