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BadPenney

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Posts posted by BadPenney

    Return to Shady Sands

    in Discussion

    Posted

    Oops, I hope I haven't inadvertantly pushed back the release date by forcing you to redo all the quests with companions. I can always just tell them to stay home if they are problematic LOL :whistling:

    I'm not going to take it that far. Just want to make sure there are no fatal errors. If bringing a companion causes a player to fail a mission then they may just need to change their approach. Adapt and overcome.

     

    Companions are rather trigger happy so maybe it would be best to set the npcs to ignore firendly fire that way the entire town won't go bananas with a stray shot or every time an npcs runs straight through the lines of fire. Not very realistic I know, but it's your call.

    Unless you want to play psycho killer, there should be no reason for weapons fire in town (other than a bit of sport from the sniper towers at targets beyond the perimeter). Because of that, I've set up the town to turn on attackers as a group. I see no other way that a little settlement like this could survive. If you want to lay waste the town, I want them to give you a run for your money.

     

    The stats on the PA are really nice, it will definately come in handy once those upper tier enemies Broken Steel and Point Lookout put in start showing up...since I'm getting Mothership Zeta when it comes out I'd even expect to use it against the aliens up in space hehe.

    I've tried to keep the armours within the range of protection provided by vanilla pieces, just with variations on the themes. "Eating" stealthboys just seems to be a tech dead end to me, so I incorporated it into power armor because it seems like a logical next step. I didn't want to go overboard though, because overbuffed equipment removes the need for strategy and tactics, and that is a lot of the fun, in my opinion.

     

    I think the philosophy about the Universal Camo Pattern is that, theoretically, it belnds in every single environment...hence the universal label.

    I guess that it is better than a bright red jacket with white breeches. Most of the world still depends on the naked eye in combat.so it works well enough. Eventually though, unless someone develops refrigerated ghillie suits, thermal imaging is going to make most all camouflage useless, at least at night or in cold conditions. They're spendy, but I've already seen thermal imagers for sale online.

     

    PS. I'll remember to keep my comapnions in wait mode whenever I dilly dally with Summer, ahem. :whistling: Btw is that "Quest/Reward" a one timer or repeatable?

    I think my videos have shown quite a lot of what you can expect, but there are a number of things that I am going to leave unsaid so that you have a chance to discover them for yourself.

    Return to Shady Sands

    in Discussion

    Posted

    Funny enough when I've seen my buddies wearing their ACUs I've always seen them as greys/whites more reminiscent of Urban Camo without the darker tones. The MARPATs however I have seen with noticeable distinctive colors such as mustards/browns for desert, greens/browns for jungle, etc.

    That seems like the smart way to go. I'm guessing that the Universal Camouflage Pattern is more about adapting to budgets and less about adapting to surroundings.

     

    In any case the PA looks terrific ingame! I know you mentioned you don't have the DLCs so you can't compared it to the Winterized T-51B but what kind of stats does it have when compared to the regular T-51 and T-46?

    The suit is 30 weight light, 40AR, 2000 health, repairable with ArmorPowerList, 25 rad resist, active steatlhboy effect triggered by entering sneak mode.

    The helmet is 4 weight light, 10AR, 1500 health, repairable with ArmorPowerList, 8 rad resist, 1 increased perception, color nightvision toggled with PipBoy light. No FOSE requirement in this mod.

    Still working on the nightvision, since one imagespace modifier does not fit all dark areas, working on autoadapt feature.

     

    Are companions affected in any way if I bring them into town or do any of the quests autofire them?

    The only place that I've tried to exclude companions is if you should happen to get an invite back to Summer's place. Three's a crowd, mate. But they don't get fired, just left to wait discreetly near the bench at the Town Commons. My companion handling script won't apply to Companion mods, of course.

     

    You've brought up a good point, though. I rarely play with companions, myself. I should do a complete run through with one tagging along to see what happens. I haven't set any NPC to ignore friendly fire, so I suspect that a companion could get you into trouble if they fire indescriminately, especially in the caravan guard quest.

    What am I missing

    in Discussion

    Posted

    Being highly prone to error myself, I usually start with the most basic questions ( i.e. My computer won't work. Is it plugged in? ) So please don't be offended if this seems too basic.

     

    On the second page of the edit window for the Lincoln's Repeater ( labeled Art and Sound ) along the bottom is a box entitled "Has Scope". Is it checked?

     

    Second question, weapons require separate references for world view (3rd person) and 1st person view. Have you supplied the world view reference with the scope nif?

    Return to Shady Sands

    in Discussion

    Posted

    You know I thought the Army stuck with the ACUs (Army Combat Uniforms) now in all environments (Even in desert terrains I see them with ACUs)...

    That's essentially correct. A quote from wikipedia:

     

    The Universal Camouflage Pattern (UCP), also referred to as ARPAT (ARmy PATtern) is the military camouflage pattern currently in use in the United States Army's Army Combat Uniform. The pattern was chosen after several laboratory and field tests that occurred from 2003 to 2004. Its digital pattern is a modification of the United States Marine Corps' MARPAT camouflage and research into Dual Texture (Dual-Tex) Camouflage conducted in the 1970s.

    It seems to be effective enough in the main theatres of combat operations for the Army right now, which are desert and urban/desert. I think of it as a desert pattern for that reason, especially considering the complaints that it is not very effective in any other environment. I expect that the US Army would need another color scheme before conducting operations in Venezuala, for instance. It seems to work well enough in the DC Wasteland, though.

     

    http://www.fallout3nexus.com/imageshare/images/1103832-1242593789.jpg

    Return to Shady Sands

    in Discussion

    Posted

    Btw what is ARPAT? Do you mean MARPAT as in Marine Pattern? Because that is what it looks like from the pictures but I don't know. :)

    ARPAT = ARmy PATtern, MARPAT = MARine PATtern. They are both very similar digital camoflage patterns. I started my retextures with a high rez jpeg of the US Army desert pattern, though my version is somewhat different because I boosted the contrast over the original to make it read better in FO3.

     

    BTW, made something of a breakthrough with the Caravan Guard quest yesterday. Seems like the major hurdles have been overcome. Quite pleased with the progress.

    Greetings

    in Discussion

    Posted

    The GECK is just an overglorified mesh-placing-suite with some database editing on the side. The real juicey stuff happens in the 3d creation and nif stages. Geck is only where it all comes together.

    I expect that is your honest opinion, but I think it is kind of funny. It is a bit like saying that a movie script is less important than pretty actors and special effects. Some people believe that as well, though. I'm sure that Transformers 2 gets many more hits than The Seven Samurai.

     

    To me "where it all comes together" is the Christmas tree and the meshes, sounds and effects are only the ornaments. But that is just my opinion. I'd be happy to see more emphasis on good story telling. The Lord of the Rings has to be my favorite fantasy movie because it has it all: great story, great actors, great sets and great special effects. I could easily watch a great movie with a good story and no splashy effects though, while I have walked out on special effects orgies with no plot.

    armor to increase run speed

    in Discussion

    Posted

    PLaying around with conditions and magnitude it doesn't seem to work, on my armor the ability is listed as NULL?

     

    You are right. On second look, IncreaseSpeedMult is a derivative and doesn't appear to be adjustable so easily. I briefly tried working out a scripteffect without success. It may still be doable, but I don't want to get too far sidetracked at the moment to pursue it.

     

    I have been able to adjust the speed multiplier on NPCs just by adjusting their stats. It seems to increase more than just their run speed.

    Return to Shady Sands

    in Discussion

    Posted

    I've designed this mod to run independently from vanilla quests as much as possible. The only vanilla quest that you have to complete is leaving Vault 101. You don't need to start a new character to access my mod either, just travel to the area in the Wasteland where Shady Sands is located.

     

    The town is locked up tight. so you have to get clearance from Lars at the front gate to enter town. If questioned he will give you the first quest. I have tried to make it a little bit difficult to complete the quests without meeting the residents and searching around for clues. Sometimes there are no compass pointers to show the next step. Midway through the first quest, a mini-quest becomes available. You must complete the first main quest for the second main quest to be offered to you, and again you have to talk to a resident to get it. Completing the first quest will also get the second mini-quest going, and will give some XP, some caps and a set of ARPAT camoflaged combat armour like some of the residents wear.

     

    During the second main quest you can find some nightvision goggles as loot. In many ways the second main quest is my favorite. Completing it successfully will net the player some XP, some caps and a retextured assault rifle that is a liitle more accurate, a little more quiet and has higher capacity clips than vanilla assault rifles. It will also atart a timer that makes the third main quest and the repeatable caravan guard quest available two days later. I decided to place a time restraint there just to slow the progress of the mod and encourage the player to go elsewhere for a while, though there is no mention of that in the game. You just get a message that shows that your services might be desired at a certain point. That is also when the new trade caravan shows up to town for the first time.

     

    Completing the third main quest starts the timer for the binks to play, so they are completely independent from the player's progress in the vanilla quest line. Completing that quest as a good guy gives somewhat better rewards at this point, including some ARPAT camoflaged power armour with active stealth and nightvision, and allows the second mini-quest to be completed. This makes it a little lopsided in favor of good characters, and I have thought about trying to balance that outcome with more activities with the Khans, but decided that it would put off release for another month or so to do what I had in mind. I think it is better to try wrapping up the project at this point, with a possible add-on later, time permitting. That will keep me from rushing through additional Khan quests, and you know that "being bad can feel pretty good sometimes."

     

    Most of the residents are not essential, so a player can come to town and lay waste and fail the quests that way. You will be declared an enemy of the Shady Sands faction and attacked on sight. You can also piss off the residents by snarky dialogue and cause them to stop cooperating with you, and fail quests that way, or prevent them from being offered. If you abandon the caravan and fail the guard quest, the boss will give you one more chance and rehire you. If you fail the quest twice she will still trade with you, but refuse to hire you again. I'm still working on that quest. It takes between 4 and 5 game days to complete, so troubleshooting it is time consuming. I have had to restart the quest from the beginning at times when I've uncovered mistakes.

     

    Thanks again for your interest.

    Collision Markers?

    in Discussion

    Posted

    I grew frustrated trying to generate collision boxes once, so I just copied some that were already placed in FO3 and pasted them where I needed them. There are quite a number to be found. I copied one from the area just west of the entrance to Rivet City. Once you paste them where you want them, you can stretch them to fit the size that you need. Just place your cursor near an edge until you see a box surrounding 4 arrows then click and drag. Maybe not the most sophisticated way to do it, but it worked for me.

    Return to Shady Sands

    in Discussion

    Posted

    Thanks for the kind words.

     

    The ending videos play 2 game days after the completion of the final main quest.

     

    If your character betrays the town in favor of the Khans, then all the residents die, so there is nothing much to do. I've thought about making follow up quests with the Khans if that happens (contract killings and such) but I will save those ideas for a possible add on mod later. If I keep adding things before release then I will never finish.

     

    If you are a good guy for the town then there is one more mini-quest to do (with Summer) and the repeatable caravan quest can continue. The caravan quest is enabled after completing the second main quest for the Fargo Traders. The store, the bar and repair services will still be available as well. There are also some reward weapons and armour that can continue to be used after completing all the quests.

     

    I can't say at this point if there will be conflicts with DLCs, because I'm not running any. I'm just trying to make sure that it is compatible with official patches. I've tried to avoid doing things that I am sure would conflict with other user mods, though I expect that is inevitable with some. Since the quests and the ending binks are not dependent on any vanilla quests, then Shady Sands should still work even if you are using the mod that let's you play after the main vanilla game is completed, I think. I have played through with characters from level 5 to 20.

     

    I feel pretty close to completing this mod, though the closer I get to the end the slower it goes. Want to tie up any lose ends and make glitches minimal. Shouldn't be much longer though.

    Light Step and Mine Timer?

    in Discussion

    Posted

    I should not suggest a script without actually testing it in game. My apologies for wasting your time.

     

    After looking at the properties of frag mines I could see a minimum and maximum range attached to them: 500 min and 2000 max. So I changed the range in the warning script to the minimum 500 range and now it seems to work for me in the game. It plays the sound when I reach the 500 range, resets when I back off, and plays again when entering the 500 hundred range. The distance is a little farther than I had wanted, but the mine was still clearly visible when the sound played as long as the mine was placed in an area clear of visual obstructions.

     

    Please give this a try and see if it works for you as well.

     

    scn MineWarningSCRIPT

     

    ref myself

    short warning

     

    Begin GameMode

     

    set myself to GetSelf

     

    if (player.GetDistance myself <= 500) && (warning == 0)

    PlaySound QSTToneSequenceFail

    set warning to 1

    endif

     

    if (player.GetDistance myself > 500) && (warning == 1)

    set warning to 0

    endif

    end

     

    Apparently the distance of 50 was just too short. I am really unsure what units are being used for distance in FO3. They are far too short for meters or feet, so they must be peculiar to this game.

     

    Anyway, I hope the above altered script will work for you as well.

    Female Body Mesh Question

    in Discussion

    Posted

    While rummaging through the GECK I came across this mesh:

     

    http://www.fallout3nexus.com/imageshare/images/1103832-1247066558.jpg

     

    It is a static form that exists in vanilla Fallout 3. Out of curiousity, I dropped it in a cell and had a look. It seems as if the UV map was deliberately distorted, I suppose to make it harder for modder's to use it for a nude mod. The female mesh provided for characters actually have the underwear incorporated into the mesh, this one does not. It also includes the head and hands, whereas most body meshes are separate. I can still see a line at the neck, but it is much less pronounced and the head does seem to cast a shadow on the body.

     

    Not being savvy about 3D modelling and rigging for animations, my question is whether this mesh could be rigged to work as a body/head/hand replacement that might actually get rid of the obvious body seams? I doubt that it would be easy to do, and even harder to make it compatible with the dismemberment routine, but I don't really want to watch my own character get dismembered anyway.

    Light Step and Mine Timer?

    in Discussion

    Posted

    Hmm, Player.GetDistance needs a Reference ID, I cant find a static one for Mines the only ones I can find are all different based on the 340 of MineFragProjectile's already in the world, and they aren't persistant, so I don't know what to do.

     

    An alternate way would be to check if the player has Lightstep and if he does, then set the mine timer to a high number so it wont explode, but will still beep.

     

    Please Help

     

    Maybe something like this, as an object script attached to the mine:

     

    scn MineWarningSCRIPT

     

    ref myself

    short warning

     

    Begin GameMode

     

    set myself to GetSelf

     

    if (player.GetDistance myself <= 50) && (warning == 0)

    PlaySound QSTToneSequenceFail

    set warning to 1

    endif

     

    if (player.GetDistance myself > 50) && (warning == 1)

    set warning to 0

    endif

    end

     

    Haven't tested this, but GetSelf is a handy way to create a variable reference.

     

    The distance is just a number that I picked at random, and the "warning" is just to prevent the sound from playing repeatedly and continuously. Increasing the distance from the mine will reset warning so that the proximity alarm would work again. Disarming the mine and picking it up should remove it from the environment and effectively count as a greater distance, but I'm not certain about that. It might require some adjustment to reset the alarm.

    Return to Shady Sands

    in Discussion

    Posted

    this will make your spraypaint faded out in a realistic concrete-wear-and-tear fashion, making it look like its been there for a while, not just new and shiney and perfect and bright

    But it is new and shiny and bright. The place is an occupied raider club house. Not everything in the world has to be 200+ years old. A raider has to do something when he isn't raping, murdering and cannibalizing.

    Yes, but even still, it should not be that bright and opaque.

    The Khans graffiti is the only one that I made from scratch, the rest are pics of murals painted on concrete in the real world. Most of the artists don't go for home decor blending.

     

    http://www.graffiti.org/la/brase.jpg

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