Anyone for a trip to mars?

[greenknightfury]

So some random stuff. What do you guys think about the plasmids? Way out of bounds?

 

 

I'd love to see those..at one point had found a mod to add those either to 3 or NV but it got taken down before i went looking for it again.

[devinpatterson]

So some random stuff. What do you guys think about the plasmids? Way out of bounds?

 

 

I'd love to see those..at one point had found a mod to add those either to 3 or NV but it got taken down before i went looking for it again.

 

OK sorry for the lapse, works been a killer <insert huge bitchfest about self-employment, economy etc, here>. We should also have the same plasmids that are available to the player included with the bio-weapon creatures. So if you have a lightning bolt plasmids maybe one of the deathclaws will have that ability as well, since the plasmids were being designed for them (at least initially).

 

This morning I made a little proof of concept for a martian rover.

 

http://youtu.be/IKZyERD9JLo

 

Here is a

. It's just a quick and dirty mashup that I'll be re-doing, but it gives you an idea of what I'm shooting for. I thought I'd name it RT-MS. ®obotic (T)racked (M)artian (S)cout, pronounced Artemis. Although if someone comes up with a gender neutral name from an acronym that makes sense I'd prefer to have that, as I ddin't intend for them to be female sounding. Being an early version of the robobrain project they probably have chimp brains instead of human.

 

And I figured the first one that explored the alien site may have been "changed" by something it found and developed a unique change in it's intellect. This would be the one that could be a potential companion.

 

Anyway this weekend should be the first I'v had off in a long while and I hope to have some time to work on the mars and sunset mods.

 

EDIT: Guess the media tag isn't working right :yucky:

Also I'm putting out a few additional mod ideas tonight and tomorrow;

 

A aquatic vault; Part 1 includes a shanty town built on a leviathan whaling ship (surviving navy corvette or small destroyer), that visits various ports of call (a peacful tribabl trade village, a industrial shipyard like the Pitt etc). Part 2 is the actual aquatic vault (after the ship was downed by a a Kraken-mutated giant squid), a oceanic wonder, and may even include a little mini-sub battle if the XRE beta is available by then.

 

A prehistoric western involving the titans of our past (dinosaurs, dire wolves etc) in a powder keg that mirrors the conflicts between native Americans and European settlers during the old west.

 

A little lamplight II with a wizard of oz theme. Frank's (who is from a vault) favorite book is the Wizard of OZ. When he and his fellow child slaves escape and stumble across a shopping center named the Emerald City (with an Oz theme), they belive they'v found paradise itself. There is even a protectron "Tinman", and a large holographic "wizard" (used for advertising).

 

And possibly a upscale gentlemans club called hte venus oasis.

 

If you guys have any suggestions or feedback on them when I post them I'd sure appreciate it.

Edited April 27, 2012 by devinpatterson

[TrooperScooperMKII]

Artemis is actually somewhat gender neutral; it's not a "feminine" name, per se, and it's perfect, as she was the goddess of the moon and the hunt...

 

Also, if'when hawaii comes through, I thought Japan would be a logical next step; I'm picturing a "cold war" still going on, i.e. Japan didn't get nuked because the Chinese invaded instead and Japan had a missile defense grid (they're tech-heavy) so we have a north-south Korea dynamic going on.

 

Japan's east-west presence leads to a chinese stealth railgun battleship, and I thought of a "reverse" power armor supersoldier suit, sort of like the med-suits in OWB; basically, from my understanding, Power Armor allows a person to wear armor of far greater weight than human endurance allows by putting on a superhuman frame... what if that goes in reverse? IE a superhuman frame capable of lifting 400+ pound power armor, attached to a "normal" suit of composite armor, with the raw strangth still there? Thus pushing the human body to its limits, and beyond- to the point that the armor can only be worn for a brief duration, and shuts down automatically after a time, or else it literally tears your body apart. naturally, some poor sod is stuck in it, and is basically a cyborg with his mind and nerves hardwired into the armor as his flesh literally falls apart within the armor...

sort of like Bill, only instead of a tin can, he's stuck in a suit that's killing him with its power.

Similar soldiers (probably like a dozen or so) man the battleship/ghost ship, as they made off with it, so to speak, when the war began.

[devinpatterson]

Artemis is actually somewhat gender neutral; it's not a "feminine" name, per se, and it's perfect, as she was the goddess of the moon and the hunt...

 

I'v always thought it was more feminine, but if you think it's a good match, we can keep it. I wonder how the chimp brain will work in re: to communication with the player? I'm assuming the C.O.D.E programming and whatever else they do to it probably removes most of the simian qualities, but it might make for a little bit of interesting character. On the other hand if we can't get any traction with the chimp personality we can always say it's a later model with a convict/prisoner of war brain.

 

Also brings up a point I wanted to get some feedback on.....chimps. Probably too much to ask for any living chimps (since humans can barely survive) with a possible exception of a pet with the humans. But research notes detailing the atrocities committed as well as chimp corpses, cages etc should add atmosphere/history. Also a transition/evolution from chimps to humans in the lab detailing the work on convicts and captured Chinese prisoners for the newer robobrain research would really drive home the cruelty of the experiments.

 

In re: to your bot TrooperScooperMKII, what I'm thinking of doing is making each of the mark I-VI robobrains from BigMT different. The differences will be relatively minor, mostly just larger to demonstrate the greater health and DT the OWB mark bots have, but some of the later versions like Mark IV and V will have two brains, and the boss Mark VI will have 3 brains. Maybe the multiple brains can explain their very high levels (35, 45 & 50) as greater skills/processing powers are integrated. This places your bot in a hierarchy, but I don't think it will detract from it's uniqueness because all of the robobrains are composite intelligences. They do not have two separate personalities like your bot. So you can choose to have him a Mark IV or a Mark V, here is the link to the OWB Mark series. The biggest differences are level 35 vs 45 and health 375 vs 525.

 

I finished the basic models, but will probably tweak them some more to add detail and new textures.

 

Here is a pic next to a standard BOS roborain;

http://img11.imageshack.us/img11/8691/screenshot164i.jpg

 

and a vid;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4EyM3HnZz1k&feature=youtu.be

 

 

 

Also, if'when hawaii comes through, I thought Japan would be a logical next step; I'm picturing a "cold war" still going on, i.e. Japan didn't get nuked because the Chinese invaded instead and Japan had a missile defense grid (they're tech-heavy) so we have a north-south Korea dynamic going on.

 

Hmmm I would have thought Japan would have been fully adsorbed by the Chinese long before the great war. If I understand the wiki (and I'v only glossed over the fallout history so I could be wrong) the U.S./China dynamic wasn't really a cold war, they had active theaters of war across the globe. I don't really see Japan being allowed to be occupied by any U.S. forces, due to China and Japan's history and China's sheer aggressiveness (as displayed by Anchorage). We almost went to war over Cuba and we're far less psychotic than fallout's China.

 

But that being said, if you'v got a great story line, I can understand it taking precedence over lore or anything else. And Japan is an complete unknown, so lore lawyers can't hammer you on that.

 

But there could be a good compromise if you don't mind completely changing the cultural aspects of the story line.

 

Britain has a very prestigious navy and we share a lot of tech (for example the Harriers, but then again I think we share a lot of navel tech with Japan as well). I could definitely see us exchanging railgun tech with the U.K. It's my understanding that the royal navy is one of the most advanced navies in the world, whereas Japan doesn't have any ballistic missile subs or aircraft carriers. As a matter of fact I think the royal navy tested their railgun at the beginning of this year.

 

Of course all that could easily change in the late 21st century. But what is unlikely to change (and could tie into your story well) would be the U.S./UK relationship. We would be far more likely to protect/aid the U.K. (I believe) than Japan. Part of that is simple logistics. Japan is right off of China's coast and it's easy for China to invade, hard for us to support/defend Japan across the globe in enemy territory.

 

But a larger part is the shared history we have with England and our cultural connections betweek the U.K and the colonies. You will often times hear of the "special relationship" we have with the UK in re: to geo-politics. If the European commonwealth collapses (according to fallout lore) after the resource wars we are much more likely to support/defend them, as we have in virtually every military scenario since the 18th century, as opposed to Japan. But being the head of the European commonwealth Britain would also be on China's radar big time due to the resources in that area and the military/strategic advantage of England in re: to the west coast and Europe. China has no presence on Europe's west coast and would have to move ships through the U.S. held panama canal, bering sea or past Australia (a U.S. ally) under south Africa to bring it's navy to bear on Europe. I'm sure they would love to occupy the U.K.. So you have a good setup for two super powers contesting a smaller nation, and a good scenario for using ground troops as opposed to nuking the area, since the U.S. isn't going to nuke an ally and China would need England in non irradiated form as their base of navel operations in that region.

 

In contrast our relationship with Japan, although excellent, is built on a completely different dynamic. They need us or needed (less so now, than in the past) us for protection due to restrictions we put upon their (and Germany's) military after WWII, and for trade. We need them as a military assets (okinawa marine base) and for our financial health (due to the enormous amount of treasury bond they hold, products they produce etc). It's just not the same depth of an alliance as we would have with the UK, which runs much deeper and has been around for centuries.

 

But all that rambling I'v typed above could be a moot point if you just want a Japanese flavor to the mod. if so you should contact brothershogo and see if you can use his resources as a base for your reverse power armor. He has some really good assets that capture a high tech far east power armor perfectly. Here is his member page.

Edited April 29, 2012 by devinpatterson

[TrooperScooperMKII]

Britain works just as well, actually. The main point of japan was that I saw it as being "North South" i.e. North Japan occupied by Chinese, South by americans; the japanese both exploit this and suffer from it, i.e. playing both against the middle, stealing and hybridizing both sides' tech; the advanced missile grid (Japan being high tech producers) and the China/American reluctance to nuke their own soldiers (and the fact that they see it as a sort of "new World" for fleeing to) stopped them...

but the only real stickler is that I saw it as a trade partner of the overseas hawaiian empire, whereas britain is the other side of the world....

Anywhere's fine, though, it's just that I'm trying to balance the HI empire's relative cohesion and tech level with relatively small military power (IE an Orwellian spy-blimp grid, plus robots, to keep the locals in line) with them getting boots on the ground in interesting areas; hence why they avoided the West Coast- it's NCR controlled, and few raw materials, i.e. mines, to justify a major war, whereas if they have plenty of parasite colonies in "primitive" Africa etc, then Japan, heavily dependent on imports but retaining some semblance of government and high-tech manufacturing, is a natural trade partner.

England would be interesting, for that matter, Europe would be interesting, but it's not a viable "colony" area, so...

 

What about new Zealand?

 

The OWB robobrains sound perfect, could those arms/appendages be made more "cybernetic" like with the SS Protectrons?

Given the nature of the two brains (both very intelligent- one a lead scientist/researcher, the other a war vet handpicked for chief security officer) they should be very capable, perceptive, and competent in a fight... I definitely imagine that repairs/upgrades have come into effect over two hundred years, even if it's not a reskin the stats should be tough enough for them/it to survive alone in the FEV horror chamber as a companion; a bot that survived two hundred years by itself shouldn't need babysitting in a fight, so long as its cared for between battles.

[VaultPi]

hey if you have something from britan you could always have 30 round gyrojet rocktet rifles (that look like 40k bolters)

[devinpatterson]

The OWB robobrains sound perfect, could those arms/appendages be made more "cybernetic" like with the SS Protectrons?

 

Sorry, not sure if I'm catching your drift. When you say cybernetic, do you mean better able to manipulate items, or actual fleshy parts?

 

Given the nature of the two brains (both very intelligent- one a lead scientist/researcher, the other a war vet handpicked for chief security officer) they should be very capable, perceptive, and competent in a fight...

 

Yeah that's the line I'm thinking off. The mark series all look exactly the same but some have the health of a mack truck, level up to 50 etc. So in an attempt to add a little variety to differentiate the models, the additional brains come into the picture (as well as some models scaled up to increase bulk). It just naturally follows that two brains or three (if integrated properly) should increase perception, skills etc.

 

I definitely imagine that repairs/upgrades have come into effect over two hundred years, even if it's not a reskin the stats should be tough enough for them/it to survive alone in the FEV horror chamber as a companion; a bot that survived two hundred years by itself shouldn't need babysitting in a fight, so long as its cared for between battles.

 

The reskin isn't a problem. I'll add one for just him with additional damage (burn marks etc), repairs (plates, possibly some extra arcing wires), maybe some big bold patriotic american graffiti (better dead than red) etc. And we'll add a hat for defense against the sun on the exterior sojourns. Might be a good idea to make the doc/scientist a little neurotic/OC about having sun protection. I'm sure he can give a long spiel about the dangers of melanoma and the delicate nature of the tissue of the cortex.....

 

So in a nutshell, yeah he'll stand out.

 

Also we can upgrade him. Since just about every companion has his/her/it's own quest, I don't see why he can't as well. Some extra firepower (or armor) or increased neural capability could certainly be part of that quest.

 

I won't go into detail in re: to the actual model and upgrades, just a primer. I'v asked about this before in regard to the sunset bots, because it's easy to model them with a weapon or armor, but very difficult to have them add and remove them like humans do. FONV's just not set up to provide that function to critters painlessly, like it is for pc/npc's (and ghouls/super mutants etc....ie humanoids).

 

Essentially most of the members told me it wasn't something that could be done without swapping out the whole model and making it a new refID (ie essentially a new creature for each model swap). That can make scripting tricky since you have to write a script that applies to not just one, but several creatures and make it all appear as one critter. And we can go that way, but those upgrades/appearances are essentially static....they stay that way until another upgrade.

 

But what I'd like to do is give the bot the ability to equip/unequip items dynamically just like a human. Long story short it can be done (see mydog on FO3 nexus) by having models attached to viscontroller nodes that "play" an animation enabling/disabling items. I don't know if I'll be able to do it (since I haven't been able to find a single tutorial on it), but it would be wicked to have the bot draw a weapon or equip a hat. It'd really add to the realism.

 

I'm also going to add a radar dish to the rover (don't know why I didn't think of that right off) and a microwave weapon (since that just naturally follows the radar dish, and is related to the robobrains built in mesmetron), so the little guys will have some offensive capability. But mostly they'll still run from fights (even our little companion one).

 

 

hey if you have something from britan you could always have 30 round gyrojet rocktet rifles (that look like 40k bolters)

 

Yeah I think that would be fairly easy in principal, I just finished up a winchester 1901 10 gauge lever action shotgun (gotta say I'm loving it), so I think I'v got a good handle on weapon model dev. So using a scaled down rocket nif as the projectile, the same as the missle launcher, and a rifle that has a clip (so that you don't have to show a reloading sequence that includes a rocket) it would be easy.

 

Did you have a base model for the rifle in mind (keep in mind it should have a clip) that'd you'd like it to look like?

Edited April 30, 2012 by devinpatterson

[devinpatterson]

OK started work on the Mech. Here is a little vid of it (fraps PD limits me to 30 seconds, sorry);

 

in case the media tag doesn't show up correctly here is a

.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_HRKgHwPxHw&feature=youtu.be

 

I noticed the hair disappears, when you move. I think it's an alpha issue (alpha (glass), in front of another alpha (hair) and the shader gets wacky.

 

So it's just a basic framework. It uses Illyism's script. We need to implement a hot key for the mechs right attack animation to use the it's laser, raise and Lock the 3rd person camera (unless we want to go 1st person only), make a "cockpit" and some more minor details.

 

Also be nice if we had an animation of the front opening (when the player enters the mech) and some idle animations for the player consisting of his arms/hands moving back and forth (ie manipulating the controls). and I may add a missile pod like the securitrons if I figure out how to add the animations/projectile node etc.

 

If I have energy/time tonight, I'm going to work on the power armor suits with trauma harness tech. Should be fun seeing half blasted skeletons wearing power armor. Add a bit more kick than the normal trauma harness suits.

 

Also gonna put out a small demo as soon as I finish beta 2 demo of OWB blues expansion and beta 1 demo of SSWWW (which is just the sunset factory). I'd be curious to know what areas people would like to see in teh demo. It will probably only be a cell or two for the initial release.

Edited May 31, 2012 by devinpatterson

[Nihilisaurus]

Did you have a base model for the rifle in mind (keep in mind it should have a clip) that'd you'd like it to look like?

At a guess, I'd say he's looking for something like this:

http://www.cold-moon.com/40k/Props/BolterPreRefinish.JPG

Weird weapon, in the fluff of the game they're from (Warhammer 40k) they're a hybrid gyroget/conventional firearm. Rounds are ejected from the barrel like a traditional gun using a propellant, and once clear of the muzzle a small rocket on the base of the round ignites, pushing it to terminal velocity. Skips the main problem of Gyrogets in that it took too long for the round to get up to speed by kicking it half way there before it's properly begun.

[devinpatterson]

I'm for it, what do you need?

 

Well I'd like to make a demo to start and get a little buzz/interest going (we need modders to divide the workload). So I'd like to know what areas you find most interesting, yet won't be too labor intensive. It's a little bit of a tricky balance. We want to get the demo out in a timely manner so a locale that doesn't require too many new resources would be better.

 

This is a short list of new resources, and OWB is in the mix as well.

Robobrains MK I through VI (which includes bi and tri brained models) are about 90% finished.

A very nice atomic laser by Apocalyptic Girl

Power armor (trauma harness tech) skeletons about %50 done (give or take a little).

alien holo/light bots are done.

probably some other minor stuff I'm forgetting.

 

Anything in particular that we/I should start with, i.e. is there a particular dome or tunnel area that would be a good place to start?

 

I think the base/launch pad might make a logical demo area, as it's the start of the whole mod. I think the only time consuming resources we'd have to make for it would be the little holo girl (ie the A.I mainframe). We could re-skin the Camp McCarran terminal.

If I can get the mech working well, I'd like to have a winding canyon where you run a guantlet of FEV horrors.

Since the dual brain bots are done you might want to include your character as a encounter, so that would mean some dialog trees.

 

What do you think would be an interesting level?