I just uploaded my version 4.2 Beta release of my Less_Is_More module (under Files/Updates): http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=7565

This is simply a beta release of my Less_Is_More module, which includes the changes that will be included in version 4.2 of my Realism Tweaks. It futher reduces the amount of ammo, food, and drinks that is just lying around in the Fallout 3 game world.I was working on version 4.2 of my Less_Is_More module, when "The Hungry Wasteland" topic came up in this forum, so I offered to release my beta version of this module. Details (changes from v.4.1):====================
- Reduced the amount of 10mm ammo found in Vault 101 by ~ 66% of the default amount.
- Reduced the amount of generic food (loot food) in the game to 60 to 75% default amount (was ~ 50% of default in v.4.1)
- This should now effect ALL food loot (I missed some in v.4.1)
- Increases the chance that most killed animals will provide meat (from 75% default, to 100%)
- Reduced drinks (which were untouched in v.4.1) to roughly 40% less drink loot from default (includes liquor and non-liquor).

Installation:
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If you're using the Arwen_Less_Is_More.esp, just replace the v.4.1 one with this new one. If you are using the Arwen_FULL_Tweaks.esp, just put this new Arwen_Less_Is_More.esp below it in your load order (so that it will load later, and the new reduced amounts will overwrite the earlier version).

Arwen,

I'm unsure what FOSE affects?

If I don't use it - what goes wrong?

I'm convinced FOSE ups the chances for CTD/freezes in game and have an aversion to it.... I realize people will disagree with it.

So, I'm just curious what it will affect - and if the mod is playable without it on most levels?

Thanks. Love the mod and use it in full prior to the new FOSE release...

J

I avoided having my Realism Tweaks require FOSE for as long as possible, for this exact reason: Not that I believe that FOSE makes the game any more unstable, but because some users blame it for their CTDs.

But, without FOSE, I was quite limited in what I was able to script. Eventually FOSE won out, because my primary reason for creating this mod, is to improve my own game play (but I'm totally willing to make my mod available for others . . . even though the sharing/support part takes at least as much time as creating/updating my mod).

Without FOSE, there is no dynamic sneak script (which is a big part of my mod) . . . so the sneak settings would be totally messed up.
Without FOSE, there are no weapon restrictions when crippled; no skill requirements for weapons; and no dynamic jump (where your agility affects your ability to jump).

Other than none of the above scripts working, I'm not sure what else might happen if you tried to run a FOSE required esp . . . I would expect that, at the very least, it would make the game way more unstable than just using FOSE ever would.

I've been using FOSE for nearly as long as I've been playing FO3, and CTD's rarely happen in my own game (and I often run FO3 while a bunch of other programs are also running . . . like the GECK, when I'm play testing my latest mod changes). FOSE and FOMM are extremely well made utilities, that make the game way more enjoyable. And their are just way too many great mods that require FOSE.

Hey, Arwen!

Just read through the entire readme of the latest version. What a long way this mod has come!

Quite an accomplishment. Thanks for all your hard work and creativity.

gothemasticator

In my case FOSE even reduces CTD's and improves performance because I'm using the Fallout Stutter Remover which depends on it. I've never had anything but good experiences with FOSE/OBSE.

Only time I have stuff from FO3 act up is actually as I exit the game. I can't seem to have other windows open when I start up my game because when I exit the game. The game stutters and crashes into a few errors. Not having windows up. Its perfectly fine. Go figure.

As for FOSE. Even the flaky behavior I do get. FOSE hasn't been a cause in any problems at all.

Thanks gothemasticator, and you're very welcome.

@ Everybody: I'm in the process of repackaging my mod (as it has become way more complex than I ever planned, and I'm about to add a GOTY compatibility version/patch), and I could really use some help and feedback in coming up with the best way to do this. (I received some great advice on the GECK forum, but am still a bit lost.) This is what I currently have in mind:

• An Arwen_Realism.esm, with a matching core Arwen_Realism.esp, so that the two would contain (between them) the bulk of my Realism Tweaks (probably all that is currently in my Main Tweaks, Survival, Localized Damage, and Smarter AI modules; plus all the game settings from the other modules).
• And then I would have a couple optional esps for the remainder of my mod (my weapons/armor; Skills/Less_Is_More; and my Reduced XPR modules). And all the esps would have the Arwen_Realism.esm as their master. I would also want the Arwen_Realism.esp to be the second master for all the optional esps.
• And last of all, a couple of compatibility patches.

I've never used an esm in any of my mods, so I'm a bit out of my comfort zone with this (although I have now figured out how to make one). As I understand things, my Arwen_Realism.esm should have things that are unique (such as my scripts, quests, messages, and anything else that couldn't be overwritten by other mods); which would mean that it would be a pretty small file. And then my Arwen_Realism.esp would contain all my edited game settings and anything else that I would not want to to be overwritten (so that it could be put near the end of the load order, just before my optional esps).

Is there anything that should be put in both the Arwen_Realism.esm and the Arwen_Realism.esp? Does any of this make sense, or am I way off base?

Edited: Oh, I nearly forgot! I also plan on adding an in-game config menu (if I can figure out how to make one), so that even though my mod will be a bit less modular, the user will be able to select some of the difficulty settings.

Any chance we can have it remain completely modular and just add the DLC's also modular?

I mean no offense but I only use like half the tweaks. I'd get aspects in my game I'd rather not use, especially when I'm testing other mods. It also would make sense to do this again while mod testing; For localizing bugs and errors. Getting a big lump together mod would hinder game play as a whole. Because obviously unless the whole mod is changed in an update you couldn't continue using said mod in this form.

or






One way around this I suppose would be to make every option you input into your tweaks as an optional in a scroll down menu of on or off.

This would (if you have the patience) greatly improve your mod to be honest. You wouldn't need to make it modular and you could enter in game and toggle all your options. Not just by the modules being setup either. I'm talking about EVERY option you have, in a on/off toggle. That would be AWESOME !

I know many people deal with a few options they rather not use just for a few in a module they DO want. Flicking the ones on at leisure and off also would greatly improve your tweaks.

Do maybe similar to the RI Patch does. Have a menu you can toggle in the pip and allow full control.

My two cents....At least on how I'd use your mod =)

I came across what appears to be a bug during the chargen with 4.1. Following the "Six Years After" movie, I was getting a CTD. At first I thought it was FWE (which I've recently added to my ever-growing list of mods) or possibly the latest IMCN, but after several attempts (and yet more CTDs) I thought to uncheck your Tweaks. That solved the problem, and allowed me to save, quit and restart with the mod reinstalled (though I'm not 100% certain if I restarted immediately).

Still, I love it - despite being relegated to using a 10mm pistol most of the time! I miss my assault weapons...

Any chance we can have it remain completely modular and just add the DLC's also modular?

Well . . . no. I've pretty much made up my mind about having a required core (either an esp or split into an esm/esp)
But there will still be optional esps . . . to start with at least 3, but perhaps 5 (depending on which ones I merge). I'm leaning towards just these 3: my weapons/armor; Skills/Less_Is_More; and my Reduced XPR modules


I knew this was going to bother some users, but I'm doing this in a way that will hopefully work for most. The problem is that because my modules are currently totally independent of each other, that some of them are being used with other overhauls, when is NOT a good I idea, as doing so can totally mess up the balance (and stability) of your game.

First of all, I always update the entire mod (every single module) when I release an update, and having 9 independent modules + a FULL merged esp + a FULL-Skills esp is getting to be way too much to deal with. I really need to consolidate some of the modules, just to keep this thing manageable.

You totally misunderstand what I am planning on doing . . . this is NOT going to be a "big lump together mod" . . . currently my core esp module is only 123 kb in size . . . which is hardly huge. The thing is that the modules that I'm merging together; my Main Tweaks, Survival, Localized Damage, and Smarter AI modules all should be used together anyway, for balance. For instance, the Survival module's weapon damage increases do not work at all well unless you also are using the Localized Damage module (which is what they were balanced for).


There is no way that I can make every thing my Tweaks change an optional toggle. My mod changes over 1300 records, plus it adds a number of my own scripts and some global modifiers. My config menu will perhaps have only 6 or 8 things that you can adjust (at least to start with). So what 6 or 8 things would you like to be able to adjust?

My Realism Tweaks should NOT be combined with FWE or with FOOK2. The nice thing about having a number of overhauls is that uses can pick the one that comes closest to their own vision of what FO3 should be. But you need to pick my Realism Tweaks or FWE . . . the two mods are not designed to be used together, and doing so will result in a bunch of conflicts . . . so I'm not at all surprised that you are experiencing CDTs.

All you have to do is get you Small Guns skills up to 30, and you'll be able to use the automatic weapons (as long as you don't have a crippled arm).

Currently I am using these-

-Main
-Smarter AI
-Survival
-Localized
-Armor
-Weapons
-MMM Patch

I didn't want to touch the new stuff though because of the vats bug. But more over I like the idea but just not using FO3's engine. Novel idea. Crap engine= crap gaming in my opinion. It takes me out of my game to much(the equipping thing). So I'll stick with the 4.0 with the gunshot fix. I do however agree with the requirements of certain things. But I think it should be specific and if possible flexible like a scale. A higher intelligence for example should have a better chance of using a gun if the skill is lower than able to be used.

Basically an "IF" tag on items. If intelligence= 8 than a skill requirement of 30 is now 20. For example =)

But thanks for asking at least =)

Hmmm... well, even with FWE (and all it's relevant patches) I still had that one CTD, which was fixed by unchecking your latest version (4.1). I've had none since then, so the two seem to play nicely together for now. Still, I might end up tinkering more tonight and see what gives.

I'm fully aware that I need a better Small Guns skill to use assault weapons. I don't mind that one bit (after all, my character is a sneaky, speaky kind). And is it my imagination, but do those damn molerats purposely go for the arms?

Arwen said it, I'll just reiterate:
Using Arwen's mod and FWE together is completely [censored] pointless. They both alter the exact same stuff, pretty much everything will conflict with each other.
Not to mention that FWE forces its settings via it's menu scripts and will override most gamesettings from other mods anyhows.

Hey Arwen, any idea if http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1082412-relz-responsive-kill-reactions/, which I figure you might like, would play well with your stealth related tweaks?

My repackage of my mod will work fine for you (and for most people who use my Tweaks). Instead of 9 modules plus a Full merged version, there will only be 5 modules (or perhaps 6, if I go with an esm/esp core combination). This is what my beta version looks like so far:

1.) Required Core (either single esp or esm/esp):
- Realism Core (merged Main Tweaks, SmarterAI, Survival, Localized Damage)

2.) Optional modules:
- Weapons & Armor Module (merged Weapons and Armor, with game settings move to Realism core) . . . requires Realism Core
- Less_Is_More Module
- Skills Module
- Reduced Quest XPR

3.) Compatibility patches
- MMM patch
- GECK patch


I've already fixed this in my v.4.2 beta. The script will not run if you are in VATS, so if an arm is crippled while you're using a two-handed non-melee weapon in VATS, you'll still be able to use it until you exit VATS.


I did this for the Big Guns, with a minimum END requirement or a minimum Big Guns skill. And Energy Weapons have a two-stage requirement: energy pistols only require an Energy Weapons skill of 20; while you need a skill of 30 for the rifles. Automatic weapons are small guns, and there isn't (yet) any minimum requirement for using any non-automatic small gun; so it seems only fair to put one on the Automatic ones.

The whole idea of imposing minimum skill requirements for some weapons, is to make character builds more unique (and to give a bit more incentive to work on increasing certain skills). I'm trying to make all the weapon skills more important, so it really wouldn't make sense to use INT as a weapon requirement (especially since their are already enough benefits for INT).

Thanks povuholo. I've been following the discussion threads on this one, and it looks promising . . . but it is still in beta and apparently has some bugs that need fixing. Once the bugs are fixed, I'll give it a play test (I'm currently working on repackaging my Tweaks, so adding a beta mod would not be a good idea right now).

Hey Arwen, been playing with your mod lately, all your changes forces charachter development to be far more dynamic.

All the changes to combat are wonderful, however explosives and big guns need a bit of an overhaul. Ive sen raiders walk over a pile of mines and still have their limbs intact.

Ive always felt heavy weapons ala missile launchers/ gattling guns, heavy incinerators were wildly underpowered. Right now it is far more beneficial to save bag space and use small arms/energy weapons.

That and the chinese pistol is horrid.

Thanks, I'm glad you are enjoying my changes.

First of all, are you using my FULL mod, or just some of the modules? Because my changes in combat damage has the greatest impact when you are using my entire tweaks.

The reason that their limbs are still intact is because my mod currently reduces the chances of Combat Dismemberment (from a 50% chance to a 5% chance). I reduced the chance for two reasons (not counting my own issues with excessive blood and gore):
1.) bullets should not cause dismemberment (and the only other way to do this would be to edit every single default gun).
2.) I've greatly increased the penalties for having a crippled limb.

I'm planning on eventually making this a configurable global setting, but if you want to increase it, just edit my mod and increase  iCombatDismemberPartChance to whatever value you want (default is 50).



The missile itself does only 20 DM (if it actually hits you), but the missile explosion does 150 DM, which seems like plenty; since with 5 END, the PC only gets 160 HPs.

I guess you haven't notice that I added a Burning effect to the Flamers, where your burns will continue to damage you HP's for 30 seconds after the flamer stops. There's even a smoking effect. Hmmm . . . perhaps I need to increase this a bit more.

While i agree that small arms shouldnt cause dismemberment, landmines should, as should missile launchers and other explosive weapons

So you expect to edit every single weapon that should not cause dismemberment (which is like 90% of the default weapons)?

You actually want the PC to always die from basically any explosion? Not much fun in my opinion . . . I prefer crippling penalties, which actually add a consequence that the player has to deal with (or can use to their advantage, when the victim is their enemy). If you die, you just reload the game and avoid the mine (now that you know exactly where it is).

OK, point taken. My point was that they seemed to work together anyway, since I wasn't certain whether FWE 5.0 had Arwen's scripts for weapons in it, something that I liked an awful lot. Perhaps I didn't make that clear. It's a moot point anyway - FWE was nice, but seemed way too easy compared with the setup I previously had, so I've gone back to that (with a few other mods thrown into the mix that I like the look of, such as 20th Century Weapons, EVE and Project Beauty HD, plus I kept CALIBR). I'm still fairly new to FO3, having only had the game less than a month, so I've been on a pretty damn steep learning curve, finding out what works with what. Given the number of mods out there it can be a pain in the neck sometimes, even for someone like me who has had extensive experience of troubleshooting TES mods.

I'm still tinkering with the mods I've already got, and downloading yet more pretty much on a daily basis. Sometimes things work, sometimes they don't. Experimentation is, in my opinion, something that is far more revealing than being hand-held through how to use mods and hopefully one day I'll be happy with what I have. Until then, I'll keep tinkering and tweaking load orders and be prepared to have the odd CTD (which, having played the SIms 3 recently, is no big issue...)

Regards,
Pauly
Thinking that perhaps one day he'll actually try to get somewhere on the Main Quest...

I'm still trying to figure out the best way to repackage this mod. I do realize that making my mod much less modular is not going to make everyone happy, but I have to do what will work best for future updates/additions. The biggest reason is due to future compatibility patches (for instance, I'm not going to make 9 different GOTY compatibility patches).

So this is my current plan (and what my v.4.2 beta looks like):

Main Tweaks:
1.) Realism Core module (Arwen_Realism_Master.esp): Required (This is basically my v.4.1 FULL Tweaks, without the Skills and Less_Is_More modules).
2.) Less Is More module (Arwen_Less_Is_More.esp): Optional (This is basically v.4.1 of my Skills module merged with my Less_Is_More module).
3.) Reduced Quest XPR module (Arwen_Reduced_QuestXPR.esp): Optional (pretty much unchanged from v.4.1)

Compatibility Patches (I'm going to try to add GOTY patches to v.4.2):
a.) MMM compatibility patch (Arwen_MMM_Patch.esp)
b.) GOTY Realism Core Patch
c.) GOTY Less Is More Patch

I'm hoping to eventually add an In-game config menu, but it's going to takle me a while to figure out how to do this . . . meaning that a config menu is not likely to be part of v.4.2. Remember, unlike the other overhauls, my 'mod team' is just one person . . . me. I'm going to try adding some more globals, and will include an in-game note on how to change some settings, using the console.

An idea i just thought of today

Crippled legs prevent you from using fast travel.

I'm looking over your mod group and I find it very interesting to say the least. The VATS
puzzles me , you rarely use it , as without it I'd go screaming back to Morrowind
(skipped Oblivion, I'm still angered about the 2nd CD that did not appear in my dvd drive, I
later found out it ws DRM, but I digress...).

Vats is like a minimovie--, I'm engrossed in watching the dynamic sequences
as the bullet speeds by or critter goes flying 300 style from the impact of my strike
The Vats Slow Flyby Mod is terrific for stretching this effect out.

But in the end one must wonder if old gamers see nothing but code after awhile like in the
first Matrix Movie, they are so satiated by the cinamatic tricks it becomes about stats and
the best way to massage the "spreadsheet."

I was looking at your script for the quest regarding the rifle and pistol stats
implementation: it is simple and ingenious and can be adapted to perhaps single specific weapons,
particulary the Chinese Assult Rifle, once obtained early on gives the player a great
advantage, some other requirement could be added to allow its use...

I have special affection for the way you implemented the NPC and Creature advancement,
keeping the player challenged even to the later levels.

In another balancemod I've been trying , the level list was really LEVELED, presumably to make it harder. However, even deathclaw matrons and Brutes show up commonly at level one, a solution I did not really care for. If one survives, the upperlevels lose challenge, I would imagine, but weapon selections are bad at start but get better with a very beneficial "tech quest"( odd--all advisaries are available at the start, but better weapons must be "earned,").