AWOP For FO4 Pros & Cons Official Thread

[djmystro]

Thanks for the mod & location recommendations. I'll definitely keep those in mind.
Unused assets are always popular with me so I'm looking forward to digging those out. In the GECK I sometimes order the asset lists by the number of in-game uses and find cool unused objects, then think of how they can be used (like the Crystal City metro signs that inspired that whole area in FO3).

Vaults are somewhat trickier as I like to stick to existing Fallout lore where possible. There were just under 130 Vaults built if I remember correctly and I avoid using Vault numbers that exist in previous Fallout games, existing Fallout mods or general Fallout lore such as that found in the Fallout Bible. I googled most Vault numbers until I came up with 40 and 41 which I used in FNV AWOP and came up with a linked backstory that would bypass the need for objects such as numbered Vault suits (so I could get by with just the vanilla assets). Unfortuntely this trick can not be used repeatedly and there is the potential for all the Vaults to have been claimed already.

Ways around this include general Vault-Tec built underground facilities that are not directly linked with the existing Vaults. Examples of these in previous AWOPs would be Zeus's Vault from FO3 which was a Vault-Tec Storage Facility pre-war, the Vault Monitoring Station from FNV (found via Fiend House) and Crystal City. So if I were to use the new Vault assets it would probably be for similar locations to these rather than a new Vault.

[Ethreon]

Well the assets are more akin to very thick boxcars rather than vault. I even think that's what they're called.. it's probably a relic set that never got used for anything as it lacks any texture. Didn't check to see if they are correctly unwrapped, though I plan on soon.

 

 

Anyway, looking forward to this if you so decide :)

[jawa9kid]

I agree, if you were to make AWOP for fallout 4, the Glowing sea and pretty much the whole south part of the map would work well with it. The Highways could also be a good location. I'm not sure how you feel about using the workshop Dlc, but i think Vault Tec had cave assets.

Edited February 20, 2017 by jawa9kid

[djmystro]

Thanks for the advice :)

I probably wont be using the DLCs, at least I plan not to, but if I can't create certain areas without using the DLC assets then I'll make a separate version that includes those.

[Degby1]

AWOP is exactly what F4 needs. Don't get me wrong, the existing quest mods of Fusion City Rising, Tales of The Commonwealth, Maxwell's World, A Random Dude's Story etc are amazing and the weapon and armour mods are always in my playthrough's, but having played AWOP for both F3 and New Vegas, F4 needs more story driven content. The dialogue system can be worked around in 3 ways - Unvoiced (which may or may not break immersion, ppl are bothered by it or not), splice existing lines or doing A Random Dude' Story and the Ralph/Major Sheely Companion mod method and get someone to voice the lines in the style of the Protagonists, which were pretty well done to be fair.

 

The CK isnt all that different from the others, I actually find it easier to use and have made more progress on my mods than I did with my Vegas one before the hard drive took a turn for the worse.

 

If ur looking for Cave content then the Big Dig mission, the Vault Tec DLC, the Boston Mayor Shelter has cavernous areas. Also the interior of the Prydwyn would make a good interior for a Raven Rock-ish military bunker used by the Enclave.

Community help wouldnt be a problem either, as you already have a solid following from your other mods and they would welcome a F4 edition of AWOP.

You've already listed alot of uncovered or glazed over lore that needs to be explored. Tbh the amount of Cons isnt a concern, the pro's hold more weight. That's just my 2 cents though.

[gunslinger6792]

Most of it doesn't even need to be voiced (silent or otherwise). One of the things I loved most was finding the notes, journals, and other written entries that gave stories to the places you found.

Edited February 20, 2017 by gunslinger6792

[djmystro]

Thanks for your input Narmz :)

I'm glad you liked the AWOP story content, Ill come back to this in a bit.

I'll take the conversation tips. The main problem with unvoiced is I do not get subtitles when speaking with NPCs, so I assume it's the same for others. No idea why they would not be included though and there may be an option to turn them on in the new GECK, so I guess I'll just have to wait and see.

Thanks for the cave tips. If I remember correct the Mayor's Shelter's biggest room was a concrete basketball court, which may come in handy at some point, but I think it's a little short of cave assets still. Thinking about it there's some large circular caverns in Dunwich Borers, though I think the rock is white which may make it a bit impractical. I could always bodge a large cave together using exterior assets such as cliffs, but I can't remember many of those off hand (though there are probably loads).

 

Gunslinger:

There's a lot more notes to find in the FO3 AWOP for the 2.0 update. I spent the last couple of days adding and refining notes in various locations without a solid backstory and I'm pleased with the result so far. It's making me itch to release it, but it wont be ready for a while yet. Unfortunately I'm stuck with a location I'm not keen on from a design perspective and it has been holding up progress on the mod coz I find it hard to motivate myself to get back to it, but I am certain it will get done eventually.

[Degby1]

Thanks for your input Narmz :smile:

I'm glad you liked the AWOP story content, Ill come back to this in a bit.

I'll take the conversation tips. The main problem with unvoiced is I do not get subtitles when speaking with NPCs, so I assume it's the same for others. No idea why they would not be included though and there may be an option to turn them on in the new GECK, so I guess I'll just have to wait and see.

Thanks for the cave tips. If I remember correct the Mayor's Shelter's biggest room was a concrete basketball court, which may come in handy at some point, but I think it's a little short of cave assets still. Thinking about it there's some large circular caverns in Dunwich Borers, though I think the rock is white which may make it a bit impractical. I could always bodge a large cave together using exterior assets such as cliffs, but I can't remember many of those off hand (though there are probably loads).

 

Gunslinger:

There's a lot more notes to find in the FO3 AWOP for the 2.0 update. I spent the last couple of days adding and refining notes in various locations without a solid backstory and I'm pleased with the result so far. It's making me itch to release it, but it wont be ready for a while yet. Unfortunately I'm stuck with a location I'm not keen on from a design perspective and it has been holding up progress on the mod coz I find it hard to motivate myself to get back to it, but I am certain it will get done eventually.

There is an option for subtitles in the game settings. I dunno why ur not getting them to come up? Maybe a U.I overhaul? As for the Caves, the Mayor has a cave with a Deathclaw in it just beyond the basketball court. Other areas that have a cave System are under Bunker Hill, Fens Sewers, Eddie Winter's hideout, Virgil's Hideout and Vault 75 has 2 fairly large open cavenous areas also. The only challenge I can see is if you decide to use already existing locations and integrating them into AWOP, much like the Jeans Flying School/Nipton Bunker/Underground area due to the stupid f*#@in radiant 'Clear' quests. But I think most will gladly forego that for AWOP content.

[Kodiak412]

Hello djmystro! What a great thrill to see your name pop up. I do hope all is well with you.

 

AWOP NV is the finest mod there is so it is nice to see you considering AWOP4FO4. I must agree with some of the others that the southern region and the glowing sea are severely underutilized areas. However the most wasted asset, to me, was the lack of the subway system for Boston. I believe FO3 did a great job with this asset and I believe Beth dropped the ball with this. There is a mod out called Subway Runner that adds tunnels, but I have yet to download it and try it out. I have a new toon I am working on so I have not been adding a lot of new area mods until I get him along.

 

Your notes and story telling are always a thing of beauty and add a lot to the game. The note system added to the old Angel Park mod was a total pleasure and really took that great mod to another level. It gave you a reason to explore AP and just made finding questions and answers a real pleasure.

 

Another wasted area IMHO is the sea itself. So much potential but no real reason to even considering exploring it. A tidbit here or there but nothing big. Don't get me started on the Enclave either. I had high hopes when the Far Harbor DLC came out and one of the Children Of Atom makes reference to the Enclave. I thought that they might get a crumb of storyline out of it, but instead we got nothing. No Enclave for you. :(

 

As gunslinger stated, I second the motion about dialog not really being needed. You tell a story in notes and terminal entries so compelling that it is a pleasure to fully explore all the areas just to make sure you found every piece of information there is. That makes the exploration aspect of your mods such a nice touch, and totally enjoyable.

 

Good luck with the project if you decide to move forward with it. I do agree with you that FO4 is already significantly fuller than FONV but it does have a lot of under utilized areas, buildings and space that would make AWOP4FO4 as significant a mod as AWOP is for FO3 and FONV. Perhaps try a small area and shoot it out on the nexus for trial. Your name carries a lot of weight in the community and you will be swamped with feedback in short order. :)

[djmystro]

Narmz:

I'm not sure why I was not getting any subtitles. I definitely turned them on, but only stuff NPCs say indirectly (such as commenting on a room or smell or whatever) seemed to have subtitles after. It was happening with just the vanilla game, I never got around to installing many mods. I have not played it in a while though and have not seen the same effect in Youtube footage from FO4 so I have no idea what was going on there.

One other issue with the dialogue is the player's dialogue options seem to be limited in text. Hopefully there is still space to add longer sentences in the GECK otherwise the over-simplified options may be another hindrance.

I think the Vault 75 caves should come in handy. I can picture those and they are about the same size as an eipc piece from the FO3/FNV sets. My only concern there would be I'm not sure if they can be arranged to cover all angles without gaps. Caves in FNV/FO3 were tricky and required certain pieces to go in certain places, otherwise gaps would show. However, if that does happen I'm pretty sure I can bodge the gaps with generic rocks & rubble.

I'm still undecided on expanding vanilla areas. I thought about it for FO3 but dismissed the idea in favor of a big list of other stuff that takes higher priority.

 

Kodiak:

Big thanks for the compliments and feedback , I'm doing well thanks :)

I'll see what I can do with the subway assets. I'm not sure if they are as good as the FO3 set mainly due to the lack of the large station platform areas, in favor of smaller, standard height platforms.

 

I'm glad you liked the notes from AWOP (I have been getting a lot of inspiration for new story lines recently, which is nice). Angel Park too, that was one of my favorite story lines (or Sy's & The Collector's notes at least), it's a shame not many people seem to be interested in that mod but it's existence has always been slightly problematic in one way or another.

 

I think I'll come up with some kind of hidden or lost treasure stashes as an excuse to explore the sea. Like the message in a bottle quests but with no marker (and probably better loot). Putting a fair amount of clutter into the sea should be pretty harmless with regards to mod conflicts, lag and the like.

 

Thanks for your opinion on dialogue. At the moment I have not planned on adding any NPCs with dialogue (with one exception) and I'm thinking of ways to create areas without the need for communication with NPCs at any point. The one exception to this rule would be [Minor Spoilers Ahead] Tharg (son of Zeus from FO3) who would be the main boss and, by the time of FO4, will have become an advanced Robobrain. I want him to address the player before combat begins, though not with anything overly complicated.

 

I wouldn't want to waste anyone's time (or let people down) with a small area or two. The base release of the mod will most likely be fairly big and will probably consist of several enemy strongholds/HQs (plus maybe some small areas if they are required to tell a story).