My (recent) Jagged Alliance 3 Mods

[Papill0n]

This is no error in the Matrix and no repost from my other thread over there https://rpgcodex.net/forums/threads/my-recent-jagged-alliance-2-mods.141294/

After a longer time of playing and modding Ja3, I'd like to share some simple mods I made aiming for more freedom in how we complete the game / do any replays. The mods are separate and do the following:

- Allow to hire Spike/the Major regardless of influence gained over him. Gives players that want to hire him much more freedom in their playthroughs.

- Hire Flay faster. Less walking around the Savanna until he spawns.

- Hire Smiley without the fight in front of Boss Blaubert's door/disentangle quests.

- Hire Pierrre after initially defeating him.

I understand that these mods make things easier, and while I appreciate the challenges the Vanilla game had in place to get these free characters, these challenges are more fun the first 1-2 times than after that.

https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561199592115961/myworkshopfiles/

Known issues:

The game has muted any changed conversations (text only). I haven't yet found a way around this. I apreciate any pointers there. Any other feedback is apreciated, too. I work on various other mods, too, and if there's still any interest in mods for Ja3 I'll be looking to get the more complex mods ready to be shared as well.

Also feel free to use this thread to discuss anything modding Ja3 if it derails too far from the main thread on Ja3.

 

[Papill0n]

*Edit*

Should work now from Steam workshop. Furthermore, the first batch of mods is temporarily available here:

https://we.tl/t-7II2ned3WB

Download and unzip into the mods folder of your Ja3 install, typcially "Username"/AppData/Roaming/Jagged Alliance 3/Mods

Load them before starting a new game in the ingame mod manager

 

[Papill0n]

Make DeeDee recruitable (during dialogue). The dialogue line to recruit her will be highlighted by an asterisk.

I always thought that character was a bit of a waste. Early game comic relief and no further relevance in the game?

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3247228583

 

[Papill0n]

Biff. Biffer never changes

(this was literally the first combat task he gave me, lol)

 

[Papill0n]

Watch it, Colonel Faux Jeux, the B-Team is coming for you...

I wll be uploading the necessary mods to assemble the B-Team in a playthrough.

starting with Biff, obviously
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3250137072&searchtext=

Bastien
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3250131779&searchtext=

Basil
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3252198805

Boss Blaubert
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3250155771

The Beast
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3258508966

Bounce
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3254069060

 

[Papill0n]

Edited to show the download link for The Beast. Two still to go, then the B-Team is ready.

The Beast probably has the best selection of lines from the B-Team. Which is good because you can play her as a loner as well.

 

[Papill0n]

Edited to show the download link for Bounce and Basil. Please Note that i made some changes to the Landsbach quest logic, subject to further testing. Use a your own risk.

 

[Papill0n]

And of course we can't miss out on the Savannah Lion! Hire Chimmichu... Jimmy... Chimurenga and let the enemy hear the Lion's Roar :D

Two versions,
one for fun/test purposes
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3256120837


the other for better quest logic/ as a quest reward
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3256121844

Aside form the Beast, this one probably has the best lines among the NPCs I turned into RPCs, surely one of my favourites.

 

[Papill0n]

The link for downloading the Beast has been updated. I will probably conclude the series of NPCs turned into RPCs in the next couple of days (currently 2 more characters in the pipeline).

 

[Papill0n]

Just when you thought I had run out of annoying NPCs to turn into beloved respected tolerated members of our squad I give you

Headshot Hue
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3259614411

 

[Papill0n]

And my selection of ragtag NPCs to turn into RPCs concludes with Sangoma the Shaman, a poor man's Thor Kaufman. He fills the gap for an addtional high med high leadership guy.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3260673037

I hope some people have the same fun with these characters that I had. Obvously, they don't have perfeclty fitting lines for every game situation but many lines, sometimes taken sarcastically, fit the bill surprisingly well. I always loled when a line hits just right. Anyway have fun

 

[Papill0n]

After the RPC/NPCs I am now looking at Vanilla gameplay and game balance. While there are much more ambitious mods out there, I'd still like to share my own little weapon balancing/gameplay mod. The core of the mod is provide more optons, more tactical choices. Vanilla is very rigid in what you can do with a particular class of guns. My More Tactical Options Mod increases the meaningufl combat choices we can make with almost any type of gun (restrictions apply). A second aspect is to make some guns that are too close to each other in the game more distinct.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3264341041

Basic changes:
Burst Fire damage is no longer crippled. Instead, there is a chance to hit penalty for subsequent shots. This makes burst fire more attractive for good shooters.
Autofire is rebalanced: Damage is no longer crippled, but less shots are fired and there is now a chance to hit drop-off. As a result, autofire is more dangerous now, but wastes less ammo.
Pin down and mobile shot is allowed for more guns.
Small icnrease to gun, ammo and grenade drop rates
Weapon-related changes:
Machine guns are now more distinct from each other. Overwatch is possible, and some machine guns will use autofire during overwatch. This speeds up MG gameplay considerably.
Assault rifles and battle rifles are more distinct from each other. Run-and-Gun is now allowed for intermediate cartridge guns.
Submachineguns are now more distinct from one another. Most 9mm SMGs will use autofire during overwatch, finally making some good use of all the 9mm ammo.
Semi-automatic pistols and semi-automatic rifles can now use a double-tap attack. The overwatch cone of rifles is now slightly wider so they can be used for overwatch as well
Shotguns are less of a melee-type weapon
Sniper rifles have their damage slightly lowered but a bit of scaling crit chance, so more experienced mercs benefit more from them.

Item changes
Added 5.45wp, 7.62x54r and 8mm Mauser Ammo and changed various loot definitions for players to find such ammo in the early game. They can also buy it at BR and craft it

some QoL stuff
Made some gun modifications easier and modification failures less scathing.

I tested these changes for quite a long time and it feels very good playing that way. Other mods may have have done similar things and added tons of other stuff as well, but for whoever doesn't want more guns, but a more varied gameplay with the vanilla ones, this may be a good alternative.

In order to prevent gun/ammo mismatches and for some gun variety at game start, I also provide some change starting gear:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3266272598

Have fun and let me know which change you like or dislike.

*edit: updated the custom loot definitions for starting mercs

 

[Papill0n]

I’d like to release my latest Ja3 Mod: “Flyguider & Co.”

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3295436850

It is an add-on to the Vanilla campaign featuring 3 new NPCs, 7 new maps, and the possibility to fly to certain strategic locations. One of the NPCs is a pilot that will enable that feature, another NPC is a tour guide that accompanies the pilot, providing intel and generally being a side-kick, and the third NPCs sells certain goods that a mercenary company may find useful.

Initially limited to the key locations of the Savanah, the player can unlock additional airstrips throughout Grand Chien from where to start and land the flights. It gives the game an additional layer of strategic options. It is compatible with all my other mods and with a variety of third party mods as well.

Special thanks to Silencer for additonal maps.

 

[Jonathan "Zee Nekomimi]

interesting you managed to make the npc picture similar to the default ingame ones.

 

[Papill0n]

Thanks. The AI I used for the NPC designs has lots of settings, and the particular setting I used here really gave some designs that I think fit well to Ja3's art style



(maybe the Devs used the same AI, lol).

 

[Papill0n]

So Flyguider & co now has some 1600 views, 400 subscribers, 37 favs and decent ratings, that's pretty cool. Thanks to anyone who's tried it out.

I'm not sure whether to expand on it or to rather do something else, like helping other guys with their campaign stuff. I kinda feel people are itching for new content rather than adding more stuff to the vanilla campaign. If expanding Flyguider & co. anyway, I would probably allow more travel locations from several airstrip sectors, maybe make Jean a recurring character rather than just sitting in one map and maybe add another character in one of the later airstrip sectors. Flyguider could also ask more money now, as the original scripting makes him rather inexpensive.

 

[Papill0n]

While this is not one of my mods, it's a very cool mod with new game content (mini-campaign). It was just fully released

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3309527619

Very cool new maps with a lot of love for nice details.

 

[Papill0n]

Tried to put one of my mods on Nexus for anybody who doesn't want to use Steam (I wonder why...)

https://www.nexusmods.com/jaggedalliance3/mods/256/

Please let me know if it works from there, thx

 

[Papill0n]

some people wanted to use Granny Cohani as an RPC rather than as a merc, that's something that still needed to be done.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3330728819

I changed my MO a bit so granny's dialoge won't be muted.

 

[Papill0n]

Ja3 Mod Add-On: Flyguider: Evac

I’d like to release my latest Ja3 Mod: “Flyguider:Evac.”

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3341564487

It is an add-on to my earlier Mod Flyguider & Co. that you can find here:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3295436850

Flyguider and Co. at Jagged Alliance 3 Nexus - Mods and community (nexusmods.com)

Flyguider & co is required to be loaded for Flyguider Evac to work!

Flyguider: Evac allows to call Flyguider to certain key strategic locations using a radio item (“use item” function in tactical). If there is combat in the sector, the player can evacuate within a time limit using Flyguider’s Airplane. If no combat is active, the player may choose various sectors to fly to once Flyguider reaches the sector.

The mod broadens the strategic options included in Flyguider &. Co.

It is compatible with all my other mods and with a variety of third party mods as well.

Some key sectors are changed, so using any map mods relating to sectors (as of now) A3, A4, B11, D2, E2, E9, J13, G17, F7, H7 and K10 is not advised.

 

[Papill0n]

I extended the Flyguider Evac mod to make a story evac possible for Biff in A8 and for the world flip event in E9.

Biff can be evactuated from A8 now, either alone (we continue the fight) or together with our squad. The rescue Biff quest can still be concluded. Some will say it's a cheat, but I think it is a more lore-firendly cheat than many others and while doing the A8 siege fight is fun the frist 1-2 times around, time 3-N can become tiresome.

Also, evacs during combat should now be better and evacs in general easier to understand.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3341564487

 

[vota DC]

Is there a Reuban mod for Ja3? There are even non Ja games (Half Life) with playable Reuban, Ja2 had mods with Reuban.

 

[Papill0n]

Is there a Reuban mod for Ja3? There are even non Ja games (Half Life) with playable Reuban, Ja2 had mods with Reuban.

Computer says there is https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3011941183&searchtext=reuban

But I don't know if it up to date with the game. Or whether it's any good.

 

[Papill0n]

JA3 Add-on "Intercept"

my most recent mod basically adds the bounty hunter from Ja2 to Ja3

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3355046359

It's compatible with my mother mods and probably with all mod that don't change sector H2 or the campaign altogether.

Now currently, the mod doesn't have many bounties up. There are many game design questions to ponder there. Which characters should we include, when should we activate the bounty (tie it to quests or progression etc.?), should we have the bounty hunter roam around the land like in ja2 or should he be fixed etc. Chopping off heads and lugging them around is currently not included, there is enough inventry clutter as is.

Also, It'll take some time to write up "novel" Bios' for the hunted characters. I'll take suggestions in due consideration btw.

 

[Morpheus Kitami]

Obligatory "put in a Codexer" joke statement. Probably not Clive, since it wouldn't be very fun if you had someone who nearly always TPKed the party on the first turn.

That said, I think something interesting would be something like Slay from JA2, not necessarily the backstory, just a criminal you can recruit. Granted, not what you asked for, but it was cool to try to get Slay along for either of the major bad guys in JA2...