Well, okay.






I didn't touch Nifskope, its all scaling, and sneaky replacements of the model when necessary.

It just cracks me up every time I give it something to eat. Great mod.

Maybe adding Pork N beans to the food list

Testing it out and so far works great. He does tend to get stuck on random things like other companions though.

Btw tarrant what is the ID on the Deathclaw in case I need to do something along the lines of
"Moveto Player" command again

You should go into console and click it in order to see the REF ID, as it will vary depending upon your own personal mod load order.

I have version 1.1 almost ready to go, its got bugfixes and some other stuff. I was beginning to look into aiding its mobility a bit (in the way that it gets stuck attempting to ascend stairs in particular (Fawkes in FO3 had this prob occasionally too btw) ). So far, the things I wanted to do to help it are not panning out, but we will see, it's not over yet eh.

Oh yes stairs is exactly where he gets stuck a lot. It think it might have to do with the miniature invisible walls they placed all over it. That and the fact that the Deathclaw itself is rather rather large. He likes to get stuck in tight places like door ways and such. Cause of that I usually just tell him to wait along with other companions outside.

Next version of this has an ability from its dialogue to do a moveto.

Anyway it is kinda ready to go... I guess i will zip it up and send it out.

it does not have further advancement of its special ability and such, mainly fixes plus the moveto.

This is updated.

After looking at the current status of gamespy's planetfallout's mod listings, I decided to upload it to nexus as well. Plantfallout is in horrible shape, which leaves nexus as pretty much the only meaningful mod index site. I'll put the same notification on it as I did for Phalanx, which is, any discussion/communication intended for me to see must be brought here to the Bethesda RELz thread.

Updates:

- Now has a delayed moveto command in its dialogue, to help move it around when it gets stuck at the base of stairs, etc.

- advlt deathclaw is nerfed a bit from version 1.0. Its health pool now resembles a normal deathclaw (it was higher PLUS it had the deathclaw damage threshold buff). Also note that 1.0's advlt was doing 50% additional damage as compared with a normal deathclaw, this has been normalized. It was killing nightkin in like 2 swipes. I couldn't let it go on like that eh ...

- bugfixes (this includes it accepting more types of foods than before, among other things)

This is a bump to all those people looking to pick up a DeathClaw pet

Oh btw Tarrant have you met the big deathclaw I was talking about yet? :wink_smile:

I'm having a little trouble. When I drop the egg from my inventory and the hatching sequence starts, the egg starts rocketing around the room with a trail of green slime behind it, and won't stop. I reloaded a save and tried the same thing outside, same thing. Any mod conflicts I should be aware of or anything?

That's weird! Never seen that.

I will try some things ..

Hey Imp,

Would you try re-downloading the file from my mirror instead of the nexus link? See if when gotten that way, it behaves better? I have seen this be the fix, before.

I was able to get it working by trying it outside again - the first time it got hung up on some outdoor geometry and kept bouncing around, but the second time the egg went flying off towards the horizon, and left the deathclaw behind (kind of funny to watch, actually). I'll try the mirror with one of my other characters though.

Cool mod, I like that NPCs seem to react to the deathclaw - "If you don't keep that thing under control, I will."

Really?

Interesting.

I thought that line is intended for Lily? but I have never looked at it. Maybe it is tagged to any creature follower.

Could be they're reacting to Rex. They seem to be looking right at Deathmeat though, usually.

Yeah that line is targeted at either Rex or ED-E.

I have given this file my endorsemant... on nexus anyway.

I have a suggestion though Chris Avellone won't approve of it. What if you made a relation of some sorts between this egg and Goris or Xarn or the egg accidentally getting dipped into an FEV virus container?

-SPOILER FOR THOSE WHO NEVER PLAYED FALLOUT 2-

If you played Fallout 2, you would know that the talking deathclaws' origin was being dipped in FEV by the Enclave for the hope of using them for their purpose but instead ran away from them for they doubted the morality of the Enclave and so they decided to live in Vault 13 but were massacered by Frank Horrigan but 2 of them survived; Xarn, the captured deathclaw in Navarro and Goris, the scholar silver deathclaw that was roaming the world learning Human culture.

-END SPOILER-

So...yeah... Your mod could possibly be a talking, intelligent deathclaw (wearing robes). Problem though is the voice. :/

Funny you should mention that, huh. Wellllll... I had not planned to do the intelligent deathclaws for NV, but, I have planned for some time to put them into my Fallout 3 Phalanx mod.

Life is a resilient thing, you know. When it comes to a story like the Intelligent Deathclaws, who's to REALLY say that every last member of a species positively died, vs, a few branched off from the main group and went a separate way, thereby surviving, or maybe that was not the only group of them. Maybe a group fled east. Far east.

What one thinks of as 'lore' is, in my perspective, meant to make a thing better, not limit some good part of it so far as to destroy its future. When 'lore' sorta takes something into a dead end, and I feel like it hasn't run its full course, I'm much inclined to reject it. In my making of Phalanx for Fallout 3, I've categorically rejected the content of the 'fallout bible' anyway. Pretty much if I did not see 'it' without ambiguity in Fallouts 1 or 2, 'it' didn't necessarily happen.

So - - after some time, maybe I'll do the Intelligent Deathclaw quest and so on that I've meant for Fallout 3 Phalanx - - - but no really I had not planned that for NV.


Also - - voice acting isn't necessary. It's nice to have. But not necessary.

Having to feed a companion adds kind of an interesting twist to the gameplay. I've had someone ask a couple of times to make an "autoeat" function for either IMCN or my timescale adjuster, that caused the player to automatically ingest the appropriate items from their inventory when hungry, thirsty, nutrient deficient, etc. I'm not sure I like the idea of the player not having to decide what to eat, sort of defeats the purpose of the whole crafting/needs portion of the game, but if I were to write something like that it'd be pretty easy to adapt it for use with your companions. Some mods try to increase difficulty by reducing the amount of food in the wastes. I don't really think that fits with the New Vegas background - it's a civilized, often affluent area, there's going to be food - but having to keep an entire phalanx of companions fed would have about the same effect.

Well, the people who made the world of Fallout has the authority to say such. Wiping an entire race of their world I mean.

Cool that you're actually thinking about doing it, you should put one in a cryogenic cage in the Enclave base (forgot the base's name). But lore-wise I think adding the intelligent deathclaws in New Vegas is more suitable if you're going to add a background story to it. The Enclave did put a stop to enslaving them via FEV dippingand resorted to mind control head gear.

This however would be a nice info background for New Vegas;

"In any case, there is a chance that two intelligent deathclaws survived to continue on the species. I realize that they are both males, but that is fine. When they were engineered by the Enclave, the intelligence gene was made male specific and dominant. What this means is: Any intelligent male that mated with a non-intelligent female would (most likely) produce intelligent offspring."

If two of the surviving deathclaws managed to shag mother deathclaw on the quarry makes it all set. Besides, all of the characters from fallout 2 lived closer to Vegas than Washington D.C.

But who am I to say, I'm just eager to wait for any latest update for this mod.

P.S. You should add "Butcher Pete" in the list of names you could name your Deathclaw.

Well, I don't feel like all of that is necessary. I don't have to try to judge and twist the tiniest details of a different story to make mine. And when it comes to 'authority' like I said I don't have any such thing in what I am doing with Fallout 3's Phalanx (which is the only place I had such stuff planned). I'm sticking to what feels right, and using FO1 2 and to an extent I will use some of what's been placed into NV as guidelines. But that's all it is, guidelines. This is creative fiction, this isn't law school.

Found this mod on Nexus and endorsed it there. Here's my feedback, if you are interested:

1. General:
Stupendous mod. I presumably got more out of it than out of any other mod I ever installed. Thanks a lot for wasting my time so pleasantly

2. Timescale:
You wanted to know if there was any issue with unorthodox timescales?
Since the vanilla timescale is much too fast-paced for me, I always play on varying scales between 3 and 10. I have so far raised 3 deathclaws on 3 characters, and there has been no problem at all.

3. Known issues:
a) He may not be able to swim, but he also doesn't seem to drown. So as long as there is a path he can walk on he may still follow the player into the water.

b) The inability to climb steps has been a major issue for me so far, breaking the immersion a bit and adding to the range of problems you already have with companion pathfinding; it was only by reading this thread here that I found out you had already addressed the issue by that 'Moveto' command which had remained enigmatic to me. Brilliant idea, silly me.

4. Suggestions:
a) Sound
The hatchling and adolescent have the same deep growling as the advlt. This is more than strange given the fact that their bodies don't have the same resonance potential. Wouldn't it be relatively easy to take the default sound and accelerate it a bit to give it a higher pitch for the smaller beings? Would definitely add to the 'cuteness factor'.

b) Name
Have you considered replacing the "It" in "It is hungry" and "It isn't hungry right now" by the baby deathclaw's name variable? Otherwise why give it a name if you still think of it as a thing?
It would also be great to know how we can change that name on the console. The first contact with this mod may be an experimental one for most players, and by the time we realize we'd wish to keep this unique companion if only we had selected the name with more care he may already be grown up. Personally, I have 3 deathclaws on 3 characters, and they all have another name. But as I know now, it should be the same name, just like Boone and Cass are the same in all games.

c) Location
In my opinion, the most intriguing experience you could have with such a baby deathclaw is growing up together with it. On a new character. That is why I took the liberty to alter your mod for my personal use, and plant an egg inside the open grave in Goodsprings Cemetery. Makes a lot of sense in the game's logic, too, because real deathclaws are close by, and because the courier was buried there, so is most likely to go inspect the place after having returned from the dead. Maybe players could be given a choice of where the egg should be planted?

d) Trust
To be honest, even when called 'Mr. Cuddlesworth' and not grown to the full size of a wild specimen, this deathclaw is creepy in its later stages, when standing close to you and staring at you with this ... expression in its face. Takes some courage to turn one's back on it and crouch. You've known him since he was a baby, you fed and raised him, but still: who knows what the hell a deathclaw might think? And how could you possibly guarantee for the safety of other humans around it?
There are some simple means that could build and invigorate your trust in this strange new friend:
-- What if the hatchling developed a real liking for toys, rejoicing whenever you give him one? And what if the grown up fierce deathclaw still retained some of its playful nature by being overly fond of ... teddybears?? Not that it needs or demands them, but whenever you give him one (they don't last long on that guy, look at him) this makes him really pleased. It would also prolong the give-and-take relationship beyond the period of feeding.
-- More trust even could be generated by the little one's accepting of vegetarian food (only from time to time, not always), and his strict refusal to accept human flesh and 'strange meat' (unless, of course, the player himself has one of the cannibal perks). The partly vegetarian 'diet' could also explain for his not growing as tall as a normal deathclaw.

5. Questions:
a) What happens when you fire him? I haven't dared do that yet. Where does he go? Can he be "rehired"?
b) Could the egg be made to respawn after an extended period of time? This would theoretically open the possibility of the player founding a whole tribe of friendly deathclaws.....


As you see, I'm fascinated by this mod and think it has a huge potential.

Thanks once again and good luck for your future work on it.

I'd absolutely love to see the Talking Deathclaws make a return in Fallout: New Vegas! I actually made a few comments as to such in the comments thread, I'll repost them here.

And since I bizarrely don't seem to be able to edit that last post (I don't have permission, very odd)...

I'd just like to say that I'd love to see your version of the Talking Deathclaws for Fallout 3. I hope you'll port them to New Vegas eventually, too. Since all the lore is there to actually back up the Talking Deathclaws being there. I agree with your to hell with the bible attitude too, to be honest. Why? Avellone did NOT design Vault City. The developer of the entirety of Vault City was John Deiley, and therefore he's the only one who's able to speak on it with any authority. Avellone is really just talking above his station, here. Which makes him a bit of an egotistical t*** in this case. Normally I like him, but he needs to not claim the work of other people as his own.

Anyway, here's what John had to say about Talking Deathclaws:

"In any case, there is a chance that two intelligent deathclaws survived to continue on the species. I realize that they are both males, but that is fine. When they were engineered by the Enclave, the intelligence gene was made male specific and dominant. What this means is: Any intelligent male that mated with a non-intelligent female would (most likely) produce intelligent offspring."

Therefore, if the remaining male Deathclaws mated with females, the end result would be further intelligent Deathclaws. So you wouldn't even necessarily need the FEV (though that would be an easy explanation, if you wanted one). You could instead say that the race continued because the intelligent members mated with a vast degree of non-intelligent Deathclaws, and by doing so and continuing to do so they maintained genetic diversity enough to build a race.

Of course, there's a chance that the FEV could've helped to make this possible, allowing for greater diversity with a smaller base genetic pool. All of this actually fits with the lore according to Fallout 2, and according to John, who is again the only person who has the authority to talk on talking Deathclaws (so to speak).

If you fire him, if he's fully grown, he runs away and vanishes forever, for now

If you fire any of the immature forms, it'll stand there and do nothing.

I can't make a second egg create a second follower.

I do have some plans for a continuation of.... something. Sometime, anyway. Can't say what or drop any hints because to do so would amount to a spoiler.

If anyone has ideas for this mod which I haven't done, you should feel free to edit it and create what you want to see. And release it if you want. It's a free GECK. What I've done in this mod could feel incomplete to one person, yet feel finished to another, it's all a matter of personal taste.

I am really, honestly not doing the intelligent deathclaws in New Vegas. Fallout 3 feels like more of an open book to me, it wouldn't feel right to me to put them into NV if they weren't included already.

edit: okay done editing now - -

Fair enough, Tarrant. I didn't mean to seem pushy there or anything. So, not for New Vegas, then. That's fine! I'll just dust off my GOTY. Looks like I've got another thread to keep an eye on from now until release, then. And then it's the arduous job of putting together a list of appealing mods for Fallout 3. I should likely clear up some space for that.

But I digress. Thank you for being considerate in giving us (well, specifically me, since I'm only talking for myself here) your reasoning, I really appreciate that. And thank you for the Deathclaw mod you did create for New Vegas, that's great stuff and it's been entertaining having him romping around alongside me.

Right then, nothing more to add. I just wanted to share my thoughts on this. And generally, I completely support your reintroduction of Talking Deathclaws, wherever it happens. Never listen to bible-babblers, it's not wise. >_>