FO3 Phalanx
Fallout2-Inspired Follower Overhaul + Misc Mod for Fallout 3
Version 1.06 released on November 1, 2009
FO3MasterUpdate updated on September 29 -
Direct link here: http://http//www.finhosting.fi/~fallout/downloads/FO3MasterUpdate2_5_5.7z
MOTHERSHIP ZETA ADVISORY
Until there is a Zeta compatibility module, you should make Phalanx-specific followers
(Malcolm, Deisha, K-9) wait or be dismissed before beginning this DLC's content.
FO3 Phalanx is a comprehensive Fallout 2 - themed mod for Fallout 3. Phalanx' main strength at this time is as follower overhaul mod. It is working toward these goals:
1) Bringing back to Fallout 3 the levels of follower sensibility and control that was offered in Fallout 2. or exceeding it.
2) Adding back some of the content that feels 'missing' from Fallout 3.
3) Additional objectives (related to ongoing Enclave warfare) after completion of the vanilla Fallout 3 Main Quest..
********************************************************************************
* The current release version is 1.06.
*
* Download location: http://www.finhosting.fi/~fallout/downloads/FO3-Phalanx-1.06.zip
*
* Small-File download location (no voice files): http://www.finhosting.fi/~fallout/downloads/FO3-Phalanx-1.06-NOSOUND.zip
*
* Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1bRZt0k4SQ
*
********************************************************************************
***************************
*
* Like with all mods that are new to you, you should keep a savegame around from before you loaded the mod
* in case you do not like what the mod does.
*
***************************
Mod characteristics (some of the below listed characteristics can be adjusted or overridden by the player):
----------------------------------------------------
New Followers
----------------------------------------------------
Phalanx introduces 3 new followers at this time:
Malcolm is inspired by Cassidy from Fallout 2. He is voiced by André D. Cox" aka "Mr. CoX" (cox@x-o-c.de). He's not identical to Cassidy however, and works out with characters of any karma (Cassidy was good karma only). Malcolm is intended to be picked up in Megaton when the player's character is young. He is is integrated to help the player through the young-player quests.
Deisha is implemented as the flip-side to Clover, and is not voiced at this time. She is hired in Rivet City.
K-9, a cybernetic dog follower, is inspired by K-9 from Fallout 2. K-9's mesh and texture were made by Drag0ntamer <dracotamer> with thanks to Andrew Gardiner <simba> and TheDamned (arsailor89@yahoo.com). K-9 represents a later version of the same K-9 unit that existed in Fallout 2. He is your dad's follower in the vault, and then you get to have K-9 for yourself later in the game.
There are more new followers planned for the future. They would become available after completion of Fallout 3's "main quest" (MQ11).
----------------------------------------------------
World changes and additions:
----------------------------------------------------
There are two camp sites that the player can come to own and use for important follower functions.
Sometime after the player reaches level 16 and visits Rivet City a few times, a new small town becomes accessible. The small town is not yet finished (only has one vendor at this time) but it is generally usable. See the notes at the end of this description about "FO3MasterUpdate.exe" in regards to this area.
There is an indoor military headquarters that the high-level player can come to own and use for important follower functions. After the player completes the Fallout 3 main quest MQ11 (using either the Free-Play-After-MQ mod, or, Broken Steel), a quest is offered in the new town that makes it come available. Use of this player-owned area with all versions of Fallout 3 released to date (1.7) requires the FO3MasterUpdate.exe tool to be used (see the notes at the end of this description).
---------------------------------------------------
Follower characteristics and changes:
---------------------------------------------------
- - - Like in Fallout 2, you get to work with a group of followers. Follower maximum number in Phalanx is not, however, based upon "Charisma", because Fallout 3's game balance does not use the SPECIAL points the way that Fallout 2 did and it does not work properly as a game balancer.
- - - Like in Fallout 2, you can apply stimpacks to all followers except for the robot.
- - - Like Fallout 2, you can tell which weapon skills a follower has. You can actually see all of their stats on demand and observe them leveling with you over time (no Fallout 2 equivalent).
- - - Like in Fallout 2, you control what weapons your followers use, and they try to use them sensibly. There are three aspects to this.
1. You get to choose the weapons and give them to the follower, without the interference of Fallout 3's invisible, "default" weapon being there.
2. Followers choose from weapons in their inventory based upon target distance sensibilities. They don't waste all of your good ammo for dumb reasons. They make an effort to use their weapons the same way that you would. For this to work, it requires you to not use mods that change which ammo the followers' weapons use. This weapon selection mechanism can be turned off within each follower's tactics dialogue menu, if necessary.
3. Like in Fallout 2, you have to manage your team's ammo. The only one who gets a free ride on this is the robot (RL-3).
4. Like in Fallout 2, followers generally must have the corresponding weapon skill for what you give them.
- - - Like Fallout 2, you can see followers' approximate health by looking at them ("Wounded", "Severely Wounded", etc).
- - - Followers apply stimpacks to YOU if you are in trouble, as long as they themselves are not in trouble (no Fallout 2 equivalent).
- - - "Make a hole" group command exists to ask them to get out of your way if they are trapping you (this exists in Fallout 2 as an individual command).
- - Like in Fallout 2, you can accumulate a squad with any karma. The karma requirements for followers are:
* No karma restrictions: K-9, Charon, Jericho, Malcolm, RL3, Butch, Dogmeat
* Neutral or Positive karma for hire, re-hire at any karma: Deisha
* Negative karma for hire, re-hire at any karma: Clover
* Positive karma for hire and re-hire: Fawkes, Star Paladin Cross
- - - Like in Fallout 2, follower deaths in combat do not sneak up out of nowhere. The turn-based nature of Fallout 2 automatically prevented this. In Phalanx, this effect is achieved through the Leader's Sense perk, available from level 3. This perk gives you advance warning when one of your followers is losing HP and drops below two pre-defined thresholds.
- - - There are powerful group-at-once combat commands that do not have a Fallout 2 equivalent, and exist because Fallout 3 has an FPS element that Fallout 2 does not have. Currently, those commands are:
- Retreat to my position!
- Fall back to my position!
- Push to my position!
Four special, strategic attack modes:
- Wait, then charge when I enter combat.
- Follow at a long distance, then charge when I enter combat.
- Hold position here, and shoot at any enemies you can see.
- Hide here, and try to stay out of the fight.
- - - Like in Fallout 2, a follower's death THEORETICALLY gets a similar treatment to the player's death.
In regular Fallout 3, when the player dies, the game immedietely reloads to the last save, which has no Fallout 2 equivalent. But then, regular Fallout 3 lets the followers 'die' with no consideration at all. This is a difference that Fallout 2 players may perceive as being wrong.
With Phalanx, both the player and the followers are considered 'essential'. Followers who take too much damage in combat are not allowed to simply die. Instead, they survive the fight but become useless for a while. For low-level player characters, the useless period only lasts until the fight is over and the player discusses the fight with the follower afterward. For high-level characters (14 and up), the follower stays unusable for longer, and must be given recovery time at the player's owned camp site or military base.
- - - Like in Fallout 2, followers do not tend to wander off without you realizing that they wandered away. During fights and for 60 seconds afterward, followers are in "Follow-Combat" mode and are eager to investigate nearby enemies. Regular Fallout 3 followers are always in this mode. With Phalanx, once that 60 seconds are up, they switch to "Regular Follow" mode, and are much less likely to break out of your group and wander off in search of enemies.
- - - Some followers can have different weapons skills based upon your choice when you hire them. This has no Fallout 2 equivalent.
- - - Like in Fallout 2, there is no magical auto-heal to non-robotic followers after combat. During combat, stimpacks heal followers for the regular amount, and if not in combat, a single stimpack will bring a follower back up to full health.
- - - Like in Fallout 2, the robot (RL-3) is able to repair itself after combat, but is not repairable during combat.
- - - Like in Fallout 2, an equivalent of "Rest until party is healed" exists. When you sleep at one of your player-owned campsites or your military base, followers auto-heal with you.
- - - Like in Fallout 2, your Super Mutant follower (Fawkes) has certain characteristics:
* Is talented at unarmed skill and uses it well, achieving occasional knockdowns and doing good damage.
* Can equip and use all the expected weapons for a Super Mutant from Fallout 2, with the exception of the power fist (game cannot animate him properly with it). His unarmed damage amounts have been adjusted upward to match what you would expect him to do if he had a "Super Power Fist".
* Fawkes has been statistically tuned to have the same success rate against Deathclaws with his fists that Fallout 2's Marcus does with a Super Power Fist.
* Fawkes is reckless and suicidal in the high-level game, which is like Fallout 2 (remember what happened to Marcus when you tried to take him to the oil rig? Same deal). He can be great if managed carefully and stimmed through his take-on-all bull-rushes against enemies.
---------------------------------------
Miscellaneous characteristics:
---------------------------------------
Followers do not auto-fire to their hire locations when Vault 87 deal happens, they instead do something much more sensible.
Most of Butch, Charon, and Jericho's Phalanx-related voice lines have audio. Additionally, the "Let's trade equipment" responses of Star Paladin Cross, Butch, and RL-3 have been replaced with shorter lines.
Human and Ghoul followers have a chance to spawn "fingers" and "ears" on appropriate enemy corpses if you have the Lawbringer or Contract Killer perk (code used from CK LB & EXP partner support).
Powerful follower-problem-solving NPC "Gary" lives in a trailer outside of megaton. He has a variety of functions:
* Can help you work out various emergency situations with your followers, such as if one got lost or is broken by another mod scrambling its variables.
* Adjust some of Phalanx' gamsettings if you don't like them, such as, he can enable "take a break" behavior in any area you ask for it,
* Turn back on the post-combat auto heal, and other gameplay changes
* Can help resolve mod conflicts by reporting which items are being overwritten by another mod.
* Can answer a number of questions and is able to explain how some things work.
Followers come to you on-command and ask for the ammo they need, which you can supply within the same dialogue.
RL-3 has 2 storage compartments, handles itself more sensibly in fights, and has had its "let's trade equipment" response shortened.
Dogmeat is much more sensible.
The robot-dog follower K-9 has two sensibility settings.
OPTIONAL .ESP FILE: Stimpacks heal more damage than usual, to balance for the fact that you use them on followers. Also, Fallout 2 did not scale stimpack heal amounts with Doctor or Medicine skill, so it may feel more intuitive to Fallout 2 players.
OPTIONAL .ESP FILE: Adds some cross-repair between weapons and prevents against accidental loss of uniques.
OPTIONAL .ESP FILE: Overhauls the vendors in the game to have more caps and ammo. Where there is demand, there comes supply, right? Also adds ammo reload kits to the game (conventional ammo only).
Group command exists for telling your followers to take-a-break, and they will unequip their helments and wander around. This is limited to pre-set areas that are configured to be safe from follower malfunctions, but, it can be enabled to work anywhere by talking to "Gary" as mentioned above.
You can tell followers to remove their headgear as a group command (this makes it easier to see who is who if you have them all in the same armor and need to find a certain one). Does not work with Broken Steel helmets at this time.
---------------------------------------------------------
Future direction:
---------------------------------------------------------
Phalanx will have its own quest lines after the Main Quest is completed (game does not end). Among the things these quest lines will work with are:
- - Ability to communicate with some followers remotely. Will not be overpowered, but will be powerful planning tools when used well.
- - The "Intelligent Deathclaws" from Fallout 2 are planned to be reintroduced
- - A race of Super Mutants that are more intelligent, like fallout 2's Marcus, are planned to be re-introduced
- - Ongoing warfare with the Enclave, with challenging raid and defensive situations, will happen
- - The new areas in Phalanx right now are unfinished, and will be completed later.
************************************************
Installation Overview: (details included in zip file):
************************************************
Step 1: FALLOUT.INI FILE PREPARATION
------------------------------------
For this and many other mods, it's necessary to change a few settings in your
"FALLOUT.INI" file for them to work properly. FALLOUT.INI is in a strange location.
c:/Documents and Settings/your-username/My Documents/My Games/Fallout 3/ .
The two changes you need to make in the file are:
#1: Find the line that says:
bInvalidateOlderFiles=0
and change it to:
bInvalidateOlderFiles=1
#2: Add this line below the [General] statement:
bLoadFaceGenHeadEGTFiles=1
Step 2: File Installation
-------------------------------------
Put the .esp and .bsa files into your c:/Program Files/Bethesda Softworks/Fallout 3/Data
directory.
Step 3: Verification and optional FO3MasterUpdate.exe
--------------------------------------
Run the game, see that your load order seems correct, and use FO3MasterUpdate if you're going to do it.
--------------------------------------------
Notice: In-game follower reset procedure
--------------------------------------------
If you are not starting a new game, Phalanx will auto-detect this, and offer to move
you and your followers to a helper NPC who will help reset your followers so that
they are fully compatible with Phalanx. If you decline to move at that time, the NPC
can be visited later, outside of Megaton along the left hand wall.
---------------------------------------------
***************************************************
************************************************
* MOD UNINSTALLATION PROCEDURE
*
* Remove all items from your followers, and save your game.
*
* Restart the game, and uncheck the boxes in the "DATA FILES" menu that were specified
*in the installation procedure.
*
* Check the Phalanx-Uninstall.esp box, and run the game.
*
* After that .esp has completed the follower reset, save your game into a new slot, and then
* restart the game without any Phalanx .esp files loaded to check that you are happy with
* the results.
*
* delete the .esp files if you want.
*
* Unless you used the "Phalanx-Not-Recommended-PerksAndStims" .esp
* nothing further is necessary.
*
* If you did use the nonrecommended version, I don't actually know how to get the perk out of
* your savegame. I could not get it out of mine. Hence, the "Not Recommended" name on the file.
*
**************************************************
************************************************
* KNOWN ISSUES for version 1.0
************************************************
BROKEN STEEL FAWKES/DOGMEAT/RL-3? ISSUE: If you started your game anew with Broken Steel loaded and Phalanx not loaded, your version of Fawkes, Dogmeat, and possibly RL-3 are bugged with excessive hitpoints. Phalanx cannot repair these characters. The only solution at this time is to start a new game with Phalanx loaded, as Phalanx automatically overrides the problem when used this way.
Followers will have bright white body skin if Fo3MasterUpdate.exe is not run against Phalanx-MainFollowerModule.esp. This is a game problem, not a problem with Phalanx.
The new quest in the new town area will fail to work properly if you do not use FO3MasterUpdate.exe. It could be visited for ammo perhaps, but followers should be parked elsewhere if FO3MasterUpdate.exe is not going to be used.
Followers will be unable to walk around and do things in the the player-obtainable base unless FO3MasterUpdate is used.
When you get your first "Ammo Reload Kit" in Vault 101, you might drop it on the ground and at first it will be invisible. This appears to be a game problem, not a problem with Phalanx. It should start to work properly after a few savegames are settled.
A follower who is in combat has a small chance of becoming frozen in place and unable to draw a weapon. This is related to a fallout bug with weapons. If you see this, you can fix the follower by opening trade, noting that the follower has two of the same type of weapon but should only have one, and remove/replacing that doubled-up weapon in the follower's inventory.
Followers were only intended to be "trainable" once, but this menu option is being seen more often than once. Not sure what's up with that.
Somewhere in the "come get your ammo" code, there might be a debug message accidently left in a result script. If you see it, please tell me which follower has it. KTHX!!
------------------------------------------------------
Contributor list for version 1.0
------------------------------------------------------
Bethesda made Fallout 3
Super Mutant Animations created by TalkieToaster
"Malcolm" follower NPC is voiced by André D. Cox" aka "Mr. CoX" , email address: cox@x-o-c.de.
The Phalanx Headquarters interior cell is dual-authorship by FO3Phalanx and Liath (liath.ww@qmail.com).
PhalanxK9's texture and eyes mod created by Drag0ntamer (<dracotamer>)
with thanks to Andrew Gardiner <simba> and TheDamned (arsailor89@yahoo.com).
Ammo reload boxes originally from ReloadAmmo.esp by "b3w4r3", at
http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=1899.
Follower integration of Lawbringer/Contract Killer perks uses code from "CK LB & EXP partner support."
Part of the vendor changes .esp utlilizes "richvendors" by Ravioli (xfire - jackalking12)
Elminster made FO3edit and FO3MasterUpdate.exe. FO3edit was necessary to make
Phalanx viable. FO3MasterUpdate is needed to make it work properly with Fallout3.exe
versions 1.7 and earlier (current version at time of release). Elminster also assisted with
esp file cleanup and management.
TGBlank optimized the "caps on" code, and assisted with mod compatibility issues.
Cipscis provided help with scripting, including code optimization on the weapon-selection system.
The script on the underworld door was made by QZilla.
Echonite made the vertibird script.
Other stuff is by FO3Phalanx
-------------------------------------
Modification usage terms:
K9 texture/mesh: contact Drag0ntamer (<dracotamer>)
Questions about Malcolm's voice acting material should be directed to
André D. Cox" aka "Mr. CoX" , email address: cox@x-o-c.de
Super Mutant Animations and CK LB & EXP partner support are modders resources.
Contact their respective authors if there are questions about use of them. Situation is
similar for the content of other mods listed above.
Rest: do whatever, but it would make sense to credit Phalanx if you use a lot.
************************************
Broken Steel Compatibility Notes
************************************
Use the Phalanx-BrokenSteel-Integration.esp in the file listing to create proper behavior and follower handling during Broken Steel's main quest line. Side quests have not been addressed at this time. Load this .esp AFTER Phalanx-MainFollowerModule.esp. If you don't use FO3masterUpdate.exe, the scene where you are exiting Adams Air Force Base is known to fail.
*************************************
FO3MasterUpdate.exe - - - - Fallout 3 Version 1.7 (current) and earlier notes
*************************************
FO3MasterUpdate by Elminster is included in Phalanx' zipfile, or can be downloaded from here: http://fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=637
Fallout2-Inspired Follower Overhaul + Misc Mod for Fallout 3
Version 1.06 released on November 1, 2009
FO3MasterUpdate updated on September 29 -
Direct link here: http://http//www.finhosting.fi/~fallout/downloads/FO3MasterUpdate2_5_5.7z
MOTHERSHIP ZETA ADVISORY
Until there is a Zeta compatibility module, you should make Phalanx-specific followers
(Malcolm, Deisha, K-9) wait or be dismissed before beginning this DLC's content.
FO3 Phalanx is a comprehensive Fallout 2 - themed mod for Fallout 3. Phalanx' main strength at this time is as follower overhaul mod. It is working toward these goals:
1) Bringing back to Fallout 3 the levels of follower sensibility and control that was offered in Fallout 2. or exceeding it.
2) Adding back some of the content that feels 'missing' from Fallout 3.
3) Additional objectives (related to ongoing Enclave warfare) after completion of the vanilla Fallout 3 Main Quest..
********************************************************************************
* The current release version is 1.06.
*
* Download location: http://www.finhosting.fi/~fallout/downloads/FO3-Phalanx-1.06.zip
*
* Small-File download location (no voice files): http://www.finhosting.fi/~fallout/downloads/FO3-Phalanx-1.06-NOSOUND.zip
*
* Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1bRZt0k4SQ
*
********************************************************************************
***************************
*
* Like with all mods that are new to you, you should keep a savegame around from before you loaded the mod
* in case you do not like what the mod does.
*
***************************
Mod characteristics (some of the below listed characteristics can be adjusted or overridden by the player):
----------------------------------------------------
New Followers
----------------------------------------------------
Phalanx introduces 3 new followers at this time:
Malcolm is inspired by Cassidy from Fallout 2. He is voiced by André D. Cox" aka "Mr. CoX" (cox@x-o-c.de). He's not identical to Cassidy however, and works out with characters of any karma (Cassidy was good karma only). Malcolm is intended to be picked up in Megaton when the player's character is young. He is is integrated to help the player through the young-player quests.
Deisha is implemented as the flip-side to Clover, and is not voiced at this time. She is hired in Rivet City.
K-9, a cybernetic dog follower, is inspired by K-9 from Fallout 2. K-9's mesh and texture were made by Drag0ntamer <dracotamer> with thanks to Andrew Gardiner <simba> and TheDamned (arsailor89@yahoo.com). K-9 represents a later version of the same K-9 unit that existed in Fallout 2. He is your dad's follower in the vault, and then you get to have K-9 for yourself later in the game.
There are more new followers planned for the future. They would become available after completion of Fallout 3's "main quest" (MQ11).
----------------------------------------------------
World changes and additions:
----------------------------------------------------
There are two camp sites that the player can come to own and use for important follower functions.
Sometime after the player reaches level 16 and visits Rivet City a few times, a new small town becomes accessible. The small town is not yet finished (only has one vendor at this time) but it is generally usable. See the notes at the end of this description about "FO3MasterUpdate.exe" in regards to this area.
There is an indoor military headquarters that the high-level player can come to own and use for important follower functions. After the player completes the Fallout 3 main quest MQ11 (using either the Free-Play-After-MQ mod, or, Broken Steel), a quest is offered in the new town that makes it come available. Use of this player-owned area with all versions of Fallout 3 released to date (1.7) requires the FO3MasterUpdate.exe tool to be used (see the notes at the end of this description).
---------------------------------------------------
Follower characteristics and changes:
---------------------------------------------------
- - - Like in Fallout 2, you get to work with a group of followers. Follower maximum number in Phalanx is not, however, based upon "Charisma", because Fallout 3's game balance does not use the SPECIAL points the way that Fallout 2 did and it does not work properly as a game balancer.
- - - Like in Fallout 2, you can apply stimpacks to all followers except for the robot.
- - - Like Fallout 2, you can tell which weapon skills a follower has. You can actually see all of their stats on demand and observe them leveling with you over time (no Fallout 2 equivalent).
- - - Like in Fallout 2, you control what weapons your followers use, and they try to use them sensibly. There are three aspects to this.
1. You get to choose the weapons and give them to the follower, without the interference of Fallout 3's invisible, "default" weapon being there.
2. Followers choose from weapons in their inventory based upon target distance sensibilities. They don't waste all of your good ammo for dumb reasons. They make an effort to use their weapons the same way that you would. For this to work, it requires you to not use mods that change which ammo the followers' weapons use. This weapon selection mechanism can be turned off within each follower's tactics dialogue menu, if necessary.
3. Like in Fallout 2, you have to manage your team's ammo. The only one who gets a free ride on this is the robot (RL-3).
4. Like in Fallout 2, followers generally must have the corresponding weapon skill for what you give them.
- - - Like Fallout 2, you can see followers' approximate health by looking at them ("Wounded", "Severely Wounded", etc).
- - - Followers apply stimpacks to YOU if you are in trouble, as long as they themselves are not in trouble (no Fallout 2 equivalent).
- - - "Make a hole" group command exists to ask them to get out of your way if they are trapping you (this exists in Fallout 2 as an individual command).
- - Like in Fallout 2, you can accumulate a squad with any karma. The karma requirements for followers are:
* No karma restrictions: K-9, Charon, Jericho, Malcolm, RL3, Butch, Dogmeat
* Neutral or Positive karma for hire, re-hire at any karma: Deisha
* Negative karma for hire, re-hire at any karma: Clover
* Positive karma for hire and re-hire: Fawkes, Star Paladin Cross
- - - Like in Fallout 2, follower deaths in combat do not sneak up out of nowhere. The turn-based nature of Fallout 2 automatically prevented this. In Phalanx, this effect is achieved through the Leader's Sense perk, available from level 3. This perk gives you advance warning when one of your followers is losing HP and drops below two pre-defined thresholds.
- - - There are powerful group-at-once combat commands that do not have a Fallout 2 equivalent, and exist because Fallout 3 has an FPS element that Fallout 2 does not have. Currently, those commands are:
- Retreat to my position!
- Fall back to my position!
- Push to my position!
Four special, strategic attack modes:
- Wait, then charge when I enter combat.
- Follow at a long distance, then charge when I enter combat.
- Hold position here, and shoot at any enemies you can see.
- Hide here, and try to stay out of the fight.
- - - Like in Fallout 2, a follower's death THEORETICALLY gets a similar treatment to the player's death.
In regular Fallout 3, when the player dies, the game immedietely reloads to the last save, which has no Fallout 2 equivalent. But then, regular Fallout 3 lets the followers 'die' with no consideration at all. This is a difference that Fallout 2 players may perceive as being wrong.
With Phalanx, both the player and the followers are considered 'essential'. Followers who take too much damage in combat are not allowed to simply die. Instead, they survive the fight but become useless for a while. For low-level player characters, the useless period only lasts until the fight is over and the player discusses the fight with the follower afterward. For high-level characters (14 and up), the follower stays unusable for longer, and must be given recovery time at the player's owned camp site or military base.
- - - Like in Fallout 2, followers do not tend to wander off without you realizing that they wandered away. During fights and for 60 seconds afterward, followers are in "Follow-Combat" mode and are eager to investigate nearby enemies. Regular Fallout 3 followers are always in this mode. With Phalanx, once that 60 seconds are up, they switch to "Regular Follow" mode, and are much less likely to break out of your group and wander off in search of enemies.
- - - Some followers can have different weapons skills based upon your choice when you hire them. This has no Fallout 2 equivalent.
- - - Like in Fallout 2, there is no magical auto-heal to non-robotic followers after combat. During combat, stimpacks heal followers for the regular amount, and if not in combat, a single stimpack will bring a follower back up to full health.
- - - Like in Fallout 2, the robot (RL-3) is able to repair itself after combat, but is not repairable during combat.
- - - Like in Fallout 2, an equivalent of "Rest until party is healed" exists. When you sleep at one of your player-owned campsites or your military base, followers auto-heal with you.
- - - Like in Fallout 2, your Super Mutant follower (Fawkes) has certain characteristics:
* Is talented at unarmed skill and uses it well, achieving occasional knockdowns and doing good damage.
* Can equip and use all the expected weapons for a Super Mutant from Fallout 2, with the exception of the power fist (game cannot animate him properly with it). His unarmed damage amounts have been adjusted upward to match what you would expect him to do if he had a "Super Power Fist".
* Fawkes has been statistically tuned to have the same success rate against Deathclaws with his fists that Fallout 2's Marcus does with a Super Power Fist.
* Fawkes is reckless and suicidal in the high-level game, which is like Fallout 2 (remember what happened to Marcus when you tried to take him to the oil rig? Same deal). He can be great if managed carefully and stimmed through his take-on-all bull-rushes against enemies.
---------------------------------------
Miscellaneous characteristics:
---------------------------------------
Followers do not auto-fire to their hire locations when Vault 87 deal happens, they instead do something much more sensible.
Most of Butch, Charon, and Jericho's Phalanx-related voice lines have audio. Additionally, the "Let's trade equipment" responses of Star Paladin Cross, Butch, and RL-3 have been replaced with shorter lines.
Human and Ghoul followers have a chance to spawn "fingers" and "ears" on appropriate enemy corpses if you have the Lawbringer or Contract Killer perk (code used from CK LB & EXP partner support).
Powerful follower-problem-solving NPC "Gary" lives in a trailer outside of megaton. He has a variety of functions:
* Can help you work out various emergency situations with your followers, such as if one got lost or is broken by another mod scrambling its variables.
* Adjust some of Phalanx' gamsettings if you don't like them, such as, he can enable "take a break" behavior in any area you ask for it,
* Turn back on the post-combat auto heal, and other gameplay changes
* Can help resolve mod conflicts by reporting which items are being overwritten by another mod.
* Can answer a number of questions and is able to explain how some things work.
Followers come to you on-command and ask for the ammo they need, which you can supply within the same dialogue.
RL-3 has 2 storage compartments, handles itself more sensibly in fights, and has had its "let's trade equipment" response shortened.
Dogmeat is much more sensible.
The robot-dog follower K-9 has two sensibility settings.
OPTIONAL .ESP FILE: Stimpacks heal more damage than usual, to balance for the fact that you use them on followers. Also, Fallout 2 did not scale stimpack heal amounts with Doctor or Medicine skill, so it may feel more intuitive to Fallout 2 players.
OPTIONAL .ESP FILE: Adds some cross-repair between weapons and prevents against accidental loss of uniques.
OPTIONAL .ESP FILE: Overhauls the vendors in the game to have more caps and ammo. Where there is demand, there comes supply, right? Also adds ammo reload kits to the game (conventional ammo only).
Group command exists for telling your followers to take-a-break, and they will unequip their helments and wander around. This is limited to pre-set areas that are configured to be safe from follower malfunctions, but, it can be enabled to work anywhere by talking to "Gary" as mentioned above.
You can tell followers to remove their headgear as a group command (this makes it easier to see who is who if you have them all in the same armor and need to find a certain one). Does not work with Broken Steel helmets at this time.
---------------------------------------------------------
Future direction:
---------------------------------------------------------
Phalanx will have its own quest lines after the Main Quest is completed (game does not end). Among the things these quest lines will work with are:
- - Ability to communicate with some followers remotely. Will not be overpowered, but will be powerful planning tools when used well.
- - The "Intelligent Deathclaws" from Fallout 2 are planned to be reintroduced
- - A race of Super Mutants that are more intelligent, like fallout 2's Marcus, are planned to be re-introduced
- - Ongoing warfare with the Enclave, with challenging raid and defensive situations, will happen
- - The new areas in Phalanx right now are unfinished, and will be completed later.
************************************************
Installation Overview: (details included in zip file):
************************************************
Step 1: FALLOUT.INI FILE PREPARATION
------------------------------------
For this and many other mods, it's necessary to change a few settings in your
"FALLOUT.INI" file for them to work properly. FALLOUT.INI is in a strange location.
c:/Documents and Settings/your-username/My Documents/My Games/Fallout 3/ .
The two changes you need to make in the file are:
#1: Find the line that says:
bInvalidateOlderFiles=0
and change it to:
bInvalidateOlderFiles=1
#2: Add this line below the [General] statement:
bLoadFaceGenHeadEGTFiles=1
Step 2: File Installation
-------------------------------------
Put the .esp and .bsa files into your c:/Program Files/Bethesda Softworks/Fallout 3/Data
directory.
Step 3: Verification and optional FO3MasterUpdate.exe
--------------------------------------
Run the game, see that your load order seems correct, and use FO3MasterUpdate if you're going to do it.
--------------------------------------------
Notice: In-game follower reset procedure
--------------------------------------------
If you are not starting a new game, Phalanx will auto-detect this, and offer to move
you and your followers to a helper NPC who will help reset your followers so that
they are fully compatible with Phalanx. If you decline to move at that time, the NPC
can be visited later, outside of Megaton along the left hand wall.
---------------------------------------------
***************************************************
************************************************
* MOD UNINSTALLATION PROCEDURE
*
* Remove all items from your followers, and save your game.
*
* Restart the game, and uncheck the boxes in the "DATA FILES" menu that were specified
*in the installation procedure.
*
* Check the Phalanx-Uninstall.esp box, and run the game.
*
* After that .esp has completed the follower reset, save your game into a new slot, and then
* restart the game without any Phalanx .esp files loaded to check that you are happy with
* the results.
*
* delete the .esp files if you want.
*
* Unless you used the "Phalanx-Not-Recommended-PerksAndStims" .esp
* nothing further is necessary.
*
* If you did use the nonrecommended version, I don't actually know how to get the perk out of
* your savegame. I could not get it out of mine. Hence, the "Not Recommended" name on the file.
*
**************************************************
************************************************
* KNOWN ISSUES for version 1.0
************************************************
BROKEN STEEL FAWKES/DOGMEAT/RL-3? ISSUE: If you started your game anew with Broken Steel loaded and Phalanx not loaded, your version of Fawkes, Dogmeat, and possibly RL-3 are bugged with excessive hitpoints. Phalanx cannot repair these characters. The only solution at this time is to start a new game with Phalanx loaded, as Phalanx automatically overrides the problem when used this way.
Followers will have bright white body skin if Fo3MasterUpdate.exe is not run against Phalanx-MainFollowerModule.esp. This is a game problem, not a problem with Phalanx.
The new quest in the new town area will fail to work properly if you do not use FO3MasterUpdate.exe. It could be visited for ammo perhaps, but followers should be parked elsewhere if FO3MasterUpdate.exe is not going to be used.
Followers will be unable to walk around and do things in the the player-obtainable base unless FO3MasterUpdate is used.
When you get your first "Ammo Reload Kit" in Vault 101, you might drop it on the ground and at first it will be invisible. This appears to be a game problem, not a problem with Phalanx. It should start to work properly after a few savegames are settled.
A follower who is in combat has a small chance of becoming frozen in place and unable to draw a weapon. This is related to a fallout bug with weapons. If you see this, you can fix the follower by opening trade, noting that the follower has two of the same type of weapon but should only have one, and remove/replacing that doubled-up weapon in the follower's inventory.
Followers were only intended to be "trainable" once, but this menu option is being seen more often than once. Not sure what's up with that.
Somewhere in the "come get your ammo" code, there might be a debug message accidently left in a result script. If you see it, please tell me which follower has it. KTHX!!
------------------------------------------------------
Contributor list for version 1.0
------------------------------------------------------
Bethesda made Fallout 3
Super Mutant Animations created by TalkieToaster
"Malcolm" follower NPC is voiced by André D. Cox" aka "Mr. CoX" , email address: cox@x-o-c.de.
The Phalanx Headquarters interior cell is dual-authorship by FO3Phalanx and Liath (liath.ww@qmail.com).
PhalanxK9's texture and eyes mod created by Drag0ntamer (<dracotamer>)
with thanks to Andrew Gardiner <simba> and TheDamned (arsailor89@yahoo.com).
Ammo reload boxes originally from ReloadAmmo.esp by "b3w4r3", at
http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=1899.
Follower integration of Lawbringer/Contract Killer perks uses code from "CK LB & EXP partner support."
Part of the vendor changes .esp utlilizes "richvendors" by Ravioli (xfire - jackalking12)
Elminster made FO3edit and FO3MasterUpdate.exe. FO3edit was necessary to make
Phalanx viable. FO3MasterUpdate is needed to make it work properly with Fallout3.exe
versions 1.7 and earlier (current version at time of release). Elminster also assisted with
esp file cleanup and management.
TGBlank optimized the "caps on" code, and assisted with mod compatibility issues.
Cipscis provided help with scripting, including code optimization on the weapon-selection system.
The script on the underworld door was made by QZilla.
Echonite made the vertibird script.
Other stuff is by FO3Phalanx
-------------------------------------
Modification usage terms:
K9 texture/mesh: contact Drag0ntamer (<dracotamer>)
Questions about Malcolm's voice acting material should be directed to
André D. Cox" aka "Mr. CoX" , email address: cox@x-o-c.de
Super Mutant Animations and CK LB & EXP partner support are modders resources.
Contact their respective authors if there are questions about use of them. Situation is
similar for the content of other mods listed above.
Rest: do whatever, but it would make sense to credit Phalanx if you use a lot.
************************************
Broken Steel Compatibility Notes
************************************
Use the Phalanx-BrokenSteel-Integration.esp in the file listing to create proper behavior and follower handling during Broken Steel's main quest line. Side quests have not been addressed at this time. Load this .esp AFTER Phalanx-MainFollowerModule.esp. If you don't use FO3masterUpdate.exe, the scene where you are exiting Adams Air Force Base is known to fail.
*************************************
FO3MasterUpdate.exe - - - - Fallout 3 Version 1.7 (current) and earlier notes
*************************************
FO3MasterUpdate by Elminster is included in Phalanx' zipfile, or can be downloaded from here: http://fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=637
