An independent New Vegas mod.

[sgtKraigO]

If I knew how to mod I would defiantly hop onboard but I've never made a mod and I don't know how to mod, all I can do is throw in a few ideas and help with current ones. I've played Fallout NV more than any other game I've ever had, I've walked around the Mojave thinking of ways the game could have been changed and turned out better, I read the wiki a lot and know a few things about the fallout universe.

[devinpatterson]

It's not like that, it's one click in making you owner, meaning you can make any change to anything in the group. I really think this is the way to go and the faster we get up, the better.

I appreciate your enthusiasm, but it's a little misplaced. I'd rather choose the best fit for me and Lucia, since we'll be the ones actually doing the modding. I'm not under an particular pressure to choose immediately.

[Devilman1975]

I would like to be part of the development team but unfortunately my modding experience is very limited (removing a few enemy spawn markers and taking out some unwanted crap in my Tenpenny suite in Fallout 3) and this mod really needs more experienced modders than people who have dabbled a bit in the GECK. I'm happy to continue to provide research whenever needed along with the occasional idea whenever a light bulb appears over my head.

 

Speaking of ideas I've got some to throw out right now.

 

Van Graffs - I know we've touched upon them sometime ago but I don't think anything concrete was set up in regards to them. Their fates are tied in with the quests Heartache By the Numbers (killing or exposing them to NCR authorities) and Tend to Your Business (killing them if Hardin becomes Brotherhood elder). Exposing the Van Graffs will turn the Van Graffs against the player during the game (unless you use a mod that keeps them as neutral) and may force the player to kill them anyway. There is also the fact that the Gun Runners would ambush the Van Graffs along with Alice McLafferty if the player sneaks into their factory to steal their weapon blueprints (this outcome would still be possible even if the player refuses the job as I'm sure someone else would have been hired to do the job). This is why I thought it might be best to introduce a new member of the Van Graff family in order to replace Gloria and John Baptise. If the player completed the Birds of a Feather quest and chooses not kill the Van Graffs then I'm sure Gloria and John Baptise will make it into Viva New Vegas.

 

I would assume that the Van Graffs are responsible for supplying the Fiends with their energy weapons and if the Fiends are in decline post game this would certainly affect their profit margins which can be touched on in all versions of the mod. Also judging from the pulse and plasma grenades found on any Legion members I would also assume that they also had extensive dealings with the Legion even though they later cooperated with the NCR and turned on the Legion during Birds of a Feather.

 

I would hate to lose them as an energy weapon supplier so I'll go into each version and see what comes up.

 

NCR version - If exposed to the NCR I would expect Gloria and John to be killed by the Gun Runners. It can be assumed that the Legion raid still occurred without the player's involvement and that the Van Graff replacement is allowed to run the store (albeit under strict trade laws) in consideration for the Van Graffs cooperation in the Legion raid. Otherwise everything stays the same with Gloria running the place.

 

House version - Regardless of whether the player exposes the Van Graffs or not, I doubt that House would have any need for them as a weapon supplier. When House has Freeside under his control I can see them being forced to pay their taxes on time.

 

Independent version (NCR friendly) - Same as NCR version with the additional option to make some money from them in taxes which can been done through speech or/and barter checks.

 

Independent version (NCR withdrawal) - Exposing the Van Graffs would result in Gloria and John Baptise being removed and possibly killed by the Gun Runners. Negotiations with the replacement who may harbor some resentment against the player will require a carrot and stick scenario with the securitrons being the stick and a military contract and possible tax break being the carrot. If McNamara is still the Brotherhood elder then I'm certain that the Van Graffs can also make a sizeable profit from a trade agreement especially if McNamara puts in an order for energy weapons on behalf of some other Brotherhood chapters.

 

Independent version (NCR war) - Going to war with the NCR may redeem the player in the Van Graffs eyes if they were exposed during the main game. As other NCR based companies such as the Crimson Caravans and Gun Runners are pressured by the NCR to pull out of the Mojave I can see the Van Graffs choosing to remain. Might be hard to offer the military contract though with the loss of income from NCR tourists and Hoover Dam.

[Devilman1975]

Sorry to go on but I've got some more ideas to throw out.

 

.

 

In the meantime if you have good ideas for the legion mod, I'd like to hear them.

 

To be absolutely honest I've only attempted a Legion playthrough once and I found that there was little benefit to serving the Legion. When I played Fallout 3 there was something to gain from playing an evil @#*%! such as a suite in Tenpenny tower, making caps through slavery and extorting money from Rivet City over the water deliveries.

 

I suppose that reintroducing slavery into the Mojave would make for an interesting activity in a Legion version of Viva New Vegas. Maybe even the opportunity to become the main slave master for the Legion in the Mojave. The player could encounter groups of civilians trying to evacuate from the Mojave that can enslaved after killing their armed escorts. The choice would to be to select which slaves you want to sell in the Lucky 38 slave market, keep for yourselves (calling dibs on Sunny Smiles :devil: ) or to send to the Thorn as cannon fodder against deathclaws and cazadors for lulz.

 

In addition I can also envision a few missions where the player can eliminate raiders that are stupid enough to attack caravans that deal with the Legion. Wiping out a raider camp should result with the usual Legion decor afterwards i.e Legion flags, crucifixions and heads on pikes.

 

It would also be interesting to see Lanius coronation as the new Caesar maybe even a contest that the player can participate in to become the new Legate. I can imagine some interesting dialogue for female Couriers considering the Legion's attitude against women.

[devinpatterson]

Also you know in Mass Effect, where your actions carry over in the next game because a couple of variables are ticked in a save game? Maybe we could do something like that then having to write a script for every mission end, and then tie in the ticked variables script in the actual quest line, so it works like Mass Effect would, but just Fallout.

I think we might have some terminology that is being used a bit loosly and can lead to confusion. That's not your fault, fallout is a surprisingly complicated game, that IMHO feels like a mashup of a wide assortment of very different tools thrown into a box and labeled an IDE. When you say "Maybe we could do something like that then having to write a script for every mission end" are you referring to having the three different ending mods (NCR, House, Ind)? If so it's necessary simply because of how the game handles some assets. As a practical example here is a quick post regarding a very simple texture on the securitrons and why it's a lot easier to divide the mods up, post #419

 

If on the other hand your referring to something else, you'll need to clue me in. We do use and will use various global vars & script vars as well as comparisons on everything from getDead, getQuestCompleted, getReputation and a whole host of functions already to see where a character is in re: to the game and story line.

 

Something I forgot to mention, I can 3D Model pretty much anything apart from organics, so if you need weapons, or armor, I'm your man.

Absolutely, we need all aspects of modding, and 3d modelers are particularly valuable. Link me to your work and I'll check it out. What do you use and are you adapt at converting your models to nifs for fallout.

 

And we need to think about marketing and press too, I mean, on the forums we're quite well known, but we need to extend, Facebook, twitter, Nexus, Moddb, if you need any of them I can do it in an instant, I've got a fair amount of experience in that kinda stuff.

While I appreciate you enthusiasm, I feel like it's a bit early since I'd like have more assets to show off. However if you want to brainstorm and start getting some of the infrastructure in place, I'm game.

[devinpatterson]

just have some troopers/militia guarding the place so raiders don't take the place over again :wink:

Yeah I think at a minimum, but the wiki lists it as relatively intact save for some flooding of the lower levels so it's potentially valuable assets. Anything that can withstand a ICBM isn't a bad military base.

 

Also I just found this on the wiki http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Ballistic_Orbital_Missile_Base_001

I can't see the NCR or the courier obtaining this, or ever using it unless they could switch out the nukes for "regular" missles. But common how awesome would that be if they did?

Yeah the bomb platforms are interesting, someone made a crashed bomb platform on nexus (can't remember if it was FO3 or NV).

 

Personally I don't think Novac needs a lot of work, maybe some extra Brahmin in the pen, a few troopers/militia patrolling the town, and open up a house or two too show the town is growing.

Some mods will be more conducive to settlement and business than others. I suspect the NCR one may bring in a lot of development and by the same token the Ind. may as well. So it's not bad to have additional assets (although ours will be developed gradually). I'll contact the author for permission.

 

agreed, this defiantly needs to be organized or it will fail.

No reason for melodramatics brother. Many mods, even large ones (isn't world of pain such an example) have been produced by a *single* author. Even if all development stopped right now the base mod does something that (to the best of my knowledge) hasn't been done before by cleaning up all the battle conditions. That's a valuable contribution to the community (no one wants to play with the "infinity war" dragging out forever).

 

Lucia and I are working on actual assets, but for most contributions we are talking ideas and this thread isn't a terrible medium for that. But to be fair, organization helps/streamlines the process and that's why I started the dev thread. It will have a more organized approach, something akin to a general outline of the story, progress etc. And later down the road more useful tools will be utilized.

[devinpatterson]

If I knew how to mod I would defiantly hop onboard but I've never made a mod and I don't know how to mod, all I can do is throw in a few ideas and help with current ones.

That's OK learn when you can, most of us don't have an abundance of time and/or patience, but you might be one of the lucky ones that it "clicks" for. And honestly ideas are the most important aspect of a mod and the funniest. Modding in and of itself is, at least for me, mostly just tedious. I'd much rather be working on story lines, but hey, we delegate resources that we have, and where they are needed.

[sgtKraigO]

 

NCR version - If exposed to the NCR I would expect Gloria and John to be killed by the Gun Runners. It can be assumed that the Legion raid still occurred without the player's involvement and that the Van Graff replacement is allowed to run the store (albeit under strict trade laws) in consideration for the Van Graffs cooperation in the Legion raid. Otherwise everything stays the same with Gloria running the place.

 

Personally I would like them gone from Freeside, I never buy from them as I like using conventional weapons. Also the Van Graffs are based in New Reno, a city that is not in the NCR, dislikes/hates the NCR, and have been caught killing NCR civilians simply to further their own personal gains. I'd imagine once word got out about this the NCR Congress would want to bring people to justice. Since the Gun Runners, who are based in an NCR city, has a long history with the NCR, is the Van Graffs biggest competitor, and hates the Van Graffs, they try to get them kicked out of the NCR. Forcing the Van Graffs to operate on a hidden level in the Mojave.

 

Maybe stick them down in the sewers, theres nothing down there but rats and ghouls and I can only think of 1 quest that brings you down there (I don't consider The Thorn a part of the sewers). This could give the player the option to turn them in or allow them to stay open. This would also allow the player to be more involved in the NCR politics as they can openly appose the Van Graffs which would effect their future.

[devinpatterson]

I would like to be part of the development team but unfortunately my modding experience is very limited

No worries brother, you'v contributed a *lot* to this project, in ideas and research. It's appreciated :thumbsup:

 

Van Graffs.....This is why I thought it might be best to introduce a new member of the Van Graff family in order to replace Gloria and John Baptise. If the player completed the Birds of a Feather quest and chooses not kill the Van Graffs then I'm sure Gloria and John Baptise will make it into Viva New Vegas.

Yeah taht family is ridiculously large, 10 of the little thugs. If they'r dead I'm sure your right and more will come.

 

I was going to go through each of your suggestions individually, but really I can't think of anything else I'd add. They *all* seem spot on. I would like to add an additional hard link to the Van Graffs selling energy weapons to the fiends (guess that drug money is good for something). It doesn't have to be a long adventure, say on par with teh NCR raid of the legion deal, 1 relatively straight forward mission.

 

Sorry to go on but I've got some more ideas to throw out.

please do, keep them coming.

 

To be absolutely honest I've only attempted a Legion playthrough once and I found that there was little benefit to serving the Legion. When I played Fallout 3 there was something to gain from playing an evil @#*%! such as a suite in Tenpenny tower, making caps through slavery and extorting money from Rivet City over the water deliveries.

 

I suppose that reintroducing slavery....a few missions where the player can eliminate raiders that are stupid enough to attack caravans that deal with the Legion...

Both sound good to me.

 

It would also be interesting to see Lanius coronation as the new Caesar maybe even a contest that the player can participate in to become the new Legate. I can imagine some interesting dialogue for female Couriers considering the Legion's attitude against women.

Yeah it may just be flat out impossible for a female, you might have to have Joan of Arc situation to swing it.

[TheAtmosphere]

I haven't modelled for a while, but I'll try to dig up some new work.

 

Also, I'm totally game for actually modding, I'd love to be in a bigger part of this, I don't have the worlds amount of experience with modding for this game in particular, but I lead a modification called Genetic Science, hence making me learn 3D Modeling, and learning about marketing/press, also we used Steam Groups;)

 

But I really really really want to help develop this, like, even making maps or scripts, I don't have much to show you but I can swing easily, I used to mod Oblivion like six years ago, and it's the same engine so I don't reckon it'll be too difficult to get into.

 

<a data-ipb="nomediaparse" data-cke-saved-href="http://i.imgur.com/97oefkq.png%20-%20Something%20quick%20I%20did%20in%20a%20hour,%20it%20was%20a%20alpha%20version%20of%20a%20weapon%20for%20a%20game%20I" href="http://i.imgur.com/97oefkq.png%20-%20Something%20quick%20I%20did%20in%20a%20hour,%20it%20was%20a%20alpha%20version%20of%20a%20weapon%20for%20a%20game%20I" m%20co-developing."="">http://i.imgur.com/97oefkq.png

 

Something quick I did in a hour, it was a alpha version of a weapon for a game I'm co-developing.

 

As you can see I use the Student Version (Non-Commercial) of 3DS Max 2014, and I can export directly to .nif I believe.

Edited August 12, 2013 by TheAtmosphere