[WIP] W.A.R.M. (War in America Realism Mod)

[Spyderlord]

This is going to be the main base of operations for W.A.R.M. (War in America Realism Mod). A total conversion mod for Fallout 4, this mod aims to marry the fantastic open-world RPG style of Bethesda games with a realistic, near-future setting. It will also attempt to deliver a more realistic, gritty combat feel and challenge players mentally and strategically more than their ability to mash buttons, creating an extremely difficult game play experience. In theory, this mod will be a conglomeration of many smaller, individually released mods and tweaks but all in one big package to create the ultimate immersion in the W.A.R.M. experience.

 

Currently, there is very little else to show besides simply rough ideas and a list of features that will hopefully take form over time. This is an extremely ambitious project and will take years to complete. I am going to update this topic whenever there is progress to mention or if new ideas pop up as it goes. As mentioned, this project is hopefully going to be a conglomerate of many smaller mods which I truly hope will come borrowed with permission from the community and if not, created by me from scratch and released separately as well. If you want to skip all of the lore and jump right to it, feel free to scroll right down to the section titled "Features". So far, here is what this mod plans to be:

 

Note: As I will be editing this post repeatedly to include the most up to date changes in ideas and achievements, I will be putting an asterisk (*) next to anything new that has been added in since the last edit and highlighting it in yellow. This should make it easier for any interested visitors and myself to identify recent changes. When I visit again to edit the post with newer ideas, I will delete the old asterisk and only leave the newest ones for each visit (probably each week).

The Story:
The year is 2028. After decades of polarizing American political parties engaging in a massive tug of war over control of the presidency, senate and congress, the nation has witnessed a departure into its own decline. While the nation population divides deeper into the grips of only 2 parties, politics become increasingly monetized and government impose policies favorable solely to global corporations. After two extremely controversial presidential administrations, the median household income of the average American drops to the lowest rate since the 1930's great depression (accounting for inflation). Unemployment and poverty rates skyrocket. GDP dwindles resulting in increasing national debt. Last-ditch "fiscal austerity measures" are passed by Congress to stem the gushing wound that is the U.S. economy. These austerity measures include massive budget cuts to education, welfare and military spending across the board. The passage of these laws coincide with a sensational scandal involving the President, and tension reaches a boilng point. Riots spread like wildfire and light up the map across the U.S. in the inner cities of NY, LA, Detroit, Atlanta, Philadelphia and many more. Looting and violence in these riots quickly prove to be too much to handle for local law enforcement agencies. U.S. Army National Guard units are dispatched to hot spots in an effort to return the rule of law and settle the situation. After an accident involving lethal munitions being mistakenly used by troops on a protest march, groups of civilians begin arming themselves. Some of these groups join into anti-government secession movements and begin fighting the U.S. military with guerrilla tactics and begin an insurgency. Congress enacts a measure replacing National Guard units with regular, active duty military regiments deployed on domestic soil with a clear mission; impose martial law and neutralize the threat of any persons deemed "domestic terrorists". More frighteningly, foreign governments begin to see an opportunity within the anarchy and officially recognize the sovereignty of certain separatist groups. These foreign nations then use this as a pretext to invade the U.S. mainland and support the separatists. Due to the close proximity of these military units to large civilian centers in U.S. cities, nuclear munitions are not an option.

As an officer in the U.S. Army's 183rd Airborne Division, you are relieving the current commander of a company of soldiers upon your arrival in the AO. On its last deployment, the unit moved into occupy a small city where rioters and separatists created a stronghold. Your troops experienced heavy resistance resulting in high casualty rates, specifically high numbers of MIA. Intelligence suggests that this is due to the company's FOB (forward operating base) being overrun and several squads at OP's (Forward Outposts) being cut-off and scattered in the area.

Orders: Your primary objectives, effective immediately, are to rendezvous with any remaining troops in the AO at a pre-designated rally point, set up a suitable defensive position, reconnect with cut-off OPs and occupy the city awaiting further orders. Intel suggests OPFOR will consist of separatist domestic terror groups, known criminal gangs, paid foreign fighters (international mercenary groups), and foreign military regulars. BLUFOR will consist of friendly military law enforcement units and non-combatant civilian refugees. Standard Rules of Engagement apply and in accordance with international conventions, you are to give asylum to the best of your ability to any persons seeking refuge from the combat within the AO. Heavy assets immediately allocated to your disposal include CAS (close air support) including 2,000lb JDAMs from A-10 Warthogs and supply drops containing food, weapons and ammunition from a CH-43 helicopter. Infantry assets within your company will consist of small arms, light machine guns, infantry level anti tank rockets, and 60mm mortars. Any other assets scavenged from the battlefield are free to use.

Features:

(Realism and Immersion):

- Damage multipliers go way up. No more bullet sponges. A single shot to an unprotected area is going to do some damage if not put you out of the fight.

-Body Armor values go way up. Current SAPI plates worn by military can stop a round from an AK-47 as close as 15 ft away. Plate carrier vests protecting only your center mass will do their job.

-All weaponry in the vanilla game will be replaced and supplemented by real world weapons and gear and distributed appropriately (U.S. Army will primarily use M4's)

-Fast travel will not be possible. (Hopefully this will be able to be balanced by useable vehicles such as Humvee's)

-The number of followers you may choose to have will be increased to 3 to simulate a 4-man long range reconnaissance patrol. Also the pool of your potential followers will come from a finite number of NCOs("Non-Commissioned Officers" <- usually Sergeants) special NPCs.

-Carrying weight will be lowered to a more realistic level, and if possible the number of items regardless of weight will be limited. This will force the player to prioritize during scavenging runs.

-CH43 or UH60 models will replace the vertibird

(Setting):

-Specific location TBD

-AO will be similar to the vanilla map and will consist of a small city surrounded by rural residential areas with natural fixtures such as river(s) and forest(s).

-The heart of the city will appear to be consistent with a city that has undergone areas of heavy rioting, looting and intense combat and sections that have miraculously been spared.

(Ammunition)

 

*12 ga. 00 Buckshot

*12 ga. Birdshot

*12 ga. Slug

*9x19mm Parabellum

*.45 cal. ACP

*.22 LR

*5.56x45mm NATO

*7.62x51mm NATO

*7.62x39mm AK

*5.45x39mm AK

-Ammo is not craftable and must either be scavenged, received from supply drops or bought from Quartermasters at your FOB and OPs.

-Ammo will quickly become a scarce commodity and must be strategically supplied to your troops as they expend it during firefights.

-Ammo types will be realistic and correspond true to life with the weapons. (e.g. M4s, M16s and M249s all use 5.56mm NATO rounds. AKs all use 7.62x39mm. Specialty weapons such as Sniper rifles may use .300 WinMag or .338 Lapua and therefore ammo will be much harder to find for it.)

-Infantry level anti tank rockets such as the M136 Aka AT4 and M72 LAW (specifically excluding RPG7s) cannot be easily reloaded in real life and are therefore dropped after a single use in-game.

(Settlements):

-One main settlement becomes your FOB and primary base.

-Smaller settlements become your outlying OPs and must be reconnected to the FOB through supply lines.

- "Patrol Squads" will replace Provisioners

-Vendors within settlements such as traders and doctors will replaced with Quartermasters or Cooks, etc.

-Settlers spawning to join your main settlement, the FOB (or rally point) will exclusively be formerly MIA U.S. soldiers, wandering back to rejoin their unit at the rally. Friendly troops will not spawn anywhere else, forcing you to distribute your troops to your OPs wisely.

-Settlers spawning at outlying OPs will be civilian refugees which will need to be provided for (food, water, beds) and can be defended either by your troops garrisoned at the OP or by arming the refugees.

-New defensive settlement building pieces such as small sandbags fighting positions with mountable machine guns and 60mm mortars will replace the vanilla sentry platforms and artillery pieces respectively.

-Supply Crates (containers) periodically dropped by helicopter at your FOB will generate minimal Food and Water valued for your settlements and will always contain some of the following items: ammunition, MREs (food), and medical supplies. They will also contain a certain number of random items ranging from specialty ammo to building supplies.

-Once constructed, "Cook" vendors and "Mess Hall" structure will permanently generate Food and Water value to the settlement.

-"Comms Center" model of computer and radio equipment will replace the Vanilla Workbench.

-FOB & OPs can be attacked by parties of any hostile faction including separatists, foreign military, gang-bangers, etc.

(Quests):

-new lore-friendly quests will be generated by talking to NPCs, entering specific zones and generated by overhearing conversations.

(Weapons):

-U.S.
M4A1
Beretta M9
M249
M240B
DMR
M24 Sniper Weapon System
AT4 rocket

-Separatist

*Civilian AR-15 (Semi Auto Only)
Mossberg 500 shotgun
Remington 870 shotgun
Remington 700 rifle
SKS semi-auto rifle
S&W .38 revolver
Glock 17 pistol

*Ruger 10/22 .22LR rifle

-OPFOR
AK47
AK74
AKS74u carbine
RPK light machine gun
PKM machine gun
SVD Dragunov
RPG7

 

*Weapon modifications will be found on NPC's weapons as they will spawn with random variations, as well as throughout the game world as whole mods in boxes. High end modifications such as scopes and internal upgrades cannot be "crafted" from random scrap. This is to aid realism as it would be nearly impossible for someone to just make a working precision firearm optic out of random trash. It will also add a sort of value to the modifications that the player will come across, as they cannot be as readily replaced.

Armors:

Reskin of combat helmet to resemble kevlar helmet with camo cloth cover

*MOLLE plate carrier vests. A civilian version with no MOLLE pouches, just the armor as well as a US Army version with triple mag pouches on front, med bag and utility pouch on sides and a hydration system on back.

BDU varients of pants and 8" combat boots with either BDU jacket or combat shirt (both clean and dirty variants)

Various civilian attire (jeans, t shirts, hoodies, winter coats, etc.

 

*Music:

 

So, I personally grow very bored of the repetitious "wander" music that Bethesda generally puts on an hour or so loop. I've made music mods in the past for Skyrim, Oblivion, Morrowind, and Fallout 3 but never released them for public use due to the work that would have been involved to convert mp3's to .ogg's and then somehow make dozens of these music files .esp package-friendly. Not to mention that all of the music was copyrighted commercial music. That being said, I think it would do well to actually include a music change into this suite. Vanilla FO4 music won't really go with the vibe of a non-apocalyptic, non-fallout universe. Therefore, I am also beginning a search for royalty-free music files to include into the mod, trying to find a middle ground between the genres that would be agreeable to a variety of situations in the game. Tough. The struggle iz real.

Hopefully this mod project will make the game much more realistic and create a tougher, more strategic experience. I really enjoy games that are challenging mentally and not just a button-mashing crap shoot. In any case, I hope this will be as fun for others as it will be for me.

Of course, if anyone sees this and wishes to lend a hand, that is very welcome. Even constructive criticism will be appreciated, especially if someone spots a major issue in the plan of this mod. I'm looking for feedback and collaboration, Any help is good help!

Edited January 27, 2017 by Spyderlord

[AGreatWeight]

This project is going to be a conglomerate of many smaller mods which I will either borrow or create and release separately.

 

Even constructive criticism will be appreciated, especially if someone spots a major issue in the plan of this mod.

Not to rain on your parade, but you can't borrow other mods if you intend on releasing this (unless you first get consent from the mod authors whose work you want to use)

[Spyderlord]

Yea, AGreatWeightI know that. Lol, that's why i followed it with "or create ", meaning if i ask for consent and don't get permission i will simply make what i need. This will take longer but the things that i do have to create myself will be released as smaller standalone mods.

 

I would never just steal someone's work without permission. That is a complete disrespect. Luckily, many of the profile pages of the mod authors I've looked at even say very plainly that they are fine with people using their stuff as long as they get credit for it. Of course, anything i make will be free to use with credit given. I like that. Share it forward, right? The whole point of a mod "community" is to work together, right?

[JReimer1]

No AR-15 for the seperatists? It's the most popular rifle in America right now.

[Spyderlord]

Yea, jreamer i was seriously thinking about that but i don't know which type to include. I live in NY state where we have the safe act, which outlaws any "assault features" on semi autos like ARs. These features include: detachable box magazines, collapsible stocks, pistol grips, vertical foregrips, flash hiders and/or threaded muzzles, bayonet lugs and of course, my favorite... any magazine with a 10 round capacity filled with nore than 7 rounds. This of course results in some really whacky-looking "Safe-Act Legal" AR15's in my neck of the woods, lol.

 

I know that California has similar laws, and it seems like other states are eager to follow suit. That being said, i know that in NY the FBI calculated about less than 10% of AR owners in upstate NY have converted their illegal ARs.

 

So i don't know. If I did put in an AR for the separatists and a gang-banger faction, what type would you use? The non-assault legal version? The thinking i have is that if i were in a situation where i needed to use a civilian AR to defend myself from anarchy, i would just swap out some parts and make it essentially an m4 or m16. Therefore maybe a semi auto only u.s. army m4a1 could be shared as well i suppose.

 

What are your thoughts?

[JReimer1]

Yea, jreamer i was seriously thinking about that but i don't know which type to include. I live in NY state where we have the safe act, which outlaws any "assault features" on semi autos like ARs. These features include: detachable box magazines, collapsible stocks, pistol grips, vertical foregrips, flash hiders and/or threaded muzzles, bayonet lugs and of course, my favorite... any magazine with a 10 round capacity filled with nore than 7 rounds. This of course results in some really whacky-looking "Safe-Act Legal" AR15's in my neck of the woods, lol.

 

I know that California has similar laws, and it seems like other states are eager to follow suit. That being said, i know that in NY the FBI calculated about less than 10% of AR owners in upstate NY have converted their illegal ARs.

 

So i don't know. If I did put in an AR for the separatists and a gang-banger faction, what type would you use? The non-assault legal version? The thinking i have is that if i were in a situation where i needed to use a civilian AR to defend myself from anarchy, i would just swap out some parts and make it essentially an m4 or m16. Therefore maybe a semi auto only u.s. army m4a1 could be shared as well i suppose.

 

What are your thoughts?

You know that at the moment there is almost no compliance with any of that f*#@ery. Personally I'd go with budget ARs with a possibility of higher level enemies having all those extra goodies AR owners like to have, like optics, mag couplers, or a foregrip.

[Spyderlord]

So, with a big thanks to Jreamer, I will put the AR-15 in for separatists and random npc's because it is so popular. The only difference between the civilian AR15 and the US Army's M4's will be that the AR15 will be semiautomatic only. It will use the same 3d mesh and textures and stats as the M4, but the available modifications for it will be limited to only a semi auto receiver and a lower capacity magazine.

 

Also I almost forgot to include 5.45x39mm ammo for the AK74 and variants. Of course this will have slightly less damage than the older soviet 7.62x39mm but will weigh much less in bulk and weapons that fire it will produce a noticeable amount of less recoil.

 

In other news, JasonNG141 suggested an awesome idea in the Weapon Addition and Replacement Suite mod page: high end weapon modifications such as precision scopes can't be "crafted" from scrap junk, instead they have to be found. I think that this is perfect for a realism mod such as WARM, I have never med anyone that was able to hand make a working optic. As far as I know, scopes are generally made in factories with extremely high precision and very low manufacturing tolerances in a relatively sterile environment. So the idea will be that things like optics and other special weapon mods will either be scavenged off of NPC's weapons or found in the world as modification boxes.

Edited January 27, 2017 by Spyderlord

[Spyderlord]

Update #1:

 

Ok so I've gathered together what I can only assume are the essential modder's tools (3ds max, nifskope, photoshop, creation kit, etc) and I've jumped right into it by beginning work on my first asset for W.A.R.M. and probably what is going to be my first standalone released mod ever; the m67 frag grenade. I picked the 'nade because it is probably the easiest thing to practice 3d modelling, texturing and porting into the game. It is pretty much just a replacement for the old pineapple frag grenade from the vanilla game, but messing with the settings in the CK will allow me to learn what they do and what impact they have on the game. Anyway, I'm a little proud of the learning progress I'm making here.

 

P.S., I recently learned that 3dsmax and photoshop are free! autodesk 3dsmax is free for students, all you need to do is google it and at the bottom of the webpage there's a link for educational use. Sign up and enter your university email address and tell them what your school and major is and BOOM! you're downloading 3dsmax free for 3 years.

 

Photoshop cs is free with the use of a license key for either Windows or Mac OS. Pretty nifty little set up for the budding modder!

Edited January 30, 2017 by Spyderlord

[Spyderlord]

Quick progress update; I am still working on the mesh for the m67 frag grenade. It is definitely the simplest model to make, basically just a ball with a cylinder running through it connecting to the box on top of it... but 3ds max is a p.i.t.a. to figure out, the folks at autodesk could really benefit from a more streamlined tools panel for their software, instead of mixing in dozens of features (both advanced and rudimentary) into one window...

 

In other news, I have asked for and received permission to use the AK-74M weapon mod from FX0x01, a great weapon modder! Hopefully the inclusion of other weapons mods will turn out in similar fashion! The AK74M will be tweaked a bit to use the 5.45x39mm round and the weapon will be found in the hands of separatists as well as foreign military fighters.

 

Last but not least, I have decided that I would really like to try including some graphical performance mods into the package. I am thinking of mods such as the texture optimization mods and the faraway LOD optimization mods where possible. Obviously the utility of these mods will diminish if W.A.R.M. progresses to the point of producing its own textures in a large quantity, which would then be lower resolution than vanilla FO4 and hence provide the performance boost anyway. Just an idea, and of course, it hinges on permission from the various mod authors.

[Spyderlord]

Still working on this, real life problems just seem to keep getting in the way recently. Anyway, I came up with a wacky idea for a FO4 realistic economy mod that would probably work as a standalone mod as well. So the idea goes like this, instead of the buying and selling prices at vendors being a consistently flat rate and seemingly immune to market forces, I need to figure out if it would be feasible to write a script that would simply adjust prices based on the current quantity of that item id in the game world and adjust the value of that item accordingly (similar to real life). I've been thinking through the nuts and bolts of how it might work if it is even at all possible; so the script would kick in when you go to trade items in the inventory. Every item starts off with a base value, just like normal. When going to trade items in your inventory, the script would perform a quick check for the quantity of each item id in the inventory window. For each quantity (or perhaps in increments of 10) that the item exists in the game world at the given moment of transaction, a negative base value modifier will be applied. For example, if you go to sell a pipe pistol with a base value of 100 and the script calculates that there are 10,000 pipe pistols currently in the game and each existing pipe pistol modifies the base value by a margin of -0.1%... the current selling price for your pipe pistol is 90... because 100 - [10,000 x 0.001] = 90

 

That first part is relatively simple math, even for a history major like me. The trick would be coming up with an equation that would not only discount the value of overly common items in the game, but also boost the value of relatively rare items. For instance, if there are only 3 instances of a legendary weapon in the game world, the selling price of that item should be modified by a positive percentage value to account for its rarity even though the item count is not at or below 0, in which case the normal equation above would work. Of course, this could be bypassed by simply going through and boosting the base value of every item in the creation kit and adjusting the "discount modifier" accordingly, but with several hundred items to do, this would be a crapload of work! An equation that both discounts high quantities and hikes low quantities is ideal.

 

 

This would serve to make the game a more dynamic atmosphere. For instance, if I spend 15 minutes at a chemistry station creating a horde of jet that would make walter white proud, I shouldn't realistically be able to dump that entire haul of dope onto a vendor in Diamond City and not expect a bulk pricing discount of some type. This feature would also force players to think strategically if they are trying to produce something to turn a profit in the game, just like the real world a savvy entrepreneur has to read the market and provide a product that is in demand for maximum profit. Supply and Demand. These are the forces that have shaped the history of our world since the dawn of man, there is absolutely no reason they would not apply in a post-apocalyptic universe. Of course, if this is even possible to be done with the creation kit.

Edited March 21, 2017 by Spyderlord