Boston...will it ever be optimised?

[Perraine]

The annoying (and I guess you must say "funny' to stay sane) thing is ... Several modders have done major overhauls of various areas. Quince for instance, did an almost complete restoration of Sanctuary to it's pre-war state, and whether or not you agree with the concept of a pre-war looking cell, Sanctuary loads 10 times faster and runs at a higher FPS (on my potato), even with tonnes of extra items, and way more buildings and foliage in the cell, than Bugthesda's post- war Sanctuary has.

The same occurred in many other area's that have been "cleaned up" or otherwise changed by modders, simply because they got rid of all the excess crap, pointless junk, and woeful attention to detail. A good example of this is Coastal Cottage - WTF is with that whole in the ground, and all the crap and junk buried in there? If i was paying someone to build locations for a game, and they gave me that crap, I'd fie their a**es immediately.

[RelicDuDe]

 

Always hated playing a silent character, and i don't see what that has to do with an unstable Boston.

A voiced protagonist makes adding quest content and companions a lot harder add more time consuming, and potentially limits what you can do. At least, it does if you want any of it to be voiced.

 

To fit with the feel of the game you need to dig into the existing protagonist voice files, and either find an appropriate line and re-use it, it carefully pull apart existing lines and edit together what you want. Then do this for the other gender. Then do it four times for the conversation options. Usually while revising the entire conversation / script when you find you just cannot make the player character say what you want without it sounding like a YouTube poop video.

 

And no, getting a soundalike is not viable. Not with two genders of voice to work with.

 

Alternately you can use super vague responses, require one of the chat interface changing mods, and put it all in text. But that then limits you to two sentences or so. Even with just not bothering and keeping the character silent you are limited by how little space there is to write in.

 

Don't get me started on the whole "four response options only" thing. At least Mass Effect have you six options, but because of the whole "you can walk away from conversations!" thing in FO4 conversations had to be mapped to the four controller buttons, not the analogue stick to leave the player free to move.

 

Yes, it improved the game and made it simple. But it severely limits mods that gave extra meaningful playable content - I'm sure that sitting down and actually having a good think could have produced a less limiting system, albeit at the price of some minor 'complexity' and contextual inputs.

 

 

I understand your point, but the "Fusion City Rising" mod is a keeper in my load-order, and it was a more then enjoyable DLC like mod, voiced and all... So i don't see the general issue... tbh.

[Athanasa]

I understand your point, but the "Fusion City Rising" mod is a keeper in my load-order, and it was a more then enjoyable DLC like mod, voiced and all... So i don't see the general issue... tbh.

It's possible, the issue is that everything is made so much more tedious by having these extra hoops to jump through.

 

"I have this really cool quest idea, I hope I can find the appropriate lines for the PC to say in the existing 5 hours of PC dialogue for EACH GENDER! ...[3 days later] ... Hmm, maybe not. I'll use this instead... No. Maybe I'll just have to get voice actors AND audio editors."

 

Trust me, I've been splicing together dialogue from the voice files. At this point in convinced that having the idea FIRST is the wrong way to go - you'll just be disappointed when you can't find the audio for what you need. Better to have the vaguest outline possible then build it with the limited resources to hand.

 

It's time, fuss and awkwardness.

 

Oh, and if you want more than 4 responses to anything you have to start making a crazy conversation tree like a god damn bowl of noodles.

Edited December 22, 2016 by Athanasa

[RelicDuDe]

 

I understand your point, but the "Fusion City Rising" mod is a keeper in my load-order, and it was a more then enjoyable DLC like mod, voiced and all... So i don't see the general issue... tbh.

It's possible, the issue is that everything is made so much more tedious by having these extra hoops to jump through.

 

"I have this really cool quest idea, I hope I can find the appropriate lines for the PC to say in the existing 5 hours of PC dialogue for EACH GENDER! ...[3 days later] ... Hmm, maybe not. I'll use this instead... No. Maybe I'll just have to get voice actors AND audio editors."

 

Trust me, I've been splicing together dialogue from the voice files. At this point in convinced that having the idea FIRST is the wrong way to go - you'll just be disappointed when you can't find the audio for what you need. Better to have the vaguest outline possible then build it with the limited resources to hand.

 

It's time, fuss and awkwardness.

 

Oh, and if you want more than 4 responses to anything you have to start making a crazy conversation tree like a god damn bowl of noodles

 

Lol... yeah..but you know what ?.. i think i wouldn't mind at all if my character had only a few repeating lines, or even none at all.. if the Mod was really good... If people can play pretend one way, why not another ?..

At least,.. i would understand the limitations.. and adjust. I never even noticed how many lines i had voiced in that Fusion mod... yet i had loads of fun with it.. and still do.. after 4 play-through's.. So me thinks that maybe not over-thinking would be a good idea ?.... Then again.. i am not a modder.

[TheGadget1945]

Referring to the OP's question "Will Boston ever be optimised ?"

I think

Boston ? More Than A Feeling.

[RelicDuDe]

Referring to the OP's question "Will Boston ever be optimised ?"

I think

Boston ? More Than A Feeling.

 

 

Yeah.... BOS, raiders, 7fps in some places, Supermutants, Triggermen... A fine place to come.. spend your money, settle down.

[llamaRCA]

 

Then again.. i am not a modder.

 

 

As a player you want content, as a mod author I want to create it, but it is absolutely the case that building player/NPC dialogue in the FO4CK for a voiced protagonist is much more work than it is to create that same dialogue in one of the previous Bethesda editors.

 

In FO4, for every line a NPC speaks in dialogue with the player the mod author must create two dialogue lines for the protagonist (one for the male protag and one for the female protag). That objectively creates more work for the mod author who wants to provide a voiced protag. Not only that, but creating voiced dialogue (whether for a NPC or the voiced protag) isn't an insignificant amount of work. It takes quite a bit of effort and time to get each voiced line into the game.

 

Add to that the awkward dialogue wheel and it makes creating NPC-to-player dialogue painful to create. Much more work than it was in previous titles. This is an issue for mod authors. Players don't feel the pain because they play the content, they don't build it.

[Ethreon]

"Players don't feel the pain because they play the content, they don't build it."

 

Would be nice if any player would think of that before asking for features.

How's your F4 jewel coming along?

[RelicDuDe]

 

 

Then again.. i am not a modder.

 

 

As a player you want content, as a mod author I want to create it, but it is absolutely the case that building player/NPC dialogue in the FO4CK for a voiced protagonist is much more work than it is to create that same dialogue in one of the previous Bethesda editors.

 

In FO4, for every line a NPC speaks in dialogue with the player the mod author must create two dialogue lines for the protagonist (one for the male protag and one for the female protag). That objectively creates more work for the mod author who wants to provide a voiced protag. Not only that, but creating voiced dialogue (whether for a NPC or the voiced protag) isn't an insignificant amount of work. It takes quite a bit of effort and time to get each voiced line into the game.

 

Add to that the awkward dialogue wheel and it makes creating NPC-to-player dialogue painful to create. Much more work than it was in previous titles. This is an issue for mod authors. Players don't feel the pain because they play the content, they don't build it.

 

 

 

I know how much effort you put into your mods.. your mod "Willow" for NV is the sole reason i have 400 hours on that shitty game. I cant wait for a similar mod for FO4.

 

I do think of how much work goes into making mods.. and I realize a voiced protagonist isn't making things easier for modders that make either companions with the quality of Willow, or quest-mods.. . I only wanted to say that you modders have a ton of credit.. for me anyway.. as you make games way better... and i do understand the limitations you have to work with.

[RelicDuDe]

"Players don't feel the pain because they play the content, they don't build it."

 

Would be nice if any player would think of that before asking for features.

How's your F4 jewel coming along?

 

 

I cant remember asking for any features on any mod, from any modder, ever.. unless he/she asks for them..

 

I know your mods, they are quality as well.. far as i can see.. although i haven't, and cant use them.. because i hardly ever use the settlement system, as i cant walk while using it. In all their wisdom, Beth used, and probably hard-coded my movement keys for operating it. Besides.. i see FO4 as a shooter, not a builder.

 

But trust me.. i do think of what a load of work must go into some of the better mods... and you guys/girls are the sole i still reason i play some games.. I have a feeling Modders are going to extend the FO4 life as well..