necropasia

So, I've been away from cyrodil for about a year, and about to reinstall for another 1000 hours or so. Question is, how's the mod scene looking now, and what's on the "must have" list. FCOM I'm assuming is still top of the list, along with utility mods like keyring, and OSR. But other than that, what's changed in the grand scheme of things, and what's new to the scene?

Not really. The question is WHY does it have twice the spread, other than "that's the way the programers wanted it". If there's no viable reason, then there's no reason to search for another variable to add to the spread formula. Similar barrel length, caliber, and basic design would create a similar spread pattern. Only two other things would effect the spread enough to mention. One is the barrels rifling, more turns = straighter trajectory, which would be practically impossible to account for without adding a new variable to the weapons files themselves. And the other would be weight, which, while not being as much of a factor for pistols, is definitely something that should probably be added into the formula on account of rifles. More weight means significantly less kick, and therefore greatly reduced bullet spread.

As far as the chinese pistol vs. 10 mil example goes, the faster reload time on the 10 mil already gives you an incentive to use the more expensive of the 2. And as far as the dmg between the 2 goes, mechanically, they're not that dissimilar, so yeah, I don't see that having the same dmg would be a problem. Adding a value variable would just muck up the system. just my 2 cents though. That being said, at first glance the formulas look like they'll fit the bill perfectly. I don't have the time at the moment to really go through them, but I'll run some numbers on them later tonight. The hard/tedious part now, is gonna be figuring out the stats for each caliber. CALIBR lists 56 different rounds, although several of them I've never seen a gun that uses them in game. (what mod adds something using 20x102 round anyways? that's a damn vulcan cannon round!), so, assuming this gets off the drawing board, we're gonna be in for some long hours of playtesting. I think everything that needs to be factored in, has been addressed. Just need to figure out the how of it, now.

The only other things I can see using to effect the dmg, would be skill and *possibly* rate of fire. I'm not sure exactly where in the code your skill level is calculated into the weapons dmg, so it may have to be accounted for. And rof due to a single shot not losing any velocity from the blowback to operate the bolt. Also, in regards to the loudness increase, iirc most of the guns flagged as loud, are flagged that way due to large caliber, so I don't think the bonus would be applicable. On top of that, an adjustable X factor would have to be included to compensate for overhaul mods. The mod could perfectly re-balance the weapons in a vanilla environment, but be incredibly weak in FWE. So, the formula would end up being: (Total Dmg = (Caliber + Hands + Skill + Suppression + RoF) * X) As far as doing a spread rework, might as well. All the hard part is gonna already be done for the dmg recalc, so re-balancing spread would be a simple matter of changing, and adding to the variables in the formula. Something like: Spread = Caliber + Hands + Skill + Crouch Bonus + RoF + Suppression + Zoom factor. The Zoom variable could be tied to the weapons Sight FOV variable, if I'm understanding it correctly, it controls how far the camera zooms in when RMB is pressed. That would grant better acc with a higher mag scope, and be more detailed than a simple scope check. And the skill/crouch bonuses, as in the dmg formula, might be accounted for independently by the game engine. As I said before, I just don't know where they're factored in. Now, if you really wanna have a more realistic spread re-balance, you could figure out a way to factor bullet drop into the equation. The simplicity of sniping in Fo3 takes all the skill/fun out of it. I know it's possible with the engine, you'd just have to find a way to re-activate how they did arrow flight in oblivion. With all the leftover crap that's still in the code, I find it hard to believe that they took that part of it out. Once it's found, it would be a simple matter of: Drop = Caliber + Distance + Hands + Suppression

Yeah, checking for a surpressor shouldn't be a problem, there's a flag in the file for sound level. All silenced weapons are set to VNAM Sound Level - Silent. But, yeah... I've got no idea how to work with scripts either, (or anything in geck for that matter, I've never touched it). So hopefully, someone with the knowledge decides to pick up this idea, and make it happen.

True, that would work. But, in order to use a list method like that, you'd need to know all the weapons, in all the mods that are active. I was thinking more along the line of a mod, loaded at the end of the load order (or at least after any mods having anything to do with weapons), that would alter every weapon present in the game, based off of their ammo. That way, it would effect any mod added weapons present, and there would be no need for any patches, or optional files for every possible mod configuration. I could see a script easily doing this for the pc's weapons, but idk how hard it would be to effect the npc weapons as well. Also, while we're talking details, in order to make this work as intended, the mod would also have to check the weapon for the presence of a surpresser and reduce the dmg accordingly, due to the greatly reduced velocity. And while you're right about the effect of barrel length, I don't see how it would be possible to factor in, w/out using a list, since there's nothing programmed into the weapons files detailing that. About the only thing I could think of, would be to differentiate between 1 and 2 handed weapons.

With all the wonderful weapon mods available for fo3, there's one thing majorly aggravating me. Dmg inconsistency, especially when you bring mods like fwe into the picture. For example, einherjrars wonderfull 19/20th cent mod adds a great variety to the game, but when played alongside fwe, most of the weapons are too weak to matter, particularly when compared to their couterparts. My point is this, it's the round used that determines the dmg, not the gun itself. for example, a .556 round has the same stopping power fired from an m16 as it does when fired from a rem. 700. The difference between the 2, is in acc, rof, etc... but not raw damage. The velocity, bullet weight, and hole size are identical. So, what I'm asking for, is a mod that would re balance the dmg of all guns in the game, both vanilla and mod added, based off the round it uses.