¶ AI Character Growth
¶ Diaries
Each AI NPC will have their own diary. The purpose of this is to provide a roleplaying tool that can generate an after-action-report of your entire Skyrim playthrough!
We mainly intend that your followers are the main NPCs who keep diaries. As they are around you the most and have the most intresting stories to tell based from their adventures with you.
We highly recommend that you maintain diary entries for at least 1-2 followers as it's honestly very neat seeing the tale of your adventures from their perspective.
It will use a non-JSON connector (CONNECTORS_DIARY) to generate a diary entry.
Diaries can be triggered in 2 ways.
- Auto Diary: You current followers will update their diary everytime you wait (you can disable the wait trigger) or sleep.
- MCM Hotkey: Press the hotkey for the person you are looking up to update their diary. Hold it for all nearby NPC's to update their diary.
Diary entries are logged as memories, so they will be used to create summarized memory entries.
When looking for memories, it won't search in the diary directly, but info from diary entries are used to create memories summaries.
¶
Memories
CHIM supports a memory system that will allow AI NPC’s to remember events that have happened in the past.
Memory Systems:
Auto Summaries - Long term system that generates summaries of events and pulls them into conversations when appropriate.
Midterm Memory - A list of previous events tracked for each NPC. Think of it as a "Dwarf Fortress" announcement list.
Dynamic Profiles - Short term changes and goals. These are updates to an NPC's biography fields.
You can configure how often it triggers in the MCM menu.
You can configure which fields are updated in the profile menu.
Diaries - Journal entries recording your adventures from other NPC's perspective.
¶ Relationship Affinity System
CHIM features a sophisticated relationship tracking system that allows NPCs to develop dynamic feelings toward the player and other NPCs over time. Their affinity toward you will change based on your actions!
How It Works:
Each NPC tracks relationships using two components:
- Affinity Score (-100 to +100): How much they like or dislike someone
- Relationship Type: The nature of the relationship (Romantic, Platonic, Professional, Rival, etc.)
Affinity Tiers:
| Score Range | Tier | Description |
|---|---|---|
| +91 to +100 | Bonded | Soulmates, unbreakable connection |
| +76 to +90 | Devoted | Deep loyalty or love |
| +56 to +75 | Fond | Genuine affection |
| +31 to +55 | Friendly | Pleasant, helpful |
| +6 to +30 | Acquaintance | Polite recognition |
| -5 to +5 | Neutral | Stranger, indifferent |
| -6 to -30 | Wary | Distrustful, suspicious |
| -31 to -55 | Cold | Unfriendly, dismissive |
| -56 to -75 | Resentful | Bitter, holds grudges |
| -76 to -90 | Hateful | Active malice |
| -91 to -100 | Hostile | Kill on sight |
Relationship Types:
Classic types include: Romantic 💘, Platonic 🤝, Familial 👨👩👧, Professional 💼, Rival ⚔️, Enemy 🗡️, and Neutral ➖.Extended types for richer storytelling: Mentor 📚, Student 🎓, Crush 💗, Betrayed 🔪, Protective 🛡️, Jealous 💚, Obsessed 🌀, and many more!
Two Operating Modes:
- Dedicated Relationship LLM (Recommended): Set a separate connector in Global Settings to handle relationship evaluations. This watches conversations and decides when feelings change - the conversation AI doesn't need to handle scoring.
- Command-Based (Fallback): If no Relationship LLM is set, the conversation model handles scoring via commands like #REL:Player=+15#.
Dynamic Changes:
Affinity changes are scaled to the significance of the action:
- Minor (+/-5 to 10): Small kindness, rude comment
- Moderate (+/-15 to 25): Meaningful gift, insult, helping in danger
- Major (+/-30 to 50): Saving a life, betrayal, violence
- Extreme (+/-60 to 80): Killing a loved one, life-changing sacrifice
Features:
- Static Analysis: When NPCs are first discovered, their TEXT relationship descriptions are analyzed and converted to structured data.
- Dynamic Evaluation: Relationships update in real-time based on conversation context.
- NPC-to-NPC Relationships: NPCs can develop feelings about each other, not just the player!
- Transitive Inference: If Lydia loves you (+80) and you hate Nazeem (-70), Lydia may become wary of Nazeem too.
- Build with AI: Use the "Build Relationships" button in NPC Master to bulk-process existing NPCs.
Setup:
- In Global Settings, set "Relationship LLM Connector" to a preferred small/fast model (optional but recommended).
- Relationships will automatically develop as you play!
- View and edit relationships in the NPC Master page by clicking on any NPC.
¶ Background Life System
The Background Life system brings NPCs to life even when you're not around! While you're off adventuring, your favorite NPCs continue to live their own lives - traveling, thinking, spreading rumors, and even sending you letters.
How It Works
When Background Life is enabled for an NPC, CHIM periodically generates "inner thoughts" for that character based on:
- Their last conversation with you - What was discussed? What happened?
- Their character sheet - Goals, personality, background, relationships
- Their current location - Where are they now?
- Recent events - Background activities they've been doing
- Rumors in the area - What's happening in their current hold?
- Time passed - How long since you last saw them?
The AI then generates a soliloquy (inner monologue) imagining what the NPC has been doing, thinking, and experiencing in your absence.
Background Life Modes
There are two levels of Background Life functionality:
1. Passive Mode (Background Life Enabled)
- NPCs generate inner thoughts and rumor content
- Can spread rumors based on their activities
- Tracks their location history
- No autonomous movement - they stay where you left them
2. Full Mode (Autonomous Actions Enabled)
- Everything from Passive Mode, PLUS:
- NPCs can autonomously travel to new locations
- Can decide to return home
- Takes AI-driven actions based on their goals
- Available actions:
- StayAtPlace - Remain at current location
- TravelTo:<Location> - Travel somewhere new
- ReturnHome - Return to their base location
- SpreadRumor - Generate local rumors
Letters System
When Letters are enabled for an NPC, they can send you actual letters via Skyrim's courier system!
- The AI writes a letter in-character from the NPC to the player
- A physical letter item is generated in-game
- A courier will deliver it to you
- Letters are styled based on the NPC's personality and speech patterns
- Letters reference recent events and the NPC's current situation
- Letters are logged in the NPC's diary
Example: You leave Lydia at Whiterun while you explore Solstheim. A week later, a courier finds you with a letter from Lydia describing how she's been training with the guards, heard rumors about dragon sightings, and hopes you're staying safe.
GPS Tracking
Enable Hourly GPS Trackingto monitor an NPC's location in real-time:
- Their position is tracked every in-game hour
- View their location on the Map View page
- See their movement history over time
- Useful for NPCs with Autonomous Actions enabled so you can find them!
Configuration
Background Life can be configured at multiple levels:
Per-NPC Settings (in NPC Master or Map View):
- ✅ Background Life Enabled - Enable the system for this NPC
- ✅ Autonomous Actions - Allow the NPC to travel and take actions
- ✅ Letters - Allow the NPC to send you letters
- ✅ Hourly GPS Tracking - Track their location every hour
Global Settings:
- BGL_TRIGGER_DAYS - How many in-game days between Background Life updates (default: 5 days)
Customizable Prompts (in Prompts Manager):
- background_life_letter - Style instructions for letter writing
- background_life_innerthought - Style instructions for inner thought generation
Map View Integration
The Map View page (Immersion → Map View) provides a visual interface for Background Life:
- See all tracked NPCs on a Skyrim map
- View their current location and movement history
- Toggle Background Life settings per-NPC
- Read their recent letters and inner thoughts
- Track coordinates history over time
What Gets Generated
Inner Thoughts / Soliloquy:
- What activities the NPC has engaged in
- Possible events or encounters they experienced
- Intimate thoughts about recent events
- Reflections on their goals and relationships
Rumors:
- Location-specific rumors the NPC spreads
- Based on their activities and the local area
- These rumors can appear in the game world!
Letters (if enabled):
- Written in-character from NPC to player
- Reference recent shared experiences
- Short and concise (2-3 paragraphs)
- Delivered via courier in-game
Tips for Best Results
- Enable for followers - They have the most context about your adventures
- Enable for NPCs you care about - Characters you've built relationships with
- Give NPCs clear goals - NPCs with defined objectives generate more interesting content
- Use with Dynamic Profiles - Let their personality evolve based on experiences
- Check Map View periodically - See what your favorite NPCs have been up to!