Patching New California with Tale of Two Wastelands Impossible?

[MysteryMachineX]

Before I get to my main point, please allow me a moment to explain why I'm doing this. I have modded Fallout: New Vegas A LOT, all over the place. I've only made a few mods, but I love to make the most content-filled game I can. I've always stayed away from Tale of Two Wastelands because I was worried about it making an already unstable game too unstable to play. Also, being the Lone Wanderer contradicted the beginning of Project Brazil, which I loved to use. But now, with Project Brazil finally being released as New California, I began to reconsider using TTW. And then I saw TTW just went through an update, and now I'm beginning to heavily consider using it. So please, excuse me ignorance from not knowing TTW first-hand, at least not yet.

If one could get New California, New Vegas, and TTW (Fallout 3) to work in conjunction, I think that could truly be the most content-filled Fallout game of all. I would want that very much. The reason I'm making this post is because I've been hearing things lately about how a patch between New California and TTW would be "impossible because there's no way that the Lone Wanderer is the Courier is the Star Player". Correct me if I'm wrong, but I do not think that is the case. And I want to propose an idea if anyone wants to use it.

I think the best order to play is New California > Fallout 3 > New Vegas, doing it chronologically from the 2060's to 2070's to 2080's. I think the solution should allow items, companions, perks, and some other info to pass between all of them, i.e. the same save file. The main problem I see is the question: How could the same person be born and raised in Vault 101 AND Vault 18? I propose that the Lone Wanderer is a clone of the Star Player. Here's the narrative. The Star Player (or nerd) grows up in Vault 18, and they do their whole adventure and discovery throughout San Benardino. Once their adventure concludes, they wake up in Vault 101, being born all over again. At first, they are confused, but they can find evidence that they are in fact a clone of the original character.

How could this be done? I know I must be simplifying what could be a considerable amount of scripting work, but I think this could be done relatively simply. First, scripting would be needed to make the transition from New California to Fallout 3. I think everything should be reset except for character info (like name, gender, and race), and the player should retain all perks. But, reset the skills to maintain balance. Then, just place some notes or terminal entries in Vault 101 that explain that the child who will become the Lone Wanderer was a cloning experiment James orchestrated to find a capable person to help ensure Project Purity's safety. Suggest that the Enclave brought the DNA and scanned memories to the Capital when they went east and James found it. Yes, this would make James seem a bit more sinister, but I've always felt his character to have that creepy scientist vibe underneath his loving father depiction.

From there, the player goes from Fallout 3 to New Vegas as TTW already does. (How is this again? A tunnel? A train? After Broken Steel?) After exploring the Capital Wasteland, they show up in the Mojave, being shot in the head by Benny and losing memories of past travels. From there, New Vegas is explored. What would really sell this was if a small location was added to the Mojave (or San Benardino) Wasteland that housed an Enclave lab or a shrine to the Star Player that held their original, pre-clone corpse. Next to it is a chest full of all of the items that they carried, and the Courier is finally able to reclaim them. Some additional notes could be found here for lore.

So, all in all, this is what is needed:
Transition script from end of New California to beginning of Fallout 3
Notes to fill in the cloning lore
An added location in the Mojave for item retrieval and lore

Not much? Maybe? Hopefully?

You can consider this a mod request, but I understand there's some caveats. First of all, I understand patching is neither the responsibility of TTW staff nor New California staff. It can only be done by a volunteer with the know-how. I also understand that New California was just released by their staff, who have claimed it to be just a beta. They also claim that they will institute a transition between New California and New Vegas, just like Project Brazil had. In the past, they claimed the companions would reappear in the Mojave, aged and changed, to be reacquired.

I hope someone would make a patch such as this to combine the games. Ideally, that would need to be done AFTER New California is in a more final state. By that time, there is likely to be a transition in place between New California and New Vegas. Unfortunately, this does nothing to combine all three games, so I would still desire this patch. But I imagine scripting the transition from New California to Fallout 3 from scratch would be far different than just modifying an existing transition from New California to New Vegas, changing it to go to Fallout 3 instead. And, for all I know, TTW could continue updating as well. So maybe a "final state" is ethereal.

This is my idea. What do you all think? Is this doable? My hopes are that New California is finalized soon, but hey, you never know. It may never be. What I do is a patch to combine all three games would be downright awesome. And it can be done without breaking lore. Thank you for your time.

[ArchangelZarael]

.....Holy sweet shit. This is actually kind of beautiful.

[MysteryMachineX]

Thank you! Are you referring to the idea itself or my post?

[jaydawg55]

I like your idea of chronologically playing these games (New California>FO3>New Vegas). That is what I intend to do.

Although I have played a bit with New Vegas, I just bought FO3 and right now I am installing TTW to bring the two games together. I like using a lot of mods. So I am hoping that I can still do that even if it would only for New Vegas since TTW basically runs on the FONV engine. My experience with MO2 is giving me the confidence that a lot of them will work.

If I actually knew how to create mods, I would volunteer for the project. But since I lack those skills, I am going to have to just cheer from the sidelines.

[jaydawg55]

Your idea is a very good one.

[kushxOG]

I second this!!

[kushxOG]

Like this seriously needs to happen!

[LT Albrecht]

a patch between New California and TTW would be impossible

I am afraid lore reasons are the smallest of roadblocks. Unfortunately, the way New California was made would conflict very heavily on a technical level with TTW. Running the two of them side-by-side is a recipe for troubles, ad a patch to make the two coexist would be tantamount to rebuilding New California.

[Trm8r]

a patch between New California and TTW would be impossible

I am afraid lore reasons are the smallest of roadblocks. Unfortunately, the way New California was made would conflict very heavily on a technical level with TTW. Running the two of them side-by-side is a recipe for troubles, ad a patch to make the two coexist would be tantamount to rebuilding New California.

https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/65839
I finished an NC playthrough with TTW version 2.9 and it was fine. I had a small bug with hardcore needs after returning to Vegas but it's been fixed. I played for several hours afterwords, both world spaces, and haven't seen any problems.

[LT Albrecht]

a patch between New California and TTW would be impossible

I am afraid lore reasons are the smallest of roadblocks. Unfortunately, the way New California was made would conflict very heavily on a technical level with TTW. Running the two of them side-by-side is a recipe for troubles, ad a patch to make the two coexist would be tantamount to rebuilding New California.

https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/65839
I finished an NC playthrough with TTW version 2.9 and it was fine. I had a small bug with hardcore needs after returning to Vegas but it's been fixed. I played for several hours afterwords, both world spaces, and haven't seen any problems.

You got very lucky, that's all I'll say. Put it this way - it's hard enough nobody on either team has stepped up to do it, and that patch has become an internal meme. I'm not going to be mean about it, I don't doubt the guy who made it had good intentions, but it's like a bandaid over a crack in a glacier. It does something, but the problems go far deeper.