Mod newbie, feedback needed

[DigitalBlasphemer]

I'm brand new to modding, let's just get that out of the way.

After watching a few tutorials on creating interior spaces in New Vegas, I feel it's a relatively easy task, however, my main question is, how would I go about placing a new entrance into the Mojave Wasteland world space?

[kthompsen]

I'm brand new to modding, let's just get that out of the way.

After watching a few tutorials on creating interior spaces in New Vegas, I feel it's a relatively easy task, however, my main question is, how would I go about placing a new entrance into the Mojave Wasteland world space?

 

I found that the best way to learn is to find a similar mod that does what you want (like with different assets/areas), and then see how they did it. Not always helpful though, depending on how unique your own idea may be.

[DigitalBlasphemer]

I've got a decently fleshed out idea in my head of an underground, pre-war bunker with all the bells and whistles.

 

If you'll indulge me for a bit...

 

Location: Little Rock Campground (unmarked, unnamed, undocumented location south of the Smith Mesa Prospector Camp)

The location is noteworthy as when you reach the edge, (literally just a few feet from the wood plank seats), of the tiny camp, the ambient music changes. It's an exceptionally small area, complete with a rusted out Cryslus Corvega, some long, 4Ã4 planks, serving as bench seats, a useable unlit campfire, a banana yucca plant next to a large Boulder, and a Nevada agave plant.

 

My idea is to create an interior space with quite a few different utilities inside, including, but not limited to, planters, an oven, a (useable) hot plate, a sinks, a toilet, (all rad free), a fridge, dining table and chairs, a double bed with blankets and sheets, a toggleable Nuka-Cola lamp (the version with light up bottle base), a night stand, dresser, first aid kit, safe (probably stocked with pre war money and a unique "pre war" gun of my own design), a kitchen, a living room, a bedroom, a bathroom, and a workshop, lockers in the workshop, workshop crates, reloading bench, work bench, varying rugs, a radio set to new vegas radio, a ham radio, a pc documenting the life of the wealthy couple would had this bunker built with entries of their visits over the years, though no skeletons will be present, leading the player to believe they never put it to use, (refer to a specific entry I've yet to create where the husband says something about these being tense times and war seems to be on the horizon. "I've had this bunker built as a last resort. I just hope I never have to use it." string lights (like the ones found in the Love Machine theme house in FO3), a few pre war posters of various things on the walls...

 

The ideas are all there, I just need to make them a reality.

[DigitalBlasphemer]

I named it Little Rock Camp* because that's the only thing about it I could find anywhere on the net.

I did a search for a new vegas map with all the locations and unmarked locations. This was listed in the unmarked as "Little Rock Camp" [#158] on the only map that has ever made note of it.

 

See here:

 

https://www.supercheats.com/guides/files/guid/fallout-new-vegas/mojave-wasteland-map.gif

[dubiousintent]

Basically, your "bunker" is an interior cell. You want to link it to the exterior "Wasteland" in the "Little Rock Camp" location by way of a "door". (The term "door" covers any kind of artwork object serving the purpose of "access point linking interior cells".) Follow the steps laid out in the "Bethsoft Tutorial Finalize and Connect" article.

 

-Dubious-

[DigitalBlasphemer]

I'm wanting an entrance like the Abandoned BoS bunker. I already know the mechanics of how to place it somewhere, just wasn't quite sure on how to get it in the actual wasteland. (In the tutorial I saw, the narrator placed a door inside the Bison Steve Hotel).

[Mktavish]

Maybe you're missing the concept that you need 2 doors ?

1 in your interior cell , and 1 in the exterior cell. And whether they match each other , is purely a cosmetic consideration. Because any object deemed a door in the tree , can be linked to any other deemed a door.

You place one door first ... usually the interior... then after placing the second ... you look up the cell / door you want to link it to. The teleport markers will then appear (which you usually need to adjust their placement) And also you can now click the door in the render window to load up the adjoining cell.

 

Hope that helps , but if not , try to be more specific.

 

By the way , you can move the doors anywhere in their cells after linking , and they will still be linked , but of course you need move the teleport markers also if needed. Because that is a trick you can do with doors.

The teleport markers need not be next to the doors.

For example , you lower the interior door below the floor , but not it's teleport marker. Now the player is trapped and cannot get back out that door. (For what ever story purpose ,thought it worth a mention)

[DigitalBlasphemer]

No, the concept isn't lost to me. I knew even before watching the tutorial that I'd need to create an entrance and exit door, I just wasn't sure about the specifics of how to get it exactly where I want it in the Mojave Wasteland.

My reasoning for confusion on how to go about this is because the Monave is a huge world space, so my mind went to, "well, how exactly am I going to narrow down the area where I'd like to place my entrance?"

[dubiousintent]

Ah! :ohmy: "Where" to place the entrance is an "aesthetics" issue rather than a technical one. We tend to get asked the latter questions in this section, so our mind jumps in that direction.

 

For your purposes you need to think about the rationale behind the site: the "who, what, where, when, why, and how" of it's existence? Presumably you have some quest in mind that will lead the player to this area (wherever it ends up being placed). After that they are going to need to search for either some "landmark" or randomly for the entrance.

 

As with any story, you need to consider just how difficult that is to be. Think back to the Abandoned BoS bunker entrance you plan to emulate. The "cistern" type of entrance tends to stick out above the surface a bit, so the designers placed it in a "crater" type of depression surrounded by other elevations that restricted the view to a fairly close up proximity. You have to stumble pretty close to be able to see it, which makes logical sense when you plan to send out "patrols" without being obvious as to where they originate. OTOH, if you are sending out "patrols" from an old military base, then you could place it out in the middle of a flat open area with large, clear fields of fire and approach to easily see anyone coming. The "cistern" entrance is merely because the facility is obviously underground.

 

So, think out how the location figures into your plot line and then just consider the possibilities that fit your criteria.

 

-Dubious-

[DigitalBlasphemer]

Makes sense how you put it, though, if I may ask for more input, I'd hope you'll oblige.

To flesh the entrance alone out in it's entirety, I'm hoping for, as I said, the bunker style entrance as seen with the Abandoned BoS bunker entrance, same as the BoS Safehouse bunker entrance.

If you'll refer to the location I mentioned, (Little Rock Camp, sorry for not having pics or any reference tools besides what is mentioned above)...specifically, the boulder...

If you're inside the camp, the camp fire directly in front of you, the rusted out Corvega to your left, (out of sight, I think), and staring at the boulder, (in this instance, facing the direction given, it should be directly across the camp fire from you...if you look to your right-hand side, past the 4Ã4 wooden plank bench, there should be some static scrub plant and a smaller boulder, if I'm not mistaken...

I wish to place the bunker entrance nestled between the tiny boulder and the large one, behind the static scrub plant, somewhat out of site, so it's not too readily obvious.

As for a quest to find it, I haven't thought of such and the way I see i, I don't really intend to.

I do understand the whole, "well how would someone implementing your mod find this place?", well, I plan on leaving that description in the mod info section.

Back to the entrance part, I don't plan on having the bunker entrance protruding out from the ground as much as the Abandoned BoS Bunker's entrance or the BoS Safe House bunker's entrance. That's just a bit too high. I plan on lowering it a bit, maybe a little over 2/3 down, so it's just ever so slightly protruding, (like, a few inches instead of like a foot like the originals this entrance would be based off of).

I hope this all makes sense.

I tried to explain my idea to the best of my ability.