May be a bit early to really announce that as imminent, but it's the next version, so yeah...
Anyhow, doing some scripting this afternoon; as the petulant whining accusing me of having that house mod pulled has already lost its amusement.
I keep forgetting how horrifically boring scripting is.
Still, I had a couple good ideas today that I felt bore inclusion into the test package.
1) I came up with a way to get the companions' hardcore mode to maintain compatibility with any overhaul mods you might be running. That is, if you run a mod that changes for example the dehydration rate; your companions will use the same rate you do, rather than the one from the vanilla game. This should at least help keep everything straight and even between your and your companions' needs.
2) I couldn't find any way to in-line increase the consumables' effects for NPCs in a way similar to how it works for the player. So, I copped out a bit and expanded to three sets of food/drink dialogue. One for Survival below 50; one for 50 to 75; one for 75+. That's the companion's Survival skill, not the player's. Item effectiveness will be determined on a per-companion basis; so companions with Survival tagged will get more benefit than ones without.
I also added almost-complete effects to the consumables -- I say almost complete, because there's little point in adding rads to an NPC since it isn't tracked for NPCs, and can't affect them anyway -- for example, Barrel Cactus fruit will reduce both hunger and thirst; but on the flip side, Pork 'n Beans will reduce hunger but increase thirst. The effects are again, the same for the player; so they won't be massive, but it will be something to keep in mind -- you won't want to be loading up on Pork 'n Beans and Potato Crisps if you and your companions are low of water and far from home.
The only exception is going to be Sunset Sarsaparilla and Nuka Cola -- they'll be coded to reduce companions' thirst similarly (but not as effectively) to water. It's pretty silly that neither drink in the base game quenches thirst; but I'm not out to overhaul the base HC system here, so we'll have to settle for companions acting right.
I also remembered to have the companion save the cap when you give them either soft drink.
I have to say, while certainly not my most advanced or impressive work, I am fairly pleased with how this is coming together.
Now, if I can just fight down the urge to add stripper-dancing to the sandbox packages for all female companions...
Saving the bottle caps... I wouldn't have thought of that I think.
ReplyDeleteWhat's wrong with stripper-dancing?
OOH! You could have them use the saved bottle caps as pasties; I don't think I've seen a mod do that yet!
Nice to hear that it is coming along basically the way you want it to. I might have to update my NCCS companion once you release this, but that is what I get for making companion mods...
ReplyDeleteNow, why on Earth would you not want to add the stripper-dancing to the sandbox packages? I vote for implementation ;)
+1 for stripper-dancing
ReplyDeleteSeriously though, I wanted to pop in and say thank you for the NCCS tools. It's a damn good base to make my personal companion on and the guide was extremely helpful.
"Seriously though, I wanted to pop in and say thank you for the NCCS tools. It's a damn good base to make my personal companion on and the guide was extremely helpful. "
ReplyDeleteThat's what we shoot for here at NosCo. Glad you like.
another vote for the stripper dancing here. :)
ReplyDeleteAny new/interesting developments on the NCCS Hardcore Companions?
ReplyDelete"Any new/interesting developments on the NCCS Hardcore Companions?"
ReplyDeleteIf by new developments, you mean "Have you gotten sidetracked on a new writing project involving Skyrim and completely forgotten FONV even exists?" then yes.
If you mean actual progress...
LOOK! THE GOODYEAR BLIMP!
I understand that. I've spent more time than I care to admit on Skyrim.
ReplyDeleteLOOK! THE GOODYEAR BLIMP!
It's a bird! It's a plane! NO! It's a backwards flying dragon!
I'll personally never update if it means loosing my backwards flying dragons.
It's not that I don't want to get the stuff out to you guys... it's just...
ReplyDeleteHave you ever done any dialogue creation in a Gamebryo title?
It is one of the most godawfully boring things life has to offer.
I do need to return to it, though. Hardcore mode and a couple other things are slated to be added for what I feel will be a complete v1.0 release. Not sure whether HC will be released as an interim v0.9 when it's done, before I move on to the other stuff.
I tried scripting in Oblivion once, then I wanted to drive an arrow into my eye.
ReplyDeleteMost of us appreciate what you offer for free. This little blurb actually got me kinda stoked for the next release.
I was curious about it because I enjoy the hardcore mode since it offers more of a challenge and always felt it was a cop-out that along with being my immortal junk hauling donkeys, my companions didn't have to suffer the same way I do.
Yeah, I never liked that companion NPCs didn't have needs to keep up with in hardcore mode, either. It just turned out to be somewhat complicated to implement.
ReplyDeleteI'd say I wish I had another scripter or two to help me out; but truth be told I've done the team scripting thing before and it doesn't work well. My mind works differently enough from other peoples' that my scripts don't mesh well with most other folks'.
I'm also thinking that for v1.0 I'm going to have to break down and actually promote it in the Nexus forums a bit. An official topic not tied to the file entry and whatnot.