Version 0.7.0 is released - mostly tweaks to enemy HP values; tried to make enemies at higher levels still a challenge when given perks like ninja and sandman.
Also created a stand-alone version that no longer requires AWKCR for those who wanted that.

Would you like a more realistic damage model for your survival experience? Not a big fan of bullet sponges? Want armor and weapons that don't arbitrarily weigh a ton? Then this mod may be for you!

This mod has completely overhauled and rebalanced the health model, armor, weapon and ammo weights and some DRs/damages for Fallout 4. I tried to use real-world measurements where possible to redefine the weights of armor, weapons and ammo. And then I made major changes to the damage model like making headshots a 3x multiplier and chest shots a 1.5x, and reduced HP across the board and made player HP based solely on Endurance. More information on all changes found below.

This mod is a collection of independent mods that combine to make a completely new survival experience. If you only want certain parts of what is described below, check out the individual mods in the files section.


Health and damage models changes (Health Model ReBalance):

• Player hit points are primarily based upon the Endurance stat, both the starting amount and amount gained per level. Now the amount gained per level is Endurance * 0.25 and no free hit points, so be very thoughtful when choosing a 1 Endurance build.
• Body part damage multipliers have increased based upon species - head shots, chest shots and spine shots are more lethal for humans, torso shots more lethal for deathclaws, etc. For example, human headshots are now a 3x multiplier - only the best armored or most hardcore should survive a shot to the head.
• Hit point models have been overhauled for all NPCs to reduce bullet sponginess. Not to say it has been removed altogether - high level deathclaws, for example, will still take a beating before going down, just not nearly as much of a beating. NPCs also gain hit points at a much lower rate per level.
  

Armor changes (Armor ReBalance):

• Armor weights are now more aligned with real-world materials and dimensions. For example, leather armor is based upon 1/8-3/16"-thick armor-rated leather, metal armors based upon 1/8"-thick steel.
  

• Armor typically got lighter based upon their materials and dimensions, but not all pieces lost weight. Damage Resistance for some clothing items and combat armor were tweaked.
  

Weapon and ammo changes (Weapon ReBalance):

• Ammo weight changes were fairly small, excepting the missile which is now modeled after an RPG and the mini-nuke which now weigh a good amount less. Fusion cores weigh more.
• Weapon and weapon mods also got lighter for the most part, more in-line with their real-world counterparts. For example, the short double-barrel shotgun weighs closer to 4 lbs. instead of its previous 10 lbs, which is based upon a modern shotgun.
• Automatic weapons now do more damage, more for playability than for realism.
  

The guiding principle behind this set of modifications was to make combat dangerous regardless of which level you have attained, but also keep it within reason so that enemies are still defeatable. I wanted to make it more realistic; no more shooting a raider in the head 5 times, and getting shot in the chest causes some real damage. And making armor and weapons more realistic in weight also happened to be a boon for Survival mode since many things now weigh less.

This mod does not require you to play in Survival mode, it just happens to be targeted at Survival mode players. This mod should work on any difficulty, but I have only done testing on Survival.

Since this mod alters base armor values, it may conflict with other armor-altering mods. It is also compatible with Armorsmith Extended and Concealed Armor. Since this mod uses AWKCR that should improve its compatibility with other armor mods, but there is no guarantee that a given mod won't interfere with this one or vice versa. Let me know if you use a particular armor mod and notice it has conflicts with this mod and I will see what I can do about improving compatibility.

Load order is important - make sure this mod is loaded after AWKCR, Armorsmith Extended, and Concealed Armor, if you have them.

I made some other changes that may or may not suit your tastes - I gave cats a ton of hit points because I was tired of finding dead cats after settlement raids. I also strengthened the traveling vendors in the hopes that they don't die while wandering. Some NPCs still have high HP, but others that could likely be engaged in combat with the player have been rebalanced like all other enemies. I also included some random bug fixes, like making the level 4 bar vendor check for the right shop type in order to show his level 4 inventory, combat armor weights, things like that.

This mod was created using the GECK and cleaned and verified using FO4Edit.

This is a beta release.

I have tested the lower levels quite a bit, but higher levels could use more exploration. I will leave it in beta for a while and use any feedback to further balance the mod. So please, if you decide to try this mod out and find something you don't like or you think should be changed, let me know and I will take it into consideration.


This mod is definitely not for everyone. In fact, I'll be surprised if it gets any downloads or endorsements. But if you're looking for more challenge, this mod will definitely offer some. A few words of advice - groups of 3 or more enemies are not to be trifled with, and the "padded" chest armor mod may be the difference between life and death when it comes to molotovs and grenades.

Credits:
Credit to Wenderer for the FOMOD Creation Tool, allowing simpler install of this mod.
Credit to Valdacil and Gambit77 for the AWKCR and creating a common framework for others to work with.
Credit to Gambit77 et al for the Armorsmith Extended mod, quite a powerful mod.
Credit to Nisas for the Concealed Armor mod, keeping people sexy since 2015.

Check out my other mod(s) -
New Recipes


If you plan on downloading this file and installing manually, here are the instructions -

• Download the file and unzip it.
• Move the correct ReBalance-Armor.esp file to your Fallout 4 Data folder (if you use Steam, the path is -
  C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\Fallout 4\Data)
  
  
  • If you have AWKCR installed, then install ReBalance-Survival-KW.esp
  • If you have Armorsmith Extended installed, then install ReBalance-Survival-AX.esp
  • If you have Concealed Armor installed, then install ReBalance-Survival-CA.esp
  • If you have Armorsmith Extended and Concealed Armor installed, then install ReBalance-Survival-AXCA.esp
  • If you have don't have any of those installed, then install ReBalance-Survival.esp.
    
• Now you have 2 options - manually load the mod or load it inside Fallout 4 -
  
  • Inside Fallout 4 install - Start Fallout 4, select Mods from the main menu, hit the button that says Load Order, scroll until you find ReBalance-Survival.esp and hit the button to enable the mod. It's load order is important, so place it after AWKCR, Armorsmith Extended and Concealed Armor if you have them.
  • Manually install - from the Data folder, go back one folder to the Fallout 4 folder. Use a text editor to open Plugins.txt, and add "*ReBalance-Survival.esp" (or whichever filename you extracted from the package) without the quotes to the file on a new line at the end, save and exit.
    
• Once you're done with either path, that should be all you need for it to be installled. Enjoy!
  

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