Return to Shady Sands

[Archonon]

Thanks for the info!

 

Do you mean the videos play 2 days after the vanilla game's main quest or this mod's main quest? Since you mention things to do after the mod's quest are done, I'm guessing you mean the ending vids play 2 days after finishing the mod's main quest. If that's the case, then I suspect there won't be any issues with the DLCs at all.

 

If the vids play 2 days after the vanilla game's main quest well I am currently patched to the last available release, 1.6, so I hope this mod runs smoothly. I don't use any user mods that make the game still run after the vanilla game's MQ is over, however I do have all of the DLCs and with Broken Steel the game continues past the ending videos; the videos still play exactly like the vanilla game, except you get a new scene which reads 2 weeks later and then you continue playing normally. From what you've said I suspect everything will be fine even with this scenario though so I'm very optimistic.

 

Anyway I think I can safely say this is the mod I am currently most looking forward to and I can't wait to see what Shady Sands has in store. I'm looking out for it everyday on Nexus, terrific job!

 

And the trailers you've released are awesome!

[BadPenney]

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.

[Archonon]

No thank you BadPenney for making this terrific mod. A fully fledged town with interesting characters and quests is exactly what the game needs.

 

I also really like the idea of the future Khans addon which you can take your time with and develop carefully.

 

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. :)

 

In any case really looking forward to this, it will be a terrific addition to the wasteland.

[Archonon]

Sorry double post, someone please delete :)

[BadPenney]

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.

[Archonon]

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), I didn't realize they were also using environment specific digital patterns like the Devil Dogs (Marines). Anyway good to know.

 

Great news with the breakthrough you've had, release date comes ever closer! I really hope you can enjoy playing with this town as much as you did making it.

 

Congratulations! :)

[BadPenney]

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

[Archonon]

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.

 

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?

 

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

 

Good luck with your final bits of testing, hope you stomp all the bugs out!

[BadPenney]

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.

[Archonon]

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:

 

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.

 

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 think the philosophy about the Universal Camo Pattern is that, theoretically, it belnds in every single environment...hence the universal label. But yeah the Marines are a little more practical sticking to different colored patterns imo. The Fort Constantine mod actually adds Comabt Armors and Power Armor with MARPAT designs and even custom eagle/globe/anchor, sadly the author was actually shipped to the Middle East (Hope he's doing well over there!) and the mod he uploaded is corrupt. :confused:

 

 

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?