Is it possible to create new hardcore needs?

[Usamiru]

I just want to make new hardcore needs, and link them to items to decrease the need. How is this possible? What do I have to do?

[Ladez]

First look at how the vanilla hardcore needs function. Hunger, sleep and dehydration are actor values, these actor values are reduced/increased by base effect, and these base effects are in turn used by ingestible items.

 

Unfortunately, though, you can't mod in new actor values. This leaves you two choices: 1) use the user defined actor values, or 2) control the needs with global or script variables. Both have advantages and disadvantages.

 

The advantage of using the user defined actor values is that they are easy to use. Actor values are designed to integrate easily with base functions, so you when you use the base function in an ingestible you can enter the magnitude (strength) of the effect. This approach will also show what effect an ingestible has in the Pip-Bow interface like "HP +1(8s)", taking the length and magnitude of the effect into consideration. The downside of the user defined actor values is that there are only 10 of them and that there is a chance that other mods are using them. Personally I haven't seen many modders make use of them, but the chance of conflicts are there.

 

The advantage of using global or script variables, is that you're free to create your own variables for your own purpose, so you don't have to worry about other people using them as well. The downside is that this doesn't integrate with the Pip-Boy interface as well as the actor values do. A base effect using a script archetype can only ever show a static line of text in the list of effects for an item (if the Display Name Only flag is checked.) The other downside is that you have to control the increase and decrease of these variables purely by scripting. It's not that this isn't easy to do, it's just that when compared to the actor value approach, there's a bit more grunt work involved.

 

Lastly there's the topic of sicknesses. The dehydration sickness, starvation sickness and sleep deprivation sickness are all hardcoded, so if you want to emulate these features they will have to be scripted. I've done this before by using quest script that continually checks whether my actor value (or script variable depending on what you choose) are above the threshold for getting a sickness. If the actor value drops below the threshold, the sickness will be removed. You can easily use the same script to continually increase the actor value, if you want to emulate how the vanilla needs rise over time.