Designing Mod--looking for advice.

[csbx]

I'm working on a mod that aims to flesh out the FO3 world a little in a way similar to DC Interiors (though not as ambitious)--that is, through environmental story-telling, inclusion of holodisks, scenarios, puzzles, traps. notes.

 

I would like help with understanding how to go about assessing what areas of the map aren't already too dense--and obviously which buildings and areas aren't going to conflict with another popular mod.

 

I think I will avoid adding new buildings, but stick to: 1) making more use of the tops of buildings or other accessible but hidden nooks of the map 2) opening up new buildings 3) simply adding items to vanilla areas.

 

One of the things I can do is to roam the map with some interior mods installed (I currently run FLAK, DCI, Another interiors mod, AWOP) and see what is still available. But I was wondering if any of you can recommend another approach and perhaps what portions of the map you think are a little sparse.

 

TL;DR:

 

Q: what's an easy way to assess where to build new areas on the map that doesn't conflict with other mods ?

Q: which areas of the FO3 map are begging to be added to ?

 

Cheers.

[H1ms3lf]

Looks neat!

Could you mod including TTW in your setup as well?

There are some places in the game where I often think theres a door or somesuch (leading to an interior) but then upon close check, there isn't. If I play anytime soon and find one such place, I'll be sure to take a screen and post here =]
Old Olney is an area that I remember having few/no interiors, would be cool if you could add something lorewise, it appears the place/inhabitants were overrun after they digged into some Deathclaw caves (if my memory serves).

Also, you mentioned to have holodisks with 30 minutes of sound?¿... just out of curiosity, why would somebody play it? Assuming its the same way: having to go into notes and click it (would be 30 min without being able to check new/other notes??)

[csbx]

If you do happen to play and notice some areas, I'd appreciate co-ordinates or a rough direction / image--I'll definitely incorporate them if they work.

 

Ah--I remember Olney now. That's a good start. Thanks !

 

30 min. was a test to see how far the concept could be pushed. I'm looking at about 10 holotapes between 10-20 minutes in length that will be totally optional atmospheric diversions that will fit into one of the storylines. Though I haven't played F04 yet, I've seen and appreciated its expanding of the holodisk format (e.g. to include video games) to increase in-game role-playing diversions. I'm fascinated by this concept--that is, giving the player more passive down-time activity to engage in.

 

Without giving away exactly what it is (obviously it ain't video games!) , I'll say: If these were in the original game, I'd definitely have listened to a few of them, though perhaps not while in the middle of a quest or in combat (for the reason you point out). They would also work in Radio format, but I liked the idea of having unique objects added to the world; it's also true that the radio system seems to be kind of buggy / repetitious.

 

 

 

 

 

Looks neat!

Could you mod including TTW in your setup as well?

There are some places in the game where I often think theres a door or somesuch (leading to an interior) but then upon close check, there isn't. If I play anytime soon and find one such place, I'll be sure to take a screen and post here =]
Old Olney is an area that I remember having few/no interiors, would be cool if you could add something lorewise, it appears the place/inhabitants were overrun after they digged into some Deathclaw caves (if my memory serves).

Also, you mentioned to have holodisks with 30 minutes of sound?¿... just out of curiosity, why would somebody play it? Assuming its the same way: having to go into notes and click it (would be 30 min without being able to check new/other notes??)

Edited May 7, 2017 by csbx

[csbx]

Also--what (roughly) does TTW add to F03 that would be an issue ?

[H1ms3lf]

Also--what (roughly) does TTW add to F03 that would be an issue ?

From a modders perspective, I couldn't exactly say as I'm quite new to it xD

TTW seems to be "the way" to play FO3 and FNV, more so as the 3.0 version comes out, but I believe (many?) FO3 mods would have issues with it, so better design with it included to avoid conflicts.

You might wanna read here: https://taleoftwowastelands.com/content/faq#fallout3modswithttw

 

 

I still don't fully get what you wanna do with the holodisks, for the player to use these in the pipboy like a "mp3(or 4)Player", it would be cool to have extra functionality that doesn't requires the "notes screen", like building a menu item for the player to access and configure hotkeys into the "holodisk player" (start,stop,volume,next,dunno). Just an idea, altough it would take extra work on your end.

Edited May 7, 2017 by H1ms3lf