Enhanced Sona

VERSION 2 UPDATE

• New outfits have been added to Sona's Wardrobe and Cora's Suitcase. These are based on crowd outfits that I've refit for the child body, made possible by a new Outfit Studio fork for Starfield. There are two variants of the cargo pants and vest, one jacketed outfit, and a dress. You can find these under custom outfits, see the latest image for a preview.
• The strands of hair that could clip into Sona's left cheek have been removed. Sona's hair is also fully standalone now and will not be affected by mods that change the adult version of the choppy bob.
• Added a read slate marker for Sona in Noel's room, as she's being taught and doing some related reading there.
• If you complete "In Memoriam" and bring Sona to the lodge, but Sarah dies afterwards, Sona will disappear after the funeral. If that happens, a new option will appear on Sona's terminal to give you a way to return Sona to the lodge.
• An additional ceiling light for Cora's room in the basement can be toggled on and off from Sona's terminal. Depending on the LUTs you use, it could be pretty dark down there.
• Removed the package changes that were active before "In Memoriam" ends. Sona will now remain in Sarah's room until the quest is over, to prevent Sona from being elsewhere in the lodge while Sarah talks to her at the end of the quest.
• Fixed an error in the materials for the Vanguard and Constellation child outfits, which became more apparent after the Free Lanes update and may have been causing occasional texture issues on the outfits.
• Some other small corrections.
• PlayStation release.

DESCRIPTION So, you promised Sona a better life if she came back with you to New Atlantis. But then what happened? She just got dumped at the lodge, without anything to do and without even a bed to sleep in. It's time we fixed that! And while we're at it, let's do something with her appearance so she doesn't have the exact same face as every other female child in the game (except Cora).

In addition to Sona's new appearance, the small storage room at the lodge will turn into Sona's room. There she can sleep, eat and use various furniture. Other animation markers for Sona are present around the lodge. Sona's room includes a wardrobe which can change her clothes, and some new child outfits are included. There's also a buildable suitcase that can do the same for Cora.

A compatibility function allows the mod to be used even with some lodge overhaul mods that put objects in the same places.

[ For those of you new to Starfield, Sona is someone you will meet during Sarah's personal mission, which starts when you reach a certain affinity level with her. ]

APPEARANCE You've probably noticed this already, but children in Starfield aren't exactly varied. Unlike in previous Bethesda games, there were only 3 possible faces; boy, girl, and Cora. However there's actually another female child face mesh in the game files that isn't used. I've combined that unused face with one of funhammy's additional child skin tones, and a hairstyle that's a mashup of child and adult hair. After making Sona a little shorter than other children as well, I think this is probably as different an appearance as I can make for a child.

A version without the new appearance for Sona is available on Nexus Mods.

SONA'S ROOM AND COMPATIBILITY BUTTON The small storage room, located next to Andreja's room and the meeting room, will turn into Sona's room after she arrives in New Atlantis. It has child-sized furniture for Sona to use, including a TV that turns itself on and off depending on whether the couch is being used. Just outside the room there's a button on the wall that has two functions. It can temporarily enable the room changes prior to Sona's arrival, and it also looks for conflicting lodge mods. If supported conflicts are found, you'll be given the option to have clashing objects moved or disabled as needed.

SONA'S WARDROBE AND CORA'S SUITCASE In Sona's room you'll find a wardrobe that can be used to change Sona's outfits. Some of the outfits will unlock as your character progresses in certain missions, for details see the terminal in Sona's room. There are six new outfits included as well, a Constellation-themed one, a Vanguard one, two variants of the cargo pants and vest outfit, one jacketed outfit, and one dress.

Cora's suitcase does the same thing, but for Cora. You can find it in the miscellaneous tab of your ship decorator or outpost builder. If Cora is at the lodge and you want to change her clothes there, you can use the terminal in Sona's room to add or remove Cora's suitcase from her room. If you want to enable Cora's suitcase at the lodge but Sona is not yet present, you can use the compatibility button to temporarily enable the terminal.

EATING, SLEEPING AND SANDBOXING Sona now has a proper sleep package like the other permanent residents of the lodge, and will use her bed. Sona also eats twice a day. When sandboxing, you may see Sona relaxing in the garden, browsing bookshelves, reading, studying in Noel's room, drinking at the bar (soft drinks only!) or admiring the fireplace. Sona's couch can seat two people, and if Cora is present, and has a sandbox package that allows her to reach it, she may sit on the couch and watch TV as well.

COMPATIBILITY This mod includes no navmeshing, that was deliberate to maximize its compatibility with lodge overhaul mods, as was the choice of room for Sona as most mods that change the lodge have left the small storage room untouched. Sona's NPC record has edits to add Sona's new packages, change her appearance etc. so this mod will need to be placed below any others that edit that. I recommend placing it below any other mod that adds things to the lodge.

The compatibility button outside Sona's room supports the following mods: Audrey - Starborn Companion, Lodge Renovations, The Lodge Revamped, The Lodge Improved, The Lodge Cozymaxxed, Va'ruun Lodge and Lodge Underground Suite (no DSM version).

The Lodge Awakened, Lodge Reimagined, The Lodge Re-Redone and Lodge Underground Suite (DSM version) have also been tested and had no compatibility issues.

NOTES If Sona's forearms look a little strange on her default outfit after first installing the mod, like there are holes in the sleeves, just swap her into another outfit using the wardrobe and then back again, that should correct it.

An additional plugin is available on Nexus Mods to fix Cora's sandboxing and sleep package (or lack thereof) while she's at the lodge. If this is wanted for Xbox/PS, let me know there.

CREDITS Thanks to funhammy for their "Skin Tones for Children" modders resource, this mod includes a version of their skin tone 3 (modified for better Xbox compatibility) and associated AVMS changes.

I can be reached at Nexus Mods.