How to make a mod compatible with RPU?

banjo_oz

First time out of the vault
I've been away from Fallout for AGES and last played when Killlap was still developing the Restoration Project. Back then, I was able to make mods that "played nice" with that update but I'm struggling to do the samw with the (wonderful) RPU that has now replaced it.

Firstly, how do I mod a map that is changed by RPU?

I tried setting the mapper to use ..\master.dat as the main path and ..\mods\rpu.dat as the patch directory, but that wouldn't allow me to save maps (presumably because there was no accessible folder, just packed .dats). So I tried creating a folder with rpu.dat unpacked to it as my "patch" folder (master.dat still set as the main one) and this DID let me edit and save maps. However, the changed maps caused the game to crash (I was literally just adding one item on the ground to them as a test, nothing else). Finally, unpacking master.dat and rpu.dat to the *same* data folder and using this for both paths in the mapper worked, saved maps, and didn't crash the game. It seems that there should be a better way to do it, though?

Regardless, I next needed to make my test mod "standalone" (works with normal install of F2+RPU). I see that rpu uses the \mod folder rather than sfall's patches section in ddraw.ini (the way Et Tu does), so I created my own "Banjo.dat" folder and put my changed map into that (so in "mods\Banjo.dat\maps"). I made sure the unpacked "data" folder I used with the mapper was moved out of the Fallout2 folder and restored the original post-RPU install "data" one instead. Loading the game with rpu.dat (file) and Banjo.dat (folder) in \mods however... just load the RPU version of the map, not the one in Banjo.dat. What am I doing wrong? How do I set "load order" in the mod folder and make my .dat override rpu.dat's contents where different?

Secondly, how would I set up the sfall script editor to work with rpu rather than vanilla F2? I can use it fine with F2 (and even Et Tu, thanks to Lexx) but don't know how I should set things up for RPU. Do I just put the git source versions of the rpu scripts into a folder and point to that for headers (with the addition of the sfall headers)? Can I then edit the source RPU scripts?

I would really appreciate any help anyone can give, even if it is just "these are the paths to use" or "see this thread for how to do it". Thanks!

EDIT: renaming my (fake) dat folder to "zBanjo.dat" loads my map over the RPU map. Does this mean that dats in the mods folder are hardcoded to load alphabetically in F2 under sfall? Is there a way around that? Also, are the comments in ddraw.ini correct in saying that patches loaded manually via "ExtraPatches" are *overridden* by .dat mods? This seems an odd choice (I would have thought small patches should override major dat ones), but testing indicates it's true, as the RPU overrides my map if I load if via a ddraw.ini's ExtraPatches line.
 
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Firstly, how do I mod a map that is changed by RPU?

Just follow this thread and you should be ok. https://www.nma-fallout.com/threads/how-to-set-up-a-fallout-2-mod-without-much-trouble.190725/

Secondly, how would I set up the sfall script editor to work with rpu rather than vanilla F2? I can use it fine with F2 (and even Et Tu, thanks to Lexx) but don't know how I should set things up for RPU. Do I just put the git source versions of the rpu scripts into a folder and point to that for headers (with the addition of the sfall headers)? Can I then edit the source RPU scripts?
You should get the rpu headers (git source version probably) to replace your own header files. If the git source version headers are the same as the ones used in the rpu, then u can start modding.

You should also check out this thread: https://www.nma-fallout.com/threads/compiling-fallout-2-scripts.220065/#post-4414286 for further related info.
 
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