***************************************************************************** Wounded Ronin's Vintage Firearms Mod ver 1.1, with Lisac2k's vintage firearms graphics ***************************************************************************** 1. Version History 2. Installation 3. Explication 4. List of Weapons 5. Other features 6. Credits 7. Contact ***************************************************************************** 1. Version History 1.1 - Lisac2k signed on and helped tremendously with debugging and with greatly improved graphics. All the gun and ammo graphics have been overhauled and various errors relating to hold frame and ground frame issues have been resolved. 1.0 - First incarnation of mod ***************************************************************************** 2. Installation This mod is compatible with: a) The official 1.02d US Patch Installation instructions: First of all, install the official Fallout 1.02 US Patch. Then put ronin.dat in your Fallout 2 folder (by default it is: "C:\Program Files\BlackIsle\Fallout2\") and apply it to your game of Fallout 2 using Modrunner. Using modrunner is very easy; just put it in your Fallout 2 folder, run it, and select ronin.dat from the list before hitting "run game." Modrunner utility can be downloaded from the Internet, just search for it. Also, there are a few useful links where you may find it: http://newfmc.prv.pl/ (go to download -> tools) http://www.nma-fallout.com/forum/dload.php?action=category&cat_id=6 http://teamx.ru/eng/files/utils/index.shtml b) The unofficial Killap's Patch release Final A (and B) Installation instructions: you have to install the Killap's Patch first. After that, unpack the "data" folder from the mod archive to your Fallout folder (by default it is: "C:\Program Files\BlackIsle\Fallout2\"). Overwrite all files, if asked. ***************************************************************************** 3. Explication This is my first attempt at making a mod for any game. As such, it is very simple and modest in scope, and I would appreciate feedback in case of errors on my part. I have replaced most of the Small Guns and Big Guns from Fallout 2 with real-world vintage firearms such as 1911s and RPKs. I am a big fan of the rugged power of vintage weapons and part of my purpose in creating this mod was to celebrate the idea that "they don't make them how they used to." I have also tried to make combat a little more realistic in spite of of the hitpoint-driven style of Fallout and I've basically done this by making the following changes: a) Pistols and weapons chambered to fire pistol cartridges do less damage hit-for-hit than those which use shotgun shells or rifle cartridges. As the old adage goes, "Pistols are for fighting your way back to your rifle, which you never should have dropped in the first place." I was always puzzled as to why, in the original game, a pistol in .44 magnum performs better against armor than an assault rifle. b) Burst fire ammo expenditure reflects two seconds of automatic fire when the game is dealing with a real world weapon. This makes burst fire very deadly and makes use of cover and not just standing out in the open much more important than it was in the original Fallout. It introduces a new challenge to the player who uses burst fire frequently, which is the logistics of maintaining an adequate supply of ammunition. c) Most of the Small Guns and Big Guns in the game can be thought of in terms of the following categories: Pistols, which are relatively weak but only require one hand to use, Submachineguns, which require less APs to use than bigger guns and which have the benefit of burst fire, Carbines, which are like beefed up pistols requiring two hands, Rifles, which use powerful catridges and which may have burst fire but which require more APs to use than submachineguns, Shotguns, which are effective at close range against unarmored targets, and Machine Guns, which are unwieldly but absolutely devastating in the right hands. It is my hope that this makes a player's choice of gun more strategic depending on whether he wants to go for slow accurate hits or wants overall lower AP costs. My hope is that I have created a mod which has more verisimilitude with real use of firearms than the original Fallout 2 did. It's worth pointing out that I did not edit any of the energy weapons. Originally I had only wanted to change all of the Small Guns to vintage US military weapons so as to stick more to the retro-Americana theme of the rest of the game than I felt modern weapons like 10mm pistols and bozars succeeded in doing. As I worked, however, I ended up realizing that if I wanted to replace most of the "futuristic" Small and Big Guns there wasn't enough Americana weapons and that I would need to make a general Vintage Firearms Mod with Warsaw Pact and German weapons in addition to the Americana weapons. I decided not to change any of the energy weapons as they, moreso than a HK CAWS or PDW, were in keeping with the retro-scifi look and feel of Fallout; personally, I just can't imagine 1930s old radio Buck Rogers wasting an alien with a PDW although I can imagine him doing so with some kind of raygun. ***************************************************************************** 4. List of Weapons Old Weapon -> Replaced By Pipe Rifle -> De Lisle carbine 10mm SMG -> M3A1 "Grease Gun" 10mm Pistol -> 1911 Minigun -> RPD Rocket Launcher -> M20 Hunting Rifle -> Winchester Model 70 Deagle -> Winchester 1894 Trapper 14mm Pistol -> M1 Carbine Assault Rifle -> AK 47 Frag Grenade -> mkII Pineapple Sniper Rifle -> M1 Garand 5.56 Pistol -> M1941 Johnson Rifle (insert "Big Johnson" joke here) Assault Shotgun -> Remington M870 HK CAWS -> Remington Model 1100 Tommy Gun -> PPsh-41 That weird version of the FNFAL which was better on full auto -> M14E2 P90 -> Sten Gun Magnum Revolver -> Smith and Wesson Model 29 M3A1 "Grease Gun" -> PPS-43 Bozar -> M1C Sniper Rifle FNFAL -> M14 G11 -> Mauser k98k That futuristic assault rifle -> AKMSU Jackhammer -> Winchester Model 1912 M249 -> BAR Avenger Minigun -> RPK G11E -> FG42-2 Paratroop Rifle Vindicator Minigun -> MG42 Jesus Knife -> Japanese Imperial Army Katana ***************************************************************************** 5. Other features I've attempted to "fix" the problem with hollow points always being the best choice. I replaced "armor piercing" with "full metal jacket" and removed the half damage modifier while at the same time giving heavy penalties to hollow point rounds versus armor. I know this has been done by others in the past but this is my personal attempt. I'd actually appreciate any player feedback about how I did. I always felt that alcohol needed to give the player some benefit since it's probably unrealistic how most Fallout player characters never ever will want to take a drink. I tweaked the effect of alcohol on the player so that now it's at least potentially useful for more than reducing the PER of enemies to 1. Now, every time the player consumes alcohol he will lose PER but gain some hitpoints and some damage resistance with the exact amounts being determined by which alcoholic item was consumed. The drawback is that after some time has passed the player will lose more hitpoints than he gained from drinking the alcohol, which represents a hangover, essentially. It is now possible to die of alcohol poisoning, in effect. I am passionate about history so I tried to have a quick historical blurb in each new weapon description briefly explicating the historical significance of the weapon. I replaced the inventory graphic for beer with an image of the label for Clix malt liquor, which was the first malt liquor and which was created in the US during the Depression. Like I said, I love history. Lisac2k later improved this feature by creating an image of a bottle with the Clix label on it rather than just an image of the label itself. ***************************************************************************** 6. Credits Being a new modmaker I have a lot of people and places to give credit to. First, I must give extra special thanks to Lisac2k from the No Mutants Allowed Forum and survivor.10.forumer.com. Lisac2k personally took the time to walk me through the process of compiling this mod. Without his kind and patient help I literally would never have made it to the stage of releasing. Furthermore, he went through the trouble to actually make new beautiful and detailed graphic for each vintage weapon and ammo type which this mod presents. He freely donated huge amounts of his time and graphical expertise and has acted like a modding mentor towards me. Lisac2k has my deepest gratitude for the extensive kindnesses which he has shown me. Second, I would like to thank .45 ACP from the No Mutants Allowed Forum. It was his weapon mod which inspired me to attempt my own. Furthermore, in version 1.0 of my mod I was using some graphics from his mod, namely the graphics for the AK 47, the Remington M870, the 1911, the M14, and the M60. In version 1.1 they have been replaced by Lisac2k's graphics. Third, I must thank Cubik from the No Mutants Allowed forum. He provided me with editing and graphic conversion software which made it easy for me to make the changes that I wanted to make to Fallout 2. Considering my personal lack of expertise I think it's fair to say that without Cubik's very kind support I would not have been able to make this mod. Fourth, I would like to thank the modding communities at No Mutants Allowed and the Survivor forums for their patient explanations and help to a new and unsavvy modmaker, myself. Fifth, I would like to thank world.guns.ru and Google for helping me get photographs and facts such as weight and Rate of Fire for all the historical weapons I have put into the game. Sixth, I would like to thank Austere Emancipator from Dumpshock Forums for his firearms expertise and for his supportive attitude towards my project. He even got me detailed info on ammo weights! I hope you enjoy this mod, friend, and that you get to blow away the sarge with the personality problem at Navarro with your favorite vintage weapons. ***************************************************************************** 7. Contact If you've got any comments on this mod and would like to share them please shoot me an email at oishi_kuranosuke@hotmail.com. Kindly report any errors you may encounter. Be sure to put the words FALLOUT MOD in the subject line so I don't think your message is spam. Although I'm not specifically planning to revise this mod in the future if I get intelligent suggestions and the like I might do so to the best of my limited ability. Sometimes hotmail can filter out email messages in strange ways so if you don't get a reply you could try PMing Wounded Ronin at forums.dumpshock.com, www.bullshido.net, No Mutants Allowed, or survivor.10.forumer.com. I know how annoying it can be when all the contact points a modder give have expired years ago so I'm giving as much as possible. *****************************************************************************