[WIP] Weapon Addition and Replacement Suite (WARS)

[ARahimi]

Did ha_ru pull his animations from this mod? I heard he disallowed his anims to be used. That true?

[antistar]

It's too bad fallout 4 isn't exactly scabbard concept compatible, would love having a matching saya to go with it, oh well lol.

 

(Having bright pink blood on the blade is totally reasonable, nothing a bit much about it :wink: especially if the person drank a cubic crap load of pepto bismol lmao)

I was thinking about what I'd do for the scabbard for the Junk Blade, if it was possible in FO4. With the way the design ended up it would probably have just been a plain wood one that continued the form of the grip, but earlier on when it was going to be more visibly "junky", I was thinking of the scabbard being a length of PVC pipe.

 

 

Did ha_ru pull his animations from this mod? I heard he disallowed his anims to be used. That true?

That's the first I've heard of it. When Ha_ru made those animations for WARS (the Barrett M107 set and the third-person sets for the Handmade AKM, Mini-14 and Hunting Rifle), they said they considered them as gifts so I could do whatever with them. I've always maintained that Ha_ru could have more control over the permissions with those anims if they wanted - but anyway; considering all that, I doubt it'll be a problem.

[Shanzyboo]

That would be precisely what a shirasaya is, a plain wooden scabbard and hilt traditionally made of nurizaya wood, so makes sense, was primarily meant for keeping out oxygen and protecting the blade when not in use for extended periods of time.

 

The only way I can see that working out for FO4 is having the scabbard as an apparel object working in tangent with Classic Holstered Weapons (for pseudo functionality anyway.) Even in Gun Runners Arsenal and I think Mothership Zeta the scabbard was botched.

[nexusguy]

Hows development going? I've read last time you were waiting for AmmoTweaks V2 is that correct?

[antistar]

Not quite; I'm not waiting for TweaksFramework (AKA AmmoTweaks v2) anymore. I'm adapting AmmoTweaks v1 for use with WARS, which has required a lot of extra work. (It still requires ATv1 - I just did a lot of work on my end to extend and add to it.)

 

Those several months spent arduously scripting and developing new systems are part of why I was doing my best to wait for ATv2; a lot of the features I added are already in ATv2, as I understand it. (Along with a swanky custom UI to support them, from what I saw.)

 

It got to the point where I couldn't delay it any longer, is the thing - and obviously WARS has been quite delayed already.

 

What I am doing though is adding ATv1 support via an add-on plugin, rather than directly in the main WARS plugin - so that if I should want to use ATv2 at some point down the line, it would be easier to switch to it, since I wouldn't need to fish the ATv1 integration stuff out of the main plugin.

 

I'm also using this WARS-ATv1 plugin for any other features I've added that require F4SE, which means that an XB1 version of WARS is technically more feasible. It would theoretically just ("just") require a non-F4SE alternative to the WARS-ATv1 plugin that would reproduce the Ammo Swap, Fire Mode and Launcher Mode functions.

 

To be clear (because I don't want to get anyone's hope up), I'm not planning to make an alternative add-on plugin like that myself. If someone were to make something like that, however, I can see myself making the main WARS plugin (plus the assets, of course... if they're not too big) available on Bethesda.net for XB1 users.

 

 

Anyway, re: what I've been working on lately:

 

All the melee weapons are fully set up now, with appropriate Attack Modes, COND and STR REQ values. I also started writing the 3rd Party Weapon Support Tutorial in earnest - and so far the part on setting up a melee weapon is the most fleshed-out, since I wanted to write it while I was still working on the melee weapons.

 

I'm making the tutorial in OpenOffice Writer, and exporting it to pdf. It's illustrated - generally with text in the left column and images in the right. It's in landscape, made to fit nicely on a monitor of at least 1920x1080 pixels. It's going to take a lot of work to write, but WARS is very complex behind the scenes, so I think it's necessary.

 

I just finished setting up the SA80 earlier - so now the Swivel Gun/Broadsider, AR-15 and SA80 are all done. The latter two are the most complex weapons in WARS since they can have an underbarrel grenade launcher, so it's good to get them out of the way.

 

Now I just need to churn through all the ranged weapons. Some will take more work than others, since they'll require new explosions, projectiles, ammo assets, etc. (E.g. the 12 Gauge ammo sub-types require different colour shells, a slug model and a FRAG-12 model.) I'll also continue to write the tutorial while I'm working on them.

[Shanzyboo]

Weapon condition and strength requirement to use certain weapons, aspects from the previous titles dearly missed. When you say frag 12, you mean as in frag 12 explosive shotgun shells right?!

[nexusguy]

Not quite; I'm not waiting for TweaksFramework (AKA AmmoTweaks v2) anymore. I'm adapting AmmoTweaks v1 for use with WARS, which has required a lot of extra work. (It still requires ATv1 - I just did a lot of work on my end to extend and add to it.)

 

Those several months spent arduously scripting and developing new systems are part of why I was doing my best to wait for ATv2; a lot of the features I added are already in ATv2, as I understand it. (Along with a swanky custom UI to support them, from what I saw.)

 

It got to the point where I couldn't delay it any longer, is the thing - and obviously WARS has been quite delayed already.

 

What I am doing though is adding ATv1 support via an add-on plugin, rather than directly in the main WARS plugin - so that if I should want to use ATv2 at some point down the line, it would be easier to switch to it, since I wouldn't need to fish the ATv1 integration stuff out of the main plugin.

 

I'm also using this WARS-ATv1 plugin for any other features I've added that require F4SE, which means that an XB1 version of WARS is technically more feasible. It would theoretically just ("just") require a non-F4SE alternative to the WARS-ATv1 plugin that would reproduce the Ammo Swap, Fire Mode and Launcher Mode functions.

 

To be clear (because I don't want to get anyone's hope up), I'm not planning to make an alternative add-on plugin like that myself. If someone were to make something like that, however, I can see myself making the main WARS plugin (plus the assets, of course... if they're not too big) available on Bethesda.net for XB1 users.

 

 

Anyway, re: what I've been working on lately:

 

All the melee weapons are fully set up now, with appropriate Attack Modes, COND and STR REQ values. I also started writing the 3rd Party Weapon Support Tutorial in earnest - and so far the part on setting up a melee weapon is the most fleshed-out, since I wanted to write it while I was still working on the melee weapons.

 

I'm making the tutorial in OpenOffice Writer, and exporting it to pdf. It's illustrated - generally with text in the left column and images in the right. It's in landscape, made to fit nicely on a monitor of at least 1920x1080 pixels. It's going to take a lot of work to write, but WARS is very complex behind the scenes, so I think it's necessary.

 

I just finished setting up the SA80 earlier - so now the Swivel Gun/Broadsider, AR-15 and SA80 are all done. The latter two are the most complex weapons in WARS since they can have an underbarrel grenade launcher, so it's good to get them out of the way.

 

Now I just need to churn through all the ranged weapons. Some will take more work than others, since they'll require new explosions, projectiles, ammo assets, etc. (E.g. the 12 Gauge ammo sub-types require different colour shells, a slug model and a FRAG-12 model.) I'll also continue to write the tutorial while I'm working on them.

 

Thats nice! Great job! Can't imagine how tedious it would have been to do all that adapting, your determination is astonishing.

 

So AmmoTweaks v2 is called TweaksFramework, good to know, you said Isathar made a new UI for the mod? Thats neat, I remember the old AmmoTweaks UI looked kind of weird, but we evolved a lot since that, lot's of new tools and methods to use, good to know that things are evolving.

 

You implemented STR requitements? Are they hard or soft requirements?

 

Also, It's awesome you're writing a detailed tutorial for 3rd party support, the quality of your work is amazing! I'm hoping WARS and PEACE are going to become "Core" Mods, not only because of the extensive changes but also because no other overhaul offers this level of quality.

[nexusguy]

Weapon condition and strength requirement to use certain weapons, aspects from the previous titles dearly missed. When you say frag 12, you mean as in frag 12 explosive shotgun shells right?!

 

Yeah, I still don't know why BGS left a lot of features outside of FO4, I mean, no equipment condition? Thats really weird, some changes I understand, but others seem so weird, they almost seem like mishaps, like they were too busy designing other parts of the game and someone said "Btw, have we implemented equipment condition yet?" And everyone flipped because they forgot about it, the fact they added back this function in FO76 seems to indicate this.

[Shanzyboo]

 

Weapon condition and strength requirement to use certain weapons, aspects from the previous titles dearly missed. When you say frag 12, you mean as in frag 12 explosive shotgun shells right?!

Yeah, I still don't know why BGS left a lot of features outside of FO4, I mean, no equipment condition? Thats really weird, some changes I understand, but others seem so weird, they almost seem like mishaps, like they were too busy designing other parts of the game and someone said "Btw, have we implemented equipment condition yet?" And everyone flipped because they forgot about it, the fact they added back this function in FO76 seems to indicate this.

They added equipment condition back in for FO76, was not aware of this..so you may be on to something nexusguy, likely with what was implemented in FO4, their attention was on graphics, weapon modifications and settlement building especially. Another thing missing was ammunition crafting.

[antistar]

Weapon condition and strength requirement to use certain weapons, aspects from the previous titles dearly missed. When you say frag 12, you mean as in frag 12 explosive shotgun shells right?!

Yep, that's right. :) I had FRAG-12 rounds in WMX-ModernWeapons, too. I might even be able to re-use that projectile model I made back then, since it's typically not something people will see very clearly. (...Except for in VATS, I suppose.)

 

 

Thats nice! Great job! Can't imagine how tedious it would have been to do all that adapting, your determination is astonishing.

 

So AmmoTweaks v2 is called TweaksFramework, good to know, you said Isathar made a new UI for the mod? Thats neat, I remember the old AmmoTweaks UI looked kind of weird, but we evolved a lot since that, lot's of new tools and methods to use, good to know that things are evolving.

 

You implemented STR requitements? Are they hard or soft requirements?

 

Also, It's awesome you're writing a detailed tutorial for 3rd party support, the quality of your work is amazing! I'm hoping WARS and PEACE are going to become "Core" Mods, not only because of the extensive changes but also because no other overhaul offers this level of quality.

 

They're soft requirements, like in PEACE with its STR requirements for armour; you can still equip something that you don't meet the requirements for - but you'll have some stat penalties. Here's the STR REQ section from the draft readme:

 

 

- Strength Requirement (STR REQ) system:

--- Using a weapon you don't meet the STR REQ for incurs penalties, such as:

----- Reduced movement speed, increased recoil, slower reload speed, reduced AGI, less scope steadiness, and reduced DAM (for melee weapons).

--- The Extra Weapon Info function (see the AmmoTweaks v1 Integration section for more info) lists the specific penalties for not meeting the STR REQ for the equipped weapon.

--- In general, bulkier weapons have more severe penalties for not meeting their STR REQ:

----- Low severity: Pistols, One-Handed Melee, Fist Weapons.

----- Medium severity: Rifles, Two-Handed Melee.

----- High severity: Heavy Weapons, Heavy Two-Handed Melee.

--- The STR REQ for a weapon is listed in its weapon mod list (for ranged weapons, as part of its current ammo sub-type). Examine a weapon as usual to see it.

--- Rechambering a ranged weapon - or modifying a melee weapon in certain ways - may change its STR REQ.

--- Minor technical limitation: you'll need to re-equip a weapon after (say) taking chems that increase STR to ensure that certain penalties (recoil and scope steadiness) are cleared.

 

 

I actually just pasted the updated readme draft into the second post of the thread, if anyone wants to browse through it. (There's some placeholder text here and there to remind me to do things, but not too much.)

 

 

Yeah, I still don't know why BGS left a lot of features outside of FO4, I mean, no equipment condition? Thats really weird, some changes I understand, but others seem so weird, they almost seem like mishaps, like they were too busy designing other parts of the game and someone said "Btw, have we implemented equipment condition yet?" And everyone flipped because they forgot about it, the fact they added back this function in FO76 seems to indicate this.

I have no idea if they're in the majority, but there's always a very vocal contingent that will loudly declaim how objectively terrible durability systems in games are, so BGS may be in two minds about including it. I mean they did give power armour durability in FO4, which is... something, at least.

 

I'm a little sceptical (to put it politely) of the design goals behind FO76, so I wouldn't be surprised if things like the durability and "survival" systems in FO76 were viewed as being part of driving "engagement" and "player retention" by keeping players on the loot treadmill.

 

 

They added equipment condition back in for FO76, was not aware of this..so you may be on to something nexusguy, likely with what was implemented in FO4, their attention was on graphics, weapon modifications and settlement building especially. Another thing missing was ammunition crafting.

I remember that when FO4 released, I was actually legitimately shocked to discover that BGS hadn't picked up where New Vegas left off, design-wise, but had instead chosen to pretend that it didn't exist. So many of the design elements in FNV - like the ammo crafting, but also the dialogue system, ammo swapping, DT instead of DR, hardcore mode, etc - seemed so obvious and substantial an improvement over FO3, that it seemed a no-brainer.

 

But nope. And that's a big part of why I've spent so much time working on WARS and PEACE. FO4 has an amazing world that was let down by a whole bunch of lacklustre core mechanics.