StealthBoy nerf by MangoMan (Dave Cousineau) v1.0
Installation: Just copy the esp file to your Fallout3/Data directory, and then enable it in the loader, or FOMM.
Description: Removes the sneak buff from stealthboys.
The sneak system seems to have really 2 main detection methods, audibility detection, and visibility detection. Normally, aside from crouching and maybe walking, you have to be in shadow to reduce your visibility detection, but any amount of "Stealth Field" makes you immune to visibility detection. For audibility detection, crouching and walking instead of running helps, but the main thing is your skill at sneaking. In vanilla Fallout 3, by giving you +100 sneak and a stealth field, you are not just invisible, but also perfectly noiseless, or at least close to it. In other words, as long as you are sneaking (trying to be quiet), it's as if you aren't even there so long as you don't physically come into contact with anyone.
So, with this mod, a stealth boy still renders you nigh-invisible, but you must still make an effort to be quiet. The items are still useful, but are no longer perfect, and no longer render your sneak skill irrelevant.
Installation: Just copy the esp file to your Fallout3/Data directory, and then enable it in the loader, or FOMM.
Description: Removes the sneak buff from stealthboys.
The sneak system seems to have really 2 main detection methods, audibility detection, and visibility detection. Normally, aside from crouching and maybe walking, you have to be in shadow to reduce your visibility detection, but any amount of "Stealth Field" makes you immune to visibility detection. For audibility detection, crouching and walking instead of running helps, but the main thing is your skill at sneaking. In vanilla Fallout 3, by giving you +100 sneak and a stealth field, you are not just invisible, but also perfectly noiseless, or at least close to it. In other words, as long as you are sneaking (trying to be quiet), it's as if you aren't even there so long as you don't physically come into contact with anyone.
So, with this mod, a stealth boy still renders you nigh-invisible, but you must still make an effort to be quiet. The items are still useful, but are no longer perfect, and no longer render your sneak skill irrelevant.