[WIP] SATMA's Wasteland Melee Mod Pack

[SATMA]

INTRODUCING: SATMA's Wasteland Melee Mod Pack!

 

WMMP is a new compilation mod with three broad goals:

1. Expand and diversify the melee weaponry used by friends and foes in Fallout 3 and all its DLCs in an immersive fashion,
   
2. Combine and standardize the best melee weapon mods available on the Nexus.
   
3. Accomplish the first two goals with minimal to zero impact on other running mods.
   

 

Suggestions and discussion concerning these goals and weapon statistics are welcome; however, requests for features outside the scope of this mod (such as new perks, new models/weapons not pre-existing on the Nexus, etc.) are discouraged.

 

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STATUS:

Uploaded!

 

VERSION: V2

 

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ENTRY: Today I laid the functional foundations for this mod. After merging the ESPs of a selected array of weapon mods for testing purposes, I then cleaned out any lingering junk data and false master files. The resulting ESP successfully loaded in the GECK along with all the weapons. After correcting a few lingering issues with meshes and textures, I sent out the appropriate notifications to the authors I wished to include in this first edition.

 

Having tweaked a large number of mods over the past year, I had gotten a pretty good feel for scripting and for the GECK. I knew that the next step would be to add Leveled Item lists for each of the mod items I intended to use. This took about an hour and a half, but I added three "tracks" for each item: a loot track for containers, an NPC track for general use, and a Raider track for raiders, in imitation of like weapons used in Vanilla such as the Lead Pipe. Marking each leveled item list with an aa prefix, I managed to keep a strict nomenclature going.

 

That tedium complete, I turned to making the functional "stump" for the mod: the core quest and script that would be the basis around which the rest of the mod would grow out of. I knew that, to achieve the compatibility I desired, I would have to not directly alter the implemented leveled item lists pre-existing in the game; I decided to use the AddItemToLeveledList form in a script that would run once the mod had been enabled and the game loaded.

 

Using a script from one of the weapon mods merged into the ESP as a base, I surveyed a list leveled item lists pulled up by searching for "melee" in that section, and jotted down a number of them in notepad, picking them out on a contextual basis: as the items I intended to add in this first round would be tools repurposed for use as weapons, the lists I picked were appropriately homely as well: raiders, bandits, swamp folk, tribals, settlers, etc. Going into Notepad again, I pasted down a number of AddItemToLeveledList and began jotting down the names of the lists I intended to use, and picked the crowbar as a test item. Once complete, I pasted that entire chunk into the script. After a few bad saves due to spelling errors and missing variables, the script compiled and saved.

 

I knew that, before this mod was done, the fourteen lines I had pasted in would multiply a hundred, maybe even a thousandfold, and decided to make the script show a message after it had run through the AddItemToLeveledList; something to the effect of "Installation Complete."

 

Toggling the script to "Quest," I went into the quest intended to run it, clicked it into place, and hit okay. I reviewed what I had: the weapons, the leveled lists, the script to add them, the quest to run the script, and the message to display when it was done. Hitting save, I started up FOMM.

 

Picking a Vault 101 entrance save, I decided to give this infant mod a grueling stress test: the maddening imbroglio of scripts that runs after you leave the vault. Once outside, I saw my message flash in the upper left! Hoping against hope, I immediately hoofed it over to the Springvale School, knowing that a group of raiders spawned there, and with melee weapons. Running inside, I was immediately greeted by the most beautiful thing I had ever seen: a raider with a crowbar. Overjoyed, I bludgeoned him to death with my bat (no easy task; he was proficient with the thing) and claimed the crowbar for myself, then slaughtered the remaining raiders. One other had spawned with a knife. The stump was functional.

 

Goals going out:

1. Add AddItemToLeveledList for the Loot track.
   
2. Add AddItemToLeveledList for other test items.
   
3. Develop an organizational scheme that will categorize all the melee weapons, from mods and DLCs alike, to help determine how they are meted out (i.e., to help ensure that the Talons get melee weapons that it would make sense for them to have, when it makes sense for them to have them).
   
4. Once the stump has advanced appreciably, and enemy spawns have begun to show the effects of the mod, begin building a library of screenshots to showcase the mod at work.
   

 

I will keep this thread updated as the mod progresses.

[SATMA]

QUICK ENTRY: I have completed the "organizational scheme," which was easier and more essential than I realized. I first mapped out what the game did already on a spreadsheet, and then made another sheet with my projected changes. I find it somewhat ironic that the insane jumble of leveled lists which Bethesda churned out can be so easily reduced to a simple spreadsheet in a matter of hours. Anyway, I welcome - even demand - discussion of my projected changes, which I have uploaded to Google docs and set public permission to. Note that all custom weapons from the Nexus - listed after "Auto Axe" - will only be used in the public release once the author has given the go-ahead. So far Neunen has okayed the Fire Axe and Allanx has okayed the Spiral Reamer.

 

tl;dr: Review the defaults and project spreadsheets and discuss what I did right, what I did wrong, and what I should alter.

 

> Melee Mod Project Sheet

> Melee Defaults Sheet

[SATMA]

ENTRY: With a plan of action fully mapped out, progress is now underway to completing the core of the mod. I decided to split up the core of the script by "faction" as described on the reference sheet (i.e., raiders, Talons, et al), and put all the items to be added for that faction in each section. I decided to tackle Raiders first, as while they were the faction with the most weapons, they also had a reasonable amount to add, and I needed to do so in a relatively complex fashion, making distinctions between high-level and backup weapons. The script again compiled, and I saved the mod, and headed into the game, pulling out my new save from before. The script install message popped up, and I headed to Springvale School. The first shot - no dice, just a baton wielder. I tried again - switchblade. I started to worry; if the script had failed to properly install, how would I know? Would the message pop up even if something was wrong? I went through a few more saves and saw vanilla weapons. Finally, however, I entered the school, and was immediately charged by a raider wielding an ice axe. With a whoop, I battered the rogue, and picked up the ice axe. Another raider charged out of the basement, wielding a fire axe! I quickly caved in his skull.

 

It was not a complete success, however. The lists evidently installed correctly; however, I was not able to get a screenshot. I need to use Xfire, as I play FO3 with a controller, and before Xfire had to manually switch to keyboard to get a screenshot, and then switch back. Xfire malfunctioned, and despite being restarted and having its key binding changed, refused to take a screenshot. As well, there is a secondary issue I will have to tackle. The raider had switched to the ice axe long before engaging me, despite its status as a backup weapon; this is, of course, unwanted behavior. The ice axe's statistics may have to be tweaked, but this is a secondary concern for now.

 

As well, I've noticed something rather distressing. While the leveled lists for most factions are relatively consistent in their style, melee fighters for the Brotherhood, the Outcasts, Super Mutants, and the Enclave are rather badly done. They have no dedicated "melee" loadout; simply an item Cond list for whichever weapon they are intended to wield inserted directly into that melee class NPC. This means that I may have to make a kludge to get alterations for those factions working, by simply adding item Cond lists into the pre-existing ones, which mucks them up quite a bit, unless I find a form which allows for leveled lists to be added to NPC inventories directly.

 

Overall, though, the project is well on its way to completion.

 

Going out, my objectives:

1. Make the Vendor track.
   
2. Begin adding other factions to the core script.
   
3. Work on a way to make the core script show install progress and/or ideally show success or failure.
   
4. Begin tweaking the weapons so that they reflect their intended use.
   

Stilll looking for:

1. Clearance for Nexus items.
   
2. Suggestions for Nexus melee weapons to add.
   
3. Feedback on the project spreadsheet.
   

[SATMA]

ENTRY: I have made great progress on the core script, and it is now at pre-alpha status. All but one faction was added, vendors were included (with a caveat), and I even successfully implemented the progress messages; currently, just one that tells you that the mod is installing, and one saying it had installed at the end of the script.

 

I have, however, run into some issues. The gravest of which is the missing faction: swamp folk. Although the script successfully added my test items to their loadout, and I know this because I killed and looted a few to find out, but for whatever reason, the swamp folk simply do not display or use weapons aside from the small selection in vanilla Point Lookout. I was charged a few times by brawlers who appeared to be using only their fists but had a crowbar in their death inventory. At this point, I cannot ascertain whether the problem is with the model simply not displaying weapons outside of the vanilla loadout, or an attribute of the "unique" non-playable weapons that swamp folk receive by default that allows them to be used/displayed where others do not. It is a frustrating roadblock, and doubly so because it makes me afraid that supermutants, the only other strictly non-human skeleton faction, have the same behavior, and I really REALLY want to fight auto-axe wielding supermutants, you have no idea. It's frustrating when everything else so far has been going unusually smoothly.

 

Another issue that reared its ugly head is vendors. Despite the successful installation of my items, for the life of me, I could not get them to appear in a store inventory immediately, even if I was playing a new game that had never been to a particular vendor before. Now I know that, normally, vendors are going to only reflect changes to the leveled lists in their inventory after a few days, but even so, I'd imagine that on the first encounter the altered lists would be what would load right away. While I could use the more surefire AddItem function, I don't want to, because I am unsure it can use leveled lists.

 

There is some more good news, though. Permission from the gracious sunici to use his Ice Axe has been obtained, which puts me at three out of five for this first edition. Bear in mind, fellow Nexusers, that if you have a melee weapon you'd like to include, feel free to run it by me! Act quickly, though, because this mod is rapidly approaching completed status for its first edition, and while I will not abandon it, it will get sidelined by other projects I have waiting in the wings.

 

Going out, my objectives:

1. Begin playtesting to identify gameplay issues that have so far been obscured, and record any missing art, unbalanced stats, and unusual behavior.
   
2. Start getting screenshots of enemies and companions using custom weapons; the more unique examples in a shot, the better.
   
3. Work on finding ways to add weapons to more obscure inventories and lists (fire hose boxes, tool boxes, etc.)
   

[SATMA]

ENTRY: I have begun some initial playtesting and ironed out a few minor issues, and I have begun to build a body of screenshots. As well, Fire Axes will spawn in hose boxes and spiral reamers and pipe wrenches can spawn in tool boxes, while crowbars can spawn in tool cabinets. However, in the case of the hose box, I was unable to find a way to get it to add dynamically, and had to override the actual object. This may conflict with mods which alter containers, such as the Destruction mod, at least in that single instance.

 

The work at this point is getting less tedious but certainly more annoying, owing mostly to GECK. I made at least three attempts to build a "Repair Rethought Reborn"-like plugin before finally making one successfully that would reload in GECK after being exitted out of.

 

I also had to nerf the stats of a few items; specifically, DPS output for the reamer, hatchet, and pipe wrench, if I recall correctly. Other unique attributes, such as critical chance and damage, I left untouched. I may have actually boosted the damage for the crowbar, however.

 

Finally, the authors for the Pipe Wrench and Crowbar mod have not yet responded. The Crowbar's readme has no notes on permissions, while the Pipe Wrench specifically requests that "You may use the contents of this mod as long as you request permission beforehand." If neither author responds I may have to remove those resources for the public alpha.

 

Here are some initial screenshots from the pre-pre alpha:

 

WMMP Install mesage

http://www.fallout3nexus.com/imageshare/images/1223566-1263671337.png

 

Megaton settler sporting a spiral reamer

http://www.fallout3nexus.com/imageshare/images/1223566-1263671424.png

 

Raider incoming with hatchet

http://www.fallout3nexus.com/imageshare/images/1223566-1263671482.png

 

Raider wielding a nailboard

http://www.fallout3nexus.com/imageshare/images/1223566-1263671586.png

 

Fighting a raider wielding a trench knife with a hatchet

http://www.fallout3nexus.com/imageshare/images/1223566-1263671633.png

 

Going Out, my objectives:

1. More screenshots.
   
2. Make/repair missing PipBoy icons for added weapons.
   
3. Remove Pipe Wrench and Crowbar resources for the public alpha, barring the response of their authors.
   UPDATE: Re-checked the description of the Pipe Wrench on Nexus: "Permission is freely granted to anyone who would like to add this to a compilation and I only ask that I'm informed of it so that I may link it here." Including Pipe Wrench.
   
4. Change sounds for hatchet/fire axe to match DLC axe.
   

[SATMA]

QUICK ENTRY: Spent all day working on this. Ran into continual roadblocks trying to write a RRR plugin, eventually ended up making an RRR version instead. These problems were compounded when it became evident that, somehow, some items had become dissassociated with their repair lists. This has made things exceptionally difficult, as I am now having to update four versions of the file - one "fully vanilla" with the crowbar, one RRR with the crowbar, the Public Beta minus the crowbar, and the Public Beta with RRR and without the crowbar, making it so that every time I make an update, however minor, I lose five minutes of time due to load times. This frustration is compounded by the apparent lack of interest in mod. Working on Readme now.

[SATMA]

QUICK ENTRY: Wasteland Melee Mod Pack BETA released! Go download it; I'll be breaking in a new character/drinking away the pain of tedium headache with a Pepsi Throwback.

[SATMA]

QUICK ENTRY: I have become aware of something disastrous: super mutants do not seem able to wield auto-axes. While this doesn't affect the functionality of the mod, it will make a select few unlucky super mutants look retarded as they charge at you, bare-fisted. I will release an update that will comment out the auto axes.

 

If there is someone out there more experienced with 3D modeling that could help me with this issue, I would be greatly obliged.

 

Reach me at:

MSN: satma08 [at] gmail.com

Xfire: terzaerian

 

It is not even something that would require new models, I should think; merely one that adds the auto-axe to the old ones.

[SATMA]

ENTRY: A big day for WMMP, one full of triumph, dismay, and new resolve!

 

The mod appears to, in most instances, be firing on all cylinders for those using it. As well, revelations this morning revealed that Talkier Toaster had, in fact, made a mutants animation mod already. This was incorporated right away into the mod's files along with due credit to that venerable modder, and it solved at least half of my problems in one go.

 

However, I did run into some difficulties. Script functions I'd hoped would help me add weapons to mutant form lists dynamically failed utterly, leaving me with only one option - to directly modify the vanilla list.

 

I resolved, though, that I would make sure that WMMP would have compatibility patches wherever SupermutantWeapons conflicted with anything else, starting with 20th Century Weapons. The verdict is still out on this patch's success, but I remain optimistic.

 

As well, I welcome a new member to the WMMP team: Ebby Exaspimaru, who not only pointed out the super mutant animations mod, but also did a lot of playtesting for the various versions of the beta today, and has offered a lot of advice and ideas on what to add to this mod. Welcome Ebby!

[SATMA]

ENTRY: An inspired night! WMMP took a huge step forward tonight. I realized that it's current design would make updating, once released as V1, extremely cumbersome. So I compartmentalized the mod's functions and tightened up the nomenclature.

 

Now, the core weapons library of the mod works out of a WMMP_Master file in a CALIBResque fashion. When items are added as permissions are gained, updates to this mod can be released without upsetting the rest of its functionality; i.e., an update to the Master ESP should not upset saved games using it. This ESP masters a WMMP_Install.esp, which is the part responsible for taking the weapons from WMMP_Master and injecting them into vanilla leveled lists. Theoretically, this ESP only needs to run once. Finally, there is a mandatory plugin file and two optional ones: a Mutant leveled list plugin which enables mutants to use axes, autoaxes, and shovels, and a compatch version for 20th Century Weapons. The third plugin is the Repair Rethought Reborn plugin which finally functions as intended.

 

With these advances now operating soundly, the mod has officially moved from Beta to V1. An updated readme and description will be prepared and V1 will be uploaded.

 

Going Forward - for V2:

1. Begin asking around for more permissions for melee weapons to add to the master WMMP library.
   
2. Retexes for weapons to match FO "grungy" aesthetic, where sensible.
   
3. Experiment with Swamp Folk, and see if their animations are not already capable of wielding a wide variety of weapons.