What mods can improve PA?

[CVB_Taihou]

I'm going to use Immersive PA by xax34hah and Advanced recon patches by Darthbdaman.

What other mods can improve PA, other than these two?

 

I don't want to use PPA and PADO.

[jlf65]

Well, I was going to recommend PPA, but since you don't want to use it, well...

Personally, I prefer PPA to IPA. Some people like using them both together, but I personally like just PPA all by itself... well, by itself with one mod to how you get the power armor perk, of course. I released a jump boost add-on for PPA like the jet pack in FO4, but it does require PPA.

[CVB_Taihou]

PPA is better, but it is pretty broken, isn't it? Besides, xax will update his IPA eventually. 

I'll just stick to Pupp's Armor specialization perks, IPA, DT/DR adder and Advanced recon patches

[jlf65]

I wouldn't say PRETTY broken... just a few quirks. The only thing I noticed were a lack of repair choices (which I made and posted a patch mod to handle), and you sometimes have trouble keeping the under-armor equipped while the armor is equipped. This mostly only shows on the under-armor helmet. You also SOMETIMES get an issue with looted armor instead of purchased armor. The reason on that one is because NPC armor is different from PC armor in PPA. It has some scripts that should convert NPC armor into the proper PC armor the first time you equip it, but those scripts are slightly quirky, and may wind up with duplicates of armor (you basically wind up with both the NPC and PC versions of the armor). I find it better to not use NPC armor - sell it and buy PC armor and you'll have a lot less trouble all around. Ditto for under-armor - purchase it for PC under-armor.

[CVB_Taihou]

If you want to use PPA then use it. But Roy said its BSA is broken on the Discord. 

I hope DB comes back to modding.....

[H1ms3lf]

PPA has some nice stuff but overall its a bit too much overpowered gameplay IMHO, not an issue excluse to it (PPA just escalates it), PAs in general need to be toned down a bit or the game difficulty can be "told" as before and after PAs.



I've had previous trouble with PPA, Fallen Brothers (those raiders wearing outcast PA) that are untargetable/invincible. Like, they appear in the game and work okay except that you can't damage or kill or see the display of their name and healthbar.

Nailed it down to a script but I have very little understanding of scripting. Powered Power Armor.esp -> PPANPCMonitorScript, lines 70 - 88

[url=https://postimg.org/image/40svmayyx/][img]https://s12.postimg.org/40svmayyx/91947616.jpg[/img][/url]

removing line 80

rContainer.setscale PPAPAScale

seems to fix the issue, altough I dunno what side effects it could cause.



Also had PAs auto-firing (every second) those close range explosions, among other minor issues, but nothing compares to the sheer scandal of the unkillable brother xD



Hey jlf65... since you seem such a nice and elegant fella  (shameless ass kissing!)

Could you somehow be persuaded to "repack" a PPA version with some modifications? ^^

(Would do it myself the day I learn scripting, which may never happen :P)

[CVB_Taihou]

http://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/63160/?

 

This looks pretty cool. But it looks like it conflicts with PN and Advanced recon patch.

[jlf65]

[quote=H1ms3lf]PPA has some nice stuff but overall its a bit too much overpowered gameplay IMHO, not an issue excluse to it (PPA just escalates it), PAs in general need to be toned down a bit or the game difficulty can be "told" as before and after PAs.



I've had previous trouble with PPA, Fallen Brothers (those raiders wearing outcast PA) that are untargetable/invincible. Like, they appear in the game and work okay except that you can't damage or kill or see the display of their name and healthbar.

Nailed it down to a script but I have very little understanding of scripting. Powered Power Armor.esp -> PPANPCMonitorScript, lines 70 - 88

removing line 80

rContainer.setscale PPAPAScale

seems to fix the issue, altough I dunno what side effects it could cause.



Also had PAs auto-firing (every second) those close range explosions, among other minor issues, but nothing compares to the sheer scandal of the unkillable brother xD



Hey jlf65... since you seem such a nice and elegant fella  (shameless ass kissing!)

Could you somehow be persuaded to "repack" a PPA version with some modifications? ^^

(Would do it myself the day I learn scripting, which may never happen :P)

[/quote]

Yeah, PPA can make folks tougher, which means you need to get some PA yourself! What it comes down to then is being able to maintain your power armor - I always find myself short on repair parts for the PA, which degrades its ability to keep me alive. You also need heavier weapons, which degrade faster, and again it becomes a race to keep your weapons repaired as well as your PA. Like on gopher's Let's Play videos, folks in PA really need head shots with a GOOD weapon to take them down reasonably quickly. And that's really how it should be! Why would anyone use PA if it didn't completely protect you from small arms fire?

As to putting something together, I still need to find my Windows Install DVD and reinstall. I haven't been in too much of a rush as I've also been waiting on TTW v3. But if I run across my install disc, I'll probably set back up like I was. What were you looking for as to mods to PPA? Some things are easy, like changing DT/DR levels, or adding to repair lists. If you want wimpy tin-foil PAs, I can make a mod for that.

As to that piece of the script you hi-lited - normally, PA are the same size as the people are regularly, which means that putting on PA means you shrank for some weird reason. PA should be bigger than the person wearing it, and when you get into the armor, you should be a bit off the ground and looking down on anyone not also in PA. So that part of the script makes anyone wearing PA a littler taller to simulate how you'd be bigger inside the PA. Actor.SetScale <fp> sets the scaling on the base height of an actor. 1.0 means you'll be the base height. 0.8 would make an adult the same height as a kid. 1.08 would make you the same height as a Nord in Skyrim. I forget what PPA sets the scale to while wearing PA. It's something you can turn off in the MCM.

[H1ms3lf]

[quote=jlf65]

What were you looking for as to mods to PPA? Some things are easy, like changing DT/DR levels, or adding to repair lists. If you want wimpy tin-foil PAs, I can make a mod for that.

[/quote]



Is there a way to tell NPCs what they can repair and what they cannot? I often set the repair ability of most NPCs to be quite high, after all thats what they do for a living and I'm paying :P. Obviously the most able (relatively) NPCs like caravan/store people would still be unable to repair PAs 100%. In a recent playthrough I would mostly go to NPCs for repairs, had almost no trouble since money loses importance, its mostly the issue of traveling to the NPCs, altough the odd day full of combat can wear down PA a lot.



I believe the best way to control PA is to restrict player advance by creating tiers of PA technology and relating it to science & repair, also reducing DR a bit and how it scales between models (thats easy on Xedit). Does DR also automatically reduces damage from fire? Is there electrical or plasma resist? (some stuff claims to reduce damage from energy weapons) I need to proper learn damage types and resists ^^

There are some alternative ways to make PAs worse without resorting to a huge drop in DR, like penalties to overall player speed, stealth, AGI on armors and PER and CHA for helmets, etc.



The PPA mod has a lot of stuff and concepts done quite right, it just needs tweaking around in most areas. I'll try to write a bit of what I think and send to you via PM, otherwise it would be quite a long reading =]

[jlf65]

As far as I know, repair is just a script. It should be possible to write a new repair script for certain NPCs to change how/what they repair. That's actually a good idea - make someone like Tinker Joe great at repairing robots, but not as good with power armor, and lousy at guns and armor... or something like that.

DR has nothing to do with resists to anything but damage. There are separate resists for things like shock, fire, cold (unlabeled in the game, but still there), and poison. Certain things in the game boosts those permanently or for a short time; for example, the Ant Might/Sight perk boosts fire resist 25% permanently. I would guess that plasma would need both shock and fire resist - one or the other would only partially shield you.

You're right about PA vulnerabilities - something like making PA very susceptible to shock would be logical, and pretty easy. You have some good ideas on things that would be great as an overhaul patch for PA in general. Most PA mods like PPA do give debuffs to stuff like stealth and agility and whatnot, although they may also have perks you can take/earn that give back some of that. For example, PPA has special upgrades to the armor you can buy the make the armor more agile, and others that improve your stealth.