Fallout Fixt by Sduibek

[Sduibek]

Thanks for going through the hell of making this customizable, Sduibek.

np, it's fun most of the time. Love you too <3

 

[Sduibek]

If the player's homies kill or damage a monster, should it affect global variables and reputation for the player?

The original game is inconsistent; about 50 scripts check if the "source_obj" (who did the killing or dealt the damage) is the Player OR a party member of the player. The rest of them check ONLY if it came from the Player.

Is-player-OR-party-member checking upon damage/kill would be things like:
Ian kills a child, player's Childkiller counter goes up.
Tycho shoots Killian in the face, now Junktown "good guys" are hostile.
Katja stabs Decker to death, player's Karma goes up.

This could be argued both ways; I think it's much more realistic to include party members in the checks, but this also means if the NPC party members misses and hits the wrong person, it could enrage an entire town. I personally don't have a problem with that but I've heard lots of people bitching about it in the past.

EDIT: I guess this could be an optional selection............ user selects on install "NPC party members affect user karma" or something.

 

[Infinitron]

Sduibek IMO backend things like that can be fixes. I think most CRPG players see their party members as an extension of themselves, even in games like Fallout where they don't directly control them. So it sounds like a fix to me.

 

[Sduibek]

The weird thing is the numbers.... there's almost 500 scripts for critters, meaning roughly 10% of them check Player-or-PartyNPC, all others check Player-only. It's a significant inconsistency which confuses me. Maybe just a major oversight :shrug: Not sure.

 

[tuluse]

Is there a pattern to the party checks?

 

[Sduibek]

Is there a pattern to the party checks?

Good call, I hadn't thought to check that.

They're all from The Hub. No other areas in the game check for party member on "who damaged me" code.

 

[tuluse]

That's odd. It sounds like a feature they either meant to add or remove at the last second and just didn't get everything done. Would definitely be a question for one of the original devs.

 

[Sduibek]

That's odd. It sounds like a feature they either meant to add or remove at the last second and just didn't get everything done. Would definitely be a question for one of the original devs.

I agree.

I see that Tim Cain has a Facebook, I think I'll compile the questions I have and send him a message on there. Hopefully he responds!

 

[Sduibek]

Tim Cain told me that yes he's willing to answer some questions, so I'll have more info on that soon.

Also, the following are completed and ready to be included in next release:

Global variable flag for "Bug fixes only" selection (GVAR171)
Tandi/Lori stuff optional, & disabled when gvar171 = 1
Tycho attacking player if Junktown citizens killed disabled when gvar171 = 1
Red forcefields can't be blown up (as in vanilla) when gvar171 =1
Katja graphics included for Use All Weapons NPC selection (optional)
Elder removed
Agatha removed
Heather removed
Longer flamer attack graphics now optional
Restored stats for items that I changed way back before Alpha 1, and had forgotten to change back. oops.

 

[Sduibek]

Is this a bug fix or "added thingy":

- If you set the timer on an explosive you're holding in an active item slot, it now drops to the ground at your feet.

Keep in mind that this code I created is actually the default vanilla in Fallout 2 engine.

 

[Jaesun]

That just seems like the default and how it should work.

 

[Sduibek]

Good news! I've discovered that game_time_advance() takes arguments of negative values.

So that means the next release will have the option for unlimited play. No more of this "locking up after 13 years" garbage.

Personally I don't recall ever hitting the time limit, but I loathe time limits so this is great news as far as I'm concerned.

And to think I was trying to find a way to hex-edit the SAVE.DAT files to reset the date. lol. Good thing I tried putting in negative values in a script command first.

It takes negative values for Experience too, interestingly. But you can't lose levels that way. (If you could, it would make a great optional hack around the character level limit). Oh well.

Anyway, just a simple script check -- when the date nears July 18 2175 aka 32-BIT INTEGER OVERFLOW DOOMSDAY, it'll just send a game_time_advance(BIGASS_NEGATIVE_NUMBER) and all continues merrily.

 

[Infinitron]

Is this a bug fix or "added thingy":



Keep in mind that this code I created is actually the default vanilla in Fallout 2 engine.

It doesn't work like that in the first game? It's a minor thing, but not really a fix. I'd make it optional but recommended.

 

[Sduibek]

Changing flares from "Weapon" type to "Misc" type, please tell me that's considered a fix. Having flares be considered weapons by the entire game is pretty much the stupidest thing ever. (IMHO )

Reasons why I'd consider it a bug:
- NPCs (Ian, Tycho, Katja) and enemies prefer to throw flares over other weapons. (Assumedly because it only takes 1 AP to use)
- NPCs/enemies will at times abandon their current weapon to go pick up a thrown flare and use it instead. (Yes, I have personally seen this happen)
- Any scripts that check "is obj_item_subtype == 3" will return Yes on flares. So you get things like Seth telling you to holster that scary flare you're holding, or Vats technicians begging to not kill them with the scary flare.
- They MUST be lit in inventory; clicking on the item in the main GUI like you would with Stealth Boy or similar usable item doesn't work (because it will bring up combat targeting, duh)

Not really reasons, but points to keep in mind:
- It does 1 damage. ...
- It takes 1 AP, the only weapon in the game that does so. (This is important regarding exploits, see below)
- Throwing knives suck (when thrown), and they do 6 to 9 damage.
- Exploitable:

Although the flare will normally only inflict 1 damage if thrown at an enemy, aiming throws at the eyes of enemies can blind or even kill them instantaneously, even if they are wearing power armour.

 

[Infinitron]

Sounds like a fix to me, but ask Tim Cain to be sure.

 

[Sduibek]

An interesting point from GDC 2012 regarding invasions/waterchip that I think is worth repeating:

If there is one thing I'd change is to go back and remove any timed quests from Fallout [1]. I didn't like the false sense of urgency and felt like the player had to rush through the game and miss fun things to do.

I don't have a point or conclusion, I just felt like sharing

 

[Sduibek]

Awesome! Mr. Cain responded and answered all my questions. What a cool guy.

Thanks for suggesting I contact him, I don't know why I never thought of that. btw, I added RPGCodex to credits.txt today. (next release of FIXT finally has credits for the mod.) [Credited as "The no-bullshit feedback from RPGCodex Forums"] This thread has been extremely helpful.


FLARES: It sounds like them being Weapon_type is just a procedural leftover. And they were supposed to be lit while held. (which has already been implemented in FIXT for quite some time )

Yes, they were supposed to be lit as soon as you wielded them. Somehow they only got marked as lit when you dropped them. Might be a bug, might have been an optimization because moving light sources were expensive.

I think anything held in the hands were supposed to be weapons, at least at one point in development. So flares went into the weapon category since you held them in your hand.

DAMAGE_SOURCE: Yes should check partymember-OR-player, but not for the heavy-hitting karmas like Childkiller. (Fallout has only 3 Karma reputations, so this would only apply to Childkiller, Berserker, and Champion)

This difference is almost certainly caused by different scripters working in different areas. To make it consistent, I would make MOST checks account for all party members, but some checks should not. For example, if you or a party member kill someone, that should make townspeople angry and attack, but unless the player kills a child himself, that should not make the player gain the child-killer rep.

REPORTING BOB:

I thought you could do that, but it might have been removed because it caused a bug and that was the fastest way to fix it. We were down to the wire to get the game out.

 

[General Maxson]

Tim Cain is my crpg hero. And probably the main reason I have some hope for PE turning out good.

 

[Infinitron]

 

[Sduibek]

Oh and he also said the whole team was disappointed that The Burrows got cut.

 

[Sduibek]

Update on flares: to change them from type Weapon to type Misc, I have to delete them all from each map (using BIS Mapper) file using the old flare data, save the maps, move over the new flare data, then re-add the flares. Removing them with script or during game load is not possible because the map is loaded before those run, and the map load crashes if item type differs (which is actually news to me)

So, for the sake of avoiding a pain in the ass, for the next release I'll probably just add an exception to the "Holster your weapon" float messages. Next release can have the option to change them to Misc entirely.

 

[General Maxson]

Oh and he also said the whole team was disappointed that The Burrows got cut.

Nothing wrong with Burrows as long as Tim Cain designs it. And not some Bethesda/Bioware trash. With sexable furries etc.

 

[Sduibek]

Oh and he also said the whole team was disappointed that The Burrows got cut.

Nothing wrong with Burrows as long as Tim Cain designs it. And not some Bethesda/Bioware trash. With sexable furries etc.

Oh! That reminds me, I've been meaning to add sexable furries to the game.

 

[General Maxson]

Make deathclaw romance options. Always wanted to bone that.

 

[Sduibek]

Make deathclaw romance options. Always wanted to bone that.

Already have it on my To-Do list; the designers planned this to be possible. Why do you think the map with the Mother Deathclaw and infinitely spawning Deathclaws is in a town called the Boneyard?