I know it's not much - basically a massive .pro modification (which changes so much stuff in the game it's not funny)... but im looking for somewhere to pimp my mod.
Allz the site has to do is host a simple html page which'll link to a zipfile. I've already got a site - my school's, but they've got an annoying cgi script which automatically places my (real) name at the bottom of the page ("author information"), and frankly i'd like to keep things fake (as opposed to 'keepin it real... ie, paranoia).
My mod only has one problem - when targeting some enclave troopers (usually encountered on the top map of navarro) the game seems to crash right back to windows without an error message. Other than that the game works (almost) perfectly fine up until then.
I think the mod is worth playing, it makes the game a little harder and a little easier at the same time - I designed it so that the player can focus on combat rather than economics. Money wasn't much of an issue in fallout 1 and I guess that's what spoiled me, I got the mod rigged so that it's about as lenient as Fo1 was.
Changes:
*4.7mm guns are now particle beam weapons - penetrates all forms of armor but doesn't do too much damage (ammo has a -80% DR mod).
*.223 autoloader to a high powered assault pistol (super assault rifle).
*P-90 uses 5.56mm now.
*big guns are now worth more investing in... and so are energy weapons.
*big armor changes, from the smallest all the way up to frank horrigan's.
*big ammo changes, not as cumbersome anymore (most things divided into denominations of 100bullets/clip).
*14mm pistol and CAWS shotgun are now grenade launchers (15mm HE grenades... with area effect!).
*Some other changes with enhanced weapons (enh. plasma pistol, enh. laser pistol, enh. laser rifle, turbo plasma rifle, etc).
*Grenades are much more lethal now (like you'd expect a grenade to be, unfortunatly they take longer to throw - game balance issue).
*Most thrown weapons have a longer range.
Things I hope to change:
*Perks, as soon as someone (or myself) finds the data for it (it'll probably be in the fallout2.exe, encrypted too). Im going to start lookin for that one.
*That damn bug with the navarro enclave troopers (mysteriously - only effects the enclave guards, not patrols or the quartermaster/commander). I think that one of the enclave guards has a bug in it - because FuCK! had a problem with one of em (250 or 251, not sure... though that's not my usual editing device).
*The amount of experience points you get for certain quests (probably in the 'scrips; some should be less and some should be much, much more).
*Amounts and types of items/weapons that people have in various places in the game (definatly a map thing?). (enclave should have more powerful artifacts than puny plasma rifles - well, they aren't puny, but it gets old real quick, I want my enclave with more variety).
*Armor types of certain characters - what I wouldn't do for a good FoT entity editor for Fo2 right about now (Im pretty sure it's in the .pro files, but where is a mystery - well, better get started, got 480 bytes or so to weed through).
My sw33t F02 mod
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Sirgalahadwizard
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Temaperacl
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Re: My sw33t F02 mod
You could use a free web host, or if you want, I can put up the page and zip on one of my sites. It probably isn't one of the best options, but you can PM me for details.Sirgalahadwizard wrote: Allz the site has to do is host a simple html page which'll link to a zipfile. I've already got a site - my school's, but they've got an annoying cgi script which automatically places my (real) name at the bottom of the page ("author information"), and frankly i'd like to keep things fake (as opposed to 'keepin it real... ie, paranoia).
Make sure you have the debug patch ( http://members.fortunecity.com/noid84/patch.html ) which should give you more information to work with in finding the problem.My mod only has one problem - when targeting some enclave troopers (usually encountered on the top map of navarro) the game seems to crash right back to windows without an error message. Other than that the game works (almost) perfectly fine up until then.
Most of the case, this is a map thing, although in some cases it is a map script.*Amounts and types of items/weapons that people have in various places in the game (definatly a map thing?). (enclave should have more powerful artifacts than puny plasma rifles - well, they aren't puny, but it gets old real quick, I want my enclave with more variety).
This should just be a mix of the DT/DR and AC. F.U.C.K. comes with some documentation on the PRO files, and I'm pretty sure it deals with these values.*Armor types of certain characters - what I wouldn't do for a good FoT entity editor for Fo2 right about now (Im pretty sure it's in the .pro files, but where is a mystery - well, better get started, got 480 bytes or so to weed through).
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Sirgalahadwizard
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Armor types:
No, im actually talking about what graphics the character has. As in, taking a raider that looks like he's wearing leather armor and make him look like he's wearing combat armor.
Those raiders south of vault city are *damn* tough to beat now and I wanna make em tougher (as it is, you need to raid them with power armor on to survive, all of your npc's will just end up getting killed if you bring them too).
I've been playing with the DT/DR/AC values since... I don't know when (note: I tried fixing the enclave troopers by just messing with their DT and DR... modifications that are required by my mod, and it still messed up - so it's not messing with the AC that's the problem). I don't typically trust programs like F.U.C.K. to do my editing for me - I typically do it by hand with a hex editor (UGE), though i'll usually trust something simple like FIME.
Know of any programs that'll allow me to compress something to a patch file (ie, patch000.dat)?
Well, I DLed the patch, didnt have it or know about it before, will make backup of main exe file first. Maybe it'll provide better info to what's going on (or in my case, with bad luck, it'll just say a "general protection fault" has occured and not give me any details).
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As for map editing, I guess that i'd need the map editor to do it. Unfortunatly the map editor that I got before would screw up as soon as I tried to open *any* level. The thing also didn't provide any documentation either. It's from Team X... I heard they came out with a new editor but I wouldn't be surprised if it screws up too (i've got bad luck... and win98SE, which is actually the best windows microsoft ever came out with).
I've got a really old webpage on geocities, maybe I should go clear some junk outta there and use it? Yeah, none of that stuff's worth anything anyway (old game mod for a DooM sourceport).
No, im actually talking about what graphics the character has. As in, taking a raider that looks like he's wearing leather armor and make him look like he's wearing combat armor.
Those raiders south of vault city are *damn* tough to beat now and I wanna make em tougher (as it is, you need to raid them with power armor on to survive, all of your npc's will just end up getting killed if you bring them too).
I've been playing with the DT/DR/AC values since... I don't know when (note: I tried fixing the enclave troopers by just messing with their DT and DR... modifications that are required by my mod, and it still messed up - so it's not messing with the AC that's the problem). I don't typically trust programs like F.U.C.K. to do my editing for me - I typically do it by hand with a hex editor (UGE), though i'll usually trust something simple like FIME.
Know of any programs that'll allow me to compress something to a patch file (ie, patch000.dat)?
Well, I DLed the patch, didnt have it or know about it before, will make backup of main exe file first. Maybe it'll provide better info to what's going on (or in my case, with bad luck, it'll just say a "general protection fault" has occured and not give me any details).
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As for map editing, I guess that i'd need the map editor to do it. Unfortunatly the map editor that I got before would screw up as soon as I tried to open *any* level. The thing also didn't provide any documentation either. It's from Team X... I heard they came out with a new editor but I wouldn't be surprised if it screws up too (i've got bad luck... and win98SE, which is actually the best windows microsoft ever came out with).
I've got a really old webpage on geocities, maybe I should go clear some junk outta there and use it? Yeah, none of that stuff's worth anything anyway (old game mod for a DooM sourceport).
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Temaperacl
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Two come to mind- Datman Light comes with a util that will do that for you, or you can use DatExplorer. DatExplorer has a better interface, but I've found that if you don't do things in a certain order, parts of the DAT get messed up. What worked for me was Creating a new DAT with the default folders and then importing the files into the appropriate folder (Import Folder or whatever it is called never worked right for me).Know of any programs that'll allow me to compress something to a patch file (ie, patch000.dat)?
Get the latest version- it creates a log file so you can figure out where it is messing up. It also comes with documentation now.As for map editing, I guess that i'd need the map editor to do it. Unfortunatly the map editor that I got before would screw up as soon as I tried to open *any* level. The thing also didn't provide any documentation either. It's from Team X... I heard they came out with a new editor but I wouldn't be surprised if it screws up too (i've got bad luck... and win98SE, which is actually the best windows microsoft ever came out with).
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Red
- Hero of the Glowing Lands
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FYI FUCK is more trustable then FIME. FIME has a bunch of values it hides from you because it doesn't know what they're for (and so does FIC - in fact FIC has some values wrong entirely as someone found out on this board I beleive).
FUCK on the other hand takes the time to let you see the unkown values - and even edit them. Or well, the programmer took the time to make an interface to see and edit those values anyway...
Hex is the best though
FUCK on the other hand takes the time to let you see the unkown values - and even edit them. Or well, the programmer took the time to make an interface to see and edit those values anyway...
Hex is the best though
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Sirgalahadwizard
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Yeah, hex doesn't hide ANYTHING - it makes a file naked. That's why I typically use it.
In the case of FIME - it works fine for editing weapons and armor, and does so relativly quickly, and it seems fairly comprehensive for those two things - so that's pretty much all I use it for. Ammunition and Drugs on the other hand I edit in hex because FIME has problems with negative numbers.
FUCK actually does a pretty darn good job. I think they incorporated most of the values that have been found to be things inside the critter .pro files (i've got an html file which has almost all the values defined in it - got it from somewhere, forgot where). Found out that my template for the hex editor was actually wrong in a few places (sequence and armor class were switched, and I didn't have the appropriate "additional armor class" variable marked at all - important since that's where the enclave soldiers get all their friggin armor class).
Anyhow, I found out the problem with the enclave soldiers - I had lowered their health a whole bunch and since I did that, it was coming up with some kind of error when it was trying to reference "how they look" (as in, "she looks: wounded" or "he looks: almost dead"). I don't know why, haven't really a clue why it was screwing up, but I wasn't going to argue with it - and I let their health values remain at 150 and 200 (but being a devious soul, I think that i'll lower their damage resistance to make up for it :twisted:). Some Dr values probably wont change though - since their armor is made up of ceramic plates (the reason for it being black), they still get a damn good DR against fire and electric (well, maybe the electric will be moderate, with a high DT).
Hint: It's okay to focus on combat skills - and you need to get a suit of some kind of armor on your back as soon as possible (i'd invest in the leather armor that ms. buckner has in klamath, dispite cost).
Yeah, so I'll probably have it zipped up and online tomorrow. Doesn't have a .html yet though, will have to write one tonight (will be incredibly, super boring html, which gives a DL link to the zipfile and some info as to how the mod is going to wreck your game - uh, j/k on that last one).
I've got an alternate maps.txt if you want to play music from Fo1... took some unpacked .acm's (notably 09glow, 04brthrh, 11chilrn, and a few others) that they didn't keep in Fo2 and put em in my music directory. If you've got the same ones somewhere, I can make em work (put em in the data/sound/music directory). I just got sick of hearing the "vats", "necropolis" and "raiders" music playing all the time, was damn annoying if you ask me.
Will have another maps.txt in the zipfile that changes music in some places to other music that shipped with Fo2.
Anybody have any ideas as to how to utilize a patch.dat to distribute my mod? I just pack my stuff into a patch file named something other than the original game patch (like "patch001.dat" or "patch123.dat"?). 'Cause right now my mod is in the form of a giant list of subdirectories in my data directory (and I don't think people would take kindly to having to rename their existing data directory so thay could play my mod).
I just got datexplorer and it does a fantastic job of making patches, but haven't gotten much time to work with it.
In the case of FIME - it works fine for editing weapons and armor, and does so relativly quickly, and it seems fairly comprehensive for those two things - so that's pretty much all I use it for. Ammunition and Drugs on the other hand I edit in hex because FIME has problems with negative numbers.
FUCK actually does a pretty darn good job. I think they incorporated most of the values that have been found to be things inside the critter .pro files (i've got an html file which has almost all the values defined in it - got it from somewhere, forgot where). Found out that my template for the hex editor was actually wrong in a few places (sequence and armor class were switched, and I didn't have the appropriate "additional armor class" variable marked at all - important since that's where the enclave soldiers get all their friggin armor class).
Anyhow, I found out the problem with the enclave soldiers - I had lowered their health a whole bunch and since I did that, it was coming up with some kind of error when it was trying to reference "how they look" (as in, "she looks: wounded" or "he looks: almost dead"). I don't know why, haven't really a clue why it was screwing up, but I wasn't going to argue with it - and I let their health values remain at 150 and 200 (but being a devious soul, I think that i'll lower their damage resistance to make up for it :twisted:). Some Dr values probably wont change though - since their armor is made up of ceramic plates (the reason for it being black), they still get a damn good DR against fire and electric (well, maybe the electric will be moderate, with a high DT).
Hint: It's okay to focus on combat skills - and you need to get a suit of some kind of armor on your back as soon as possible (i'd invest in the leather armor that ms. buckner has in klamath, dispite cost).
Yeah, so I'll probably have it zipped up and online tomorrow. Doesn't have a .html yet though, will have to write one tonight (will be incredibly, super boring html, which gives a DL link to the zipfile and some info as to how the mod is going to wreck your game - uh, j/k on that last one).
I've got an alternate maps.txt if you want to play music from Fo1... took some unpacked .acm's (notably 09glow, 04brthrh, 11chilrn, and a few others) that they didn't keep in Fo2 and put em in my music directory. If you've got the same ones somewhere, I can make em work (put em in the data/sound/music directory). I just got sick of hearing the "vats", "necropolis" and "raiders" music playing all the time, was damn annoying if you ask me.
Will have another maps.txt in the zipfile that changes music in some places to other music that shipped with Fo2.
Anybody have any ideas as to how to utilize a patch.dat to distribute my mod? I just pack my stuff into a patch file named something other than the original game patch (like "patch001.dat" or "patch123.dat"?). 'Cause right now my mod is in the form of a giant list of subdirectories in my data directory (and I don't think people would take kindly to having to rename their existing data directory so thay could play my mod).
I just got datexplorer and it does a fantastic job of making patches, but haven't gotten much time to work with it.
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Red
- Hero of the Glowing Lands
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Sadly, fallout only "applies" the first patch it finds (starting at 0), which means that patch0002.dat wouldn't be (also) used (notice I use 2, reason being that the game only scans for even numbers, don't ask my why), so you can't use directly that method. You'll have to use one of the two FO "patchers" available in the mod file section of FO...
It's either that or provide your own instructions.
It's either that or provide your own instructions.
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Sirgalahadwizard
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Okay, well, what i'll do is undat my patch000.dat... make my own patch000.dat with my mod materials and the original patch info (minus some stuff in the proto directory).
It sure beats the hassle of using a modpicking device... I D/Led the FaME readme file and not only was it a little cryptic, but it didn't say much about how to actually use the program, and it seems to be an invasive installation (it does crap other than just unzip files to the HD). I don't wanna have to make people go thru that to play my mod (even though alot of mod-players already have it
:).
That way, all a person has to do is rename their existing patch000.dat and put mine in... that way they dont have to sacrifice bug fixes to play a mod. And since it'll be the first patch file the game finds... it'll use that one by automatic (hmm, i'll definatly have to test this though).
Why the hell can't these game designers do a better job of making these games mod-friendly? (it's cause they got dollar signs on their eyes and they dont give a damn about us creative folks).
It sure beats the hassle of using a modpicking device... I D/Led the FaME readme file and not only was it a little cryptic, but it didn't say much about how to actually use the program, and it seems to be an invasive installation (it does crap other than just unzip files to the HD). I don't wanna have to make people go thru that to play my mod (even though alot of mod-players already have it
:).That way, all a person has to do is rename their existing patch000.dat and put mine in... that way they dont have to sacrifice bug fixes to play a mod. And since it'll be the first patch file the game finds... it'll use that one by automatic (hmm, i'll definatly have to test this though).
Why the hell can't these game designers do a better job of making these games mod-friendly? (it's cause they got dollar signs on their eyes and they dont give a damn about us creative folks).
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Red
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Yeah, that's probably the easyest solution. Simple. Elegant. And now that broadband is more common people won't mind downloading an extra meg for a mod (with damn demos taking 150+ megs...)
As for the patching wokring for mod-makers, well, back then it wasn't as popular to have mods wotking on games (All DOOM mods were actually reverse engeneered, the first mod-friendly game being Duke3D and the like really, even though DOOM ended up being very mod friendly).
Anyway, long story short, it simply wasn't designed that way since back then they didn't look into such matters to expand a game's selling point and life span...
As for the patching wokring for mod-makers, well, back then it wasn't as popular to have mods wotking on games (All DOOM mods were actually reverse engeneered, the first mod-friendly game being Duke3D and the like really, even though DOOM ended up being very mod friendly).
Anyway, long story short, it simply wasn't designed that way since back then they didn't look into such matters to expand a game's selling point and life span...
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Sirgalahadwizard
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Well, I guess since my mod is abit modest (i mean, it doesn't even replace any sounds or graphics and it doesn't have any maps and...), im not too confident that people will be sold on downloading a 3+meg zipfile (well, the .dat is 3+meg, and I haven't zipped yet so I don't know how big it might be like that).
Geez, it only replaces the data/data, data/proto/items, data/proto/critters, and the text/english/game directories...
At first, I'll distribute the essential files (though I dont exactly know if people's games will load it with a patch000.dat already in the main directory... and if it does and uses patch info to override data info then the 5mm AP and a few critters wont act right). I could just ask people to undat their patch000.dat into their data directory and then overwrite the neccicary files... but then again that's another hassle ('cause then they have to get undat, then undat their patch file and rename it...)
I just wanna distribute my mod like everybody else does - like the frank horrigan armor mod and somesuch.
How does the FaME mod manager run mods anyway?
I mean, does it combine .dat files together for the time being and place that in as the patch000.dat?
Geez, it only replaces the data/data, data/proto/items, data/proto/critters, and the text/english/game directories...
At first, I'll distribute the essential files (though I dont exactly know if people's games will load it with a patch000.dat already in the main directory... and if it does and uses patch info to override data info then the 5mm AP and a few critters wont act right). I could just ask people to undat their patch000.dat into their data directory and then overwrite the neccicary files... but then again that's another hassle ('cause then they have to get undat, then undat their patch file and rename it...)
I just wanna distribute my mod like everybody else does - like the frank horrigan armor mod and somesuch.
How does the FaME mod manager run mods anyway?
I mean, does it combine .dat files together for the time being and place that in as the patch000.dat?
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Red
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Putting only the new files in the proper directories works fine. Note however that if you put them in data/proto they need to be read-only or they'll be deleted when you start the game (but you can put them safely in directly in proto, but I'm not ceratin that proto has precedence ofver data/proto and/ot the DAT files so it might not work. Putting them as read only in data/proto works for sure though.
I don't exactly know how FaME works but I think it takes the patch0000.dat and adds/overwrites the files supplied by your own DAT file to it and then runs fallout. Once you exit it restores the patch0000.DAT to the original so you can play the game normally.
I don't exactly know how FaME works but I think it takes the patch0000.dat and adds/overwrites the files supplied by your own DAT file to it and then runs fallout. Once you exit it restores the patch0000.DAT to the original so you can play the game normally.
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