Way to North - content and item balancing with some Q/A

TwoEyedYum

TwoEyedYum

Naked Moose
Greetings to anyone! I've decided to relate this topic to my medium-sized (not a total conversion like Awaken) mod, while keeping question/answers raised in process of it's creating.

Main idea: using north part of map to create second story-line, not directly interfering with main. Also will try to make weapons more various and useful in most situations.

Current state o'things:

1) Item adjusting.
1a) Weaponry. Fast weapons are fast, aren't they? AP costs for most pistols and SMG reduced, while M29 and Casull gain more damage and become slower. SMG and Pistols now have new positive and negative sides, so player must choose his weapon carefully.
1b) M16A1 -> some AR15-like rifle with one/three/full-auto selector. AK47 - AK74E (export variant), that really can be fed by 7,62 bullets. FN FAL became more accurate (long range), burst uses more bullets. M14 auto-rifle -> P14 Enfield, single shot rifle of WW1, an alternative to Hunting Rifle.
1c) Sniper rifle - +2 AP cost (so 6AP by default). Reasons are obvious. For me. Added second mode with 4AP cost and lowered damage.
1d) Unique rifle in Sent-Louis - XM82 (powerful single shot anti-material rifle). Uses sprite, created by me (i've made it, Jaroslaw! :) ). 6AP cost, scoped, fires .50 calibre with deadly precision. Big gun.
1e) M249 range upped and damage slightly decreased it's rather precise weapon in comparision with M60. Btw, M60' damage and burst increased, while range still low. Miniguns are upped in damage output, but range shortened, especially for Vindicator. Avenger, Vindicator and Gauss now require EN5 along with ST requirement.

2) Armor adjusting.
2a) Created new variant of Env.Armor inventory sprite and then - new Recon Suit. Have lowered Gas and Rad resistances in comparision with Env.Armor I. AC increased by 10 and all DT increased by 2 (Fire resistance increased by 20% also). Recon Suit adds 2 PE and increases Sneak, Lockpick, Steal, while strongly lowering Doctor, FA, Repair, Driver, Science. Another bonus - increased movement speed.

3) SE adjusting.
3a) Removed Brahmin Armor SE and some other quite stupid SE's.
3b) In progress: reworking traders. Most rich trader will be available only after certain mission. No CAWS and FN FAL in first missions...

4) World map improvements.
4a) Player starts alone on his/her way to Bunker, as village sold him/her into BOS for defending their village. Small map with rocks and cactuses, and little amount of enemies. No serious challenges nor precious loot, just test of your chosen skills. After reaching exit you can go to bunker and recruit starting team for BW.
4b) In progress: North part of map will not be that empty. Some quite independent villages or even small sities - too far for Brotherhood to gain full control over them, no bunkers here. Some side missions may be acquired here.

I can't promise, that i will finish mod in timely manner (surely not faster that Killap's RP 1.3), but i will post any news here. Don't be lazy to look through entire thread as it can answer to some of your questions (thanks to Requiem), which you would else post as new topics (there already thousands of them :| ).

There are many tutorials by JJ and other nice guys, feel free to look at them - it's my personal advice. But there also many small features not covered in tutorials (or not understandable for beginners), so i will continue to gather some rare FAQ at this thread. Thanks for attention.


  1. Starting mission idea:

    We start on custom map without any companions. There can be several simple critters (low-lvl dogs or wolves), some cliffs and rocks to hide, several dead bodies with small amounts of stimpacs, ammo and weakest weapons. In last part of map - 1-2 weak bandits and exit area. Player CAN run or sneak past everything, if he's medic/trader and such, but he won't get all loot. NO bonus exp for completing, just short grats and return to world map and 1st bunker...

    I can make map and some triggers, but still can't be sure, how make it STARTING map. Seems like standart txt-editing won't help...
 
Yes, in the first line, cores = {
"campaigns/missions/core/mission01.mis;mission_name_01;37;visited;false", points to brahmin wood all the other missions are turned on/off by triggers.
 
Hm, something goes wrong =)
All bos archives unpacked (well, req. ones)

Situation A: for first time i just tried to add custom mission, so did all EXACTLY as said in tutorail by your link. On step "import txt in FT Tools" met with trouble: mission adds, but other missions lose order. While i exactly see in generic_mission.txt "mission_B1 = Bunker Alpha", now i click Mission_b1 in FT Tools and... It moves Brahmin Wood, other circles also reassigned to other missions... I can't figure WHY it fucked up bunker mission as i didn't touch that section.

Situation B: i replace path to BW with path to my mission (hm, it isn't in "missions/core", just in "missions") in campaign.txt, and cut original path. So, looks like i've replaced BW with my mission (which have Start point and exit grid, didn't i missed something?). Now i save bos.cam and... Game starts like multiplayer =) black screen and no PC to play, only interface

Game doesn't want to start NOT in BW, and i think it's coded somewhere in bos.cam or even other file... Further suggestions?


Sorry, looked deeper into tutorial on cam files and found my first mistake, and then found that i didn't extracted missions from archives!
1) missions must be in "campaign/missions/core' EXACTLY. Now it is ^^
2) When i extracted BW mission, i found that spawn obj for PC must have player index 1 (orly? :roll: ), so now it is =)

So i will extract all missions and look if they lose order in that situation after importing txt with settings
 
You don't need to extract the maps unless you are going to edit them.

Importing new data into the bos.cam file can make the placement of the missions reset though it sounds like you've just added another line in front of the brahmin wood entry, which has probably moved the rest of the missions down one in the order. Copy the Brahmin wood line and paste it to the end of the core mission definitions section. Then edit the first line with the new map details and import into a fresh copy of the cam file.
 
Wooohooo, we managed to start in custom map!
Btw, 1 line still WILL be added in campaign.txt, so bunkers still run out 8-) I mean Alpha runs in position of Beta, Beta goes to former place of Gamma... Just 5 clicks to return them to proper places after all importing, so isn't a problem.

Another suggestion: if new mission named only with numbers (as core maps are), only bunkers run away, no other shit happens. In first try i given map name "mission_name_qq" instead of "mission_name_01" - and all maps also switched thier tagnames after import, which was much worst u know :wink:

Now custom map ends (i didn't add enemies, so i just run from spawn to exit grid), and we see Unknown (A bunker :roll: ) and Brahmin Wood! "We made it!" ©

Btw, while removing blind medic and unlucky sniper from 1st mission, i found strange group of BOS people, staying at exit grid. They seem to never be in real mission, through i didn't found any method, that hides them. Only trigger for them - one, which turns them hostile if PC kills team members... Hm, would test it soon :twisted:

Now new issues, through i will look into triggers more: no items at QM and no reqruits!
"mission_name_01" and "mission_name_qq" not used for affecting QM and RM directly, so we need to look for some variables? Just setting positions to
{mission00;1;entities/weapons/Traps/alarmTrap.ent} //edited this
or
{mission00;add;entities/recruits/hm01.ent}, //Male Stealth, was here by default
didn't affected anything.
How can one "turn on" this mysterius mission00, so we can equip and gather team before BW?
 
If you add the new entries at the end of the core mission definitions section, i.e after the entries for the bunkers and for mission26 but before the bracket '}' then none of the bunkers or tag names should get mixed up.

The second squad were cut from the game, they were meant to be reinforcements they are disabled via their player index.

You'll need to add a trigger to your starting map to add the recruits tagged mission00 to the recruit pool. Same for the QM's list.
 
Yeah, almost... I found both trigger and told them to run in my START mission, also moved Global Vars init from BW into my mission, so none of them will be missed...

So, i told game to upgrade RM and QM by a "tagname" with these triggers, i didn't knew exactly if i right, but i put "mission00" in both.

Result: only RM got me :mrgreen: Through it's nice to start with Jax (he's quite balanced for getting most ranged fire perks after mutating Kamikazi into Gifted), i still miss some items i've placed to QM...

ANYWAY, ty, requiem! The begin for mod laid down :) . Is there a chance in a future to rename topic, so i make it mod's topic? Don't want to create another one =)

Problems solved: RM and QM need a txt to be reexported individually, i did forgot that :mrgreen:

Summary on edited files:
campaign.txt, generic-mission.txt
*.cam
Mission 01 (BW becomes mission 33)
Some files, used to add one more weak recruit

Look like i need to copy all of them to separate folder, if i want someone else to use this mod... Now the question, do i have to move them ALL? :crazy:
 
Ok, bunch of questions that i want to ask before changing anything:

1) Is M-14 the only weapon that uses 0.303 ammo? - found that mp-only Bren and Lewis use this o_O. But who cares when rare mod player will test it in MP =)
2) Where is FIRST encounter of M-14 in game? I want to be sure we can't find it before Peoria for my purposes... (i know that one can get FN FAL and CAWS before Freeport with some time spent)

As far as i know, there's no way to add new pair weapon+ammotype, so why not use existent one? :) I would like to make 7.26 AP bullets for sniper rifle, but then vindicator also will use them :mrgreen:
I think, we need something not-overpowered and still usable. Some alternative weapon, such as grenade launcher - u see, it still useful even in later missions, mainly coz of splash that helps to drag enemies from proning behind walls. Most of my played squads have no throwers, so GLauncher is very valueble to me. Is there another unique weapon (not yet used in game), that useful as much as others?

I want to make something like long-range anti-armor supression rifle (not skoped, so it still misses at distances) with FMJ and AP bullets.
Beta characterisrics...

Base damage: 16-44
Mode 1: 1x single 5AP shot (6AP aimed) at 48 range
Mode 2: 0.75x triple 6AP burst at 40 range
Shots have secondary effect - stun.

So, it's slow but somewhat useful weapon, if u see a "Big Bad Asshole with Browning" that wants to reach ur ass... Also need to know if possible to limit burst to hitting ONLY main target (but with less hit chance, like any burst). Stun effect IS to be set in ammo entity, isn't it? So both ammo types will stun, but AP will also... err, pierce armor, right :twisted:

(Planing make sniper rifle 65 range - is it a Scoped Sniper Rifle after all? :twisted: )

Other suggestions?
 
All files you've edited will need to go into your custom folders.

You can make new weapons and ammo, either using a custom tool called BoSEE (it's in the download section) or check out the FT Improver by Jarekfall.
 
Sorry, i've read much about this bright BOSEE. but now it seems, that there's no BOSEE in NMA downloads :( Even Google says that it cannot find it somewhere else, than... Well, topics at NMA :|

My bad, found it under other name :o But it sill targets at some-fckin-atomic-gamer... Hope it won't take forever to dl from them

Add: Again, do i need copy UNmodded files to MOD folder? I mean, will they need to unpack all of their .bos files and only then install my mod? Or it will counteract with standat files and even archives finely?

Add: Supression rifle seem to be quite balance with "straight" burst mode, as long as it isn't fired at very close distance - in that case sniper-oriented PC with 55% small guns does 33 and 34 damage bursts on single target... Well, it's not supposed to become available too soon :twisted: Now need to make it "stunning"... Will work on it. Anyway thx again for your patience
 
Yum, the art in the archives are overwritten if you layout a folder structure with the same naming in the core folder. You don't want to do that because there will be mod conflicts where art for one mod will be replacing the standard tiles used in the game and other people's maps/mods.

All you need to do is create your own folder in core folder, and inside your folder you can create more folders to organize all your artwork. You should use unique names for your folders to eliminate the possibility of someone having the same names for their files as yours.

Basically, the only reason you want to extract the .bos archives is to use and copy.. NEVER modify and replace.

For the User Interface you have to replace though.

If you plan to make your mod available to the public, include a auto installer that can extract and place your folders/files in the proper places.

Edit: I think some of the game's editors can't reach outside of certain folders, but if that is the case you can just create a folder there.
 
Ye, they can't, already noriced that, but that not a point that troubles my left eye...

Look, i'm quite confused...

A) For matter of altering main campaign, so we use existent missions and add our ones, we always need to copy bos.cam to core/smth folder, not just creating BoS-RtN.cam in usual core/campaign? Am i right? (almost no doubt, but...)

B) Let's say, my BOS.cam uses core/campaign/missions/core/newmission.mis alongside with normal original missions. Now i do what? Move that, so it has path core/smth/campaign/missions/core/newmission.mis? Urrggh, two "core" folders are confusing... Will then my modded bos.cam use mission_02 and other original content (the whole missions that i didn't changed) without me copying them TOO to core/smth/campaign/missions...?

If modded original campaign located in custom folder (Req or someone else suggested to use exe with parametres to access it) still uses all unmodded maps from default folders and even archives, then it fits me perfectly :wink: I'm not that strong at auto-installers...

Basically, the only reason you want to extract the .bos archives is to use and copy.. NEVER modify and replace.
Click to expand...

Well, any modder need it just for being able to edit entities, use tiles in Editor and such... :roll: I unpack all .bos with "Booster" so i don't need to search for single files in archives
 
You do not need to include unmodded files as the whole point of using a custom path is so you can change the game without changing the core game.
When using the path command the game reads the files in the custom directory first, then any unpacked files in the core directory and finally the .bos files.

Just set up a custom directory and a shortcut to the editor and game as detailed here. Then move any files you have edited into the custom folders. When you start the editor with the -path command, any further files you change will automatically be saved in the custom folders (if there is a duplicate folder waiting).

Edit. just seen the above post, your custom directory should be directly under you fallout tactics folder not in the core folder. So it should be just smth/campaign/missions/core/newmission.mis
 
:o I been placing my stuff in the core folder because I remember having some issues with locating/choosing directories outside it from like the entity editor or something.

I will be putting my mods in the fallout tactics folder then instead of it's subfolder "core" then as starfury says.

Should make organization much easier. :clap:
 
Hm, such clever Fallout Tactics is :oops:
So, this way fits me perfectly, as i said.

About editor: huh, Ctrl-S in "mod-path" FT Tools will automatically save modded entity in to "mypath/something"? That's even more cool :)

Ok, now i will dig into my scratches to build the whole plan for modding. Also BOSEE downloaded at last :|

If someone remembers shortcut to discussions or real info about stunning, critical and knokdown effect of bullets (particulary - KD and "critical" multiplier in different weapon modes), i wolud be pleased to see it. But i will also search outside of this forum...
 
Well, i tried to do as Req suggested... All seems to be fine except of strange errors, which forced me to reainstall whole game :mrgreen:
But now i repeated all steps in a "clean" way: fresh install, boost (unpack all .bos files) for easy editing, made shortcuts to both .exe files.

Now FT Tools really saves modified files in mod folder, but... Hm... In file-tree it show dublicate folders, which doesn't change something, but might confuse sometimes. Ex. i enter weapons and i see 2 rifles folders, 2 SMG folders etc. for all of them =)

And second issue, more serious one: such a way for shortcutting mod doesn't work with FT Improver. BoS EE enough for me, but still makes me sad :roll:
 
TwoEyedYum said:
And second issue, more serious one: such a way for shortcutting mod doesn't work with FT Improver. BoS EE enough for me, but still makes me sad :roll:
Click to expand...
FT Improver works correctly, it supports command line parameters. Please, describe the problem precisely.
 
jarekfall said:
FT Improver works correctly, it supports command line parameters. Please, describe the problem precisely.
Click to expand...

Thanks gods i installed another copy of FT speciall for this =) When i finished with shortcuts (i made them for improvers, that logical, isn't it?) i started normal game and all seems to be fine... Next i started FT tools and it gave me a slap with something like "your copy of Fallout not installed correctly, bla-bla-bla, return your disk to Interplay"... AND, after this even normal executables didn't work. Looks like it crashes registry settings somehow...

Sorry, Jarek :roll: Seems like our east neighbour's version of FT doesn't like Poland (i'm from Belarus). But after single try of Improved Tools i need to reinstall game, and i don't like it. If i had no choice, i would try more times...

Added: well, if you didn't expirienced such problems with russian versions before, i can do some more tests. If you need it.
 
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