Modding Help Please

C

Cruor34

First time out of the vault
I have been modding Fallout Tactics to make it more difficult and also editing a lot of the weapons and armor/making useful (not overpowered) squad mates. None of this was any trouble, I made guns more dangerous, and I improved the enemies armor/equipped them with better guns/increased their perception etc. However, they still have trouble hitting the side of a barn and I can easily tear them apart as always.

I'm wondering if there is a way to increase the enemies skill? In the modding screen, under entities, I noticed on some enemies such as Gammorin(sp?) have a number next to skills vs 0 for "normal" enemies. Also, death claws have 120 health, and robots have 30-1000 health vs 0 for most enemies.

My theory is that there is a base for a race.. say, humans raiders are 50 gun skill (a guess) and Gammorin has that improved by a large amount? I'm assuming Robots also have a set health, and the humanoid ones have an additional 30, as we see 30 for health in their derived statistics.

Anyway, I'd like to make a lot of the enemies better shots, but at the same time I don't want them having 150 gun skill... that wouldn't be much fun. Can I just type in the skill I want them to have under entities/actors/derived or, as I first guessed, do they have a set amount (again, say 50) and whatever skill you type in ADDS to this set amount?

I'm writing this at 3 am so if this is unclear please ask for more explanation... in a nut shell: How do I make the enemies in Tactics better shots without going too far and making them all superstar snipers? I am worried simply increasing per will ruin things for sneaking characters.
 
Well if I remember correctly you can edit entities with the same interface you use ingame for spending your skill points etc.
 
I know how to edit entities and I have been as I described in my post. My question is what exactly do I do in the entities section to make the enemies better shots?

Also, how do you edit ammo? I can open it in entities but there is no way that I can see to edit ammos damage modifiers.
 
Well for better shots you should increase Small guns/Big guns skill, add certain perks and increase PE. If I get you correctly.
 
You need to read my post before you just reply please... I explained in detail that I understand how to modify the game, but I am asking a specific question about improving the ENEMIES skills with weapons. I also stated I increased thier PE but I am concerned with high PE they will spot sneaking characters too easily.

For Example: A super mutant medinfantry has Big Guns tagged, but if you go to the skills section, he has 0 big guns skill. I know however, that he does not have 0 skill, otherwise he would miss almost point blank. He has a big gun skill that is hidden. If I put 50 in his big gun skill instead of 0, would it set his skill to 50, or add 50 to the hidden value he already has?
 
The big guns skill isn't hidden, it can be plainly seen in the character creation interface. The base skill is determined by a formula, look in the manual, or click on the skill in the character window and read the info box. For example with small guns the base skill is 5% + (4 x Agility) so with an agility of 5 the base skill would be 25. Perception doesn't play a part in determining the skill level, it just effects how many to hit modifiers you have (depending on the range etc). 150% skill is quite middling by the way, the maximum skill level is around 320% iirc.

The reason Gammorin has a number added to his skills is because he's a unique character and his level was predetermined in the entity editor, normal enemies are used in several maps and random encounters and so are left at level one, their extra points are defined in the map editor or in the campaign.txt by raising character level as required.

Adding points to the skill field will add to the base, again you can see this if you bring up the in game character creation interface as Tom9k suggested. As far as I remember most of the racial differences like hitpoints, damage threshold and resistances are determined in the entity editor. Which is why you can see the deathclaws and robots extra health there.

Ammo is mostly hard coded and I forget how much can be changed (if anything) but you can try a program called BoSEE or jarekfall's FT improver.
 
Ok, thank you, that helps a lot. Please keep in mind that I am brand new to this, so that's why some questions may look dumb to you. I think there was some mis communication in the first few posts, I didn't know how the game added levels to base level 1 actors, thus I didn't see how editing those low skills would help, didn't mean to seem rude.

I have another question, there are a lot of enemies I cant seem to access. They aren't under actors or special plus the mission. For example, as a test I armed all raider actors with lasers, but when I load up the first mission only a few of them toward the end of the mission have lasers... I cant find the guys with Mauser Pistols anywhere. (I tried looking under actors, and under special/Mission 1)
Where do you find the enemies who aren't under actors or special?

I am also having trouble finding specific shelves/containers on mission maps. I found containers but its just a generic list, like actors. I cant find specific containers on specific maps.

Could you tell me where exactly in the map editor I go to see how many extra points they get? I tried adding health to some enemies like Robots/Deathclaws have, but when I do that they only gain Maxium health, and thus start off wounded.

How do I fix enemies having no ammo in special encounters? I hate this problem and it annoys the hell out of me, it ruins the fun/danger/ammo gathering of these encounters.
 
Other than named characters/special containers they are usually just the same base entities but customised in the level editor. In the level editor press F4 and then click on an entity to edit them, a window will open up where you can set tagnames, level, ai, weapons, injuries, sleep status and inventory etc (you'll need to scroll down). The skill points are set by the game based on the actor's tag skills, their stats etc you can't alter this other than by changing their level. You can try adding extra points in the entity editor but I have no idea if this will work or whether the game will override this and just revert to the default.

When adding health or leveling up in the entity editor you've also got to add health to the current attributes/actor status right at the bottom when you scroll down. Press the level button at the top of the screen to open the character interface to check that the max hitpoints and current amount match.

To give ammo for special encounters you've got to edit their inventories in the level, if you mean in random encounters you'll need to increase the amount of ammo that they are carrying substantially. Random encounters are just that randomised, and they'll get a random percentage of what ever is in their inventory. If you want to loot that ammo just increase the amount, add a couple of zeros to the end, this of course will unbalance the rest of the game where ever those base actors have been used. If you just want the enemy to have more ammo you'll need to make a copy of the ammo entity and under collectable untick lootable then add it to their inventory in vast numbers.
 
ok, thank you again for your help, I really appreciate it. I am understanding more and more now, but I am still having some problems.

I hit level editor, campains/missions/core but I only have missions 1-6, 9,11,23 and 24 listed. I extracted the Mis-Main_0.bos as the readme said, why am I missing so many of the missions?

Also, I opened up a high level mission with robots, did as you said, hit F4 and I am able to see a humanoid robots stats/inventory/etc. He is only level 9? Can that be right? they should be at least level 15 Id think? I'm not sure about others but if memory servs I was at least level 15 when I had reached the first robots when I last played years ago.
 
Only the campaign file and the random/special encounters are in mis-main_0.bos, all the rest of the missions are in mis-core a-e. Easiest thing is to download this program which will unpack everything, but don't forget to re-patch afterwards. Though some missions were cut and there are gaps in the numbering.

If the level says nine why would you think this is wrong? Do you think someone has edited it behind your back? :lol:
 
Thank you, I just cant understand how they can be level 9 so late in the game, thats so weak... I'll just have to change it I guess. Does the game assign extra levels to enemies based on your level like Oblivion/Fallout 3 do or are they always set at the same level?

I tried first placing containers with items in them on mission 1, I had no trouble and it works. Then, I tried placing actors. As soon as I move my camera to where the actors would be, the game crashes. The only fix is to go back into the editor and delete the actors I placed. Any ideas what causes this? I have read the read me but I dont 100% understand the player index number. I understand it groups AI's together but nothing beyond that.. can I pick any number thats not used (like 99 to ensure its not used) or does it have to be whatever the next highest number not used is?

*Edit*
Ok, I figured out it was the player index number I was using, the only fix I have found is to give actors I place the same index number as an actor already on the map. How do I set my own index numbers and make setting for these new numbers so the game wont crash? This is what I don't get.

Is there a way to edit or just remove perks from the game? I'd like to make some of the weak ones more useful, and remove ones such as snake eater from the game.
 
Always at the same level as far as I know, but leveling for enemies isn't the same as for characters. The enemy is used one time one place, has plenty of friends (usually) and the game can afford to put all points into just the tag skills.

You have to add a player index before you can assign an entity to it, read this.

Perks are hardcoded, maybe jarekfall will know if editing them is now possible.
 
ok, thank you very much for your help, I read that guide but it just didn't click at first. Now I get it, and I have the npcs working well and doing patrols around the map etc, its really cool.

Ok, so next set of questions. How can I add new places to the campaign map? I read this: http://jj86tutorials.stgfc.com/campaign/campaign.htm but I dont fully understand.

What I want to do is add places to the normal campaign that always show up as long as you find them on the map (don't need a mission to be activated) and are optional fun places to go for more fighting/loot/xp. For example, Id like to add another town that has been taken by raiders, and another area to fight mutants on... way too many robots and too little robots/mutants in the game imo.

Also, I understand ho to make enemies the level I want them to be in mission maps, but how can I make them stronger in random encounters without making them too strong in missions?
 
In the campaign text file there are a list of the maps, looks like this
"campaigns/missions/core/mission01.mis;mission_name_01;37;visited;false". Add your missions to this list in the same format, (within the brackets) and set them to visited, then they'll be visible.

Likewise in the same text file there is a list of the random encounters in this list you can change the amount and level without affecting the missions.

Once you've made your changes to the campaign.txt then import them into the cam file.
 
Sorry, I feel stupid but I cant find it. In the editor, I can see and open all missions, but if I open campaigns/missions/core I only get about 1/3 of the missions and I see no text files. I extracted what the readme said to, and I repatched to version 1.27.

I'm sure I am misunderstanding or just doing something stupid, as I said I am brand new to modding and I'm not great with computers.. I have used them forever but only to play games....

I'm looking in C:\Program Files\Fallout Tactics\Core\Campaigns\Missions\Core and I see no text files, only .mis files, and then like I said not all are listed, even though I can access all of them in the editor.

I tried the same path with the editor, and again no text files, but all the bunkers and missions are listed...

Any ideas? It seems I keep missing the obvious but then when I see it, things are pretty easy.
 
The campaign.txt should be in core/tables (if you've extracted entities_0.bos) just open it with notepad. You don't need the editor until you come to import your changes.
 
I extracted entities_0.bos, I am able to access all the actors/weapons etc so I am assuming I did it properly. Under tables I only have mplayer as a text document.
 
Open up entities_0.bos with winzip or 7zip etc and you should see two folders, entities and tables, and one file keys.cfg. Or search your hard drive for campaign.txt to see where you extracted it to.

Edit, ah hang on are you using vista or windows 7? If so, since you've installed to program files, the files might be in users/yourname/AppData/ Roaming/Fallout Tactics or something to that effect because of User account control. As you're modding the game you might want to reinstall outside of program files for ease of use, though I don't install any games to program files.
 
Yup, using windows Vista. Uising 7zip I can see all the files you mention - didn't know I needed to use it, thought extracting the files did all that. Again, inexperience in this and not super computer savvy, thanks for your patience.

For the random encounters, I see something like this:

// RaiderFighters01 - Two to Three Raiders

{ "RaiderFight01_Easy;bad;2;3;true;A",
"entities/Actors/Raiders/raider_01_noncom.ent;1;10",
"entities/Actors/Raiders/raider_02_hth.ent;2;10",
"entities/Actors/Raiders/raider_03_melee.ent;3;10",
"entities/Actors/Raiders/raider_04_range.ent;1;10",
"entities/Actors/Raiders/raider_06_infbas.ent;2;10",
"entities/Actors/Raiders/raider_07_inflig.ent;3;10",
"entities/Actors/Raiders/raider_08_InfMed.ent;1;10",
"entities/Actors/Raiders/raider_11_sniper.ent;2;10",
"entities/Actors/Raiders/raider_12_trapper.ent;3;10",
"entities/Actors/Raiders/raider_13_medic.ent;1;10",
},

Now.. I assume the 2;3 at the top means randomly 2-3 raiders. I assume the numbers 1;10 2;10 etc after the actor type means their level range, and this level is based upon your characters level? If I wanted to make it harder, could I make it like 5;15 or would this screw something else up because I had not adjusted what level character effects the new enemy levels?

I am looking to make harder encounters, like Fallout 2 had. If I make say new harder raider armed with a Sniper Rifle for example,
it would look like: entities/Actors/Raiders/raider_14_bigsniper.ent;8;15", then Id just add him to the list and I would have a chance to get this Sniper Rifle armed raider, level 8-15 in encounters?

How do I import the txt to the cam file when I am done? Is that PNG to ZAR in the editor? Like I said, I read the readme but its a lot to take in, trying to understand it all.

Edit: heh you can see designers notes: Robot Horde (containing a lot of hard Robots) "Not sure if we should use this.

How can you tell if these are "active" in the game or not with notes like these?

Also, is their a Fallout Tactics restoration project that re adds all the cut content like Fallout 2 has? Usually I just find Awakening/weapon mods when i search for Tactics mods.
 
At the top of each section in the text file there's an explanation.
// Format is
// { "ForceType;align;min;max;enabled;cd_code",
// "force_entity1.ent;level;appearance chance",
// "force_entity2.ent;level;appearance chance",
// ...,
// "force_entityN.ent;level;appearance chance"
// }

So for the first set of numbers minimum 2 max 3, as in // RaiderFighters01 - Two to Three Raiders

the second set of numbers, first number is level, the second appearance chance,
"entities/Actors/Raiders/raider_01_noncom.ent;1;10", so level 1, 10% chance of appearing. As far as I know it's not scaled.

To import save the changes to the text file, open up the campaign file in the campaign editor. Along the top click on tools and the click on import random, or import core (for the missions). Then a pop up window will open find the text file you've just altered and double click it. You may need to reassign the random encounters to grid squares, as with JJ's guide but click on the random tab instead of core.

If there's a double slash // in front of any text that means it's been commented out. If there isn't and it says enabled, then it's most likely used. But not all encounters are enabled from the start, some are enabled via triggers, so if you check in the campaign editor click on the random tab and scroll down the list look for the name of the encounter, e.g. RaiderFight01_Easy if it's there click on it and then scroll around the map to see if any grid square has turned red or yellow, or if the number has changed. Then in the level editor load up bunker04 and check the triggers to see if the robot encounters are enabled and if it is included.

As far as I'm aware there is just not enough information available about what was cut to recreate anything.
 
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