v0.97

What's New in 0.97

Returning Follower Recognition

Followers who temporarily lose teammate status (IntelEngine tasks, mod interactions, etc.) are now recognized as returning companions instead of being treated as new recruits. Returning followers keep all rapport/trust/loyalty/mood values, skip the recruitment bonus, and show "has returned" instead of "has joined you as a companion." No follower_recruited event fires for returning followers, preventing the AI from treating them as strangers.

Disabled OnNativeTeammateRemoved

The handler that reacted to SetPlayerTeammate(false) is now a no-op. Previously, mods like IntelEngine that temporarily strip teammate status would trigger a full unregister, causing followers to be re-detected as brand new and lose all relationship history. Our own dismiss path handles cleanup when followers are actually dismissed.

Relationship Cooldown

New per-actor cooldown on AdjustRelationship calls (default 2 minutes). Prevents the AI from spamming relationship changes every dialogue line. MCM slider from 60–300 seconds in 15-second steps.

Summoned Creature Filter

IsCommandedActor() checks prevent conjured creatures (atronachs, Durnehviir, raised dead, etc.) from entering the follower system.

Staggered Auto-Eat

Auto-eat no longer fires every update tick once hunger passes threshold. Uses a 10-point bracket system: first attempt at threshold (default 50), then retries at 60, 70, 80, 90, 100. Each bracket fires only once, giving the AI natural windows to choose the eat action between attempts.

Outfit Lock Toggle

New MCM toggle to enable/disable the outfit lock system. When disabled, the game engine handles companion gear normally. Existing lock data is preserved and resumes when re-enabled.

Fertility Prompt Rewrite

Rewrote menstrual cycle prompt blocks to use vague mood/energy language instead of clinical terms. Added explicit rules preventing cycle/period mentions in dialogue or diary entries.

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Full Changelog: v0.96.5...v0.97