Patches for Fallout 2

[dude_obj]

I know that personally, it bugs the hell out of me when someone HAS something, yet it's not lootable. It's more or less a matter of logic holes. If a guy was just shooting at me with say a laser pistol (or whatever) then there should be a damn laser pistol on the ground when he dies.

In FO2, almost always if someone has a weapon and you kill them the weapon will be on the ground. This is not true for armor though, because someone with metal armor appearance isn't actually wearing the armor, instead they have their damage resistance/threshold set equal to the armor they appear to be wearing (this is set using the "armor stamp" button in the mapper critter proto editor).

The same is true to a lesser degree of items the has access to use during a fight -the idea being, "ok.. how could this guy use a stimpack if he never had one?"

I believe they actually do need to have them, but they can be generated by script or by the engine. In the worldmap.txt for random encounters you can specifiy ANY item to be given to a critter. I have changed all of those to use new weapons, have stimpaks, other loot etc.

Armor is a special case... It makes no sense that there won't be any at all, though of course there's always a chance that it's either not sized properly to fit you or possibly sustained too much damage when you killed him.

There was another thread on this recently. In the above mentioned random encounters I usually added the armor to the critters inventory so it would be lootable. I have found that its just too many armor to be looted, which is probably why they usually leave armor out of inventory in FO2. In FO1 you could usually loot the armor, so they must have added them to inventory.

Regarding the damaged armor idea, we have talked about having two items for each armor (good and damaged), and if you loot a dead person you get the damaged one, but if you have an armor repair perk you might be able to fix it, or you could take it to a shop to get it fixed for a fee. I might add this in a future rev though its a pretty low priority. I'm more interested in new items, critters, quests, and dialog. Also, we're planning to add southern CA and aged FO1 locations, so no lack of things to work on.

 

[WraithUV]

@ Dude_Obj - Yeah, I understand how the items work in stock Fallout 2. It sounded like you were saying you were going to pretty much completely randomize loot. I guess you must have been speaking more specifically in terms of containers than corpses because we seem to not be entirely on the same page here.

All that stuff I said above was meant as "if you randomize loot on corpses, it's my opinion you may want to be sure the loot you do find there still makes sense in these ways..." if that's more clear than I was previously.

-Wraith

 

[dude_obj]

It sounded like you were saying you were going to pretty much completely randomize loot. I guess you must have been speaking more specifically in terms of containers than corpses because we seem to not be entirely on the same page here.

Yes, I created some new commands:

selectRandomWeapon(WeaponType, RollCap)
selectRandomArmor(ArmorType, RollCap)
selectRandomItem(ItemType, RollCap)
selectRandomLoot(RollCap)
objpid_is_quest_item(ItemPID)

These were initially made just for restocking so the stores randomize their inventories. The RollCap is used to not allow high end items in certain situations like in early game. The original store restocking was statically coded like this:

check_restock_item(PID_BOOZE, 2, 4, 100)
check_restock_item(PID_KNIFE, 1, 2, 100)
check_restock_item(PID_THROWING_KNIFE, 2, 4, 100)
check_restock_item(PID_COMBAT_KNIFE, 0, 1, 50)
check_restock_item(PID_CROWBAR, 1, 1, 100)
check_restock_item(PID_STIMPAK, 1, 3, 100)

My new store restocking scripts look more like this:

ctr:=1; limit:=random(1,4); while (ctr < limit) do begin
selectRandomWeapon(WEAPON_SMG,100)
if (randomAmmoSelected) then begin check_restock_item(randomAmmoSelected, 2, 4, 100) end
check_restock_item(randomItemSelected, 1, 1, 100)
ctr := ctr +1;
end

ctr:=1; limit:=random(1,3); while (ctr < limit) do begin
selectRandomWeapon(WEAPON_SHOTGUN,100)
if (randomAmmoSelected) then begin check_restock_item(randomAmmoSelected, 1, 3, 100) end
check_restock_item(randomItemSelected, 1, 1, 100)
ctr := ctr +1;
end

The stores remove and destroy their entire inventory every 4-10 days, except quest related items (hence the new command objpid_is_quest_item). I have modified 30 store scripts spanning the whole game from klamath to SF. The RollCap gets higher as you get further into the game, so you have a chance of getting high end items (power fists, fancy assault rifles etc). By destroying the store inventory regularly, the "too many items bug" should not be caused by stores at least, and it makes for more choices in the stores.

The next thing I did was add scripts for random loot in arroyo. I made a special set for arroyo because you shouldn't see any advanced items there. I have two types of random loot scripts, one does a roll giving you a chance for loot, the other is a guaranteed loot but random item. So for containers I can attach either kind of script. I have a generic set for locations past arroyo, and I've so far updated all containers up to the den with these new scripts. Should have the whole game done (container scripts) within a few days.

Regarding items on critters, so far that is not random, but it could be. Using the same methods, I think I can make a command that checks which weapon types any given critter can use (checking the art_fid number and basically doing a lookup). Then it would be possible to make a command that keeps selecting random weapons until it finds a weapon that the critter can use. I will probably do this, but I want to do a beta release first.

 

[Da Butcha]

What ever happened to 1.06 patch?

Thanks.

 

[Silencer]

It is no more. It has ceased to be. It's expired and gone to meet its maker. It's a stiff. Bereft of life, it rests in peace. Its metabolic processes are now history! It's off the twig! It's kicked the bucket, it's shuffled off its mortal coil, run down the curtain and joined the bleedin' choir invisible!

Unfortunately.

Celestial is AWOL, he's lost files from his HD and it looks it will never come to be.

 

[Da Butcha]

Because it won't show on the start up screen if I installed 1.05 correctly, is there any other way I can see if the patch is working without playing 10 hours into the game?

Thanks.

 

[Carib FMJ]

Rest in peace Celestial.

 

[Per]

Maybe it's just me, but almost always when someone fails to produce something, and refers to drive failure/data loss, I'm very sceptical, and it's nothing personal to do with Celestial, but I'd sooner think he found the pressure too much, or just didn't find the time, both of which would be perfectly understandable, and decided to call the project off, than that he spent all that time on the patch, without making any progress reports, and almost completed the thing, and then lost it, with no backups, so did anyone else ever consider the possibility, so I don't have to feel alone in my cynicism?

 

[Silencer]

Now, I can't speak for him and it'd be nice if Locutus had finally locutus, but I think he'd at least mail the files to SO if he could ... And the fact that he's been away for quite a while might mean that some oother issues are in play and maybe he's done with modding, sadly

My only hope is that the Expansion packs will benefit from the 1.051 (Which reminds me, did he release the sources?)

 

[jargo]

so did anyone else ever consider the possibility, so I don't have to feel alone in my cynicism?

You are not alone , i was working with Celest on his patch(when he needed something new scripted, or some scripts to associate with patch i did the job).
I think i knew that 1.06 will not be completed when our EPA/Abbey team break(Celestial - team leader, Deadlus - mapping, me and Xarafcaz scripting) - It was long ago, when Celest suddenly disappear.
EPA\Abbey was most important thing in new 1.06 patch, why to work on something when you do not have main part.

But still, hard disk loss is possible.

BTW Locutus and Borg Locutus are two different person.

 

[Per]

Hey, Jargo, Celestial mentions in his second-to-last post that he was waiting for stuff from you to finish the 1.06 patch. What's you gots to say in your defence?

 

[jargo]

Hey, Jargo, Celestial mentions in his second-to-last post that he was waiting for stuff from you to finish the 1.06 patch. What's you gots to say in your defence?

That was merged B-team\CultOfPersonality mod, and I send him that files a long time ago. He said that he will continue work on 1.06 but that was the last message from him.

 

[Da Butcha]

Can anybody help me out?

Is there any way I can tell if I installed the patch correctly without playing 10 hours into the game?

Thanks.

 

[Per]

Is there any way I can tell if I installed the patch correctly without playing 10 hours into the game?

Well, you could look at the list of changes and try to find a verifiable one close to the beginning of the game. Don't know if there are any in Arroyo, but I know there's some things in Klamath.

 

[Da Butcha]

Thanks, I checked and apparently I didn't do it correctly because

"- Dead Enclave Guard from Klamath now has dog tags instead of the keycard" he still has the key card in mine.

Couple more questions:

If I use Falche will it screw anything up with version 1.05 update?

I did fresh install, downloaded the U.S. patch 1.05 and 1.05 update, used WinRar to export them into the main Fallout 2 directory (C:\Program Files\BlackIsle\Fallout2), said yes to over riding all. Then tagged all the .pro and .PRO files as read-only in the files citters and items (I made sure I didn't tag the items.lst in critters). Am I missing something?

Thank you.

 

[Da Butcha]

Any help?

 

[Per]

I'm pretty sure Falche shouldn't mess anything up since the patch doesn't touch the engine (I think). Can't help you with the other thing.

 

[jargo]

Falche shouldn't mess anything if you do not use oryginall patch or other mods.

 

[Da Butcha]

Falche shouldn't mess anything if you do not use oryginall patch or other mods.

I have the Fallout 2 that came with the 1.02 already installed, is that what you are talking about with not using the original patch?

Edit: I've been reading that resolution might screw the game up, I'm currently running 1280x1024. I've been reading about Fallout2.exe Patcher that has to do with resolutions, should I download that, and if so, how do I run it?

Thanks.

 

[jargo]

If you have patch000.dat in your main Fallout2 dir then Falche will load files from patch000.dat file instead files from data dir.