PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT:
Our main avenue of collaboration these days is Discord so if you have problems to report or questions about what functionality is intentional or need help patching things, the best avenue for that is #bearington-labs on the GreslinGames Discord.

The 1.0.3 update is hopefully the last update, containing a variety of bug fixes and QoL/consistency improvements, many of them provided by the marvelous Equo#5609. The combat module had no changes so it's staying at 1.0.2.


# Motivation

Damn Apocalypse was initially created to fix the perceived shortcomings of all loot overhauls we currently have. We (that's us, BabyBearington and payl0ad) actually needed a proper hardcore loot and economy overhaul as a functional replacement for Horizons loot/economy overhaul but it soon became apparent that this would become a large project that aims to completely fix loot distribution and the in-game economy. We ended up going much further than Horizon (conceptually) in regards to loot.

As we still weren't satisfied with some gameplay systems we then made more modules. Those are Power Armor scarcity, Combat and Radiation survival.
Using multiple modules is absolutely encouraged but not necessary. All modules can be used on their own, though the Combat plugin alone probably isn't worth it. Damn Apocalypse lends itself very well to "fully custom" survival mod loadouts. There are a few configurables - with a configuration Holotape - for each module, but by and large no aspects of modules can be turned off completely, for technical reasons.

# Overview / Design Goals


Loot / Economy module:

• Loot is now location-aware. You will find more medicine in hospitals, more ammunition in military bases, more scrap in industrial locations, more food in inhabitated places.
• Finding anything in unlocked containers is somewhat rare, finding anything useful in unlocked containers is even more rare. To counteract the seeming absence of items, around a dozen of new trash items have been added.
• Pre-war and post-war locations/containers are distinguished by their loot lists. No more Jet in Safes locked 200 years ago. You know, before Jet was even a thing.
• Hand-placed loot is not a guaranteed item X at position Y. There is a chance for any hand-placed food item to spawn a trash item instead. The specific item is also randomized to a degree.
• There are no completely useless items. Everything has some use.
• DLC items are loosely integrated into the Commonwealth where it makes sense. This means things like Vim! in the Commonwealth, or DLC weapons showing up on normal Commonwealth Raiders.
• Doctor service rates are raised considerably and bartering is generally less favorable for the player.
• All crafting recipes that would enable easily farming a lot of bottlecaps have been nerfed to the point where they do not break the economy anymore. This includes things like Jet or Purified Water.
• Lockpicking is more rewarding. Locked containers are the most reliable way to find useful (non-scrap) items. Lockpicking is also a bit harder now. Non-Locksmith characters should consider installing a mod that enables alternative lock opening methods.
• Acquiring higher level weaponry is less reliable, making lower level guns (like Pipe Rifles) more useful. Enemies can drop broken, non-functional weapons with a 1 in 4 chance to drop a functional gun. Melee weapons do not spawn broken. Broken weapons often have valuable components.
• Animals will not drop any meat directly. Their corpse has to be harvested with a Hunting Kit for the meat to appear (see videos). Hunting Kits can be crafted at the Chem Workbench or bought at stores.
• Getting fresh produce from crops is not guaranteed - crops will randomly return spoiled or unripe fruits and vegetables which have different applications than fresh ones. The way this is done prevents the "<Crop> added" UI notification from appearing, this is a known limitation.
• Fusion cores will generally not be fully charged, except if bought from a vendor. Fusion generators will actually turn off when the FC is removed (the flickering light will stay off).
• Obviously, everything that's not scrap is moderately to very rare. This includes ammo, medicine, food, water and chems. Location-aware loot can be abused to counteract this. Useful things can generally be found where they are not surprising to be found.
• Consumable items that come in containers should not have their containers simply vanish into thin air on consumption. Packaged foods, drinks and chems now have a chance to return a trash item. The chance is higher if the player has the "Scrapper" perk.
  

Power Armor module:

• There is no plausible explanation why the X-01 Power Armor even shows up in the game on regular loot tables. It is considered a prototype and thus is not trivial to acquire. There is exactly one set of X-01 armor plates remaining in the game, split among 6 newly crafted unmarked locations in the Commonwealth (3), Far Harbor (2) and Nuka-World(1). Look for crashed vertibirds.
• There is no plausible explanation why T-60 is regularly found on generic Power Armor frames. Only Brotherhood of Steel and Atom Cats get to use the latest and spiffiest toys. Outside of the BoS and the Atom Cats, there is exactly one set of T-60 armor plates remaining in the game in a very well guarded location.
• Raider Power Armor spawns as usual in some Raider camps, in Raider-type Boss Trunks and on high level random Raiders.
• Regular military Power Armor - that being T-45 and T-51 plates - can be found at Power Armor vendors (Arturo, Atom Cats, any Level3+ Settlement Armor or Weapons Vendor, Proctor Teagan) and in military location Boss Trunks. Or looted off enemies, naturally.
• Operational Power Armor frames are hard to get in the first place. Most frames found in the worldspace without any barrier to them have been disabled. Those that remain have to be fixed up into an operational state again (see videos). This is locked behind perk/SPECIAL requirements with the option of finding a magazine that unlocks this. There is a very limited number of operational frames with some plates on them remaining, in places where it makes sense for them to be. You can still buy a frame at Power Armor vendors for a very prohibitive price.
• "When Freedom Calls" will no longer let the player keep the power armor found on the Museum of Freedom. The Power Armor frame will still play a part in the quest but will be taken from the player upon quest completion.
• Repairing military-grade armor plates requires a new component to make Raider armor plates more attractive: West-Tek Proprietary Screws. Said component (or rather, its crafting recipe) is locked behind a Service Manual magazine. The screws can also be bought at Power Armor vendors in small quantities at a high price. Service manuals can be found in workshop areas in military installations, randomly generated, with much higher chances in locked containers.
• Armor Plate upgrades have had their costs adjusted and some cosmetic changes and value shifts so armor plate upgrades feel more plausible.
• Promotional Armor Plates in Nuka-World have been re-statted to be only Props. Their paint jobs have been added as unlockable regular paint jobs for regular armor plates. They're more useful as a scarecrow or for decorational purposes now. The custom painted T-51s in Far Harbor are now both accessible during/after the late main quest in Far Harbor.
  

Radiation module:

• Adds a second gameplay layer to the radiation system, for the player only. Radiation now comes twofold: Ingested Radioactive Particles (short: IRA) and Tissue damage from radiation exposure (short: RAD, this is the vanilla RADs you know). Negative IRA values in the PipBoy are "damage": A negative display value will damage the player for that amount, which adds the same amount of IRA to the ActorValue.
• Accumulating IRAs will cause a disease-like effect that periodically causes RAD damage to the player. IRA is accumulated from food, water, weather, and other hazards.
• Accumulating RADs will cause disease-like radiation poisoning effects that mimic Acute Radiation Poisoning Syndrome.
• Radiation medicine is now split into 4 items: RadAway to purge IRAs and cure radiation poisoning; MutAway to heal RADs, Rad-X to increase IRA resistance and Pb-Jelly to increase RAD resistance.
• Splits radiation treatment cost for doctors into a small and large service cost, to bring radiation levels mechanically in line with health.
• The system provides some degree of inevitability - Radiation, if left completely unchecked, will eventually kill the player. Getting out of the heat does not mean the player is truly safe.
• Overhauls plausibility of nuclear technology - Fission powered devices now behave differently than fusion powered devices. In practice this will change behavior of nuclear-related explosions such as nukes and explosions from destroyed robots.
• Adds a second layer of hazardousness (RAD & IRA damage) to the weather system. The system is able to detect fake interiors and there is an unlockable settlement object that acts as a fake interior marker. Functional Gas Masks, Hazmat Suits and Power Helmets will protect the player from this.
• Makes protective equipment more interesting by making Gas Masks and Hazmat Suits breakable, but necessary to resist hostile weathers and environmental hazards.
• Adds an automated player notification system: RadBoy. This is to inform the player of ambient radioactive particles, radiation poisoning and increasingly dangerous IRA accumulation levels. RadBoy can notify you with text messages or voice lines. (see config holotape)
• Adds a new set of perk magazines to the Commonwealth: Raider's Digest. Magazines unlock crafting recipes and stand out in any serious magazine collection.
  

Combat module:

• Firearms are actually pretty dangerous stuff. Bullet sponges have been removed from the game. All HP pools are unleveled. Endurance now determines HP pool size.
• Locational Damage is more accentuated. Head shots with a .50 BMG rifle can now one-hit most creatures, crippling limbs is easier.
• Weapon recoil now has no springback, making burst fire and manual weapon control necessary for automatic weapons. Recoil mainly depends on caliber and weapon size, energy weapons have very little recoil.
• Armor has been made more effective by raising the Damage Reduction Exponent.
  

Other mod authors or patch creators:
The Core Resources ESM file contains 100% pure new ESP records and does not override anything. It can easily be utilized to "DA-ify" other mods (see the compat patch for Minuteman Watchtowers) or even used as a mandatory resource for an entire mod. You are also free to build custom modules for Damn Apocalypse using the ESM file.



# Installation / Compatibility:

As a general precaution, it's extremely recommended to start a new game when updating Damn Apocalypse. The scripts all work completely fine but replacing the .pex file for a currently running script can lead to very funky results. You have been warned.

The amazing m8r98a4f2 was so kind to make an MCM for Damn Apocalypse. This is optional but can replace the clunky configuration holotape.

DLC Requirements


Loot module: Automatron, Far Harbor, Nuka World, Vault-Tec Workshop

Power Armor module: Automatron, Far Harbor, Nuka World

Combat module: Far Harbor, Nuka World

Radiation module: Automatron, Far Harbor, Nuka World, Wasteland Workshop


If using both Loot and Power Armor module, make sure the Power Armor module loads after the Loot module or the new features of the Power Armor plugin will largely not work. Sample load order:

• Basegame ESMs
• DamnApocalypse_CORE.esm
• Some other ESPs
• DamnApocalypse_Loot.esp
• DamnApocalypse_PowerArmor.esp
• DamnApocalypse_Radiation.esp
• Some other ESPs (Previsibines Repair Pack, A Forest, Scrap Everything...)
  

For interactive support, please visit #bearington-labs on the GreslinGames Discord Server.  

Note that while nothing will break if you install Damn Apocalypse into an existing save game, this kind of defeats the point of the loot overhaul. Damn Apocalypse is best used for a new game as the loot module also makes numerous changes to Vault 111 and Sanctuary.

Leveled List injection into the loot module for most mods should work, depending on which precise lists those mods inject into - it might be that the loot module removes that leveled list from the loot distribution for some reason. This can be patched for of course.

Because the loot module actually redirects a ludicrous amount of placed references, it can be seen as a location mod. It includes copies of roughly 75% of all worldspace cells as well as nearly all interior cells. This makes it necessary to place Damn Apocalypse before all mods that modify worldspace cells and mods like Boston FPS Fix or PreVis Repair Pack. All our cell copies are safe to override. We only override placed containers, consumables and some ammo items. All precombined references remain intact with ITM ("Identical to Master") data compliant to either UFO4P or the last vanilla DLC override.

Location-adding mods generally need patching to reflect the loot changes in Damn Apocalypse fully. It is advisable to refer to the available patches, the process is not particularly difficult to understand, if a little laborious.

Known Incompatible:

• Loot module: Any other loot overhaul, e.g. Horizon, Loot Logic And Reduction, Fallout 4 Loot Overhaul, ...
• Loot module: H.A.R.D.Core Fusion Generator Overhaul (Loot module includes this, essentially. Still useful if only using the Power Armor module.)
• Loot module: Better Crafting Station Requirements (same)
• Power Armor module: Some Assembly Required
• Radiation module: PIRAD - Plausible and Immersive RADiation (radiation module is a streamlined reimplementation of this)
  

Patches available:

• Custom Weapons & Loot module: Check Diacutes Weapon Integration page; chances are good some or most of your custom guns are supported. Otherwise there's a patching guide found from the same page. Also, Nartaga has another weapon patch collection.
• Location-adding or overhauling mods & Loot module: Check out somebodysangel's patch repository for location mod integration patches.
• Inside Jobs - Commonwealth Interiors Add-On: integration patch for loot module available on Inside Jobs mod page.
• Point Lookout: patch for loot module and radiation module in file section
• FallUI Item Sorter: somebodysangel has a Complex Sorter file to add icons to all items added by Damn Apocalypse
• Better Locational Damage: loot patch in file section, use only without DA Combat module, use only BLD main plugin
• Agony: patch for loot module in file section
• Immersive Animation Framework: patch is found here.
• Insult to Injury: patch for loot module in file section
• Wasteland Wound Care (patch available on WWCs mod page)
• DOOMBased Weapons Merged: patch for loot module in file section
• Minuteman Watchtowers: patch for loot module in file section
• Wasteland Hydration: patch for loot module and radiation module in file section
• MAIM 2: patches available on MAIMs nexus page.
• Pack Attack NPC Edition: patch for loot module in file section, PANPC 2.0.8+ will auto-detect the radiation module to make Gamma Gun and Radium Rifle "terror weapons" for the PANPC AI
• pretty much any mod that adds custom creatures that can drop meat: The magnificent NoAbleEngles has provided a script-based compatibility patching system.
• Radiation module: Weather mods (like NAC, True Storms, Vivid Weathers) should be using a weather integration patch or they will make our scripts behave inconsistently. Diacute manages these patches here.
• User boringvlln was so kind to provide quite some patches for all sorts of mods. This is sort of a grabbag. Some of them might not work with 0.9.9+ anymore.
• Besides the weather mods, Diacute also maintains a patch collection for other ... stuff.
  

Maintaining a "known good" compatibility list a fool's errand. Use your best judgement and conflict-check in FO4Edit to see which module should work well with whatever other mods. Generally, most mods that add content will not conflict, but want some integration work.

Credits:

All graphical assets included with the Core Plugin are remixed vanilla assets. Custom voice lines for the RadBoy notification system were generated by  xVASynth using the PAM voice model.

The custom beeps for RadBoy are used with permission from:

• andersmmg
• Kodack
  

The font used for the logo image is "Overseer" by Neale Davidson.

All asset work was done by BabyBearington and payl0ad if not otherwise mentioned.

Special thanks: somebodysangel, GhostFc3s, Glitchfinder, theroyalrabite, Diacute, NoAbleEngles, Equo, m8r98a4f2

Tools used:

• Creation Kit
• FO4Edit
• Notepad++
• Material Editor
• NifSkope
• GIMP 2