Don't waste too much of the holiday weekend bug testing. Get outdoors!

gothemasticator

Huzzah! Quick question, why is it called a Dynamic Stealth Quest if it isn't a quest?

Because thats how the http://geck.gamesas.com/index.php/Quest_scripts is run, by adding an invisible quest to the player character.

But I don't understand why you need a fake quest, when the script can run on startup and never stop. Is it the engine?

Awesome! Can't wait!

Just started a new character recently with as many of your mods as I could find...

She's just reached level 4, and so far she is broke, is still wearing an armoured vault suit and security helmet, has no ammo and regularly has to resort to beating ants and molerats around the head with her trusty old baseball bat... Repeatedly...

She has aspirations of becoming a scientist like her dad, but so far she's only found a broken old laser pistol and can't afford a workbench...

She had a dream that in a previous life she actually made it to this place called GNR that Moriarty spoke of, but is very wary of heading out that way until she's honed her wasteland survival skills... Something about those green, super-sized, mutated people just wasn't right...

Now, after a very traumatic experience with some underground fire breathing ants, she's currently recuperating after spending the last of her caps on some life saving surgery...

~Xeph'

you have to create a quest object in the Geck in order to attach the script that you want to run continuously. by default, it will run every 5 seconds.

That's some serious roleplaying. For some reason I'm incredibly rich, and have a ton of weapons. Makes me sad, in a way. But I'm about to turn level 5, what's the deal?



Well that's just...That's just dumb. Why in the world would they do that?

Because there are different types of scripts that have different returns and different methods of running. Its also to make modding easier, or so they say, so you don't have to be a hardcoe programmer to script your mod, although that can be a drawback in of its self.

Any back to topic, nice to see this mod still being developed and expanding into new areas.

I don't know, maybe it's the way I play or the Special/Skills I've chosen. I actually thought I might have messed up with load order somewhere - the only thing I found was a RI_CrippledEffects (which RiPnO Patch deemed optional but didn't appear to be recommended by Arwen) - maybe that was hampering progress, but it has been in my load order since, forever. :shrug:

Anyway, after deciding to investigate the Springvale School only to be attacked by a bunch of crazies She might be able to start accumulating some resources (still managed to bust her arm though :rolleyes:).

Okay, how exactly do you have time to play and mod?

You good sir, confound me.

I would like to know that as well . . . when I'm working on a mod (which is mostly what I've been doing for like 10 months now), I only have time to play test . . . I never seem to actually play the game.
At some point (hopefully soon) I'll release the final (well, perhaps semi-final) version of my Realism Tweaks, along with my GOTY patches . . . then I'll get to play again.

I decided to make my Encumbrance overhaul as a separate independent module, instead of having it be part on my Less-Is-More module. That way users can have the option of using it or not. I'm hoping to eventually add a config menu to my Tweaks (but I haven't totally figured out how to do that yet). But for now this will do the job (and my Encumbrance module can be activated and deactivated at any time).

I'm working on the final part of my Encumbrance/Strain script, and then I need to finish play testing my stealth and NPC AI combat changes. So this version is not quite ready yet (perhaps late tomorrow).

A great way to spend the weekend, eh? It would be nice to see a config menu, how far are you on it?

Is this mod compatible with Responsive Kill Reactions and Stealth Kills?

Indeed it is, I'm using all of these.

I'm using RKR with Arwen's Tweaks now as well and I haven't noticed any strange® NPC behaviour yet.

Would I load it before or after Arwens?

Doesn't matter, there's no direct conflict between the two.

Version 4.5 isn't quite ready, as I had less free time to spend on this and then I decided last night to make a few more changes that I've been playing around with. I tweaked the looting behavior of NPCs so that they are less now likely to interrupt an attack, by taking time to get a better weapon I was successful. IT was a bit tricky to improve this, as I had a few other setting to get things balanced again, but my last play testing came out really well. I'm also working on improving my interior sneak settings, along the same lines as I have done with the exterior setting for this update. This still needs a bit more tweaking, but I'm getting very close in having the results I'm hoping for.

I also decided that I would release my Encumbrance Overhaul as a separate independent module, instead of having it be part on my Less-Is-More module (as I had intended). This way you have the option of using it or not, which I though might be a good idea since I cannot guarantee that it will run perfectly for everyone. As far as I know nothing quite like this has been released for FO3, so I've wandered into uncharted territory again . . . and that often leads to unexpected results, especially since I'm still not all that good at scripting. Plus this is my first attempt at adding my own custom sounds to a script (you will now here your character breathing as they get tired from running or from walking over-encumbered . . . and you'll hear your heart pounding just before you collapse).

Oh, one more thing; initially I was only adding a running penalty (my Strain increase) when your encumbrance was greater than 75%, but I decided to add a Strain increase whenever you are running (which is much more realistic), but when your encumbrance is low, you can run pretty far before you begin to get tired. With my current settings, when under 70% encumbered, you can run for like 4 minutes (but that may change in the released version).

So it looks like I need another day or so to get this release polished a bit more, as I'm doing my best to make this as bug free as possible, as I'm getting close to what I feel is a semi-final release of my Tweaks.

A delay? Better be worth it. So you have fatigue now, even when not encumbered. So I'll have to walk 2 miles an hour every once and a while?

This isn't really a delay, since I wrote yesterday that v.4.5 might "perhaps" be available late today . . . which was my estimate of the very earliest I would have been able to complete this release.

My new Strain is not the same as the fatigue in the game . . . it is a separate attribute that I created. My Strain is more like the way real fatigue works, since your Strain starts at 0 and increases as you increase the demands on your body . . . and your body has a limit of how long it can take X amount of Strain for. Fatigue is still present, but the two are separate. For instance, my weapon effects reduce your fatigue, while encumbrance increases your Strain.

And yes, you'll no longer be able to run across the Wasteland without ever getting tired . . . which is realistic. (I don't generally run with a backpack, but I still get tired.) Run too far now, and you become exhausted and collapse. Now you actually have to save your strength until you really need it.

BTW: my holstered walking speed is just over 3 mph, if you are wearing very light armor.
My holstered running speed is about 11 mph and my bonus low-encumbered holstered running speed is about 13 mph [you can run a mile in 4.6 minutes].

Hm. Interesting. I like it. Reminds me of the S.T.A.L.K.E.R fatigue system. Can Nuka-Colas give you caffeine so your fatigue is set back to 0 each time you drink one?

That'd be cool.

I could do that, but then I would have to make more compatibility patches for any mod that alters Nuka-Cola.

Instead I went the easy route . . . your Strain decreases when you stop straining yourself. When you are straining yourself by walking when your encumbrance is over 100%, all you have to do is take a rest (as in stop moving) . . . and your Strain decreases at the rate of roughly 2 points/sec. (When running you can also just slow to a walk, for a slow decrease of 1 point/sec; or stop moving for the 2 points/sec. decrease.)

Sounds good. Cola doesn't contain all that much caffeine anyway.

That's nice, some fights definitely became a bit easy when NPCs started taking their sweet time to grab a new weapon.

And again I didn't come up with the idea to post it as a suggestion.

My last play testing was extremely positive! Everything seems to be working very well . . . and my Encumbrance script is finally balanced about as well as I can get it (without getting some user feedback). So version 4.5 will be released tomorrow (wednesday), unless something totally unexpected happens to me.

Version 4.5 is now available: http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=7565

Here are the major changes in v.4.5:

Realism Core:
- Made extensive edits to my Sneak changes: the NPCs will no longer be alerted quite as easily when you fire a gun. This is very difficult to balance, since there seems to be a very fine line between having the NPCs just stand there, or having everyone come running when you fire your weapon. But my new changes seem to improve this quite a bit.
- As part on my Sneak changes, the enemy detection radius was reduced quite a bit, so you will no longer see the orange warning markers until your enemy is quite close. This makes avoiding detection much more realistic (but also more difficult).
- Made adjustments to the AI, so NPCs will not be so quick to seek out better weapons while they are in the middle of combat.
- Adjusted Movement speeds. I discovered that increasing the Movement Base Speed, changes the animation speed for creatures (which is not a good thing). So I set this back at default, and increased both my Holstered Weapon Bonus and my Movement Run Multiplier. The end result is that my walking and running speeds are nearly identical to what you had with v.4.4, but the creatures movement will be less twitchy, and the NPCs will move a bit slower when they are attacking with their weapon drawn. My movement settings were also balanced to work seamlessly with my new Encumbrance module's dynamic walking and running speeds.
- Vehicle health has been reduced to be balanced with the amount of damage inflicted from an actor with an average weapons skill. I neglected to adjust this when I changed from a global weapon damage multiplier to my current skill-based weapon damage multiplier. Cars and other static vehicles should now be easier to damage (it will take less shots to make them blow up), but if your weapons skill is much below average (below 50), it will still take quite a few shots before any signs of damage is noticeable.

Encumbrance module [New for v.4.5]:
- This module is totally Optional, but it does Require that my Realism Core module is installed! (It has been balanced to be used with the Less-Is-More module, but it can be used with just the Realism Core).
- You now suffer from Strain (similar to fatigue, but totally separate from the default fatigue).
- Your Strain increases when walking with more than 100% encumbrance, and whenever you are running (at any encumbrance).
- The higher your encumbrance limits, the shorter distance you will be able to travel, and the more you will hurt yourself if you reach your limit (you’ll lose more HPs when you collapse).
- With an encumbrance of less than 60%, you will be able to run for just over 4 minutes before your Stain reaches 100%.
- But at 100% encumbrance, you'll only be able to run for about 50 seconds.
- When walking with 110% encumbrance, you will last about 2 minutes before you need to rest
- But at 150% encumbrance, you will need to rest every 30 seconds.
- If your Strain exceeds 100%, you will collapse.
- You will lose HPs when you collapse, and the amount you lose is based on your current Strain/second.
- So pay attention to your Strain level, and rest before you collapse. (You rest when you stop walking, or when you stop running.)
- Your accumulated Strain will be displayed every few seconds whenever your Strain is over 45%, and your character will start breathing hard.
- Above 75% Strain, you'll hear a pounding heartbeat, warning that you are near your limit.
- Dynamic walking and running speeds: movement speed is now affected by your encumbrance . . . the more you are encumbered, the slower you move. But you also gain a running speed bonus when your encumbrance is less than 60%, as long as your health is no lower than 50%. (This is in addition to armor encumbrance, which is part of the Realism Core, where you will move slower with heavier armor)
- Armor Encumbrance has been greatly increased, so you will now move noticeably slower when wearing heavier armor. (The default movement speed difference between wearing 1-pound armor and 50-pound armor was only 8% . . . there is now a 20% difference.) I just gave it more of an impact, to balance things out . . . heavier armor protects you more, but you will not be able to move nearly as fast when wearing it. [Note: this had been part of my Realism Core. I just moved it here, as this is now a more appropriate place. But the Armor Encumbrance settings remain unchanged from v.4.4.]