Fallout 2 mod Beginner developer/modder

[Yetipotamus]

Hello everyone,
This is my first post to the site. I fondly remember reading this forum as a teenager when I bought Fallout 1 and 2. I have since rekindled my joy with Fallout 2 only a week or so after buying my first developer resource - a C++ book. "C++ Programming Fourth Edition" written in 2015.

I decided the best way to learn about development is to just start doing, then look online when I hit roadblocks. I love the idea of being able to mod Fallout 2 for myself, or even try to duplicate some of the content for myself even if it was just menus and music.

I wondered if anyone has advice or experiences they could share for me at the start of my journey. I am not looking for advice, but I think hearing your stories of modding and development may keep me encouraged.

Apologies to any admins if this is in the wrong section, but I used the search function a few times and couldn't find a better place to post. Thanks for having me here and to the dev that fixed the issue I had with signup and the captcha/security mechanism that wasn't working

 

[Zorchar]

I always wanted to add the Fallout 1 world into the Fallout 2 game. That was probably the first thing I wanted to change about the game, since like 20 years ago. Being an average 11 year old Israeli kid, I gave up that dream pretty quickly. Frankly, I didn't even know it is possible, like other then Blackisle publishing another game or expansion (which at the time was not that far from the truth).

In recent years, I came across a few modded games I liked, such as LOTR: DAC which is a Medieval 2 TC mod.

About a couple of years ago, after completing Fallout 2 vanilla for the 9999th time, It finally hit me that there might be a TC for Fallout, and I was super happy when I found out there's a mod called Fallout: Nevada. It rocked! I later found there's Fallout 1.5 Resurrection which is awesome!

These two TCs made me decide I want to finally do what I first wanted to do. To combine the worlds of Fallout 1 and 2 together. I then expanded (and perhaps overextended) on that wish and I now in the very early stages of a very slow progress to make a Fallout 2 mod/expansion which incorporates southern California, Nevada, Utah, and large parts of Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, Wyoming, and some of Idaho. On top of settlements taken from Fallout 1 and 2, it will also incorporate settlements from Nevada and Resurrection, properly aged with time. The other parts of the world will be filled with content from other mods, and content which I create (and steal/reform/rework). The goal, I guess, is to make a fun fallout game, and for it to have as much content as possible.

I started with modding the world map, enlarging it, adding locations, adding maps and characters, and soon enough I had something to work with and to build on. Seeing the changes take place in the game was a key motivator, since it can get pretty frustrating to get a grip on everything you should know for your mod.

 

[Yetipotamus]

Thanks Zorchar. That sounds like one heck of a big task at hand, but I like the idea of adding to the world map, then branching out to create the individual locations afterwards. Do you see yourself making all of the maps/textures yourself, or will you take them from an asset library?

 

[Zorchar]

Most of the maps will be taken and refurbished from other mods. For example, Salt Lake City from Nevada. I did make a few maps from scratch. It is also very hard to make all the maps yourself, simply because it takes a lot of time, scrolling for the right wall or tile all the time. The other reason is lack of new assets, so it's hard not to repeat yourself. I'm trying to get each settlement to look unique but it's kinda mission impossible for me, since I'm not into graphics that much and I don't currently plan on making new graphics. Also, copying maps from other mods isn't a breeze. U have to make sure every proto fits and stuff.

EDIT: There was an attempt to make a map databse for Fallout 2 maps, but I think it is simply too complicated, since most modded maps use extra assets, and that messes up the .lst files and proto files so it's hard to get them to be compatible with one another. Maps that uses vanilla only assets should be working properly in Restoration, and even Megamod most likely.

I also used deadlus' maps, which are awesome and uses vanilla only assets: https://www.nma-fallout.com/threads/deadlus-fallout-2-map-resource.199759/#post-4291381
This is the thread which also contains the attempt to form a map database.