Realistic Sneak for NPCs v. 1.04



Intro
------------------------------
Hi all.

This is a mod which allow NPCs to sneak and perform sneak attacks on PC.

Well, sort of.



Important URLs:
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Download: http://tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=34675
RELEASE THREAD: http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1116560-relz-realistic-sneak-for-npcs/



Requirements
-------------------------------
Latest Oblivion patch
OBSE 18+



How it works
------------------------------
This mod is a heavy modification of Reneer's NPC Sneak Mod.

A script is running in the background which distributes a ring to the NPC actors in the cell.
This ring runs a script for those NPCs. It calculates a chance for PC to detect a NPC, based
on a respective Sneak skills and Agility attributes.

Chance to hide for NPC is:

(NPCSneakMod^2 + NPCAgi^2 / D^2) / (PCSneakMod^2 + PCAgi^2 / D^2 + NPCSneakMod^2 + NPCAgi^2 / D^2)

where
PCSneakMod is PC Sneak skill modified by luck (+2 skill for +5 luck in vanilla game, may be modded)
PCAgi is PC Agility attribute
NPCSneakMod is NPC Sneak skill modified by luck (+2 skill for +5 luck in vanilla game, may be modded).
Optional penalty for having weapon out and wearing heavy armor can be applied via ini.
NPCAgi is NPC Agility attribute
D is a special factor which determines relative power of Sneak and Agility in this formula. It is
calculated as fDamageSkillMult / fDamageStrengthMult . In Vanilla D = 3 (1.5 / 0.5), in my FCOM game
it is 4.5 (2.25 / 0.5).

This "able or not to hide" piece of info is recalculated every combat round (which is 6 seconds
by default, can be changed in the ini. Yes, i like DnD).

Then, if NPC is flagged as 'able to hide' and the following occurs: NPC is sneaking OR is in
combat AND distance from PC to NPC is greater than 250 units (approx 3.5m, adjustable via ini),
then NPC goes into hiding - by becoming 100% transparent (level of transparency can be changed
via ini).

Now, if the NPC is in combat and player is a combat target of NPC he/she can execute a (ranged)
sneak attack on you. It is done by predicting damage (via formula from UESP Wiki), calculating
damage multiplier (Vanilla way or Stealth Overhaul way - adjustable via ini) and then modifying
NPC's AttackBonus hidden parameter so the total damage done to player would be increased similar
to Sneak Attacks that PC can perform.

If PC blows NPC's cover (by coming closer or winning sneak contest outlined above) then NPC
transparency disappears and his/her AttackBonus returns to original value.

Note: this mod makes all those Outlaw Bowmen alot more dangerous! So all this "Sneak Attack" NPC
behavior may be disabled in the INI.



Special notes
-------------------------------
The formula for damage prediction should be correct, but the formula for doing Sneak Attack
damage might be not, though i've tried my best to adjust it. So if u notice any glaring
inconsistances in damage (regular shot for 30, but 3x Sneak attack shot for 70 instead of 90)
please notify me along with data on NPC - level, skills, stats base damage from weapons.
Turining on debug in ini will be helpful with this



List of changes
-------------------------------
1.04
Tweaked combat behavior: actors will now go into hiding when in combat only with bow drawn. So
you wouldn't see any more of invisible ninjas in melee.


1.03
1. Bugfix: under some circumstances NPC would not come out of hiding. This has been fixed.


1.02
1. Again modified detection formula. Now weights for Agility and Sneak parameters are same as
in-game damage formula.
2. Added optional penalties for wearing heavy armor and/or having weapon/shield out.
3. Reveal Distance can be adjusted via ini now


1.01
1. Modified detection formula, added Agility and Luck.
2. Bugfix: iCombatRound variable which controls combat round duration didnt work at all.


1.0
Initial release.



Load order
-------------------------------
Shouldn't matter at all.



Upgrading
-------------------------------
Go into cell where all actors are visible (not fighting or sneaking).
Save game.
Disable mod.
Load game, save again.
Enable mod and play.



Deinstallation.
-------------------------------
Go into cell where all actors are visible (not fighting or sneaking).
Save game.
Disable mod.



Bugs/Incompatibilities
-------------------------------
Bugs: none known.
Incompatibilities: incompatible with Reneer's NPC Sneak Mod, as my mod is based heavily on his,
quest, item and both scripts have same names, along with many variables.



Credits
-------------------------------
Reneer - without his NPC Sneak Mod, this one would never be created. Thx alot Reneer!
Jroush - for advice about using AttackBonus.
Beathesda - for game.
God - for a whole universe.



Legal
-------------------------------
I dont care tbh.
However, my version of this mod will always stay on TesNexus.
Also i'd be happy to see suggestions, reports etc about this mod.

Sounds exciting!
Are those wearing Heavy Armour able to hide or do they get penalties?

Every NPC is able to 'hide'. No penalties for heavy armor (yet, i might add them later).

Gonna upload 1.01 soon with sligtly modified detection formula - gonna add Luck and Agility.

lonewolf_kai needs to look at this mod for his Assassins mod...

Haldar: Congrats on the Relz!

Me and lonewolf_kai have much in common - former Daoc Assasin players

Thx anithinks!

1.01 is out!

LOL, I just saw this. This sounds great and I can't wait to try this out with my wip assassin mod.

And sweet! A fellow DaOC Stealther! What server/toon did you play? I was a Lancelot Infiltrator named Shaddowolf Ghostfang

Euro server:Excalibur , now on Ywain9
Shadowblade Hroft Blackhand, R8L9
Hunter Haldar Blackhand, R5L3 (iirc)

Haldar_RUS on vn.

Sounds good!

Please definitely add penalties to hide in heavy armor.. It's not realistic with a full plate.. Noise alone would give that away

The link goes to a mod called jail shackles. Doesn't seem right.
I think this is the right link: http://tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=34675
Having used and like Reneer's mod I look forward to an improvement.

and here comes a request for nehrim compatibility...

I use Stealth Overhaul and Proximity Based Sneaking Penalties.

These things put on the PC should be put on the NPC otherwise it is unbalanced using these mods.

Thx Psymon, link is fixed now!


@Jedi21ita
I'll check into adding sneak penalties for NPC when they wear "heavy armor" (in terms of Stealth Overhaul). Will work only if player uses SO-like increased sneak attack mulitipliers, not vanilla one. Will add default penalties from Stealth Overhaul.


@ITPaladin
No, i wont use things from Proximity Based Sneaking Penalties here. 1st, "sneak" from NPC is removed when u come closer than 250 units to it (here's a penalty ), and 2nd - afaik it is bugged somehow. I think implementing penalties for heavy armor from SO will be enough.


@Norbingel
Not anytime soon. I dont have Nehrim and i dont plan to get it yet.

Proximity is only bugged in conjunction with using Realistic Leveling and most likely nGCD.

I will be testing with Nehrim soon, but so far with Nehrim I've not seen many sneaking NPCs.

Ye, that's it. I use RL, read about PBSP bugged with it and decided against it...but now forgot why, thx for reminding me.

Are you saying that Proximity Based Sneaking Penalties mod is bugged?
I have nGCD as well. Is this possibly the reason for my other post about No Psychic Merchants? Certain merchants (someone mentioned race like high elves being more alert but they weren't high elves or elves at all) just
get up out of bed no matter what in the middle of the night, like crossing an invisible trigger script in the room.

The search function is your friend - try typing in 'Proximity Based Sneak' and look for topics with Realistic Leveling in the title.

Or read the few comments that are on the nexus for PBSP.

Hmm...http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1081281-abos-mods/page__view__findpost__p__15752520 the two mods should be compatible now.
But that was half a year ago. Has anyone reported that there still is a conflict with the newest version of RL?

Comments as of January on the nexus page tell different.

I recall the error I had was related to riding a horse after leveling up or something. It would give nonsense info and freeze things. Took forever to track that down.

ohh Abo stated that more recently than january - well only way to find out is to add PBSP in right before leveling and see.

I'll use both and see what happens.
As for horses I've decided that all my characters suffer from equinophobia. Makes life for a mod addict so much easier...

I was not talking about RL. I have nGCD as I said.

Honestly, I'm getting tired of seeing you reply to my posts with your non-constructive ass.... attitude. I have noticed the trend with other people you have replied to in the past (searching posts like you think I don't do).

I already read those few comments days ago. I have never experienced a leveling jump in the weeks of using nGCD and Prox.

That problem wasn't even my concern.

Sir RL and nGCD are very similar in a lot of ways ... http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1050502-realistic-leveling-glitch/page__view__findpost__p__15240904

Question-

When in combat with an NPC and they are running then disappear 100% while in full stride - that only means that their sneak skill is better - right?

I was thinking about this and thought it would be better if they were opaque to the degree they are more sneaking but if they go into crouch slo-mo mode then they should disappear fully. But now that I think about it the only mod I've seen where NPCs actually crouch and act as if sneaking (with the player character's sneak animation) is TIE (and variants of TIE).

I'm wondering if TIE adds that while vanilla and most other mods forgo the animation and just never bothered to have the NPCs sneak at all.

In the mean time going to activate dynamic transparency.

If possible that is a feature request (only 100% if they actually try and fully sneak, but dynamic until then).

And I used this in Nehrim - and it was freaky - surrounded by rogue mages in the woods and they would appear to attack then disappear. In a TIE like game this will make those roving lunatics downright deadly.

also could you explain the sneak attack settings - is it that we can opt for a setting but that it does not adjust according to that chart?

Yep. IE - mod calculated that in the following combat round (6 secs by default) PC wont be able to see this NPC. Hence - he instantly disappears from view.




I dont know how to do it. And i really dont want to mess with NPC combat behavior, AI packages, animation assignment etc. I am a complete noob in Oblivion inner workings - and wouldn't touch it.

That's why i wrote 'sort of' in intro



There are 2 sneak attack settings.

iUseSneakAttack : if positive, then NPC are allower to perform sneak attacks when hidden - which in reality are attacks with increased damage. Any other value means that NPC will do same damager regardless their hiding state, this effectively disabling their sneak attacks.

iVanillaSneak : if set to 1, then the Vanilla sneak attack damage modifiers will be applied to NPC, any other value - SO modifiers (which take into account both sneak and marksman).

Your mod sounds very interesting....and I will try it out for sure! :foodndrink:

I can't pass up a chance; however, to say... "DAoC?!?" Years later I still miss and yearn for the good ole days (from the time the servers went live up to the release of Trials of Atlantis) of open ended, three sided, team based warfare and small skirmishes and the never ending saga of realm and server politics on DAoC Nimue...best MMORPG for PvP and RvR...ever...in its day (still the best RvR concept, IMHO).

Regards,

Hem (f/k/a Hemingwey Albionson - Bastard Son of a Norse Chieftain and a Britton Slave - Midgard Warrior and Jarl of Clan Rampage :wink_smile: )