Hey LazyMonk,

I'm pretty sure that my mod is no way responsible for your zombie problem ... but good luck with that!

Who knows, you could be onto a new type of FO3 creature.

My Localized Damage module seems to reduce the high rate of receiving head shots during combat . . . but I'm only basing this on my own game, as no one has given me any feedback on this module . . . so I'm still not sure if my changes are actually making the difference.

I ask the following question here (a page or so back), which no one's attempted to answer yet:
Does anyone know how NPCs actually target the PC (and other NPCs and Creatures)? I have to wonder if they are using using the game VATS targeting, which could explain a lot of what is happening.

Currently I'm working on yet another update (which is nearly finished).
This one will include (among other things) a new Armor module . . . which will likely replace my Power Armor module.
It bugs me that the weight and value of various armor is so inconsistent.

Most of the default armor/clothing has been changed (not including Power Armor, which is a special beast, that gets it's own special tweaks):

1.) The weight of armor is now based on its AR . . . using a 5WT/8AR ratio (AR/1.6=WT). In most cases, I used the default AR and adjusted the WT.
For instance, most Raider Armor weighed 15 pounds, yet it only has an AR of 16. With my Armor module, it now weighs only 10 pounds.

2.) The value of most armor is now also based on its AR ... since I feel that armor which will protect me better, should be worth more than armor with less AR.
This was calculated using AR*10=value (there are some exceptions, mostly because the value of a unique armor should not only be determined solely by its AR).

3.) in most cases I retained the default AR and made the adjustments to the WT and Value.
There were however some cases where I changed the AR when the values seemed to be way off when compared to other armor (Vault 101 Security Armor had a much lower AR than Raider armor).
I also changed the AR of Vault jumpsuits from 1 to 2 (it was 3 times lower than dirty pre-war clothing, which made no sense to me).

4.) I reduced the AR of most of the non-armor type of clothing (all the prewar outfits were reduced to an AR of 1), while leaving the default weight for most.

5.) I'm also overhauling the Object Effects (the enchanted clothing settings), and have made changes to about two thirds of the effects. This should make things a bit more realistic (and more balanced)
In most cases, you will no longer gain much of an increase in skills like Small Guns or Repair or Science, just by changing your clothing (now you will only gain a point or two).
I've also increase some effects like Radiation resistance. I also added or increased some effects to some clothing (like Sneak, Endurance, Perception, and Agility), and a few pieces of armor/clothing that previously had no effects now has some.
Power Armor will still nearly carry itself when you are wearing it (just like in my Power Armor mod, which this new module is replacing), but I've removed the additional reduced agility penalty (since it seems to be slowing down the Power-Armor-wearing-NPCs too much), and made some other changes instead.

With any luck, I should have this next update completed in a day or so.

This will be a nice improvement. I've also been unhappy with the armor/clothing weights vs. DR. Relating DR and weight makes sense. I also like the idea of reducing or removing armor/clothing buffs. In fact I think that other than unique armor/clothing like Lucus's Duster, clothing shouldn't buff skills or abilities. I'm OK with Power Armor enhancing CarryWeight and impacting Agility, that makes sense. Rad reduction for certain clothing also makes sense. Maybe Recon armor enhancing Sneak also makes sense but I don't see how armor came buff Small Guns, Repair, Medicine, etc.

I started a new game with a slightly modified* version of 2.5-Full last weekend. I don't think I'll ever be able to play the game without your sneak and AI changes. My only complaint in that regard is that I am detected nearly immediately when I toss a grenade in the deepest dark of night. Not after it lands or explodes, but when it is still mid-flight. But I suspect this is an unavoidable side effect due to the limitations of the engine.

Aside from things I had already modified, the only thing I'm not enjoying is the increased health to MOBs. By level five, it was taking two to three head shots with the hunting rifle (50-60% condition) to take down some raiders (no helm), and a grenade exploding at their feet often took less than 1/2 health and didn't even cripple them. In any case, these are just my observations, I don't expect you to make any changes on my account. I discovered BRUTE a few days ago, and I like the 'no level HP' concept, so I'm going to give that a try along with some of your individual modules; then maybe try my hand at merging my favourite parts from the two if it seems worthwhile.

*I nuked a few of your changes: carry weight, sneak damage modifier, sneak status removal, fall height, & movement speed.

This is something that interests me as well. I was standing 90 pct concealed by an object with only my feet showing and the raider managed to get a shot to the head causing a crippling injury. Makes me think they've got their own autoaim. The time that happened I was only using the AI module.

I love the AI module, absolutely essential!
My :tops: for you

Yay, cannot wait, keep up the hard work

I didn't want to completely remove the object effects entirely, as they are what make the armor/clothing worth more (and I'm concerned that removing the perk would sort of weaken the NPCs that wear those items).

In many cases I changed what I felt was a non-logical skill increase to one that made a bit more sense. In most cases where I left a non-logical skill increase (such as Small Guns), I reduced the increase down to just a point or two . . . I sort of think of it as a "confidence increase" . . . sort of like how when you feel that you look good, you tend to perform a little better.

Adjusting the object effects has been the most difficult part of this module, and I'm sure that it still will need some adjustments after this first public release. I'm still not entirely happy with my settings, but they seem to be a LOT better than they were in the default game (as far as balance and consistency).

Ok first of all, i tried your mod, and i must say very good job done, it realy added great features. First, i will tell you what i like:

1. AI module- very good, i played enchanced combat, and i must say you added good tweaks to it and incorporated it well.

2. The pain effect-those balckouts and dizzynes when shoot in the head or arms, realy added to battles being more harsh and enjoyable.

3. Carry weight tweak, its very good, it realy makes you think twice before going into battle and which gear to use.

What i didnt liked.

1. Sometimes, the NPC stuck inside walls when dodge-ing.
2. Im not sure about 4-5 headshots to kill ppl at closest distance. 2 headshoots max, at close distance, would blow the brains out, no matter what weapon is(even an ordinary melle, like metal bar-same goes for you)
3. The leveling system needs to be reworked. Leveling is too fast.
4.I think weapons have to high durabillity. It needs a lowering a bit.

What i would like to be implemented:

1.Groin VATS. I want to shoot NPC in the neds, i dont know if it is possible to code it?...
2.Some weapons need to have knock-off effect. That would be shotgun,a grenade blown near npc would knock him off. These 2 for a start. And, i know that there are knock-off mods, but simply they are not coded well, because every weapon does knock off.
3.I would like to see combining different parts of clothes, like 101 suite with blastermaster armor, sort of layering clothes, like u do in normal life.

That sums it up for now, im off to test mod a little bit more

My mod doesn't add any animation, so I really don't know how to fix this, since it is apparently a game bug. My guess is that since my mod makes NPCs dodge more often, that the chances of this happening just increases.

Weapons do more damage with my mod. The headshot localized damage for NPCs is the same as in the default game ... I just increased the Player's headshot localized damage to match. I would be willing to increase headshot damage for both, but I don't think that most players would be happy with anymore headshot damage to their character.

I agree . . . which is why I made the http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=7674 mod

I'll consider lowering weapon durability ... but I'm not getting complaints from anyone else that it is too high. I'm hoping to do more to improve repair in the game (if I can figure out how to fix/add some things), in which case I might lower this for balance.

I have no idea how to do this ... or if it is even possible.

I haven't really tackled any individual weapons yet ... if I do add a weapon module, I'll consider giving this a try.

I think that would be extremely difficult to do (way beyond my modding abilites) . . . if it is even possible.
I'm nearly finished with my new Armor module (which I've been working on for weeks). One of the many changes it makes is that you will be able to wear eyewear and some helmet/hats at the same time. I'm also adding visual effects to all the default eyewear, and to some helmets ... which is really cool (in my opinion ... it's my favorite part of my mod . . . probably because it was the hardest to do.)


Thanks sooo much for your review/evaluation ... this is the type of feedback that I need the most.

you re welcome, and i hope the next version will have knock-off option . When we can expect new version?

Going to give this mod a whirl! It sounds really promising with the sneak and ai changes. The rest of the add-ons sound neat, but probably would not mesh well with my current setup. Using fook 2.0 so any major balance changes would probably leave me splattered. Side note: does anyone happen to recall where the sneak warnings are located, I might turn those back on as fook2 uses that to determine if you can repair or not. (Would be annoying to not know when you can or cannot repair).

Speaking of which, has anyone tested the AI changes with fook? For the load order would the ai changes come before fook/mmm? I dont believe fook2 alters ai behavior. Not sure if mmm's hunting and looting plugin would cause issues.

Lastly, sorry for rambling, my darn migraine pills always knock me for a loop.

Arwen,

I just made level 8 using your tweaks (this and reduced XP). Overall I think that its a very nice rebalancing of the game. When I made level eight I took the Strongback Perk which added 50 carry weight to my 95 carry weight. I'm thinking that given the significant reductions in carry weight that you've implemented this perk seems way too powerful. You might want to consider reducing it quite a bit. Perhaps implement this perk with three ranks each giving 15 additional carry weight. The ranks should probably be tied to the player's strength attribute. Maybe rank 1 at strength 7 rank 2 at strngth 8 and rank 3 at strength 9. There are some other perks like Life Giver and Toughness that should also be reduced and maybe implemented in with multiple ranks. Basically you don't want these perks to undo you carefully thought-out balance.

I also fine the Super Mutants to be too easy. This is probably also true of the Enclave but I've not encountered them yet. Maybe its bcause I've been playing with FWE that really toughens the Super Mutants.

To replace the sneak messages, open the esp in FO3E and R-click -> Remove the following entries from the Game Setting tree:

??002FED sSneakCaution
??002FEE sSneakDanger
??002FEF sSneakDetected
??002FF0 sSneakHidden

The FormIDs may differ for you, this is pulled from the FULL esp.

Disclaimer: this is from my poking about and not from Arwen. It worked flawlessly for me but may cause a localized singularity within your CPU.

I was in the middle of answering your post soon after you made it, when my power went off (due to high winds here) . . . and the power just barely came back on (after being out for more than 5 1/2 hours).

The sneak part was answered by Wendel Greylocke (thanks!) . . . but if you, or anyone else wants to do this using GECK: under Gameplay/settings, type in sSneak (in the filter window) and click on each of the 4 EditorIDs:
sSneakCaution and then type in [CAUTION] (including the brackets, in the large String value box)
sSneakDanger type in [DANGER]
sSneakDetected type in [DETECTED]
sSneakHidden type in [HIDDEN]

My Tweaks are fully compatible with MMM, including the hunting and looting plugin (which I'm using in my own game) . . . you just have to load my mod after MMM, if you want my Crippled leg effects (which is about the only thing that both mods seem to affect).

I don't know about FOOK, as I'm not using that mod.


Thanks for letting me know about these areas, I guess I'll have to look at creatures and perks next. (and then either medical or weapons ... and I thought I was nearly done with modules).

I had hoped to complete my update this evening, but our power failure really messed me up, as I was in the middle of creating some new Image Space Modifiers in GECK when the lights went out (so now I'm redoing those). I'm going to try to finish those before bed, but it will be late tomorrow at best before I can complete things . . . as the new Armor Module is quite large and I need to still adjust a few things (and I'm doing a long paddle in my sea kayak tomorrow, so will be away from my computer for most of the day).

Thanks for getting back with me, I made the changes, once the next version of fook is released I will test it out! I will post back with the outcome.

Hi Arwen,

I use your 2.6 Full package and think it is very good. Also, your development work for future releases seems very well thought through.

One request though, DO NOT increase weapon deterioration as some suggest. It is unrealistically high as it is, even with your reductions. And for those that think that durable weapons decrease difficulty(although AFAIU NPC weapons also benefit), there is a solution:

- play with the mod that gives some traders 100% repair capability and with a harder bartering mod. I like to keep my weapons in top condition and with this setup(expensive repairs and ammo) caps are now actually a constant problem. I must really manage my limited cash all the time now and make agonizing decisions frequently.

You could, however, slow down leveling even more. Back to five times like you once had perhaps.
Also adding a respawn timer working on both interior and exterior cells would be great. I mean with configurable respawn times. When slowing down timescale as you suggest elsewhere a respawn time of 7 days at least is called for.

Regards, Haldir

I agree. While weapon degradation is a nice addition to gameplay, real guns don't break down after a few days of use. No need to make it go even faster.

Here is a mod that you may consider implementing into [Relz]:

http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=6439

Basicly, only the explosions knock down the opponents, which is cool. I considered that knock down for certain types of weapons would be hard for you to code at this stage of mod development, so you might peek into this mod for some clues how to implement it into your future versions(if the original mod maker agrees)

EDIT.

I had more time to test your mod. I noticed that radiation is not more lethal like you said in the log file, actually i am thinking that radiation is more or less the same as vanilla, i am using your FULL esp...

EDIT2. It is correct that mutants are too easy to kill, and here is why. Im not sure how this happened, but they actually have higher chance to drop weapon when you shoot at them. Also they are not agressive as raiders, they run as soon as they loose weapon, i think a fist fight would be more correct answer

EDIT3. When i was in a raider fight in one of the metro station, i noticed that raiders actually skipped some walls for cover, but instead, they wen to nearest wall from my position.

agreed.

I'm not changing any of my weapon deterioration setting for this next release. I was hoping to add a few more repair changes to this release, but the ones I have been trying to tweak would take me a lot more time to test ... and that would really delay this update (and the rest is pretty much complete, so I want to make it available as soon as possible).

I looked at a 100% trader repair mod, as I wanted to try it in my own game. But I'm concerned that the mod might cause some problems, as (if I understand what it does correctly) it removes the auto calculate stats from these traders, which seem to take away some of their leveling up changes. What I would like to do (if I can actually figure it out) is to add some entirely new characters that have the 100% repair ability. But this will take me a while to pull do (and I'm not sure that my modding skills are nearly ready for such an undertaking).

What I'm thinking of doing is releasing an optional even-slower leveling module (as part of my Reduced-XPR mod).


I'm using the Explosive Knockdowns mod in my own game (and have it on my FO3 mod list). Any weapon module is going to be a ways off, as there are other areas that I want to try to improve first (and there are tons of weapon mods).


My Survival module (which is included in the FULL module) increases the Radiation Accumulation Rate by a factor of 4 (I just double checked v.2.6's FULL module, and it is in there). My mod also increases the damage multiplier for Wading and Swimming by a factor of 4. Others have actually complained that I have it set to high. I've tested this one out and it does seem to be working exactly as I wanted, so if you're not seeing any difference (which is pretty noticeable), you've got something else that is messing your settings up (perhaps an old mod that you uninstalled, that is being carried over from an old save).


Version 2.7 should fix this (I hope) ... you should find that the mutants will be a bit more challenging. (And so will some of the other factions.)


That's the result of the way that cover works ... it is based on a maximum distance value, as to how far away they will search for cover. My mod gives them more range in how far they search for cover. And, from what I can tell in my own testing, their success at seeking cover is quite a bit better than with the default settings.

I'm very very close to completing my next update ... just (finally) completed my new Armor module and made a few final (I hope) changes to some of the other modules. I was hoping to get this uploaded tonight, but I'm afraid that is not going to happen (paddled much later than I expected today). If I tried to finish it tonight, as tired as I am, I would likely make way too many mistakes.

I still need to finish writing the ReadMe and Merge the Armor module and all the other new changes into my FULL module. If things go well, I should have things wrapped up by noon tomorrow.

My intents were to have this update available earlier, but I had a few last minute changes to make (and test), which I feel are worth the delay.

I fully agree . Take your time. About radiation answer, i actually havent looked that much in the radiation meter, i actually saw the same values when standing in water(which was+1), so maybe thats why i thought that radiation is the same as vanilla .

Nice to hear about Super-Mutants . Will the savegames be compatibile with your next version of mod?

Version 2.7 is now available! This is another MAJOR update (the FULL esp jumped from 82KB to 291KB).

IMPORTANT!!! This mod works best with a new game . . . but a new game is not required, as long as you follow my Update/Install (and Uninstall procedures).
My instructions should not be considered optional, but MUST be followed, due to changes in Object Effects and my new scripts (see Installation section of Readme).
If you do not follow my Install/Update (and uninstall) procedures, you can permanently mess up you character's stats.
Also be aware that some mods, even after being deactivated, can leave behind changes which will remain in your saves, which can still alter your game play balance. (In most cases, installing to a clean save will correct this.)

Major changes (and fixes) in Version 2.7:

Details on my new Armor Module (Arwen_Armor.esp):


I've updated the first post in this thread to reflect the changes that Version 2.7 makes [see opening post for more details].
Download link: http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=7565

Everything is pretty awesome, however i cannot Vats target cars :/