» Mon Mar 14, 2011 5:56 pm ------------------------
INTRODUCTION
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Welcome to The G.E.C.K Project!
First of all, let me briefly explain the purpose of this mod.
As we all know well in the year 2077 a nuclear war named the Great War between the USA and China destroyed most of the world as known in the Fallout universe.
In Fallout 3 we witnessed part of this world, Washington DC and the surrounding area 200 years after the Great War. Mostly destroyed it turns out to be an unhospitable place to the common wastelander.
It is a nice depiction of how a post-apocolyptic world would look like.
At one point though the game is not as accurate as it could have been. The world, 200 years after the war, still looks like the war has just ended. Pretty much nothing has been rebuild, settlements are largely made up of junk and people don't seem to be able to make new products. Something which probably would not be the case should an event like the Great War take place in our own world. People have always had the tendency to build, repair and form country-like groups. This all is not present though in the world of Fallout 3.
And that's where this mod will jump in. The purpose of this mod is to rebuild the Falout 3 world to it's former glory. Because as much as the world has been destroyed, one can still easily see how the world used to look like. The schematics for rebuilding this world are largely present. Ofcourse, it is impossible to change all the game's models, which would be needed to exactly recreate the pre-war world. Every object had to be remodeled. That ofcourse would take years, even with a decent projectteam. So that is not the purpose of this mod. No, the goal is to make the world look like a decent place to live again. Recreate nature, make towns and villages look livable again, remove rubble.. This all is possible and this is what will be done!
Ofcourse, as the world changes dramatically it will probably screw up the actual game and it's advised to use it after you've completed all the quests. But think of it: Bethesda has created an enormous world for you to play in. Wouldn't it be nice to see how this world looked like 200 years ago?
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IN CONCRETE TERMS
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So, what will actually be done? This project consists of several steps (which do not nescessarily need to be completed one at a time).
Basically, these things will be done:
- Replacement: The game comes with some areas which hold clean and repaired objects which would fit nicely in a pre-war world. Think of for example (intact) Vaults and Tranquility Lane. These objects provide perfect replacements for old, derelict objects found all over the wasteland. And for those of you unfamiliar to modding: Not every individual object will have to be changed. Changing the model of for example a refrigerator will change refrigerators of this type in the wasteland. Using this technique a decent amount of objects may be changed.
- Texturing: This type of modding will most probably have a great impact on the looks of the wasteland. Ever noticed why the subway carriages look so derelict? It's because they are so dirty and rusty, the carriage itself is not damaged at all. Should you change the texture of the carriages, it will look a lot better. This applies to other objects too. Just imagine DC with non-cracked concrete..
- Removal: Some objects in the Fallout world cannot just be repaired. A pile of rubble for example consist of a lot of (unrecognisable) junk. So that just has to go. Deleting every pile of junk from the world would be an impossible job though, so mapping is not an option. It should be possible though to simply replace every non-desirable object with an empty model. This way the object exists, although it's invisible.
- Atmospherical changes: This includes recreating nature, adjusting lightning etc. As multiple tree+grass adding mods already exist there should be no need to create such a mod, but one of these will be implemented.
- Modelling: This includes physically changing of objects. Whether this will happen or not is unclear as it would take a huge amount of time to repair every single building (and we don't even know how every single one looked like..) An idea for the future but will not happen on a large scale right now.
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WHAT HAPPENS NOW?
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Some progress has already been made in rebuilding. As a sort of 'experiment area' the village of Andale will be rebuild first. I have chosen this town as the layout is clear, it is not too big, not too many rubble is present and as it is a relatively safe place (well, after exterminating the former inhabitants). I will soon post a couple of screens as soon as a problem has been solved (see ´how can you help´). As soon as Andale is done I will release the first version of the mod.
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HOW CAN YOU HELP?
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Some help is needed ofcourse at times. While I do not insist on forming a ´development´ team of sort, you may ofcourse offer help, should you feel the urge to.
What I would mainly like to see is you posting ideas on further development, testing updates or helping overcome these day-to-day problems which every modder encounters. Should I need help on a certain problem, then I will place it over here. I could actually need help on the following problem: http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1085519-basic-model-changes/ (please reply to the problem in the mentioned topic, not here).
Thank you for reading and stay posted for further updates!
