This mod should work with Patch 2.1 as long as you have its dependencies installed.
You can use this mod without "Mod Settings", but you won't have the Mod Settings menu (duh).

Tired of NPCs eating bullets with nearly no impact to their behavior?
Ped Damage Overhaul tries to solve this problem by making NPCs actually behave like they have been shot (in a "gamey" way, of course^^).


Here is our approach:
Since there are already a couple of damage and balance gameplay mods, we did not touch damage, health, stamina or any other number touched by most of those gameplay overhauls.

Ped Damage Overhaul implements a "Shot Point System".
Each body part (head, torso, right arm, left arm, right leg, left leg) has a counter running in the background. Every shot or hit received adds a configurable amount of "Shot Points" to that body part (depending if flesh, metal, cyberware or armor was hit).
As soon as the "Shot Point Threshold" for that body part is reached, the body part will be crippled or if it's the torso or the head, the NPC will die (all configurable).


Features:
· Everything below is configurable via ingame menu(via "Mod Settings" mod), all those only apply to NPCs, not the player
· Head shots are deadlier (depending on armor, cyberware, etc.)
· Torso shots are deadlier (depending on armor, cyberware, etc.)
· Torso shots cripple enemies consistently (depending on armor, cyberware, etc.)
· Arm shots cripple enemies consistently (depending on armor, cyberware, etc.)
· Leg shots cripple enemies consistently (depending on armor, cyberware, etc.)
· When below a certain percentage of health,enemies enter the "Dying State" (= enemies are down/incapacitated, but still alive - they won't die by limb shots, only head shots or torso shots can get rid of them permanently)
· Fire damage is lethal to enemies, when in "Dying State" (they also burn longer)
· More consistent audio reactions to being shot
· Enemies can be dismembered alive while in "Dying State"


If you do not use any balance or damage mods, it isrecommended that you at least play on "Hard" difficulty (to not make the game easier).

NOTE: Whenever Ped Damage Overhaul 2077 triggers a death (= forces it by script), finishing animations will not play (if that's a deal breaker, you can always configure the mod to not kill enemies by setting the values, e.g. head "Shot Point" kill threshold, high enough so that does not happen).


The authors of this mod (HughJanus and fitfondue) are active on https://www.rdr2mods.com. If you have any questions, please contact them directly.


For those who want to get into script modding themselves: https://github.com/jac3km4/redscript/discussions/66