Fallout 1 mod Fallout Fixt - next release will be some time in Jan 2020

[gustarballs1983]

@gustarballs1983 Man I could never play at 1920x1080 for Fallout that ruins so many things about the game. I don't ever go higher than 800x600. If you do it looks like shit visually (as you mentioned with the black borders), see enough of the map at once to realize maps are tiny and don't get to see all the juicy details of the ultra violence. I don't understand people feeling the need to go above 800x600.

Well.. You know how theese fancy new flat screen monitors are..
They're sometimes picky about running something in non native (non native to monitor's own native) resolution. Besides.. the pixelosis of running a game in 21" 16:9 screen that was designed for 14" 4:3 screen is extreme. I originally started to play fallout on a 15" 4:3 crt monitor, so the graphic was not pixelated at all back then. as time passed and monitors grew in size, and the 640x480 was a pain on let's say old 17" crt. The pixelosis was already huge with that, and i liked Fallout when things were small and smooth.

when i discovered HRP it was a blessing.. not only it's now dx9 32bit but it has a custom shader and additionally (thanks to dx9 mode) i could finally force my graphics card to set morphologic filtering on for all classic fallout games to further reduce the pixelosis and blend it some more.

There are only a small list of random encounters (in fallout 1) where black borders are an significant issues ( but those are extremely small maps, and rest of the game runs just fine. Fallout 2, Resurrection,both Nevadas have no such issues (well at least for me).

 

[Sduibek]

so V1 will be hitting when the last bugs are squished ?

Something like that.

 

[Sduibek]

Well.. You know how theese fancy new flat screen monitors are..
They're sometimes picky about running something in non native (non native to monitor's own native) resolution. Besides.. the pixelosis of running a game in 21" 16:9 screen that was designed for 14" 4:3 screen is extreme. I originally started to play fallout on a 15" 4:3 crt monitor, so the graphic was not pixelated at all back then. as time passed and monitors grew in size, and the 640x480 was a pain on let's say old 17" crt. The pixelosis was already huge with that, and i liked Fallout when things were small and smooth.

when i discovered HRP it was a blessing.. not only it's now dx9 32bit but it has a custom shader and additionally (thanks to dx9 mode) i could finally force my graphics card to set morphologic filtering on for all classic fallout games to further reduce the pixelosis and blend it some more.

There are only a small list of random encounters (in fallout 1) where black borders are an significant issues ( but those are extremely small maps, and rest of the game runs just fine. Fallout 2, Resurrection,both Nevadas have no such issues (well at least for me).

Interesting. Pixels don't bother me at 800x600 and my monitor is 27 inch.

Funny you should mention the shaders, I tried a thing this week which can force anti aliasing and anisotropic filtering on fallout but tbh I felt it looked like crap. All sharp edges got smoothed *too* much, especially for text in dialog. It was uncomfortable to read. Not a fan .

One thing I noticed very recently that I never experienced before, is stuttering while scrolling maps and stuttering during endgame credits. Do you guys have any idea what might cause this? Bumping the cache to 128 made no difference. It's confusing because I never had stuttering during credits nor scrolling before, they were always smooth .

 

[Muttie]

That still involves editing about 400 scripts, lol. Although I think in Fallout 2 engine you might be able to do it with a single global script.

Fallout 2 was what gave me the idea. Never mind

Actually, I thought about it a little and it should be said that Fallout 1 is at the dawn of mutant-human relations. In fact, most humans (Shady Sands, Hub) haven't seen a mutant yet. So there is no telling how they would react. Even a normal play-through may be possible if the player behaves. Even as a super-mutant.

However, the most interesting scenario is probably being captured by Harry in Necropolis, dipped by the Lieutenant and then finish the rest of the game. Which may be still substantial. Especially, a ghoul/mutant may take the revenge path (as outlined by Talius) and kill the master and Lou before getting exiled from the vault.

Last, Fallout is more tolerant. Harold & Talius, but also the Necropolis ghouls, are tolerated (there are Hub caravans going to Necropolis). Plus there was the cut content of “nightkin tinkerers” (EDIT: typo it's "Thinker Nightkin") who would have lived among humans, too. I think most of the “mutant-hate” came as a consequence of the invasion, but FO1 is mostly pre-invasion.


REGARDING COMPANIONS
I downloaded the TeamX npc mod: f1npcmod.rar (“Fallout 1 NPC Mod by TeamX v3.5”) and put the critter folder into my FO1 game, and then tested it with “FO12_critters_editor_1.3.4.9” and “ProtoManager 1.1.4”.

I had some bizarre results. It really seems as if those pro files have issues, and it may not be the editors fault.
For example, when I moved on & off the Power Armour entries it would sometimes adjust (base HP and carry weight) and sometimes not. While neither would apply in-game.

Most notably, though, was that the companion's HP scaling worked in “FO12_critters_editor_1.3.4.9” by adjusting the base, not the bonus. While, “ProtoManager 1.1.4” completely ignored the HP scaling. I haven't tested it, but HP “may” not improve in “Fallout 1 NPC Mod by TeamX v3.5”. However, this appears to be fixed in Fixt. When I used the pro files from the Fixt folder, HP is increased via bonus and both editors display it correctly.

What is not fixed though is the +3 ST bonus on power armour. “FO12_critters_editor_1.3.4.9” displays it, and adds the bonus to base, but not to the total. Neither does it show up in-game as far as I can tell. The only exception is carry weight which is assigned a bonus of +75. The remaining adjustments to base (HP, Melee damage, carry weight, Unarmed, melee skill) may be or are ignored in-game.
“ProtoManager 1.1.4” completely ignores the +3 ST of power armour and only displays the +75 bonus to carry weight.

I checked other “vanilla” NPCs in Power Armour and none uses “extra” to add +3 to ST. Instead they upped the base ST, and reduced HP bonus by 3.
Consequently, wouldn't it be better to do the same for the Power Armour? Just add 3 points of ST to base, and reduce the HP bonus by 3 points, as HP is apparently not supposed to adjust through Power Armour. And then remove the bonus from carry weight (as it's base only now). This way, all should adjust automatically when switching to power armour.frm (carry weight, Melee damage, Unarmed skill & Melee skill) the only things that need to be set manually are: AC, DT, DR and +30% Rad Resistance (the last doesn't matter but wth).
This may work smoother. Unless, there is an issue in the pro file regarding +3 ST that only needs re-setting (and again it may be the pro files error, not the editors). Or it all (melee damage etc.) actually works fine in-game, but I doubt it.

- Next issue is less significant. The original “Fallout 1 NPC Mod by TeamX v3.5” included a typo. Tycho in Leather Jacket (pro file 340, 349, 358) has the DT & DR of Leather Armour. AC is correct. That's a typo of the original, which is still present in Fixt. (Not that he'll ever wear Leather Jacket, but...)

@Muttie Wow I'm shocked at the huge bumps in AC that TeamX did for the NPC Mod. That is absolutely nuts considering they can change armors. Why make their base AC so high?

While doing the above, I also checked the numbers of “Fallout 1 NPC Mod by TeamX v3.5” and they are exactly the same as in Fixt 0.81alpha. No difference. And if they all apply properly, they should also in-game.

A few technical comments though:

- Companions level up every 4th player level. I think that's good, however, Katja is the weakest (HP wise) and the last companion to be picked up, which may be around level 6 to 8 on a normal play-through. Which means she hits stage 3 on level 14 to 16, which is a tad too late. (Note: I assume the game is over about reaching level 12 to 15). I think all three companions should be late-game ready about level 12 (roughly?). As Katja can't reach that in a normal game, perhaps it may need to reduce the number of player levels required for a companion to level up. Perhaps every 3rd player level? A problem of reducing it to 3 is that Ian and Tycho may level up too early (rubber-band issue). Anyway, it may be worth looking into.
Alternatively upping HP may help too. In fact, I would consider to upgrade all three on stage 3, like: Ian, stage 3: 90 (+56), Tycho, stage 3: 100 (+67) and Katja: 45 (+16), 60 (+31), 80 (+51), as, in my experience, companions can die very quickly. Sometimes they are only able to take a couple of “normal hits” before snuffing it.

- Tycho Small Guns: He has the lowest numbers. However, don't NPCs profit from weapon abilities? If so, Tycho is designed to get regularly a bonus from Accurate (shotguns) & Long Range (rifles). If you factor that in he is the best shot of the three, as Ian and Katja only use Pistol/SMG (aka raw skill). Perhaps that factor needs to be added on top when looking at his numbers. The problem is, of course, that allowing all animations, creates the issue of where to place Tycho (too good with rifles) or (bad with anything but rifles). But even if NPCs don't profit from abilities it still may have been the designers intention that Tycho is actually skill+20 or skill+long range, in opposite to the other who are just “skill”. I think it's worth nothing that Tycho's low Small Gun percentage may be deceptive.

- In the original Ian has Big Guns and Katja has Big Guns and Energy weapons. At first, I thought this makes sense, as Katja may have picked up that knowledge by living among the Followers, however, she has only a ST of 4 (7 if Power Armour applies, which it may not). Shouldn't that cause problems with both heavy and energy weapons? Which means it may need to up her ST, or question the whole concept of her using those weapons at all.
Perhaps it's not such a bad idea to dismiss it as an early concept, and give her an ...AS.frm (grenades are good in Fixt), while Tycho could become good at Energy Weapons eventually (like stage 3). Distribution wise it could make sense (Ian: SMG/.223er & Big Guns, Tycho: Rifle & Energy Weapons (may disable Gatling (& pistol) by not giving him the Minigun (and perhaps even pistol) animations, so he's still mostly rifle, he'll only switch from sniper to laser/plasma at the end-game) and Katja: close combat & grenades). It may not be true to the original, but that may have been an unfinished concept anyway that could have developed into either direction (more ST or no Big Guns). And technically speaking, neither of the “original companions” was using Big Guns (they had no animations for it), so all this is open to interpretation (aka dangerous thoughts and heresy) anyway.

 

[naossano]

Sduibek

Actually, i was more asking if it was something you would be interested in. Don't want to push you into a direction you wouldn't like and lose interest in the whole thing.

At best, i can only make some test and check ingame which change would make the most sense, but i don't have the technical skills to do it myself and i don't want to make people do things they are not interest in. (also, even if i can try to make guesses, with the little knowledge i have, and make less time consuming suggestions i can't really imagine the time it would require to do all that stuff)

As for i why suggested them, it is more about from which angle i dive into the franchise. for me, it is more about the stories, the universe and how you approach the story. How at every step, you can theorically close some doors, while opening others. When i read about the dipping, i immediately tried to imagine which doors should be closed and which doors should be opened. That part interested me more than the new appearance of the player character.

I think the Brotherhood traded with the Necropolis ghouls. They don't like them, but they don't fight them either. However, joining or being a part of the BoS would probably be tricky. So perhaps just, refusing the player entry? However, would they turn away a brother? Wouldn't Vree try to help?

Regarding the super-mutant: an option to hostility could be to replace all dialogue with a simple “Aaaarhhggg, run away!” floater and then have the NPCs move away a little whenever the player tries to talk to them

The only exception are possibly the ghouls of Necropolis (mockery floater: “You're one of us now. [sneer]). And the Children of the Cathedral (reverence floater) as well as other mutants (brother floater). Last the Brotherhood would attack on sight I guess.
A simple floater system like that could be a start, that may not take too much work. Although, even a simple floater system is probably a lot more work than anticipated. These things have the tendency to grow bigger by themselves. Work always results in more work.

A ghoul/mutant like Harold could work like normal, as you said. May not need any adjustment. Harold is doing fine in the Hub, and gets along with other people, besides Harold has actually CH 8.

Talius has only 2 (that's why he has to stay in the basement).

Eventually, this could grow over time. Perhaps even into a mod.

You should have said floating dialogs or flloating lines.
I spent quite some time wondering why you thought it would be easy to make the floaters (the creature) talk.

Making the settlement hostiles is much easier for a technical standpoint.
There is already a global variable that determine if each settlement is hostile.
At once, you can add an event that trigger all those variable from 0 to 1.
At once, you solved the problem for the majority of the wasteland.

About the BOS and the ghouls, it would be better if Cabbot just refuse you access, but we can't hire the actor just for that. So i thought him just shooting you would be easier to implement.

 

[Muttie]

I spent quite some time wondering why you thought it would be easy to make the floaters (the creature) talk.

I always called those lines floater, never realized the ambiguity before

Making the settlement hostiles is much easier for a technical standpoint.

On the other hand, allowing the player the choice (hostile or not) may be more fun than having to kill everyone.
And although the people of the waste may be shocked at seeing a super-mutant, as long as the invasions haven't happened yet, they may not necessarily attack.

Simplicty is good, but for starters that could actually mean to leave everything as it is.
And then bit by bit remove the oddities. Probably starting with the Brotherhood, but that opens a can of worms (joining, if already joined, mutant/super-mutant).

 

[Sduibek]

Regarding the throwing animation, giving that animation to companions in fallout 1 is generally a very bad idea. They tend to prefer flares, and they kill you and/or themselves with grenades. I'll almost be removing rocket launcher graphics from them for the same reason.

 

[gustarballs1983]

Fallout 2 was what gave me the idea. Never mind

Actually, I thought about it a little and it should be said that Fallout 1 is at the dawn of mutant-human relations. In fact, most humans (Shady Sands, Hub) haven't seen a mutant yet. So there is no telling how they would react. Even a normal play-through may be possible if the player behaves. Even as a super-mutant.

However, the most interesting scenario is probably being captured by Harry in Necropolis, dipped by the Lieutenant and then finish the rest of the game. Which may be still substantial. Especially, a ghoul/mutant may take the revenge path (as outlined by Talius) and kill the master and Lou before getting exiled from the vault.

Last, Fallout is more tolerant. Harold & Talius, but also the Necropolis ghouls, are tolerated (there are Hub caravans going to Necropolis). Plus there was the cut content of “nightkin tinkerers” who would have lived among humans, too. I think most of the “mutant-hate” came as a consequence of the invasion, but FO1 is mostly pre-invasion.


REGARDING COMPANIONS
I downloaded the TeamX npc mod: f1npcmod.rar (“Fallout 1 NPC Mod by TeamX v3.5”) and put the critter folder into my FO1 game, and then tested it with “FO12_critters_editor_1.3.4.9” and “ProtoManager 1.1.4”.

I had some bizarre results. It really seems as if those pro files have issues, and it may not be the editors fault.
For example, when I moved on & off the Power Armour entries it would sometimes adjust (base HP and carry weight) and sometimes not. While neither would apply in-game.

Most notably, though, was that the companion's HP scaling worked in “FO12_critters_editor_1.3.4.9” by adjusting the base, not the bonus. While, “ProtoManager 1.1.4” completely ignored the HP scaling. I haven't tested it, but HP “may” not improve in “Fallout 1 NPC Mod by TeamX v3.5”. However, this appears to be fixed in Fixt. When I used the pro files from the Fixt folder, HP is increased via bonus and both editors display it correctly.

What is not fixed though is the +3 ST bonus on power armour. “FO12_critters_editor_1.3.4.9” displays it, and adds the bonus to base, but not to the total. Neither does it show up in-game as far as I can tell. The only exception is carry weight which is assigned a bonus of +75. The remaining adjustments to base (HP, Melee damage, carry weight, Unarmed, melee skill) may be or are ignored in-game.
“ProtoManager 1.1.4” completely ignores the +3 ST of power armour and only displays the +75 bonus to carry weight.

I checked other “vanilla” NPCs in Power Armour and none uses “extra” to add +3 to ST. Instead they upped the base ST, and reduced HP bonus by 3.
Consequently, wouldn't it be better to do the same for the Power Armour? Just add 3 points of ST to base, and reduce the HP bonus by 3 points, as HP is apparently not supposed to adjust through Power Armour. And then remove the bonus from carry weight (as it's base only now). This way, all should adjust automatically when switching to power armour.frm (carry weight, Melee damage, Unarmed skill & Melee skill) the only things that need to be set manually are: AC, DT, DR and +30% Rad Resistance (the last doesn't matter but wth).
This may work smoother. Unless, there is an issue in the pro file regarding +3 ST that only needs re-setting (and again it may be the pro files error, not the editors). Or it all (melee damage etc.) actually works fine in-game, but I doubt it.

- Next issue is less significant. The original “Fallout 1 NPC Mod by TeamX v3.5” included a typo. Tycho in Leather Jacket (pro file 340, 349, 358) has the DT & DR of Leather Armour. AC is correct. That's a typo of the original, which is still present in Fixt. (Not that he'll ever wear Leather Jacket, but...)


While doing the above, I also checked the numbers of “Fallout 1 NPC Mod by TeamX v3.5” and they are exactly the same as in Fixt 0.81alpha. No difference. And if they all apply properly, they should also in-game.

A few technical comments though:

- Companions level up every 4th player level. I think that's good, however, Katja is the weakest (HP wise) and the last companion to be picked up, which may be around level 6 to 8 on a normal play-through. Which means she hits stage 3 on level 14 to 16, which is a tad too late. (Note: I assume the game is over about reaching level 12 to 15). I think all three companions should be late-game ready about level 12 (roughly?). As Katja can't reach that in a normal game, perhaps it may need to reduce the number of player levels required for a companion to level up. Perhaps every 3rd player level? A problem of reducing it to 3 is that Ian and Tycho may level up too early (rubber-band issue). Anyway, it may be worth looking into.
Alternatively upping HP may help too. In fact, I would consider to upgrade all three on stage 3, like: Ian, stage 3: 90 (+56), Tycho, stage 3: 100 (+67) and Katja: 45 (+16), 60 (+31), 80 (+51), as, in my experience, companions can die very quickly. Sometimes they are only able to take a couple of “normal hits” before snuffing it.

- Tycho Small Guns: He has the lowest numbers. However, don't NPCs profit from weapon abilities? If so, Tycho is designed to get regularly a bonus from Accurate (shotguns) & Long Range (rifles). If you factor that in he is the best shot of the three, as Ian and Katja only use Pistol/SMG (aka raw skill). Perhaps that factor needs to be added on top when looking at his numbers. The problem is, of course, that allowing all animations, creates the issue of where to place Tycho (too good with rifles) or (bad with anything but rifles). But even if NPCs don't profit from abilities it still may have been the designers intention that Tycho is actually skill+20 or skill+long range, in opposite to the other who are just “skill”. I think it's worth nothing that Tycho's low Small Gun percentage may be deceptive.

- In the original Ian has Big Guns and Katja has Big Guns and Energy weapons. At first, I thought this makes sense, as Katja may have picked up that knowledge by living among the Followers, however, she has only a ST of 4 (7 if Power Armour applies, which it may not). Shouldn't that cause problems with both heavy and energy weapons? Which means it may need to up her ST, or question the whole concept of her using those weapons at all.
Perhaps it's not such a bad idea to dismiss it as an early concept, and give her an ...AS.frm (grenades are good in Fixt), while Tycho could become good at Energy Weapons eventually (like stage 3). Distribution wise it could make sense (Ian: SMG/.223er & Big Guns, Tycho: Rifle & Energy Weapons (may disable Gatling (& pistol) by not giving him the Minigun (and perhaps even pistol) animations, so he's still mostly rifle, he'll only switch from sniper to laser/plasma at the end-game) and Katja: close combat & grenades). It may not be true to the original, but that may have been an unfinished concept anyway that could have developed into either direction (more ST or no Big Guns). And technically speaking, neither of the “original companions” was using Big Guns (they had no animations for it), so all this is open to interpretation (aka dangerous thoughts and heresy) anyway.

Are You by any chance referring to my NPC add-on to TeamX work?

In my add-on
Tycho lvl 3 has 100hp
Ian lvl 3 has 90hp
Katja lvl3 has 71hp
all are based on EN/2+2 formula but for four levels a t a time so since Ian and Tycho have EN 6 than they get 20hp per their level and Katja has EN 5 so 16hp per her level.

As for Your question at least in ControlCombat=2 they do benefit +3 Str from wearing PA or HPA.

the only thing that needs to be fixed are their skills on further levels and secondary stats.

Weapon wise tycho with turboplasma packs quite a punch same goes for katja and 2x turboplasma targeted shot to the eyes. don't know what to do with Ian though.. I've upped his small guns and big guns skill on his last level (since I used vanilla proto as base), but still the best is to let him have .223 pistol, as minigun, flamer and rocket launcher are not the best guns party wise, as tremendeus colaterall damage is dealt. with vanilla HPA laser threshold/resistances this is not the case for gatling laser. However laser threshold/resistances got nerfed in FIXT 0.81a (at least for the player, since npc's are based of .pro files anyway) across all armors, save the tesla armor.

as I proposed earlier it might be a good idea to just let tycho use sniper rifle Ian .223 pstol and katja can use turboplasma (as she'll be down to 9AP anyway as that was her vanilla AP).
But significantly increase their crit chance and better criticals, so that they provide much needed gun support even with peashooters. It would remain more or less lore friendly.
Katja might be an exception to that rule since throwing granades at player's or own feet is not welcome and throwing knives are just meh. So eigther give her big rifle animation for that turboplasma or pistol animation for plasma pistol *or* let someone (for example smitty from boneyard) replicate .223 pistol.
Perhaps her knife throwing skill can make a return in Fo2 engine where thrown weapon usage is better controlled by means of more sophisticated sfall and global scripts, so that she uses only thrown knives and not granades. Thrown knives might see an increase to damage and/or penetrate perk.

@Sduibek
Right now dangerous weapons distributuin can be avoided by simply giving ammo to one party npc to carry and weapons to another. this however will become troubleosome after migrating to Fo2 engine where carry weight penalties are aplied properly. and there is no way to stuff them with stuff. as when they'll get overloaded too much they can't even walk.
Right now only weapon that can be used simultaneously with preferred turboplasma is gatling laser because it shares the same ammo. so if i were in deciding position on this I'd cut out at least minigun and rocket launcher animations for party npc's. Perhaps flamer attack as well. This is sad considering we just got flamer attack animation for Mr.Handy, but flamer just does too much of collateral damage.

 

[Muttie]

Are You by any chance referring to my NPC add-on to TeamX work?

No, I came to the same conclusion apparently.

As for Your question at least in ControlCombat=2 they do benefit +3 Str from wearing PA or HPA.

It just looks weird in the editors (both). And in-game it should add +75 carry weight for the bonus and +75 carry weight for ST +3, according to the editor, but companions seem to get only the bonus, so I concluded the +3 ST bonus doesn't apply properly.
EDIT: I checked it again. And when I put Katja in Power Armour, she gets carry weight 275 (+150), when I then leave and re-enter the map it resets to 200 (+75). So leaving and entering the map seems to reset the +3 ST bonus. While before she receives the +3 ST & +75 bonus (+150).

It's true that Big Guns are almost useless. That's an issue.
However, regarding Small Guns, it should be noted that adding an ammo mod, will give Small Guns some of their strength back. Especially the .223 should perform better when the ammo mods apply. In the calculations I've run the average improves significantly. I've started to look into that, but got distracted. I only got 5 tentacles and 3 heads, so it takes time. (lots of dropping stuff and squabbling.)

I liked 10 AP on Katja. I thought that was an improvement. Besides, if she has the speed (AP) and toughness (HP and Power Armour) can't she dish out damage with the Ripper or Power Fist? That seemed to work OK.

Plasma Pistol for Katja sounds interesting, though. Otherwise, I see companions more as support that gets blown up too often. Do they need to add “much needed gun support”? When using the Turbo Plasma Rifle, and reducing it to 2 AP per shot, the player is basically unstoppable versus Mutants. However, I'm not really familiar with the FO1 meta. But design wise, companions are (very useful: Ian & Tycho early on) and then dead weight (vs super-mutants), as they can't survive the bursts, explosions and flamer attacks. That's my experience.

P.S. When I checked the weapons of Fixt 0.81alpha the Throwing Knives did have Penetrate. Did that change or was that an editor error?

However, the most interesting scenario is probably being captured by Harry in Necropolis, dipped by the Lieutenant and then finish the rest of the game. Which may be still substantial. Especially, a ghoul/mutant may take the revenge path (as outlined by Talius) and kill the master and Lou before getting exiled from the vault.

I made a mistake.
The dipping appears to start the attack on the vault, which cancels the water chip quest and the being exiled scenario.

That considered perhaps it is the easiest way to set everything to hostile as suggested. Treating it as if the dipping starts the invasion and the player can only take part in it. In fact, it may even trigger the invasion maps (?). After all, once they have attacked vault 13, the master's army should be complete and (unstoppable?). The dialogue between Lou and VanHagan suggests that.

Anyway, I thought the player would still be an individual after the dipping. And the two scenarios that intrigued me most were:
Mutant/ghoul: continue playing as a ghoul (like Talius) and carry out the revenge-scenario as described by Talius.
Super-mutant: No idea really, but something that occurred to me was that the dipping may reduce IN below 4 which would enable the “stupid-dialogue”. That alone would “fix” a lot of dialogue. Not optimally, but having the option to switch a “smart” play through into a “stupid” one mid-game is a fascinating mechanic. It would integrate that often neglected side of Fallout into the main game. And give the super-mutant play-through an unique touch.
Super-mutant (smart): The most interesting angle is probably to give the player the choice to attack Vault 13 (ends the game), or to turn on the master and defend it (and then have a showdown in the cathedral).

Still, the amount of rewrite this requires is potentially huge. For example, what happens if the master has been killed before the dipping?

 

[naossano]

The vault dweller comes from a vault, which should automatically make him\her a smart super-mutant.

 

[Muttie]

The vault dweller comes from a vault, which should automatically make him\her a smart super-mutant.

I have not found any conformation for that.

The only source that claims this is an article on Nukapedia that is “very” biased, and quotes the Fallout Bible carelessly.

All “official” sources, as in the Fallout Bible, suggest repeatedly that there is no telling how it would turn out.

In fact, the Fallout Bible, suggests repeatedly that damage to the brain is possible, if not to be expected.

This includes Lou, who tells the Vault-dweller that he can't just dip him before learning the location of Vault 13, as the dipping may “impair his memory”.

The only "official" source that says "pure strain=smart" is the master's diary. But the master never opened a vault and tested on "pure strain humans". It's only a theory. And the designer statments in the Fallout Bible are not backing it up. It says basically "anything could happen" and in another place it says "the dipping process itself" may cause damages to the brain. So it's not as easy as "vault=smart".

Talius was from a vault, and he is smart, but also a failure. So, to me it's really an open case...

 

[naossano]

Both the Lieutenants and the master need the location of your vault because vault dweller are pure, undiluted by radiation. Which is a major plot point.

The Master diary pinpoint the radiation, while the Lieutenant elaborate on Fev traces on the atmosphere, but both agree that pure humans = super-mutant not becoming dumb. And, even if we don't know the origin of every super-mutant, all those we know of having a vault\enclave origin, remained sane, and all those we know of having a wasteland origin are dumb (mostly the redding miners)

And those who didn't turn into super-mutants, but remained smart, all come from a vault as well. (talius, Grey, Harold). And those Grey, Harold, Mark and Francine tracked down weren't mentioned as either.

About the master not opening vaults, we at least know that he opened the LA vault and the Lily Bowen's vault, even if it comes from a later title.

 

[Sduibek]

Which is a shame because from an implementation standpoint, just making the character dumb after dipping would solve a lot of logistical problems as mentioned before. Bummer. lol

 

[naossano]

Which is a shame because from an implementation standpoint, just making the character dumb after dipping would solve a lot of logistical problems as mentioned before. Bummer. lol

Not quite. As mentioned in my tests, the lack of intelligence doesn't change the npc first reaction. They only start to treat you like shit once you "answered" their first sentence. The best option would have been the lack of charisma, like fo2. But that doesn't change a thing in fallout 1. They implemented a lot of reaction penalties in the original, but they don'T use them ingame.

 

[gustarballs1983]

No, I came to the same conclusion apparently.

It just looks weird in the editors (both). And in-game it should add +75 carry weight for the bonus and +75 carry weight for ST +3, according to the editor, but companions seem to get only the bonus, so I concluded the +3 ST bonus doesn't apply properly.
EDIT: I checked it again. And when I put Katja in Power Armour, she gets carry weight 275 (+150), when I then leave and re-enter the map it resets to 200 (+75). So leaving and entering the map seems to reset the +3 ST bonus. While before she receives the +3 ST & +75 bonus (+150).

It's true that Big Guns are almost useless. That's an issue.
However, regarding Small Guns, it should be noted that adding an ammo mod, will give Small Guns some of their strength back. Especially the .223 should perform better when the ammo mods apply. In the calculations I've run the average improves significantly. I've started to look into that, but got distracted. I only got 5 tentacles and 3 heads, so it takes time. (lots of dropping stuff and squabbling.)

I liked 10 AP on Katja. I thought that was an improvement. Besides, if she has the speed (AP) and toughness (HP and Power Armour) can't she dish out damage with the Ripper or Power Fist? That seemed to work OK.

Plasma Pistol for Katja sounds interesting, though. Otherwise, I see companions more as support that gets blown up too often. Do they need to add “much needed gun support”? When using the Turbo Plasma Rifle, and reducing it to 2 AP per shot, the player is basically unstoppable versus Mutants. However, I'm not really familiar with the FO1 meta. But design wise, companions are (very useful: Ian & Tycho early on) and then dead weight (vs super-mutants), as they can't survive the bursts, explosions and flamer attacks. That's my experience.

P.S. When I checked the weapons of Fixt 0.81alpha the Throwing Knives did have Penetrate. Did that change or was that an editor error?

The +75 carry weight bonus does get applied although it shouldn't as it should be only +3ST carry bonus that does..
The +75lb carry bonus that does not apply properly is the one from +3ST i think. in order for it to apply one must first open that NPC character sheet, and then open inventory to see the correct stats. I don't know wether it's a bug in sfall or vanila...

as for throwing knives penetrate..
In the latest test version Sduibek seem to remove some non vanilla weapon perks from most of the items that were present in 0.81a.
mainly Laser Pstol, Gatling Laser and Throwing Knife AFAIR..

 

[Darek]

@Sduibek

As @Muttie and @gustarballs1983 have been discussing, here's a more concise list of what should be done to the protos of the Power Armor wearing NPC followers...

Add the +3 St to the base and not the extra. If left in extra the game will not instantly update all strength based values.
Remove 3 Hit points from the extra HP, as Armor strength bonus is supposed to be temporary and therefor not add to it.
Remove the extra 75 in Carry Weight, as the +3 strength will do that anyway. No more +150, no I was only kidding, you get +75 sucker!
Set some sensible values to their skills. All of their protos.

One more thing I don't think the combat distance settings work (snipe, get in close). I haven't tested it though.
What's in their scripts is just changing the AI packet they use. The problem is that there are no AI packet 95 and 96 that their scripts call for.
Not sure what packet the game defaults to, maybe it's 0, or maybe it sticks with their original one?
Tried to check AI packet in-game with 'has_trait' command but it's always says 0. That command is grey in the mapper pdf file so something is up with it. It says it can check AI packets but maybe that's for Fallout 2 only, or perhaps it only works for dude_obj?
Ian, Tycho and Katja all use "if ((has_trait(1, self_obj, 5) != **)..." checks that don't seem to work.

 

[Sduibek]

Thanks, everyone. Appreciate the info and research

And yeah @Darek I noticed that a while back, about TeamX setting them to use missing AI packets. Pretty funny in my opinion, I'm wondering if maybe they planned to implement it then forgot or something. We'll never know.

Unfortunately I'm not aware of any way whatsoever to actually make the AI prefer ranged vs close. I don't think that mechanic actually exists in fallout engine. It might be better to just remove it from their dialog or replace with a more generic "holster your current weapon" .

 

[Muttie]

Both the Lieutenants and the master need the location of your vault because vault dweller are pure, undiluted by radiation. Which is a major plot Point.

Yes.
But what you are claiming is that vault-dwellers are immune to radiation.

You overlook the word „unopened“ vaults.

Once the vault-dweller left the vault, he can be irradiated, and he can suffer radiation damage, and thus become dumb in the dipping.

The factor is „level of contamination“ not „origin“. Vault-dwellers are only more likely not be contaminated.

But I have no reason to believe that they are immune to radiation damage, and thus always will be smart.

 

[naossano]

Yes.
But what you are claiming is that vault-dwellers are immune to radiation.

You overlook the word „unopened“ vaults.

Once the vault-dweller left the vault, he can be irradiated, and he can suffer radiation damage, and thus become dumb in the dipping.

The factor is „level of contamination“ not „origin“. Vault-dwellers are only more likely not be contaminated.

But I have no reason to believe that they are immune to radiation damage, and thus always will be smart.

I am not claiming that they are immune to radiation.

In the case of an individual born in a radiation environnement, and dipped soon after he left this environnement, he qualifies as a pure human.
In the case that same individual is dipped after he got heavy doses of radiation, it isn't sure what matters more between his current radiation level, and the fact that he was born radiation free, from radiation free ancestors, unlike the average wasteland, who had radiation already in their DNA.
We have yet to find such a case of a born radiation free individual, who got heavily radiated later on, and then, became dipped and become dumb.

 

[Muttie]

Yes, I agree. Nothing is certain.

In fact, after all I've read, I find the entire area of „FEV and radiation“ to be rather vague.

And personally, I wouldn't touch it. It seems to run on the „rule of unpredictability.“ Aka the designers can do as they see fit.

But if you want to dip someone, you have to.

And my suggestions would be to keep it as vague as possible, trying to contradict as little as possible.

And that is “radiation and luck” as a factor covering all possible outcomes from mutant, to smart to dumb.

That goes along (roughly) with everything I've read so far.