Are you the kind of person who starts a character, gets to about level 10 or so, and then starts over? Are you also a person who plays FWE and ueses the Alt Start? Are you tired of always starting with the same gear in the same place? If so, then this is most certainly for you.

http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=14391

What this is
This is a complete reworking of the entire Alt Start system in Fallout Wanderers Edition. It aims to add variety to the start both in equipment and locations. It provides you with gear related to your skills and history, and places you in a location that is either faction important or somewhere around the Wasteland.

How this works
It actually works no differently on the user end than it did before. You choose your race, skills, and history at the terminal, and then activate the bed. All the original options are still there (hardcoe for Raider and Slaver).

Where this changes is when it starts handing out gear. Each history is broken down into 3 levels: Poor, Moderate, Wealthy.

Poor histories are unable to receive the best gear, even if they have high skills. (History Modifier of 0)

Moderate histories could receive the best gear if they have high enough skill values. (History Modifier of 1)

Wealthy histories are almost guaranteed the best gear with even low values in the required skills. (History Modifier of 2)


All skills are factored into your history to determine:

• What weapons you get when you start (weapons skills)
  
  
• How well repaired your gear is (repair skill)
  
  
• How many caps you get (barter + speech skills)

Breakdown

AMMO
Ammo quantity is based on the history level plus a small random percentage. The variation is 1 or 2 clips at most, with all weapons yielding at least 1 clip of ammo. Weapon clip size is also taken into consideration. For example, a sawed off shotgun has a clip size of two, which is recognized and the player is given additional ammo to make up for the difference. The same is also done for big guns (yes, it is possible to get a missile launcher or fat man as a start weapon). Ammo amounts can be boosted by having the Scrounger perk.


ARMOR
Armor is chosen from a list of armors likely to be worn by a particular history (based on the creator's decision). It is chosen randomly from the list of armors available to the history. Some histories, such as Outcast, only get faction armor (same as in the original). All histories have a chance for both a body wear item, and headgear. However, you may not always receive headgear (headgear ranges from bandannas to Pre-War hats to motorcycle helmets).

Armors are auto equipped.


CAPS
Caps are calculated based on a history bonus as well as your Barter and Speech skills combined. Certain histories get an additional caps bonus (ex. Doctor). The calculation breaks down like this:

(Speech + Barter) * History Bonus

If the history has an additional bonus, it is added to the end as a random number between 300 and 500. This calculation yields a low of around 200 for a Slave, up to around 900 for a Doctor. The Fortune Finder perk also factors into the amount of caps received.


CHEMS
Chems are given based on Medicine skill. The chems given are taken directly from the default loot lists. So if you have another mod that adds more chems to these lists, they will potentially be given as well. Doctors will receive additional chems based on the loot lists.

All characters will receive at least 2 Stimpaks.


FOOD
Food has been broken down into 2 categories: Wasteland food, and Pre-War food. Any character with a Poor history modifier will receive Wasteland foods (meat from various creatures), while any character with a Moderate or Wealthy history modifier will receive Pre-War food in varying quantities. Drinks are also calculated here, again based on history modifier (only effects quantity).


LOCATIONS
Locations have been chosen for a variety of factors. The foremost of which is faction relevance. Each history has a list of locations where the character may spawn based on their history. However, to keep things a bit more interesting, there is a chance that you might wind up in a random location somewhere around the Wasteland. These random locations were chosen to be as fair as possible (not many enemies, few encounters near by). However, in the interest of keeping things interesting, there is a chance you might spawn somewhere with quite a few enemies near by (not close enough to engage, but close enough that they must be fought in order to go anywhere). In some cases, the locations are fairly limited (Doctors will only spawn near towns), but for the most part, there is always a chance you will spawn somewhere in the Wasteland.

All chances are weighted with a 60% chance to spawn you at faction important locations. The one exception is the Vault start, which has a 90% chance of spawning you at Vault 101, and a 10% chance of spawning you at one of the major towns (Tenpenny, Megaton, Rivet City).


MISCELLANEOUS
This determines what miscellaneous items you start with. It is built using default clutter lists. However, unlike in the other categories where a low history modifier decreases the amount you receive, this category gives more items to characters with a lower modifier. This means that wealthier characters will have fewer junk items.

A few exceptions are made here. Doctors will only receive medical related gear, and any character with the Scavenger start will draw directly from the Scavenger vendor list. This means that Scavengers will potentially have ammo for guns they don't have, as well as extra armors.


REPAIR
Repair factors into both weapons and armor to determine the condition of the items. It breaks down like this:

(Repair - History Penalty + History bonus) / 100

History Penalty and History Bonus are semi-random values based on default values for the history level. This leads to the condition of your items to always be below your repair skill. However, the Mechanic history has no repair penalties, and item condition will be equal to repair. Any perk that boosts repair will be factored in.


WEAPONS
Weapons are now calculated from a series of lists that determine the quality and type. Each skill gets its own calculations for weapon quality, repair, and ammo amount. The calculation for each weapon skill is shown here:

If the skill is over 31, Skill[type] flagged as 2
If the skill is over 24 or is a Tagged skill, Skill[type] flagged as 1

If Skill[type] is greater than 1 (this skill meets minimum requirements to get a weapon)
Calculations for weapon condition are done (see Repair above)

Skill[type] + History Modifier (determines what level of weapons to use)

Gets the list of weapons for the appropriate skill value and randomly chooses one of the items in the list.

The weapon is added and ammo is calculated (see Ammo above).

The above is done for each weapon type that qualifies. The weapons are on a graduated scale of power. This mostly applies to small guns in the following way:

Skill level of 1 - worn weapons, only pistols
Skill level of 2 - worn larger guns (shotguns, smgs, etc), regular pistols
Skill level of 3 - worn rifle weapons, regular shotguns and smgs
Skill level of 4 - regular rifle type weapons

Explosives are handled a bit differently. The explosives given are taken directly from the grenade and explosives lists, and scale from just frag explosives all the way up to plasma and pulse explosives. (This is the only place I'm not entirely confident about the distribution of weapons).

A limitation is reached at unarmed weapons, as there are just a handful. Therefore, only one weapon for each level exists, with the 4th level getting a Deathclaw Gauntlet.

A few generalizations are made as well. All character will receive a sidearm pistol (either a gunpowder weapon or a laser pistol). These sidearms are chosen from the lowest level list for each type, and you have a 50/50 chance of getting one type or the other. All characters will also receive a simple melee weapon or unarmed weapon, with the same parameters as above. And finally, a small number of grenades will be given to any non-explosives specializing character.

The last weapon received is auto equipped.

Warning, this uses the FWE Worn Weapons in its lists. The worn weapons have been removed from FWE pending further development. So there will be a bit of inconsistency. The use of worn weapons was required to keep the weapon lists diversified enough.

In testing, no character was ever given more than about 80 WG of items total. The one exception is Outcast, which has power armor.


For a look at some of the locations available:



Other
If you would like to play with the new settings, you must first be in the Alt Start shack. Before using the bed, open the console and type:
startquest altstarttest
set altstarttest.test to 1

This will do two things. First, it will enable two buttons on the wall of the shack. The buttons are named according to what they do. Second, it turns off the travel feature, so that you can stay in the shack and continue to test.
To turn testing off, open the console again and type:
startquest altstarttest
set altstarttest.test to 2

This will disable the buttons and turn the travel feature back on.


Requirements
http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=2761


Issues
None that I am aware of. The only issue might be if something uses some of the original Alt Start markers, as a few were renamed.


Credits
Pintocat for the idea and initial design of the system
The FWE team for providing such an awesome mod, so many of whose elements will appear in FO: NV
FOSE for providing functions without which this would have been impossible
Bethesda for obvious reasons
ElminsterAU for FO3Edit

Other thoughts
The most awesome mod you'll never see, and only use a few times.
^(one of)

I really look forward to this. I love the FWE alternate start, but it does get repetetive. It'd be nice to pick the same history and yet end up somewhere different than before with different gear.

You've got a groupie. *trumpets*

Yeah I'm one of the group that starts a lot of characters, I enjoy the starting levels the most , when everything is
still a struggle.
Will definitely be trying this out when it is released.
Have you done away with the birth scene? It would be nice to have the option to go right to the alt. start shack.
:thumbsup:

I have a couple suggestions:

More realistic ghoul history, with correct factions and radiation healing. What? BOS being friendly is required for the MQ? Make a "Human Mask".

Starting in a fight and/or quest e.g. slave history you start out escaping.

Unfortunately (well, fortunately for me) altering the way the game starts was beyond the scope of what I set out to do here. The only thing that has been changed is the script that runs on the bed in the Alt Start shack.

Fun fact, I actually hit the character limit on scripts twice while making this, and had to split it into 5 separate scripts. And before you get all "omg wtf that's a lot of code", it's actually just the same thing over and over. And over and over and over and over.

I can just imagine. I've only learnt enough GECK to be dangerous to myself yet. The Alt. Start mod on the Nexus some how managed to bypass the birth scene, don't know how though.
Still this mod looks very promising and has great potential to increase the RPGedness (is that a word?) of your character.

This all basically came about because of the old problem of starting an energy weapons character and getting a 10mm pistol as a start weapon.

Then the next logical step of, "Well... a slave wouldn't usually start with a plasma rifle... a history should have the weapons not only appropriate to skill proficiency but also to the history iteself."

The alt-start script in FWE itself is all static... a raider ALWAYS gets the same weapon, ALWAYS gets an ashtray, etc. Everything that could be moved out of the script and into lists was. This makes it easy for each history to be different and also easy to tweak the lists.


Gribbleshibit did an incredible job with this.

Just downloaded the file and tried it out.
Two problems:
1. Readme file is empty 0 bytes
2. Click on bed ... get stuff ... can't leave shack.

I just downloaded and going to test this out. Zephyrus is correct, the readme is blank.

Weird, this release I'm getting the same thing... not leaving the shack... I'm sure he'll fix it soon

Ok, confirmed, each time I click on the bed, I get my items but I can't leave the shack. If I click on the bed again, I get the items again (and again each time I click on the bed) but still can't leave the shack.

[edit to add] Just tried again, still no luck. I tried the Scavenger, Slaver and the Doctor ones. All fresh starts, 2 were fresh merged patchs threw FO3Edit cause I figured maybe it was a load order issue.
My load order just for comparison


I have to say though, I do wish we started out with less items than what we get.

Wow, that was a major fail on my part. I made a few last minute changes to the scripts to remove some debugging stuff and forgot to add the changes in GECK. It's fixed and uploaded now. Sorry about the trouble there. Tested this one and confirmed that it works. (Though I could have sworn I tested the last one too).

Probably should refrain from modding and posting while tired and distracted.

Double post. Figures something else would go wrong. I'm going to bed. Have fun with this




Are you referring to the current amount of stuff that you get. I could probably throw some variables in there to edit all that stuff. I'll admit my first priority was to get it working. Plus, I sort of like tons of junk, never know what it might come in handy in a mod later down the road.

But if you want less stuff, I can pretty easily put that in. Not sure where to put the option for that though. Sure am glad I didn't make any changes to the terminal though (since FWE 6.0 changes it some). I might be able to tie it into FWE rarity, but since that's an option that can't be set until after you leave the shack.......any suggestions on this would be good. I'll look into it when I get off work tomorrow.

Woot, new upload works.

It sure does!:)
however:

if I type that it does't work if I type this:
startquest altstarttest
set altstarttest.test to 1
it works.
not the mod but the testing buttons
I've tried a few new starts out & and it was very nice to start in a different location
Regulator ----> Tenpenny tower :thumbsup:
good job :celebration:

MDPL-13 was harrowing... it started me close enough for raiders to see me.

Another start (with a mechanic), I got a Red Racer jumpsuit (instead of usual robco ), and MDPL-21. That one was safe. Most of the start locations are near a habitable building. Not all have beds but usually at least storage, or even just an indoor cell.

Yeah, this is like a mini game in itself, trying out all the different character starts
and seeing how good or how bad a place you can end up in.

Yes, I am referring to the current amount of stuff that we get when we click the bed to get our items. It seems like too easy of a start (in my own opinion). For example, we start with about 4 weapon choices (not including the explosives). But don't just listen to me, cause you will probably get more people saying that there isn't enough stuff lol. If you were to do this, probably best to make it as an option.

Oh, and it works perfect now Thank you!
[edit] Confirmed with the politician being over encumbered. The bed gives the items and you remain in the shack. I was 7k over encumbered (had over 100 cups, pure waters, dirty waters and other items).

Enclave start as well. All the others work.


StartArmorPolitician
Index Type Editor ID
0 REFR Alt Start Big Town Marker ????
StartHelmPolitician
prewarhat
Also both the Outcast and Enclave have no items in them, however the Outcast start works, the Enclave start you are overencumbered.

I know why then. Something about trying to call an item from an empty form list causes the script to stop (I'm assuming due to the equivalent of an access violation). And since the scripts are run in a game mode block, they then get processed every frame (currently, the script stops its own quest at the end of the script) down to the error, then dumps and starts over. Easy enough fix. It'll be up in just a few minutes.

A relatively easy thing to overlook when there are 101 form lists (another fun fact).

A few more fun facts (just because I can) There are 1,188 lines of code and 59,321 characters in the 5 scripts.

This also has 50 hand placed locations chosen for starts. And please, if you find a location that seems to be too.....unfair, let me know and I'll fix it.

EDIT:

Alright, I fixed the problem (which was what I thought it was). A couple more questions before I put this out.

How would you like to see items limited? I can do it in a couple of ways. The easiest of which would be to have a couple of console commands to change it. The more complicated would probably involve extra activators in the shack. Unless there's a way to get the FWE control panel before you leave.

If it's a problem of just too many weapons, I could add a check to see how many you already have. Then it just comes down to what order they should be considered in. I think something like: Small Guns, Energy Weapons, Big Guns, Melee, Unarmed. With a limit of no more than 3 guns total. Would you still want the sidearm pistol?

Any ideas before about 10 US Central time will be taken into consideration.

I would like to see a small chance of 5-10 % of a truly awful start.
We are playing FWE after all and the hard-core player might enjoy an unfair start.
If it was too bad just reload your save before you exited the start shack.
(shame on you if you didn't save:))

As for the starting loot I think a lot comes down to whether you use the alternate
travel plug-in or not. If you use the default fast travel, then you can travel from
anywhere on the map to vault 101 and a small amount of starting items doesn't matter.

If you use alt. trav. and start as, say, a Docter in Rivet City then you need all the
starting items you can get to raise the money to travel to Megaton. Since it would be
very difficult for a lv 2 character to walk/fight his way there.

It is aways nice to start with a decent melee weapon even if you never add any points to that skill.

I guess more options are always better.

BUT this is YOUR mod and I am quite pleased with it as is.

*edit to add* I agree with what Miss Sparkle says below

As far as how the items are limited, (please forgive me for not knowing how you handle the scripting) here is my thought.

For weapons:
A melee weapon of some sort ( like Zephyrus said, and like I have seen in the set up so far), the richer the person, the better the condition.
An explosive type ( max of 2 pieces for poor, max of 4 pieces for med wealth person, and max of 8 pieces for wealthy).
A random gun for the tag skill. If a person tags small guns, a random small gun gets added. If a person tags big guns, same thing applies.

This example could be used for everything else.

Say you pick the doctor, you would have mostly medical items issued, along with some purified water.
Poor person would have poor condition items and a max of 2 pieces ( example, 2 stim packs, 2 dirty water, etc) for the selected items issued.
Med wealth person would have med condition items and a max of 4 pieces of the selected items issued.
Wealthy person would have a max of 8 pieces of the items issued and in almost (about 75% condition) perfect items issued.

P.S. I don't use console commands, but I suppose if a note of some sort was added to my inventory to tell me the console commands, I would be ok with that. It would be immersion breaking for me though.

Alright, I'll try to explain how I'm doing the weapons.

First, a skill check is made, if the skill for that weapon is over 24, or it's tagged, then the skill bonus gets set to 1. If the skill is over 31, then it gets set to 2. This is done for each weapon skill.

The next thing it does is check the skill bonus. If the bonus is greater than 0, you qualify for a weapon from that category. It then does several calculations to get the randomized health level for the weapon it will add, using the player's Repair skill as a base value.

This is where the real magic is done. A simple calculation is done, taking into consideration the player's history bonus (0 for poor, 1 for moderate, 2 for wealthy) and the previously set skill bonus. An example for this would be a skill bonus of 1, and a history bonus of 2 (mechanic among a few). So, to determine what level of weapon you should get: (1 + 2) - 1. This gives us an index value of 2 (the minus 1 is an offset, since lists start at 0).

So now it has an index value to look for. It then looks at a list that contains a list (a bit confusing, yes) of weapons. The first list is for the type of weapon we're looking for (ie. Big Guns), and it contains lists of weapons for each 'level' (how high your skill is, combined with your history).

index	BigGuns		BigGuns1			BigGuns2		BigGuns3				BigGuns40	BigGuns1	Worn M60			M60			M60					M601	BigGuns2	Worn Flamer			Flamer			Flamer					Flamer2	BigGuns3	Worn Minigun			Minigun			Minigun					Vindicator Minigun3	BigGuns4								Missile Launcher			Missile Launcher															Fatman (I ran out of decent weapons)

So, for our Mechanic, we would look for the list at the second index (remember though, it starts counting at 0, which means it's really getting index number 1).

Now that we have the list with the appropriate weapons, we can give one to the player. So now it calculates a random number (based on the size of the list) and chooses a weapon from the list to add. It then does a few more randomizations to get mix up the amount of ammo you get, and gives you ammo for the gun it just gave.

This same process is repeated for each weapon type. As I pointed out (and you can see), each weapon type makes use of the FWE worn weapons (a feature removed from the most recent release). I did this because otherwise there would be no difference between the first 2 lists.


In my testing to make sure I got all my numbers right here, I found that it does indeed give a few too many weapons. Namely, my mechanic, with only marginal skill in some areas was getting a laser rifle, minigun, shotgun (or assault rifle or hunting rifle), and a pistol (energy or gunpowder). I'm going to re-examine my calculations, and probably put a limit on how many weapons will be given.

Currently, the way it decides a sidearm pistol is a 50/50 chance for energy or gunpowder. However, in my recent tests, this led to me winding up with two pistol type weapons if my small guns skill wound up at 1 (bonus value). I'm going to implement a check to ensure that you only receive one pistol type weapon. Same for melee weapons.

Version 1.2 uploaded.

CHANGELOG
9/4/2010:

• Reduced amounts given of all items (food, chems, misc.)
  
• Fixed issues with buggy items being given
  
• Fixed Raider/Slaver histories
  
• Fixed Politician and Ex-Enclave having ~36000 pounds of items.

9/26/2010 - 1.4:

• Significantly changes ammo amounts. See the Ammo section for details; the result is that for each weapon, you will have 1 to 3 clips worth of ammo, plus a partial clip. Old calculation ranged from 2 to 7 clips per weapon.
  
• Fixed the non-hardcoe Slavers/Raiders being given the hardcoe factions.
  
• Added key to Fort Independence for Outcast equipment.