Arwen's Realism Tweaks:

My Fallout 3 Gameplay Overhaul, focused on making the Wasteland a much harsher place, where your stats and skills are MUCH more important.

http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1096923-relz-arwens-realism-tweaks-thread-no11/

Current Version 5.4 (FEB 19, 2011). Requires FOSE, v.1.1 or later.
Here are the major changes in v.5.4:

My download now includes my "Realism Tweaks User Guide" Word doc. (At this point this guide only covers my Realism Core’s Option Menu, but I will be greatly expanding this in future versions.) I added this because I removed most of the details from the Options Menus in this update.

Realism Core:

• Options Menu: new Combat Difficulty section contains Perception Based Accuracy, Crippled Weapon penalties, and my new No PipBoy Access During Combat. New Change HotKeys section. Edited Options Menus text so entire menus should display even when using the default UI.
  
• No PipBoy access during combat and the default hotkeys (1-8) will not work (the two seem to be coded together). But I added a way to cycle through your hotkey items with right/left arrow keys (user defined hotkeys). No more combat timeouts to change into better armor, repair weapons, or take a lunch/beverage break (but you can consume hot keyed items and equip hot keyed armor).
  
• Perception Based Accuracy was improved and now works with RH-Ironsights.
  
• Localized Body Damage changes: increased head and torso damage by 20 to 25% and reduced arm and leg damage by 20%.

Hard-Core module:

• Energy Weapon minimum skill requirements removed from Laser Pistols and from Mesmetron.
  
• Further reduced the amount of spawned loot that you will find.

Med-Ted module:

• A Leather Belt can now be used as a tourniquet. Less effective than bandages and only one tourniquet can be applied (Wound Level reduced up to 50%, based on player's Medical skill). Removed only after Wound Level is less than 1 (-10 carrying capacity & -1 Luck penalty while applied).
  
• Bandages bleeding wounds and burns are now removed correctly. Bandages remain on for a minimum of 4 game hours (and up to 12 hours with multiple bandages), and your Wound Level must be less than 1 (Burn Level must be less than 2), and will only be removed while you are not in combat.
  
• Added Bandage effect following doctor treatments: a bandage is applied when being treated for bleeding wounds and for 3rd degree burns.
  
• Doctor treatment now includes a reduction of Radiation Sickness.
  
• My First Infirmary: can now only treat the same type of injuries that could be treated with the infirmary in the default game. For other injuries, just use your Med-Tec Scanner (or visit a doctor). This should in a much better treatment balance.
  
• Buffout now only restores 30 HP and has a value of 30. And all the default chems now have weight.
  
• Fruits/veggies purge 15 Rads (was 5 to 10), and now at -1 Rad/sec, instead of instantly. [Cave Fungus still purges 30 Rads.]
  
• Removed Fatigue from stats displayed when injured (this was causing lag, and conflicting with the optional Fatigue Display).
  
• Blood loss will no longer become greater than 18; but blood loss greater than 8 will now slowly damage your health.
  
• Wounds will no longer become greater than Level 10.
  
• Radiation Sickness will no longer advance beyond Level 10.
  
• New Restock Medical Supplies script: all the default doctors and select vendors are restocked daily, so it should now be much easier to purchase bandages and antibiotics.

Stimpak Animation Effect changes (part of Med-Tec module):

• No longer switches to 3rd person when injection was done in 1st person view (you have to be in 3rd person view for the injection animation to run, but the stimpak effects will still be applied).
  
• Fixed the bug where if a NPC injected a stimpak, it would affect the player character.
  
• Now an injection saps your Strength for 60 seconds, until stimpak effect wears off.
  
• Added Animation Effect to Med-Tec treatments (whenever a stimpak is injected).
  
• Stimpak treatments to speed up clotting (Wounds) and for Burns will now also increase health (up to 75% of total health), and reduce limb damage by 5%.

Realism Core GOTY Patch:

• Explosions: Toxic Gore (Feral Ghoul Reaver weapon in Broken Steel & Point Lookout): Reduced the Damage from 250 to 130 and the Rads from 5 to 3 (due to my Radiation increases, but I balanced this by adding Arwen Blast Effect and knock down chance).
  
• Changes in DLC NPCs/Creatures:
  
• Enclave Hellfire trooper: reduced health by 20%
  
• Feral Ghoul Reaver (Broken Steel & Point Lookout): reduced health from 1100 to 320 HP (still at least 4 times greater than any other Feral Ghouls).
  
• Albino Radscorpions: (Broken Steel): reduced health from 1500 to 450 HP (still 3 times greater than other Radscorpions).

IMPORTANT!!!.

• PLEASE follow my installation/update instructions carefully! If you don't uninstall correctly or reinstall correctly, you will likely severely mess up your game.
  
• My Hard-Core module is best used in a new game (not required if you are just updating). If you add this module to an existing game (beyond Level 2 or 3) your skills are going to take a major hit. How much depends on what perks and skill books you have used.
  
• If you install my Encumbrance module, you also NEED to follow my "Encumbrance module's Strain Meter HUD Setup" instructions or my Strain meter will not appear in your HUD.
  
• My Realism Tweaks are meant to be used together . . . my FULL Tweaks are only experienced when you install all 4 modules (and enable everything in my Options Menu). My Realism Core module is mandatory! The other 3 modules are optional, but they will not work properly without the Realism Core.

Why I Created this Mod:
Warning:

• Do NOT install this mod unless you want the Wasteland to be a harsher, less forgiving place. If you install my Realism Tweaks, you'll instantly have a a MUCH more challenging game. For the best Hard-Core experience, I highly recommend using all four of my modules, along with the mods in my FO3 Journal's Realism list.
  
• This mod was balanced for NORMAL Difficulty. Using a Hard or Very Hard difficulty setting will just make the NPCs and Creatures even more difficult to kill (it will take more bullets), and your character will even be easier to kill. My Realism Tweaks already does both, so you will just be multiplying these two things . . . which will likely have negative effects.

Modular format: My Realism Tweaks now contains four different esps; which are meant to be used together, but not everyone wants all my hardcoe changes. So the Realism Core is required, but the other three modules are totally optional. Plus my in-game Options Menu allows you additional control of several of my Tweaks. (The full details on all my changes are listed in the http://amito.freehostia.com/Fallout/FO-mods04.htm)

The 4 Modules (major changes from the default game):

1.) Realism Core (Arwen_Realism_Core.esp):

• Required Core Module.
  
• Option Menu: in-game selection of Timescale, Menu Time, and XPR Multiplier; to toggle on/off my Weapon Effects, Visual FX, Perception Based Accuracy, and Fatigue Display, PipBoy Access During Combat; assign new Hotkeys; and to adjust my Crippled Weapon Penalties.
  
• Global XPR Multiplier slows down how fast you level up by reducing ALL experience points rewards.
  
• Reduced Carrying Capacity and fewer HPs for PC (both are further reduced by Hard-Core module).
  
• More immersive and more balanced VATS.
  
• Smarter AI: combat with NPCs is now much more challenging, and sneaking is now much more realistic
  
• Dynamic Stealth: time of day, weather conditions, interior/exterior cell type, and player's Sneak skill now all factor into detection. Your PipBoy Light will now make you very visible, and player actions, such as jumping and opening doors, will alert your enemies.
  
• Menu Time: the game clock no longer stops while in menus (default Menu Time is same as your Timescale rate).
  
• The Wasteland is now a much less forgiving place: your character is now weaker and more vulnerable, and the NPCs are stronger and healthier.
  
• No PipBoy Access During Combat (default setting): No more combat timeouts to change into better armor, repair weapons, or take a lunch/beverage break; and the default hotkeys (1-8) will no longer work during combat (you can still cycle through your hotkey items with right/left arrow keys, or by user defined hotkeys).
  
• Weapon damage is much greater, and weapon skills are now a much greater factor.
  
• Crippled Weapon Penalties: When an arm is crippled some types of weapons will no longer be usable and VATS will be disabled.
  
• Balances armor/clothing values, weight, damage resistance, and "enchanted" effects. Includes my 1.5X AR global modifier, and helmet AR now equals 25% of total armor AR.
  
• More realistic and better balanced explosions, projectiles, grenade physics, and death force effects.
  
• Perception Based Accuracy (disabled by default): disables Auto-Aim, with accuracy now based on player's Perception and Small Guns skill. Affects maximum accuracy (no bullet rise) distance and amount of gun drift. (Do not enable if using other auto-aim fix type mods.)
  
• Unique optional immersive Weapon Effects (enabled by default): Gunshot knock downs, Whack and Blast knockouts; fatigue loss is now based on Armor AR.
  
• Fatigue Display (disabled by default): pops up whenever fatigue is damaged, and periodically while Fatigue is less than 75%.
  
• Dynamic VisualFX (disabled by default): adds visual feedback/penalties when Agility or Perception are damaged.
  
• Optional VisionFX (disabled by default): adds a bit of immersion when wearing default sunglasses (reduces the harshness of outdoor lighting) and reading glasses (20 seconds of blurriness and double vision when you first equip). As a bonus, you can now wear eye wear in combination with most default helmets and hats.
  
• Enhanced repair lists for both weapons and armor.
  
• Changes the localized body damage effects in a way that balances out game play, while making strategic hits more effective.
  
• Improvements were made to NPC's armor and weapons across all levels. Many of your opponents should a be quite a bit more challenging (but I left a few, like Vault 101 Security at default). To keep things balanced, the NPC's armor (and sometimes their weapon) is now damaged upon their death.

2.) Hard-Core (Arwen_Hard-Core.esp) (see my http://amito.freehostia.com/Fallout/Arwens_Hard-Core.htm):

• Optional module, but requires that my Realism Core module is installed.
  
• Expands the difficulty and challenge of the Realism Core module, and your character's stats will have a much greater impact on your game play.
  
• Adds much needed balance to skill points: you will now begin the game with half as many skill points, and your skill points should increase roughly half as fast.
  
• Changes Skill Books and 95% of the default Perks (and adds a few of my own unique perks).
  
• Overhauled Bobbleheads and reduced initial SPECIAL points.
  
• Adds Gender bonuses/penalties, including gender-based weapon skill requirements.
  
• Much Fewer HPs than with Realism Core [30 less HPs for females, and 45 less HPs for males].
  
• Greatly reduced carrying capacity [for 1 to 10 STR: 45 to 135 for females, and 50 to 185 for males].
  
• Decreased spawned loot, and the amount of loot is now based on your Luck stat with each point of Luck increasing the spawn rates by 5% (10 Luck results in +45% chance over 1 Luck).
  
• Makes caps, food, weapons, and ammo MUCH less abundant in the Wasteland. But you will now find more ammo on your victims, based on what guns they have, and tougher opponents will have more ammo.
  
• Bartering Overhaul: the value of all items is half the default value, but merchants will charge LOT more for items, and you'll get a LOT less for what you trade with them (based on your Bartering skill). Plus merchants will now have much more ammo for sale.
  
• Repair Overhaul: items used for repairs will now improve the weapon or armor a bit less, your repair limit is now gender-based (male bonus), and merchants will now be MUCH better at repairing.
  
• Outcasts Rewards more balanced: you'll now get less stuff in trade.
  
• Intimidation Spell: when a weapon is out and the player is not in combat, their Charisma is reduced by 5 points.

3.) Encumbrance module (Arwen_Encumbrance.esp):

• This module is totally Optional. (It was balanced for the Hard-Core 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).
  
• Strain is based on game time, so Strain increases faster with faster Timescales [Note: divide game minutes by your Timescale setting for real time.]
  
• 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.
  
• With an encumbrance of less than 60%, you will be able to run for roughly 24 GAME MINUTES before your Stain reaches 100%, but at 100% encumbrance, you'll only be able to run for about 5 game minutes.
  
• When walking with 110% encumbrance, you will last about 12 game minutes before you need to rest, but with 150% encumbrance, you will need to rest every 3 game minutes.
  
• Strain increases faster when you are injured: 30% faster when one leg is crippled, 60% faster when both legs are crippled, and 30% faster when your torso is crippled (in addition to the cripple leg penalty). And jumping and melee attacks (swinging a melee weapon) will both increase Strain.
  
• If your Strain exceeds 100% you will collapse, injure yourself, and drop your unholstered weapon.
  
• HUD Strain display: movable by just holding down the grab key for 2 seconds, and then by using the arrow keys to move it. When your Strain is over 45%, your character will start breathing hard. Your Strain percentage will turn red when your Strain reaches 70% and your character will start breathing harder. At 85% Strain, the text starts flashing, warning that you are near your limit.
  
• Your current Health is factored into your Strain increase rate (25% slower at 100% Health; 50% faster at 25% Health).
  
• Strain decreases when you rest (when you stop running, or when you stop walking with over 100% encumbrance). Strain also decreases while you are in menus (at the walking rest rate). How fast your Strain decreases depends on how encumbered you are.
  
• During a walking rest (after running, or when in menu mode) it takes about 6.5 game minutes at 0% encumbrance for Strain to decrease from 100% to 0%, but over 9 game minutes at 100% encumbrance. For non-moving, standing rest, it takes a bit less than 4 game minutes at 0% encumbrance. Plus your Strain will decrease 60% faster when you are sitting or crouching (non-moving sneak mode).
  
• During combat your Strain will only be reduced when you are not moving (as in hiding). And Strain will not be reduced during combat when in menu mode.
  
• Dynamic Jump (how far and how high you can jump) now changes, based on your character's current Agility AND on their Encumbrance. The default game's jump height is roughly 3 feet. A 25% ENC + 5 AGL, or a 80% ENC + 7 AGL, results in roughly a 3-foot jump height. With a 25% ENC + 10 AGL, you'll be able to jump up to 5.4 feet. But you will not be able to jump at all when your AGL is really low, or when either leg is crippled.
  
• 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%.
  
• 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.
  
• My Encumbrance notes are also added to your inventory, for easy reference.

3.) Med-Tec module (Arwen_Med-Tec.esp):

• This module is optional, but was balanced specifically to be used with my complete Realism Tweaks. My Med-Tec Quest will begin roughly 5 game minutes after you have escaped from Vault 101 (or after you load a post-escape saved game).
  
• Your new Med-Tec Scanner monitors 21 of your stats, and displays 9 of your vital stats when you press the Scan Hotkey (M by default), and it also improves the effectiveness of self-treatment (by activating the , in your Pip-Boy).
  
• ***The Injuries Part: greatly expands the injuries that you will suffer. You will now sustain Wounds, Burns, Blood Loss, Trauma, and Infections. Injuries are not random, but are based directly on how much you were injured, type of weapon used, and on your Armor Level. Animal bites will result in a different injury than a bullet wound, which is different than what you receive from a laser or plasma weapon. To make injuries easier to monitor and treat, they are done by Levels (with Level 0 being no injury).
  
• Wounds increase in severity up to Level 10, with Moderate Wounds beginning at Level 2 (when your health regen stops), and Severe Wounds beginning at Level 5 (where you suffer from loss of blood). Wounds higher than Level 3 will slowly become infected. Once an infection reaches Level 6, it will damage your health, and the only cure will require an injection of Antibiotics. Wounds above Level 5 result in Blood Loss which increases with the severity of the wound (faster at higher Wound Levels). Your health with slowly decrease when you have a bleeding wound (and you'll cry out in pain when this happens).
  
• Your Medicine skill is factored into how effective treatments are (with both your Med-Tec & your Infirmary).
  
• To stop Bleeding, use your Med-Tec to apply bandages. If no bandages are available, a Leather Belt can be used as a tourniquet (less effective than a bandage) and a Stimpak injection can be used to speed up clotting.
  
• Your blood level is tracked in Units of Blood Lost, with 8 units lost being excessive, and 12 units lost being severe. Your blood slowly regenerates (+1 unit every 2 game hours). Blood Transfusions (+6 Units of Blood) require a Blood Pack and a some Surgical Tubing.
  
• Burns increase in severity up to Level 12, with Severe Burns beginning at Level 8 (Third-Degree Burns).
  
• Bandages have penalties while applied and remain on for a minimum of 4 game hours (up to 12 hours, with multiple bandages), and will only be removed while you are not in combat, and only if your Wound Level is less than 1 (or you Burn Level is less than 2). Bandage Time is calculated separately for Burns and Wounds, but only the Wound Bandage Time is displayed under additional stats. Tourniquets also have penalties and remain on until your Wound Level drops below 1.
  
• Trauma injuries (bruising and tissue damage) increase in severity up to Level 10, with Severe Trauma beginning at Level 6 (Torso Trauma).
  
• Health Regenerates slowly, with the rate of regen equal to your Permanent HP amount every 10 game hours. But your Health Stops Regenerating when your Wound Level is above 2, have Severe Burns, are Sleep deprived, or haven't had enough Water or Food.
  
• Wounds (below Level 7), Trauma injuries (below Level 7), and Burns (below Level 9) slowly heal on their own. And the rate that these injuries heal is based on your Endurance.
  
• Damaged limbs slowly heal, but only when the limb is not crippled. Crippled Limbs need a Medical Brace applied in order to heal (it takes roughly 12 hours for a Crippled limb to heal completely). Braces can be used multiple times if your medical skills are high enough.
  
• Doctors no longer fully heal moderate or severe injuries. What you get for your caps is treatment, not instant health restoration. So you will often leave splinted and bandaged (with their applied penalties).
  
• You will no longer be able to instantly heal yourself will your personal infirmary, but can now only treat your injuries (and only the same injuries as with the default infirmary).
  
• Stimpak Animation Effect: includes my Stimpak Injection Hotkey. No more freezing combat while you take a timeout to give yourself a Stimpak injection. You can still give yourself an injection during combat, but you will be incapacitated for a few seconds, and the bullets will still keep flying. Plus each injection now damages your Fatigue (two rapid injections WILL knock you out), and your vision will now be messed up for the 30 seconds that your HP are being restored, and your Strength will take a major hit for 60 seconds. It is a really a bad idea to attempt a hotkey injection while running (or even walking).
  
• ***The Needs Part: All your Needs are set to 0 when this module is first installed.
  
• Water Need: you require 48 Water Units every 24 game hours. Beverages contain one of four water types (displayed with the items in your PipBoy). Water1 (4oz water), Water2 (8oz), Water3 (12oz), Water4 (24oz). Beverages no longer have any healing effect, and all but Purified Water now contains Rads. But a Sanitizer will reduce the Rads a bit. Hard Liquor (Whisky, Scotch, Vodka) will not quench your thirst, it dehydrates you (increases your Water Need by 2). And hard liquor no longer gives you a Strength boost, but now it restores your Fatigue.
  
• Water Bottle Refill: there 3 types of bottled water: Pure, Good, and Dirty; and drinking these will result in the same type of empty water bottle being added to your inventory. To keep this somewhat balanced, you can only fill a water bottle from certain sources, and only if the bottle and the activator water types match (Ex: Good water bottles can only be filled at Good water activators). I also added a Drinking Warning when you activate Bad and Terrible water sources. (Note: there are no warnings for drinking surface water, which will not quench your thirst, nor can you bottle it.)
  
• Food Need: You require 9.6 Food Units every 24 game hours (0.4 units every hour). There are 4 Food Levels (displayed with the food item in your PipBoy): Food1 (Snack Food, 0.6 Food Units); Food2 (Light Meal, 2 Units); Food3 (Normal Meal, 3.0 Units); Food4 (Heavy Meal, 4.0 Units). Food no longer has any healing effect, and most contains Rads (the exceptions are Fresh Fruit and Vegetables). A Sanitizer will reduce the Rads a bit. Eating fresh fruit and vegetables will reduce your Rad Damage by 10 points, and some types of Red Meat will reduce your Blood Loss. When you eat, your Digestion Level increases by the amount of Food Units, and then slowly decreases over time (1 game hour to drop 1 Level point). If you eat anything when you are not hungry, you will get sick.
  
• Radiation Level (displayed in Scanner): When your RADS are 100 or higher, eating will cause your Radiation Level to increase while you are digesting food. The higher your RADS, the faster the rate of increase. Your Radiation Level will slowly decrease when your Digestive Level returns to 0, or whenever your RADS drop below 100. You get Radiation Sickness when your (internal) Radiation Level reaches 5. You will gain no benefits from eating or drinking when you have Radiation Sickness. You will just get sick. Your Med-Tec Scanner can target RadAway at radiated tissue, much more effective than just swallowing the pills.
  
• Sleep Need: You require 1 hour of Sleep for every 2 hours that you are awake. When your Sleep Need is 0, you won't need to sleep for 16 hours before you become Sleepy; after 20 hours you'll be Very Tired; after 24 hours you'll be Exhausted. A one-hour nap will no longer fully healed you, but you will slowly heal while you are sleeping, at exactly the same rate as when you are awake (and with the same restrictions). Your Sleep Need must be at least 4 before you are tired enough to sleep at all; you cannot sleep or wait when you have excessive bleeding; and the longest you can sleep is 9 hours.
  
• ***[Med-Tec Options menu]:
  
• Pause/Resume the injuries and needs (before and after entering simulators); Prepare to uninstall; Restart the Med-Tec Quest; Change the Scan hotkey; change the Stimpak Injection hotkey.

Bundled Compatibility Patches - Select the ones you need on my Realism Tweaks Setup menu (when the mod is activated with FOMM):

• GOTY Compatibility Patches: GOTY/Realism Core Compatibility Patch and GOTY/Med-Tec Patch.
  
• MMM Compatibility Patches: Marts Mutant Mod Patch OR Marts Mutant Mod Patch - Med-Tec version.
  
• EVE Compatibility Patches: EVE Patch OR EVE/RH-Ironsights Patch

See my ReadMe for:

• More info on the above Compatibility patches.
  
• Installing/uninstalling (and Updating) procedures (which MUST be followed, or you run the risk of messing up your character's stats).
  
• Load Order
  
• Compatibility/Incompatibility with other mods.
  
• Known Issues or Bugs
  
• For more mods that I have personally tested for compatibility, visit http://amito.freehostia.com/Fallout/FO.htm

Incompatibility Warnings:

• My Realism Tweaks will overwrite any mods that make any of the changes I have listed here.
  
• Do NOT use my Realism Tweaks with other balancing mod that make changes to the same game elements, as this will unbalance the game play (by making some things too easy, while making others too difficult).
  
• My Realism Tweaks are not compatible with mods that alter the specs of default armor/clothing (but should be compatible with mods that ONLY add cosmetic changes).
  
• My Realism Tweaks are not compatible with mods that alter the specs of default weapons or default projectiles . . . although it should be compatible with mods that only make cosmetic changes to weapons (the exceptions are non-blade melee weapons, shotguns, and the few ranged weapons that my mod alters).
  
• My Med-Tec module is not compatible with ANY mods that add injuries, treatments, or needs (or that modify food, beverages, or chemical/medicine).
  
• My Realism Tweaks are NOT compatible with FOOK or FWE (even though my earlier Smarter AI module is integrated into FWE).

Credits:

• Bethesda Softworks, for making Fallout 3.
• The Fallout Script Extender team for making http://fose.silverlock.org/
  
• 'DarN', for making the http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1085562-wipzbeta-darnified-ui-f3/ mod
  
• 'Imp of the Perverse', for his http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=12977 and for personally helping me add my Strain stat to DarN's UI.
  
• ALL the great guys over on the The G.E.C.K. forums . . . who freely gave of their time to guide a clueless, whining, rookie script-writer-wanna-be.

Download link:http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=7565

Other Mods by Arwen:

• [http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=7318
  
• http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=7400
  
• http://www.newvegasnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=34759
  
• http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=7674 - now part of my Realism Core - adjustable in the Options Menu.
  
• http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=9558 - now integrated into my Realism Core module as a toggleable option.

>>You have to make an ini edit (although I cannot put my finger on what exactly you change right now).
My System (which is nearly 3 years old now . . . except for the graphics card):
- Computer: Vigor Force Recon AXE
- Operation System: Windows Vista Home Premium 32 bit
- Processor: Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core AM2 5200+ Processor at 2.6GHz, 200MHz FSB, 1MB X 2 Cache
- Memory: 4GB Corsair TWIN2X2048-6400C4 DDR2 800MHz
- Graphics Adapter: (SLI SLOT 1): EV3A GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 Superclocked 896MB (which replaced my old card, which died in early 2010).
- Power Supply: 900 Watt
- Cooling System: Vigor's Monsoon II TEC CPU Cooler
- Monitor: ViewSonic VG2030wm 20" Widescreen (1680X1050) Active Matrix LCD<<

----------------------------

Thank you, Arwen, I see that 4 gig Vista is very much up to its task, I thought you might have 8 gig or something to do all you earlier described, though the Video is very good, 896 meg to move all those textures around, but 512 meg should be just fine. It seems one has to be quite the technician at times to get this game running properly and certainly if investigating modding.

BTW I found the edit for 2 GECK sessions:( Placed here if someone else needs to find the edit)

http://www.truancyfactory.com/tutorials/fallout_worldspace.html

Data Mining the G.E.C.K.: I highly, highly recommend that you get in the habit of examining Bethesda's files in the G.E.C.K. whenever you are learning how to do something new, or whenever you run into problems with your own mods. You can often learn how to set things up properly without the need for tutorials or help from the forums simply by copying what Bethesda does in your own mods. The best way to do this is by opening a second instance of the G.E.C.K. and examining the files in there. If you start mucking around in the vanilla files with your mod open, there is a chance that you will accidentally change something in a vanilla file and corrupt your mod. To open multiple copies of the G.E.C.K. you have to change a setting in the GECKCustom.ini file, which should be located in My Documents\My Games\Fallout3\ (on a WindowsXP system; might be different on Vista). Open GECKCustom.ini in a text editor (like Notepad) and go to Edit->Find... and type 'edit'. This should bring you down to bAllowMultipleEditors=0. Change the zero to a one (bAllowMultipleEditors=1) and save it. Now you can open up more than one copy of the G.E.C.K. at the same time! (If you don't change the .ini file, any new instance of the G.E.C.K. will crash instantly.)

@ Steamfax: thanks for posting how to make that GECK edit. I knew it was something like that . . . I just couldn't find it when I was replying earlier.

====================================
UPDATE: I plan on releasing v.5.2.1 later today or sometime tomorrow.

So far all that I've heard that need fixing (as in v.5.2 bugs) are:
The GOTY/Realism Core patch (that was somehow unattached from my Realism Core as a master, so my Object Effects didn't stick)
My Illumination Spell getting stuck on (because a 0 Sneak value was breaking my Stealth script)

Those two are fixed.

I'm also planning on adding a better way to balance out my Radiation exposure increases (which also shows the correct Rads/sec in the HUD).

So, if anyone has discovered any other bugs . . . PLEASE let me know soon, as this will be the last update for a while (as I need to concentrate on my NV Tweaks for a bit).

?Update on version 5.2.1:

The bug fixes are done, my Radiation Damage increase has been rebalanced, I fixed a minor problem in my Options Menu, and I edited some of the Combat Styles settings, to better improve the AI combat.

But then my final play testing turned up another bug . . . in my Sleep script, which I thought I had fixed in v.5.2.
So this is going to take a bit longer yet . . . although I think that I just figured out what was causing the bug.
I still need to to some more play testing to tell for sure.

Version 5.2.1 is now available http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=7565

This is a minor update, mainly to fix a couple of bugs in v.5.2 . . . but it also adds a few other minor changes/improvments to my Tweaks.
Here are the changes in v.5.2.1:
Realism Core:
- Dynamic Stealth Quest: the Illumination Spell no longer remains stuck on after you turn off your Pip-Boy Light (which was also breaking my Stealth script). My script should now works as intended now . . . and I even added a few new balancing changes in this update
- Tweaked some of the Combat Styles settings, to better improve the AI combat.
- Radiation changes: Exposure to radioactive water (swimming and wading) is now 10 times more deadly than default, but the Radiation Accumulation rate is now set back to default . . . the end result is that Radiation exposure will now be quite a bit less when not in water (then in my earlier version), while swimming and wading in radiated water will now be a bit more deadly.

Med-Tec module:
- Fixed a bug in my sleep script that wasn’t adjusting your Sleep Need correctly when you tried to sleep when your Sleep Need was less than 4 hours.
- You will now be able to sleep when your Sleep Need is less than 4 hours (but you must need at least 1 hour of sleep)
- But you will no longer be able to sleep longer than your Sleep Need hours (just like in real life, you will wake up when you have had enough sleep).

GOTY/Realism Core Compatibility patch:
- Now attached correctly to my Realism Core as a master (so my Object Effects should now all work).

Thanks Arwen, seems to be working well!

Version 5.3 progress:

This one will mostly fix a couple of bugs that popped up after v.5.2.1 was released, but it also adds a new feature to my Med-Tec module.

Realism Core:
?- Whacked Effect: fixed bug that sometimes caused player to be knocked unconscious when their Fatigue was less than 20% and they were whacking.
?- Run Back Script: fixed bug that sometimes caused right leg to be crippled (if the leg’s health was less than 5%).
- Option Menu: Fixed bug in my menu script that was preventing the XPR Mult from displaying

Med-Ted module:
?- New Stimpak animation effect: This is something that I've been working on for weeks now and was hoping to have ready for v.5.2.1, but I was having trouble getting it to work the way I wanted. I've always felt that the Stimpaks were a bit unfair to use during combat, since in the default game, you instantly gain 30 HP . . . right in the middle of combat . . . with no impact to your ability to defend yourself. This changes all that.

This effect works best if you assign a hotkey to Stimpaks, but it also works when you use them in the inventory (as long as you immediately exit the PipBoy). I may make this work through a key press (probably defaulting to the H key), to free up the default hotkeys.

If the player is in first person, my script switches to 3rd person, and if you have a weapon drawn, the script holsters it. The entire animation takes about 3 or 4 seconds, during which the player's controls are disabled, which makes you very vulnerable during combat . . . just like in real life, where you cannot call timeout to take care of your injuries. Plus your vision is messed up for the 30 seconds that the stimpak is being applied . . . and your fatigue is now damaged when you inject yourself. And it is now a really bad idea to try to inject yourself while running (or even walking). This will make it much more challenging to use Stimpaks during combat.

[To the users of my NV Tweaks: don't worry, I'm still actively working on v.1.7, and actually have a NV version of my Stimpak Animation Effect working . . . which I may release as an optional esp, until my NV Med-Tec module is finished.]

Version 5.3 is now available: http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=7565

Here are the major changes in v.5.3:

Realism Core:

• Whacked Effect: fixed bug that sometimes caused player to be knocked unconscious when their Fatigue was less than 20% and they were whacking.
  
• Run Back Script: fixed bug that sometimes caused right leg to be crippled (if the leg’s health was less than 5%).
  
• Option Menu: Fixed bug in my menu script that was preventing the XPR Mult selection from displaying.

Med-Tec module:

• New Stimpak animation effect: This is something that I've been working on for weeks now and was hoping to have ready for v.5.2.1, but I was having trouble getting it to work the way I wanted. I've always felt that the Stimpaks were a bit unfair to use during combat, since in the default game, you instantly gain 30 HP . . . right in the middle of combat . . . with no impact to your ability to defend yourself. This changes all that.
  
• I added a hotkey for Stimpak injections, but you can also use them in the inventory (but you have to immediately exit the PipBoy for the animation to run). My default Stimpak hotkey is H, but you can change it in my [Med-Tec Options menu].
  
• How Stimpaks are now different than default: A Stimpak no longer heals crippled limbs, but it does improve the health of all non-crippled body parts by 5% it also lowers some of my custom Med-Tec injuries a bit, based on your Medicine skill (including Blood Lost, Wound Level, Trauma Level, and Burn Level). The You still gain the default +30 HP from an injection, but it is now added gradually.
  
• The animation: I did NOT make the animation . . . this is the same one used (rarely) with some NPCs in the default game. I just adapted the animation sequence and applied it to the player character. My changes will make it much more challenging to use Stimpaks during combat.
  
• The injection sequence: if the player is in first person, my script switches to 3rd person, and if you have a weapon drawn, the script holsters it. The entire animation takes about 3 or 4 seconds, during which the player's controls are disabled, which makes you very vulnerable during combat . . . just like in real life, where you cannot call timeout to take care of your injuries. Plus your vision is messed up for the 30 seconds that the Stimpak is being applied . . . and your fatigue is now damaged when you inject yourself (so make sure your fatigue is not low). Oh yeah, it is now a really bad idea to try to inject yourself while running (or even walking).

RiPnO Compatibility patches:

• My RI/PN/RiPnO/BLTC compatibility patches were removed from this version, as I can no longer support them, since I have not used these mods in my own game since releasing my Med-Tec module. I just don't have the free time to update patches for any mods that I am not using. My last update of these patches was part of version 4.7, which will be my last update . . . but I'm now making these patches available as an optional download.

I've come back to playing Fallout 3 for a bit, and I just updated your mod. I would like to know if there is some way I can get the stimpaks to not force me out of first person mode, because though I do like the visual effect, being forced to third person really breaks my immersion. I'll probably look myself in a few days with the G.E.C.K. or FO3edit, but I honestly have no idea what to look for when I do.

Thanks for the feedback (I was beginning to think that everyone had moved on to NV).

The only reliable way that I could force the animation to run was by disabling the player's controls, which forces you into 3rd person . . . plus there is no 1st person animation for stimpak injections. At one point I had added code that returned your to 1st person after the animation had finished, but that didn't really increase immersion . . . actually jumping back made it worse for me.

This is my first attempt at using an animation, so there could perhaps be a much better way of doing this.

Probably, but I can't say I know either. What I think would be cool is if there was some sort of stimpak injector you had to equip as an item to use, but that would be a lot of work (you'd have to to animations, probably at least edit the stimpak model to get it to look right held in hand, and then there's whatever scripting would be required to actually make it work).

Also, I thought I should let you know that I got that message telling me I need FOSE for the mod to work upon leaving Megaton.

Weapons are more deadly by a remade stats of every single weapons through GECK, or through a universal modifier formula ?

Just started back on FO3 and this Mod looks great. I actually like the fact that the stats reflect realistic general strength traits in the sixes. But one thing I don`t understand...

"Much Fewer HPs than with Realism Core, which are now gender-based [30 less HPs for females, and 45 less HPs for males]."

It seems the male takes quite a big hitpoint drop.

What is the default hit points of men and women after the adjustments? I assume the basic hitpoint base would still be larger than the female?

The only FOSE check is JustinOther's "The Chicken and the Egg" (FOSE Global). I've recently had the message pop up in my own game . . . and it turned out that FOSE had indeed not loaded correctly . . . so it worked correctly for me. If you get the FOSE message, open your console and type: GetFOSEVersion . . . you should get the installed FOSE version number . . . if you get an error message, then FOSE didn't load. I noticed that he recently released a minor update, so I'll add his change to my next version.


I've added a lot of changes that make weapons more deadly: lower HPs (for the player), increased weapon skill damage multiplier, changes to many of the default weapons, Localized Damage changes (increased damage from shots to head and torso). Plus all my Med-Tec module's added injuries (wounds, burns, blood loss, trauma, infections).


Your hit points are based on your endurance, so there is no default amount, unless you are talking about having 5 END:
5 END: females = 170 HP; males = 155 HP

What I tried to do is to add some gender differences that would give somewhat different results for the same stats . . . but still keep things balanced. (Males get a Strength bonus: 5 STR: male = 110 pounds; female = 85.)
So if you're playing a male character, and you feel that this is not enough HP, you just have to add another point to END (and perhaps decrease your STR by 1 point).

Here's the link to my mod's http://amito.freehostia.com/Fallout/Arwens_Hard-Core.htm#gender on my website.

Well, i played for six non-stop hours ( :whistling: ) with this overhaul, and.......... ABDUCTED.
Btw 1 thing i dont' understand: what is the purpose of Intimidation Spell ?

I believe the intimidation spell is on your character whenever you have your weapon out. It does something like -10 speech, making people like you less. Probably because people usually don't like it when you come at them with a gun out.


Also, Arwen, I always launch through Fallout Mod Manager. I also use Darnified IU, which I believe requires FOSE to work properly. It's never looked weird, so I'm pretty sure it was running right. I'll let you know if it happens again, though, and I'll be sure to check next time.

The Stimpak animation effect sounds interesting.

Edit: It appears the animation is played twice. Is it once for sticking it in, and once for taking it out again?

Only one animation per stimpak injection happens in my own game. Are you getting two animation sequences? If so, are you using just 1 stimpak?

But I do receive 2 messages that the stimpak has worn off (the 2nd one is about 4 seconds after the first one, which is the length of the animation itself).

I just fast travelled somewhere and I got the 'FOSE is not running' pop up again, but the console command GetFOSEVersion does work and everything else was working correctly too so FOSE is running.

Ok, that settles it. I'm removing my FOSE check. It just seems to be way too buggy.

Thanks, Povuholo . . . I was considering removing it, and you helped me finalize it.

Thanks for the reply, Arwen. i`ll give the Mod a run.

I noticed that vendors seem to have plenty of ammo, which is good.

I am unable to treat burns/trauma with My First Infirmary. The other options seem to work, but nothing happens when I use the burns/trauma option. No stimpak is removed (I have plenty) and nothing is treated. My trauma level was 3.4 and my burn level 0.0 when I tried it.

Edit: I don't know if it's related, but I have a 'bandaged burns' effect active on me, and I've waited for 3 days already and it's still not gone. It did remove all sorts of other bandages I had on but this one seems to stick. All wounds are long gone.

Were there any plans for an Antidote item? I've run into a few ugly fights where it would've been useful to have those. It would be more useful than compensating for the health loss with stimpaks.


Just a reminder of what I thought of the Broken Steel enemies, they make the late game too difficult I think. Though you're probably rather busy with New Vegas right now.

http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Ghoul_reaver: Its radioactive goo balls are very powerful. With my character who had a DR of 67 and 130 health, he could be killed with 2 of the balls that these things throw. And they can throw an infinite amount of those, pretty quickly, and with good accuracy. It would've been a nice challenge if the ghoul reavers didn't also have a ridiculous amount of health, now they're just too strong. Naturally they should have more health than the average ghoul so they can't be killed that easily but 1100 HP is insane.

http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Albino_radscorpion: Just too much health (1500! The Giant Radscorpion has 350.). Apparently they also restore health in sunlight. They also don't drop anything that's really useful, so fighting them is just a waste of ammo.

http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Enclave_Hellfire_Trooper: Health is also a bit on the high side (250, whereas the Tesla soldiers have 170 and the highest level soldier below that 125). Their powerful equipment should already make them more challenging than the average Enclave soldier: They have a high AR and a http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Heavy_incinerator_%28Broken_Steel%29.

I'll have look into the burn bandages . . . if may be a minor script error.

My infirmary script looks fine (I don't have time to test it out in my own game right now, but I will when I have the time). Your Trauma has to be greater than Level 2, and Burns have to be greater than Level 3 to for you to treat them with your infirmary. And the degree of treatment is based on your medicine skill. I hadn't really thought much about adding an antidote. Do you mean one for poisons?

I'll see what I can do to balance out those Broken Steel Creatures/NPCs.

Hi Arwen,

First I'd like to congratulate you with your awesome mod. I stopped playing the game half-way through because it was so easy, but with your mod I'm struggling to survive. It's really well put together. Thanks!

I have a couple of suggestions, and a couple of bugs. The check for ArwenWoundLevel > 10 is within a ArwenWoundLevel > 2 && ArwenWoundLevel < 7 guard, so it is never run. I've got a wound level of 24 now, and even though I've spent a lot of caps healing myself at the Rivet city doctor it will never go down, unless I find a bunch of bandages.

There's a similar problem with ArwenRadSickLevel. If your sickness level is above 10, it will never go down on its own. Whatever you do at the doctor's office doesn't help here either, and RadAway is *really* scarce. Getting caught outside in radioactive rain will easily get me to those levels, even if I'm lugging around a radsuit and popping Rad-X as if it were candy.

Finally, in some situations the Illuminated spell doesn't go off after I turn off the Pip-boy.

So my first suggestion is that professionally healing radiation and wounds will help treat sickness and the wound levels.

Secondly, bottle caps are scarce to come by. Except by stealing. It's extremely easy to steal hundreds of caps from vendors, which doesn't really make sense. I assume stealing 400 bottle caps would make a lot of noise. Perhaps a high level character with sneak > 70 could be able to do it, but not a second level character with a sneak level of 25. Perhaps making pick-pocketing much harder would help. My workaround is to not pick-pocket at all.

Awesome work, though!

Ps. I'm looking forward to the next chapter of your Journey

You're most welcome, and thank-you for the kind words. And I always consider suggestions for ways to improve my mod (as long as the suggestions fit my on vision of how the game should be improved).


Oops! I think I actually messed this up in my last update when I was balancing things (its a pretty complex script, and with my language issues, I do tend to miss things). Thanks for pointing that out . . . it will be fixed in v.5.4.


Both of these have already been fixed in my my own v.5.4 Beta. (I had meant to fix them in v.5.3, but I ended up getting sidetracked by another issue.) The Radiation Sickness, like the Wounds were not supposed to advance higher than Level 10. Version 5.4 will include some changes to both the doctor treatment and the player's infirmary treatments (including adding bandaged wounds/burns penalties). But both will still be treatments, so don't expect to walk away fully cured/healed.


In what situations? This seems to be fixed in my own game since (there was a scriping error in v.5.2 that I corrected in v.5.3.)


I've never attempted to alter pick-pocketing, mostly because I never use it. But I may see if I can do something to make it more balanced (if it does not involve a complex solution).


That may be a while. Between my FO3 Tweaks' updates and trying to complete my New Vegas modules, I barely have time to play my own game (all I've done for months is play test my changes).