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About this mod
Adds the perk Stealth Technician, which gives a toggled stealth field that costs AP.
- Permissions and credits
This is made with game balance in mind.
Requires:
- This mod requires Fallout Script Extender for it to do anything at all. Obviously, this makes it incompatible with the Polish, Russian, or Direct2Drive versions of the game, or anyone who just doesn't want to run FOSE.
- This requires archive invalidation for the icon to work. Fallout Mod Manager will do that for you, and I suggest using it anyway if you're going to do any modding on this game.
Reason for making this:
As much as I think just playing around with the Chinese Stealth Armor is fun sometimes, I don't use it 'for real' because the thing is overpowered beyond reason. Fallout 3's engine treats the chameleon effect very differently from Oblivion. All chameleon effects are now treated the same regardless of their value. If you have Silent Running and a silent weapon, then sneaking with any amount of stealth field makes you impossible to detect beyond CAUTION stage unless you physically run into the enemy.
This makes permanent stealth fields way overpowered. But this is a permanent stealth field mod that attempts to find game balance, so you've got to be wondering what I could have done to make this useful but not overpowered. Stealth fields are a powerful effect that used to be balanced by the relative rarity of stealth boys and their temporary effects. But what if I don't necessarily need a full two minutes at a time? What if I just want to quickly sneak in and kill a couple of enemies? In such cases I'm certainly not going to waste my rare stealth boy, so I found myself almost never using the things. I figured there had to be another way to balance such power and also make it more accessible.
This mod is an attempt to make stealth fields used, but with a cost.
What this does:
I've added two new perks called Stealth Technician (XX0022A0) and Science of Stealth (XX0043E7). Both perks have their own custom icons, which were created from other game icons so they don't look out-of-place. Stealth Technician is a level 18 perk that requires you have at least 80 in sneak and science, so it has fairly high requirements. Taking it incorporates some of the stealth boy's effect into your Pip-Boy so you can use a stealth field at any time. The default button to activate your stealth is M.
This is crap for the default control scheme because the M key is far from WASD which makes it hard to press. I just set it as the default because I don't know of any other mods that use M, so it shouldn't conflict. Obviously you're allowed to change the button from crappy M. Hold down your currently assigned button for several seconds to reassign it. I suggest using a button near your sneak key. If using the default Left Ctrl for sneak, then Left Alt works very well for this because it's so easy to hit. Aim/Block defaults to Left Alt, but since Aim/Block is on Right Mouse Button too, I suggest you stick Aim/Block somewhere else on the keyboard and use Left Alt for this.
Another change from Oblivion's engine is that chameleon has no effect at all unless you're sneaking. Because of this, your AP will not drain while this stealth field is active as long as you're standing. It only drains while sneaking (crouching). I've taken an example from Crysis on how to handle the AP drain. When standing still, the AP drain is fairly slow (but you'll certainly notice it). If you're walking, it's a lot faster. The AP drain is very fast while sneak running. I've been testing for a while and I'm pretty happy with the current AP drain values. I've also found some fun ways to use this.
Your AP won't last extremely long even with Action Boy. You should have just enough time to sneak into a camp from around a corner and sneak attack a target. But this can be used in other ways too. Because the AP drain is mild when standing still, you can sit and wait, planning true sneak attacks as enemies cross by you. You can also mix the two. Try sneak attacking, then hiding behind objects to recharge AP, only stealthing if enemies get close to seeing you. For longer stealth, try mixing in VATS sneak attacks using Grim Reaper's Sprint or take the Nerves of Steel perk with the Unofficial Patch's fix for it. This perk really fits well with the game and has some great synergy.
By the way, this is not meant to replace Stealth Boys. If you want to sneak through a heavily guarded area without any fighting, you should still keep a few Stealth Boys on you. The AP burn gives Stealth Technician a very short duration, and I didn't include one of the Stealth Boy's coolest features: when activated, a Stealth Boy stops all combat actions on the player. You can get into a fight while it's active, but it stops anything that was happening when it's turned on. This and the Stealth Boy's longer duration mean that Stealth Technician is meant to be used as a supplement to the Stealth Boy, not as a replacement.
Revisions:
Version 1.2 has added the Science of Stealth perk to improve your stealth field power. I had to make it a new perk rather than a second rank because ranks can't have separate requirements from each other. Because it's a different perk, it requires you have the original Stealth Technician, be at least level 26, and have 100 science.* This means to take it legitimately you'd need to have Broken Steel or another mod that increases the level cap. You can just add it with the console if you can't go above level 20 (XX0043E7). Science of Stealth removes the increase in AP burn for movement, so your AP will always drain as if you were standing still.
*Perks get a little buggy when they have longer requirements (totally not my fault, so no I can't fix it). The perk will only list level 26 and 100 science as its requirements in-game, but I assure you it does require Stealth Technician too. It doesn't do anything if you don't have Stealth Technician anyway.
Version 1.1 simply renamed the files within to remove any chance of this conflicting.
Install:
Place the .esp in your data folder (for me this is C:\Program Files (x86)\Bethesda Softworks\Fallout 3\Data and I'd think your data folder would be something similar). The Fallout 3 Launcher or Fallout Mod Manager will then need to be used to activate it.
For the icons to work, you'll need to place both of the .dds files in Data\Textures\Interface\Icons\pipboyimages\Perks
To uninstall, please first use the console to remove both perks (XX0022A0 and XX0043E7) from you if you have them, then deactivate or delete the .esp file. The .dds files can be left if you don't care.
Conflicts:
This adds all new files, so it shouldn't conflict with anything. I also stuck the default button on M because I don't think anything else uses that button. Version 1.1 has renamed the files to use less generic-sounding names (they used to include things like StealthFieldScript and StealthFieldMessage, for example), so there's basically no chance any other mod uses the same files names now, which reduces the possibility of this causes conflicts to pretty much nothing. I just stuck "Sushi" at the beginning of all the files names, so you can actually use "Sushi" to find the files in the GECK now if you want.
Personal Advertising
I've made a few mods now, so I might as well advertise them a little. These are all made with game balance in-mind.
Night Person Night Vision
Changes Night Person's effect into a toggled night vision.
Anti-Robotics Tesla Cannon
This reworks the Tesla Cannon to be specialized for use against robots or power armored soldiers.
Anti-Robotics ShockSword
This reworks Jingwei's Shocksword to be specialized for use against robots or power armored soldiers.
Critical Covert Ops
The normal effect for Covert Ops is underwhelming. This changes it to a +15% bonus to sneak attacks.
Ash and Goo Piles Be Gone
Stops disintegration/gooification effects just before they replace the corpse with a pile.
Requires:
- This mod requires Fallout Script Extender for it to do anything at all. Obviously, this makes it incompatible with the Polish, Russian, or Direct2Drive versions of the game, or anyone who just doesn't want to run FOSE.
- This requires archive invalidation for the icon to work. Fallout Mod Manager will do that for you, and I suggest using it anyway if you're going to do any modding on this game.
Reason for making this:
As much as I think just playing around with the Chinese Stealth Armor is fun sometimes, I don't use it 'for real' because the thing is overpowered beyond reason. Fallout 3's engine treats the chameleon effect very differently from Oblivion. All chameleon effects are now treated the same regardless of their value. If you have Silent Running and a silent weapon, then sneaking with any amount of stealth field makes you impossible to detect beyond CAUTION stage unless you physically run into the enemy.
This makes permanent stealth fields way overpowered. But this is a permanent stealth field mod that attempts to find game balance, so you've got to be wondering what I could have done to make this useful but not overpowered. Stealth fields are a powerful effect that used to be balanced by the relative rarity of stealth boys and their temporary effects. But what if I don't necessarily need a full two minutes at a time? What if I just want to quickly sneak in and kill a couple of enemies? In such cases I'm certainly not going to waste my rare stealth boy, so I found myself almost never using the things. I figured there had to be another way to balance such power and also make it more accessible.
This mod is an attempt to make stealth fields used, but with a cost.
What this does:
I've added two new perks called Stealth Technician (XX0022A0) and Science of Stealth (XX0043E7). Both perks have their own custom icons, which were created from other game icons so they don't look out-of-place. Stealth Technician is a level 18 perk that requires you have at least 80 in sneak and science, so it has fairly high requirements. Taking it incorporates some of the stealth boy's effect into your Pip-Boy so you can use a stealth field at any time. The default button to activate your stealth is M.
This is crap for the default control scheme because the M key is far from WASD which makes it hard to press. I just set it as the default because I don't know of any other mods that use M, so it shouldn't conflict. Obviously you're allowed to change the button from crappy M. Hold down your currently assigned button for several seconds to reassign it. I suggest using a button near your sneak key. If using the default Left Ctrl for sneak, then Left Alt works very well for this because it's so easy to hit. Aim/Block defaults to Left Alt, but since Aim/Block is on Right Mouse Button too, I suggest you stick Aim/Block somewhere else on the keyboard and use Left Alt for this.
Another change from Oblivion's engine is that chameleon has no effect at all unless you're sneaking. Because of this, your AP will not drain while this stealth field is active as long as you're standing. It only drains while sneaking (crouching). I've taken an example from Crysis on how to handle the AP drain. When standing still, the AP drain is fairly slow (but you'll certainly notice it). If you're walking, it's a lot faster. The AP drain is very fast while sneak running. I've been testing for a while and I'm pretty happy with the current AP drain values. I've also found some fun ways to use this.
Your AP won't last extremely long even with Action Boy. You should have just enough time to sneak into a camp from around a corner and sneak attack a target. But this can be used in other ways too. Because the AP drain is mild when standing still, you can sit and wait, planning true sneak attacks as enemies cross by you. You can also mix the two. Try sneak attacking, then hiding behind objects to recharge AP, only stealthing if enemies get close to seeing you. For longer stealth, try mixing in VATS sneak attacks using Grim Reaper's Sprint or take the Nerves of Steel perk with the Unofficial Patch's fix for it. This perk really fits well with the game and has some great synergy.
By the way, this is not meant to replace Stealth Boys. If you want to sneak through a heavily guarded area without any fighting, you should still keep a few Stealth Boys on you. The AP burn gives Stealth Technician a very short duration, and I didn't include one of the Stealth Boy's coolest features: when activated, a Stealth Boy stops all combat actions on the player. You can get into a fight while it's active, but it stops anything that was happening when it's turned on. This and the Stealth Boy's longer duration mean that Stealth Technician is meant to be used as a supplement to the Stealth Boy, not as a replacement.
Revisions:
Version 1.2 has added the Science of Stealth perk to improve your stealth field power. I had to make it a new perk rather than a second rank because ranks can't have separate requirements from each other. Because it's a different perk, it requires you have the original Stealth Technician, be at least level 26, and have 100 science.* This means to take it legitimately you'd need to have Broken Steel or another mod that increases the level cap. You can just add it with the console if you can't go above level 20 (XX0043E7). Science of Stealth removes the increase in AP burn for movement, so your AP will always drain as if you were standing still.
*Perks get a little buggy when they have longer requirements (totally not my fault, so no I can't fix it). The perk will only list level 26 and 100 science as its requirements in-game, but I assure you it does require Stealth Technician too. It doesn't do anything if you don't have Stealth Technician anyway.
Version 1.1 simply renamed the files within to remove any chance of this conflicting.
Install:
Place the .esp in your data folder (for me this is C:\Program Files (x86)\Bethesda Softworks\Fallout 3\Data and I'd think your data folder would be something similar). The Fallout 3 Launcher or Fallout Mod Manager will then need to be used to activate it.
For the icons to work, you'll need to place both of the .dds files in Data\Textures\Interface\Icons\pipboyimages\Perks
To uninstall, please first use the console to remove both perks (XX0022A0 and XX0043E7) from you if you have them, then deactivate or delete the .esp file. The .dds files can be left if you don't care.
Conflicts:
This adds all new files, so it shouldn't conflict with anything. I also stuck the default button on M because I don't think anything else uses that button. Version 1.1 has renamed the files to use less generic-sounding names (they used to include things like StealthFieldScript and StealthFieldMessage, for example), so there's basically no chance any other mod uses the same files names now, which reduces the possibility of this causes conflicts to pretty much nothing. I just stuck "Sushi" at the beginning of all the files names, so you can actually use "Sushi" to find the files in the GECK now if you want.
Personal Advertising
I've made a few mods now, so I might as well advertise them a little. These are all made with game balance in-mind.
Night Person Night Vision
Changes Night Person's effect into a toggled night vision.
Anti-Robotics Tesla Cannon
This reworks the Tesla Cannon to be specialized for use against robots or power armored soldiers.
Anti-Robotics ShockSword
This reworks Jingwei's Shocksword to be specialized for use against robots or power armored soldiers.
Critical Covert Ops
The normal effect for Covert Ops is underwhelming. This changes it to a +15% bonus to sneak attacks.
Ash and Goo Piles Be Gone
Stops disintegration/gooification effects just before they replace the corpse with a pile.