As I mention in the video, I'm sure there is a more elegant way to do this, but I was unable to get a blank mod with dependencies working properly, whereas this way does. There are one or two weird bugs, but nothing harmful or too annoying.

Idiot-Proof Video Tutorial:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhErycQxHmM

Resources:
Full Skill / Ability / Talent list including in-code IDs
Templates for each basic class type
Visuals for all henchmen preset values

Guide:
* Create the path Divinity - Original Sin\Mods\Main\CharacterCreation\HenchManPresets\
* Create a .LSX file in this folder, name it anything you want. If you cannot find your henchman in game, rename it to something different and try again.
* Copy/paste the contents of the template you wish to use into it.
* Edit/Add/Change anything you wish using the provided in-game IDs.
* The picture of all the presets shows what the result is for each value from 0 to 16, for all entries (hair colour, head type, etc).
* The in game portrait corresponds to the 'Icon' entry.
* Save the file, and load your game. This is retroactive, and files can be deleted after you have recruited henchmen.

Known Bugs:
* Appearance for your henchman will be incorrect when you first load a save, you must warp somewhere that forces the game to load a map/level. Once you do, it will be properly reset. This happens every time you save and load. (Larian pls fix)
* The henchman list can sometimes get stuck or bug out in other ways. Change the filename of your .LSX until the henchman you want shows up.
* Your first 2 henchman you hire will have regular stat allocation, after that they receive less than normal. Pay attention to the number of Attribute points your henchman have, and adjust to your liking.

Thank you for putting this together! The skill/talent name list alone is extremely helpful. Now I can properly customize some henchmen.

Is it possible to use other races appearances? for example an Orc?

There is a race entry, but I never fiddled with it. Give it a shot :P

When are you able to recruit those extra henchmans? I didn't touch story much, I was testing different builds and I'm curious about that. If I understand correctly I have to it from homestead right? How long will it take for me to be able to do that?

Almost directly after, in terms of story progression. As soon as you reach the town you're able to unlock it, just have to do a few story related things.

Some tut maybe? xP I want to test this thing but not progress in story without my friends so some advice where to go to avoid unnecessary spoilers would be great

You can't unlock it without progressing in the story.

Last thing, I borrowed save from a friend who was playing on multiplayer. I followed your guide step by step, even tried to add the template and it isn't working. Are multiplayer saves different from single?

I haven't played in Multiplayer so I'm not sure if you'd have to do anything different. I wouldn't think so, so a wrong path or filename or something else (like a bugged list) could be the cause of them not showing up.

http://scr.hu/1cbw/ajsls is the path, I searched whole list from lvl 1 to 20, also named it same as you did in tutorial xP So i guess I have to rush singleplayer to check that out

Did you get the mod warning when starting the game? Did you try different filenames for the .lsx? The filename you see in the tutorial didn't even work, which is why I explained to try multiple filenames if they aren't showing up.

Yes i receive mod warning, I also tried a lot of different filenames (with, without spaces, with withour big letters, short, long, everything). I'm right now rushing through game to see if it is multiplayer bug or my fault

Can't get this to work. No matter what I do the new henchman doesn't show on the list.

I tried using the defaul mage tamplate and have triple checked the path. Also the game gives me the error about corrupted files, so as far a I know it uses the new file.

I have tried dozens of file names but no luck. Only effect I see is that the henchmen list buggs or even completely breaks on some files.

Could really use some help on this.

If the list is bugging then it's probably reading the .lsx correctly, so that's good. Make sure you're also exiting all the way back to the menu after making any changes, and then loading your save. Try 'Famine' or 'Downfall' as filenames, and only add 1 at a time. I know those filenames work and show for me (although 'Downfall' is more buggy than Famine it seems).

That... worked :o I tried a lot of names and all were not working but Femine for some weird reason is, even on multiplayer save.

I saaaaaaid it's buggy and some filenames might not work :P

Ok, when I create Wizard with name Femine it's ok, but if I try to create Ranger with same filename it is not working. Have you tested Ranger file?

There's no exact science to this, it's buggy. All the templates are exact copies of henchman already in the game, I simply changed the names.

Downfall works for Ranger. I think it is not random but some names just work with some classes ;d

I've made two henchmen through this method, Azrael the Enchanter and Mandos the Fighter, both work perfectly well. Only thing I noticed is that in your guide you have the line
* Create the path Divinity - Original Sin\Mods\Main\CharacterCreation\HenchManPresets\
while your youtube vid shows you doing DOS\_DATA_\Mods\Main etc.
Obviously, it didn't work for me unless I moved it to the data folder, but from there on it went fine.

Otherwise, they function as intended mostly, I noticed I couldn't have capitalized letters in their filenames (azrael.lsx mandos.lsx), and I think the game skipped their level 2 attribute bonus when they were autoleveled to 3 (my characters were lvl 3 when I hired them), but this is probably due to other bugs. I haven't hit 4 yet, so I don't know if they will get that attribute point.

Thanks for the great guide and work!

Ah, I missed the \Data\ folder. Hopefully people will notice like you did, thanks for pointing that out, it might help if someone can't get it to work and made that mistake.

I too noticed the level 2 attribute not sticking, so I just applied it proactively in the .lsx, added 1 point where I wanted. My henchmen since have been getting all the usual level ups, so maybe it's just that one that doesn't work for some reason.

Glad it helped you.

Ah, yes, I did the same thing with the proactive attribute, but it's good to hear that the rest of the leveling is working as intended.

Well, you did enable me to keep playing, since I had to stop because of my annoyance at the poorly designed henchmen! The min/max'er in me dies a little everytime I see politician/packmule.

MODERATOR: PLEASE PIN THIS THREAD AND REMOVE MY POST!!!! THANK YOU.

Reason:
People are already spaming the forum because they do not use search or are to lazy to click on the second page. Pin this please, to save us from total chaos. I would also offer myself as moderator, if you need some people to look out for some quality upkeep!

I haven't been able to get mine to work either. It prompts when I start the game (as expected), the henchman purchase list glitches out (as expected), but my custom ranger doesn't appear in the list.

To minimize issues, I copied your default "ranger.txt" to the directory and renamed to "downfall.lsx" (because someone said that name worked for them). I left the goofy "Default Ranger" name value in there, to make it even more obvious when that character showed up in the list. He didn't show.

p.s. It has something to do with the guid. I took the existing HenchManData / ID value and incremented the last digit by 1. The custom ranger showed up normally in the list, and I didn't have to monkey with the filename at all. It'd be good to learn the pattern behind that ID at some point, since it'd probably be a "bad thing" [tm] to duplicate an ID for some other necessary game asset. But, hey, at least it works.

That's interesting, so perhaps the list bugs because the GUID is a duplicate. Changing the file name must have some other effect that puts the custom one over the default one, since some filenames do work while others don't. Good find.

Actually did you notice if that helped the visual bug at all? Where they won't load with the right visuals until you force a load (by going to/from End of Time)? It happens with default henchmen too so probably isn't a fix, but just curious.

GUIDs must be globally unique in the game, as it is used for identifying objects about as often as names are.
If you copy any game asset that has its own GUID, generate a new ID for it. Doesn't matter what the new ID is, it doesn't have any requirements other than the formatting iself.
Just use this and you're set: http://www.guidgenerator.com

Changing GUID helped a lot. I couldn't create henchmans above lvl 3, but when I change it I can create every char with every level and it works on file names that it wasn't working yesterday

I created an account to say thanks for this , works great.

you can have any name you like it is the GUID number that can stop a henchmen from working. I used the GUID random number thing a previous poster linked to.

Thanks again as this has made the game much better for me

Glad it helped, and good to know GUID was the source of list bugs, makes perfect sense.

my henchmen looks have always worked as well.

I posted about this on the steam forums as I only noticed it through google.

They don't have any issues when you load a save? Other people have had the same issue even with default henchmen, I don't think it's specific to custom ones.

I tried using a new GUID and while it fixes the list, it definitely doesn't fix appearance. I really wish we could nail down what is causing that issue, because it's worse than the list bugging out in my opinion. Kind of sucks not having them stay the way you want them to look (unless you port every time you load a save).

Thanks for the great tutorial! It works like a charm. I did run across one small problem though.

When I try to give a henchman "Slow Current" from the Hydrosophist line, it doesn't show up in game. I've made sure it was spelled correctly (even copy/paste) but it just doesn't show up. All the other skills I've tried work but it doesn't seem to recognize "Target_SlowCurrent". It's not that big a deal but just thought I'd mention it and see if anyone else had the same problem or if it worked for them.

Got it! On a hunch I tried "Target_Slow" and it works. You may want to update your chart.

Good catch, looks like it's Target_Slow. Will update and change the link.

Heh... didn't see your post until after the edit refresh. Thanks!

[Nevermind, got it working]

Thanks for the tutorial, it was very helpful.

Do you know if it's possible to edit the base Critical Chance? After the second henchman the crit chance is at -10 instead of 0.

For Changing the GUID, where exactly do you change that? Is it in each characters .lsx file such as the <attribute id="ClassName" value="Wizard" handle="h6ed659b3g1890g402bg848cg3a960d04efe2" type="28" />
And I only change the handle? Or is it somewhere I'm not seeing? Thanks in advance.

EDIT: Nevermind I found it Dx I'm just blind

Not with this method, it looks like the stats are taken from the presets, and then nerfed. I didn't even notice that crit chance and presumably other stats are also nerfed... my poor Rogue ;_;

This "nerf" seems accidental.

the stats get jacked up you lose 5 points

minus 1 str
minus 2 con
minus 1 speed
minus 1 Perception

and like +1 dex

and -10 base crit


this is a show stopper and makes the entire hencmen thing not work.

It's not a big deal for base attributes since you can offset the values, but losing 10% Crit is pretty huge. It's been reported before, hopefully they're aware of it.

I found this guide very nicely done!

My only issue is, is there a way to do this which works with the mod system and as such, works like a normal mod? [edit: by actually making it into its own mod, which causes it to struggle to be tested.]

Going to have a mess around to see if I am explore/experiment.

@Pestilence

First off, thanks for the great tutorial and resources! Really nice work.

I just finished testing out all of the spells & skills and I wanted to suggest a couple of revisions to your chart. Here goes:

- Smokescreen is listed on the chart as "Path_CreateSmokeScreen" but I was only able to get it to work as "Path_CreateSmokescreen".

- Explode is listed on the chart as "Shoud_ExplodeSelf" but it worked when I changed it to "Shout_ExplodeSelf".

That's all, the rest seemed to work fine. Thanks again!

Two more fixes I found after digging into this a bit more:

- Phoenix Dive is listed on the guide as a Pyrokinetic spell, but in my game it falls under Man-at-Arms.

- Rain of Arrows is listed on the guide as a Man-at-Arms skill, but appears to be under Expert Marksman in my game.

Thanks!

So, just did everything you said / wrote, and get an error message



Thanks in advance for any advice on how to fix this.

I was wondering if anyone had tried to get this to work in multiplayer. If so what are the steps?

I had a strange problem while trying to add a henchman and thought I would share my solution.

What was happening: The custom henchman appeared in the list of henchmen as level 1537. Obviously, not being level 1536, I couldn't hire them.

What was wrong: Under the node HenchManData the following line was incorrect:

<attribute id="Level" value="1" type="1" />

..what it needed to be was:

<attribute id="Level" value="1" type="4" />

I got the type=4 from checking the .lsx of the henchman I was able to get added which displayed as a level 1 character as expected. Since the rogue was displaying as the improper level I made its level line look like the wizards, and poof.

Something that might have been related but I changed at the same time so I can't be certain: The rogue had the spell Projectile_UnlockMagic with 0 in witchcraft, character level 1, and 5 intellect. Since I removed that spell from the rogue's .lsx before it was showing at the proper level, I can't be certain it whether was a part of the problem or not.

Alright, so according to the properties.lsx, Male Henchman use the following RootTemplate-
23f3af72-437c-4aff-91ca-914ef6e6ebb7

While Female Henchman use this-
3ec36a84-93a1-409f-83d6-4b7b17745df6

Which RootTemplates (and consequently, what Stats) do those correspond to?


This makes changing their default stats (including "CriticalChance") quite simple; you just need to overwrite the two Stat entries with a mod. And maybe change Madoc/Jahan to point to a copy of their original stats, if you're wanting to preserve them.

At some point I might try to figure out how to get custom henchman via a mod rather than making a Main folder directly.

This guide is fantastic !! Good job my friend

...but the visual preset are so creepy and limited, IMO, is there a way to use the same two main characters presets? è»…

@Aquarius, Yes you can but you need to edit a template. I am using that method in my own mod Legion Zero. Shall I write a quick tutorial for that?

It would be great FromHolland Without hurry

Works like a charm! Thanks for the guide.
I hope that in the future they let us build our henchman ingame.

@Aquarius

Sure will do that today/tomorrow

youll learn how to do this:


meanwhile you can try editing the properties.lsx

search for:
<node id="HenchManFemaleRootTemplateIDs">
<children>
<node id="HenchManFemaleRootTemplateIDs">
<attribute id="Object" value="3ec36a84-93a1-409f-83d6-4b7b17745df6" type="22" />
</node>
</children>

and change the value to another character in game (try looking for map key for that).
Try this one:
7993a815-d277-460d-9a33-f88a6ff86fba

your new code will change to this:
<node id="HenchManFemaleRootTemplateIDs">
<children>
<node id="HenchManFemaleRootTemplateIDs">
<attribute id="Object" value="7993a815-d277-460d-9a33-f88a6ff86fba" type="22" />
</node>
</children>


When done all your female henchman will look like your chosen character. Can be enemies etc

Fun thing to figure out is how to make a new race in the properties.lsx. Then we'll have complete freedom over what visuals/animation etc we want to use with henchmen

Greeeaaat !!! You rock guys (FromHolland and Pestilence). I can now set the henchman as other main characters Thank you so much: I can play now with some other friends of mine without mod

P.S. when i create and saved the henchman i can delete .lsx and my henchman continue to working i see, do you confirm that too?

Just another thing.. I notice when level 1 henchman gain the same level of the party he/she not gain the correct stats point and talents but only one, movement 1.50 instead 1.60 ...is it a bug?

EDIT: I think henchman don't get correct stat/talent points when he gain 2 or more levels at once (from level 1 for example). Someone wrote "If you use mechanic number 2 ...ttribute points from the level up." what does it mean?

Are there any templates for level 3 or lower characters?

The first time I tried this I copied the Battlemage template and although it appeared in the list, none of the changes I made to it seemed to have any effect. So I tried with the wayfarer, just copying it into the previous file and it didn't even appear in the list. What did I do wrong? My file is a text document but I can't see what kind of file you created.

Hi there,

just a short question. I`m tinkering around with the tutorial and my own henchmen but it seem to be no way to get it working in a existing multiplayer game. Have anyone found a way for that?

cu Gantu

Awesome guide. Thank you for sharing it!

I found a method that seems to work for integrating the custom henchman into a mod, vs overriding the main game. Although I haven't tested it in multi (solo player), it should work the same as any other mod. This also gets rid of the "corrupt" alert message that pops up when loading the game.

First, either use an existing mod or make a new one to hold the files (I used the "Modified Main" files located on [Tutorial] Main Campaign Mods). Place that into the correct folder (%D:OS install dir%\Data\Mods & \Data\Public). Then put the custom henchmen files inside of %D:OS install dir%\Data\Mods so that your directory tree looks like this:



Basically it's just like any other mod, but the files go inside the Mods dir instead of the Public dir. After that, just do the save game meta.lsb dance to get your mod activated on your previous save game.

Also, thanks so much to Pestilence for getting this all started!

Can you customize 4 Players instead of just two ?

I am having some trouble with a custom henchman. If you try to create a henchman using a default template called "FemalePlayer", you can change the face and the hair but you can not change the color of the hair nor the color of any other thing. So, I tried to manually edit the "FemalePlayer" template to make color customization options available and it almost worked. I suppose most colors are working properly but some colors are not even close to each-other in the color selector and rendered image.

After playing around a while whole editor goes crazy. Like, changing a hair layout will also change the color of the hair. Or when changing color of the hair it will also change the color of the skin..

I have a video uploaded here:
Bugged Henchman

My Custom Henchman Templated:
HUS_Henchman.zip

First, thank you very much for this guide ; I was able to create a custom henchman using it.

However, I just wanted to point out that I was unable to create a second custom henchman without having to change the "ID" attribute under "HenchManData" in the .lsx file.

I tried more than a dozen filenames and character names and my custom henchman never showed up in the list until I switched IDs. I used the ID generator someone provided in a previous post (http://www.guidgenerator.com/online-guid-generator.aspx) and it worked like a charm after that.

Thanks again!

Nice mod, I've made a hunter (marksman/scoundrel), with 3 in geomancer (and wolf pet)

A question : do you know how you can change the price of your henchman or it's automatically calculated ?

Thanks a lot

Sort of necroing, but this is the only place I've seen them, and since I started messing with it, thought I'd ask.

Do you happen to know the location of textures/models for the appearance of those henchmen?
Hair and faces in the screenshot you provide are unique, and I was thinking about perhaps making replacers for PCs.

I got a problem. When I try to open the game, it says that Divinity has stop working. The game work fine if I remove the Mods folder.

Necroingggg, does this work in multiplayer?