Lively up the Mojave

[TziporaHalevi]

Incoming Wall of Text

 

Some areas are supposed to be depressing, some are supposed to be hostile but some are supposed to be areas that are so alive and kicking you almost forget there was a nuclear war.

 

The strip feels dull and was quite possibly the greatest disappointment in the game. There are a few great mods out there such as Dall's bird's nest that add another little Casino and family along with quests to the place as well as a few NPCs but it's still missing something.

 

For one the gates are bleh, is there a mod out there that makes the strip more open? And for a place that is supposed to be nearly restored to it's pre-war glory the place is practically as much of a dump as freeside minus the casinos. The tops could use some serious clean up for one.

 

Where are the children of the wastes? If life goes on why is it that there are hardly any children anywhere in the wasteland? I think an Orphanage would be nice to have in the area where you can bring children to as a quest.

 

Adding a whole new open area to the strip with an additional casino, NPCs and quests or a weapon shop of sorts would also add more to the game. I feel the best part about fallout is the immersion, and mods give us that power.

 

NPCs feel boring and don't really do much besides walk around and stare, some just stand in the same place doing the same thing uttering a "hey." to anything that walks by. It would be nice if certain NPCs engaged in conversation with eachother, even if it's just short spurts of dialogue

 

Are dogs and ravens the only animals that have not been mutated by radiation? if not cats should be added, cats, moer birds or mutated variants that wander the streets. Freeside would be a great place to put stray animals.

 

A pet shop for these animals, hey the world may have ended but everyone still loves pets right? Why not have an animal pet you can leave at home that actually interacts with stuff?

 

Camp Searchlight Airport would be a great place to build a city from. It's got plenty of open room, some buildings already in place that doors can be added to. Toss in the fact that it's close to the legion territory and it might add more quests to either take it over for the legion or help the city be free of them

 

This is stuff I would like to see in a mod if it doesn't already exist, and if it doesn't I would like to work with a team on developing an overhaul. I may not be a modder but I'm a darn good dialogue writer.

Edited May 18, 2011 by TziporaHalevi

[laochra]

I would agree with this post. New Vegas itself really dissappointed me. One thing I can't understand about fallout is in what are meant to be thriving cities is the lack of peopel, often areas are filled with buildings and nothing else. Also much of the mojave is dominated by the NCR and you only really encounter the legion along the colorado river.

 

The game seems like many more quests could be created along with settlements. Like whats the point in north vegas square, many of the outposts and gas stations [nipton rest stop, nevada patro, station, new vegas steel etc] and It seems to me like putting in death claws was just a reason not to have to populate the centre of the map.

 

Im trying to make a mod which creates a cell of legion troops in the abandoned new vegas steel mill but Im having trouble with scripting and dialogue [i know I sound woeful but Im learning!].

[TziporaHalevi]

Oh my god I totally agree on the NCR thing, it feels like if you piss them off you're going to get attacked no matter where you go in the wastes cause they're just everywhere. I don't think they were ever meant to be a dominant force in the Mojave, but they're practically there as if they have already won the war. Definitely would want to see more factions added to areas and more legion activity and settlements.

 

Good luck with your mod too! Make sure you ask for help when needed, there are some great modders here that seem rather nice.

[TrooperScooperMKII]

The Opne Strip mod, along with the Strip version of the Cold Deck Gift shop, really improves NVs character. I was also greatly impressed by the Lucky 38 reloaded mod, among others. I also use Mokito's Beauty Pack and the Oven Cooking and Lock Bombing mods, along with Nvamp (WME, all the optional graphics/weather/lighting effects and IWS) and it really adds a lot to the experience.

 

http://www.newvegasnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=40731

http://risegaming.com/nvamp/

http://www.newvegasnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=38653

http://www.newvegasnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=35334

http://www.newvegasnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=39744

 

One of the main gripes I still have with the city of New Vegas is how dirty it is; the Lucky 38 is in horrible shape despite literally being sealed like a tomb for two hundred years! I once made a simple mod removing all of the stains, cracked wallpaper/damage decals, and dust particles and replaced all the "ruined couches" with couches, for all of the Lucky 38's floors. It really helped improve the atmosphere. SImple changes like that can go a long way...

[TziporaHalevi]

Thanks for the leads Trooper! I will look into the strip enhancements as I already have some of the other stuff ^_^ definitely a good start. I still would like to see some of the stuff I have in mind put into play. I'd actually like to start recruiting to make it a joint effort for a long term project. I will learn to mod myself while I write the background stories and quests out but I think something this big may require a team.

 

Also I would really like to see more stuff put in the southern Mojave.. place is a snooze fest.

[TrooperScooperMKII]

Given the scope of your project I would focus on getting existing mods (colonized freeside, open strip, Nvamp, cold deck gift shop, etc.) to work together seamlessly. Nvamp would definitely be a good base for this. In fact, Nvamp has a plugin system for this purpose. Perhaps contacting the modders in question to form a team?

Colonized Freeside (and/or the Mr.Fairfax mod), Open Strip, Cold Deck Gift Shop, and Run the Lucky 38 aren't all compatible with each other, if they were to be assimilated into a large mod pack then the NV strip area would be much better. A Lucky 38 suite mod (I recommend the above, but any will do) as well as extensive modifications to the surrounding area- North Vegas Square and the Thorn area, the Vegas Ruins, New Vegas Steel, basically the entire center of northern part of the map- would be epic.

 

There is also a mod to renovate Nipton and another to expand upon the Primm experience, so add those in as well. Novac and Goodsprings have plenty of houses for their size, but Boulder City should have a few more NCR troops and/or tents. Given the NCR garrison I would imagine that a small band of refugees would spring up within the ruins, but the proximity of the Legion would probably limit their numbers to the truly desperate...

 

 

Sloan should be larger- it was a major mining town for a while- but still largely vacant, to give the impression of a massive migration away from the deathclaws. Having the population skyrocket- with workers even laboring in the quarry- would make sense after the deathclaws are cleared out. Hidden Valley has three free bunkers that could be restored by the BoS in a questline, or simply be a dungeon of sorts. The various office spaces near Aerotech Offices should be crawling with fiends and converted into makeshift forts a la Paradise Falls. Cottonwood cove should have a larger group of Legion troops and the Searchlight airport should have settlements. THe Khans and Powder Gangers should have more bases/outposts and their HQ should also be much larger.

 

Basically, get the main existing mods together and give a facelift to other areas.

 

EDIT: just wanted to add, Nvamp basically covers all the gameplay aspects- weapons, armor, population, etc- so making it an optional addition would be great.

 

Couple other thoughts

IIRC, A world of Pain adds a lot of stuff under the sewers, so that would go in as well. I would also add in the marcus companion mod (and the Benny companion mod, when it's finished) or at least make sure they're compatible. I also saw an idea for a Vulpes Inculta companion mod, which would be a fantastic addition.

 

If all of this (the Lock bombing mod, NVAMP, AWOP and all the location mods I mentioned) could be assimilated into one project, then frankly I think the game would be perfect, barring stability issues. :wallbash: The reason I suggest using NVAMp as a base is because it's basically designed for that purpose- it remains the largest collection of mods, and it has built in plugins for incorporating new projects. AWOP already works fine with it, as do the Strip Expanded, Oven Cooking, and lock bombing mods. The main issue with the existing content is getting the Open Strip and the Freeside mods to work together, and, of course, to get them finished...

Edited May 19, 2011 by TrooperScooperMKII

[TziporaHalevi]

I just heard a bit about Vulpes, and I totally want that, I just don't like that it'll probably make me be loyal to the legion to keep him around. I wonder if anyone can do a good job on his voice. I really do love his VA. Thanks for the points in the right direction, there's still a few other things these mods dont offer that I'd like to add but it might be something I start on once I learn to mod myself.

 

PS - I love A world of Pain, it's on my top 3 mods.

Edited May 19, 2011 by TziporaHalevi

[SteveGad]

I agree entirely with you. I'm just doing the MOD DANCE for the 500th time (installed FNV from Steam again - from scratch also and to be honest, trying to get the game to a level where I believe it a little more has actually now taken me to the point where I'm losing interest in playng it.

I'm sure there are exhaustive list of recommendations of Mods on here, but I really don't want to be wading through loads of stuff to find the odd gem. Nexus is great with its endorsement charts, but I know for fact some brilliant Mods slip under the radar, for want of not being noticed all the time.

 

The CTD's, incompatibles and downright messing about with modding angers me - but I love it too, as I love the (good) results - so go figure. I'm hoping the new Mod manager - just released will end my woes. I just got all my major mods on and it runs OK. I'm now just tentatively putting the cosmetic touches to the mods and I hope I'm done.

 

I would think the change of a unified "Super Mod" would be too time consuming and as we move toward SkyRim, I expect modding for FNV to fall off a little. I've had FNV for a year having played all the series, plus Oblivion, and according to Steam I'm only 21% through the game - that's minus quest Mods etc as most of mt time i spent tweaking and subsequently ruining, my game. I'm a natural tweaker and adore the Mods and the work that goes into Mods like MOMOD, FOOK, Caliber, WMX and Type3, to name a few, so I can't help but trawl Nexus, hoping to find a little treasure that ramps up my experiences out there.

 

As I tend to play late at night, it's all the better to have a good degree of immersion, but CTD's put paid to lengthy games so far.

 

You made a good point and I'n merely aligning myself with you.

[greenknightfury]

I definitely agree with how empty the Mojave feels...this is an area where things can grow and freshwater/food can be obtained, so why is it more desolate and underpopulated than the Capital Wastes which are deadly environmentally and because of the inhabitants. Not only is the map itself smaller in NV...which is ridiculous when you check the actual maps to see how much space actually is there...it's easily 4 times as large as what the area of 3 is supposed to be; but insanely this living green (in comparison at least) land has less settlements and population than the Capital Wastes! Just as it seemed off and stupid to me that there was such a small presences of normal folks in Point Lookout, "Why would we want to take a boat to go live somewhere where we can get water and fresh food that actually cleans us of radiation? We have all this great rubble and irradiated dehydrated snacks from 200 years ago!"

 

I've also been bothered by the number of wonderfully preserved buildings that at boarded up and abandoned, while ramshackle scavenged sheds, or buildings with obvious damage such as huge holes in the roof, are used as homes. Makes no sense whatsoever.