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# Intro #
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I love the gauss rifle, but the VATS damage bug was very annoying, specially when sniping deathclaws who closed on me in split second time. I ended up dropping the gauss for the Anti-Material Rifle. Yesterday, when browsing for solutions in the nexus, i found only two:
- newvegas.nexusmods.com/mods/37677 : removes the impact explosion, and solves the problem, but that explosion is part of what the gauss rifle is, a big price to pay for the fix.
- fallout3.nexusmods.com/mods/7202 : for fallout 3, gives the correct damages back through scripting and keeps the impact effect, but has many drawbacks. Such as only counting 1 sneak critical per "attack session" and assuming that the bodypart data is the same for all (due to scripting limitations).
So I went out to see if I could make my own fix, and voila. I hope its a bug free bugfix :P

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# Description #
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http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Gauss_rifle_(Fallout:_New_Vegas):
"The gauss rifle in Fallout: New Vegas is almost identical to the one found in Fallout 3, and thus suffers from similar bugs, including the one that affects its damage output when fired via V.A.T.S. When used in V.A.T.S., any hit will do exactly 95.244% of the maximum damage, regardless of enemy damage threshold, critical hits, or sneak attack critical. This means, that with an energy weapons skill of 100, the gauss rifle shot will do 114.29 points of damage with every V.A.T.S. shot. This is still lower than free aiming, and no bonuses are applied to head shots. The damage bug is related to the gauss rifle's "explosive" visual effect, which affects its V.A.T.S. damage calculations. Removing the effect via user-created mods is currently the only known solution to the issue. Notably, the displacer glove, which applies a similar visual effect on impact, is not affected by this bug. [verified]"

What this fix attempts to do is implement the impact explosion of the gauss rifle through other means. Because the way it is currently implemented causes a bug in VATS. So what I did was remove the explosion from the gauss projectile and add it through an effect script, associated to a new effect in the rifle, that places the explosion upon impact.
Tested it a little and it seems to be working ok, with the correct bonus damage to the head, stealth critical damage and DT taken into account, and the explosion placed correctly (though it appears to have some lag against fast moving targets :( )

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# Installation #
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Just drop this .esp in the Data folder, tick it when launching and you're done.

If you are using one of the gauss rifles in your saved game, remember to drop it and pick it up for the changes to take effect.

Update 13-04-2013:
Two new optional files were added for the two great weapon mods out there, they are merged patches. Download only the right one for you, and the main file of this fix. Then activate them.
Your load order should look something like this:

FalloutNV.esm
...
Weapon Mod Expansion.esm (if applicable)
...
Weapon Mod Expansion.esp/WeaponModsExpanded.esp
...
Gauss Rifle Fix v0.9b.esp
GaussRifleVATSfix-(WMX/WME)merged-1.0.esp

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# Recommended Mods #
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YCS 186 Gauss Rifle Fix by Jahga : http://newvegas.nexusmods.com/mods/37186
- If you are going to use the YCS 186 more, fix her looks :)

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# Incompatibilities #
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Unfortunately, every mod that changes the gauss rifle (and its unique) and the gauss projectile.

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# Special Thanks #
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Obsidian/Bethesda for this awsome game and the GECK
blade9722 and neuralgia whose descriptive fixes inspired me to make mine