General Description

Hacking is "soft" gated. Default MCM settings make minigame difficult without perks.  You'll need to use deduction, dud removal, and resetting attempts even with perks. You will be punished for resetting the minigame now. Terminal password count, lockout time, number of guesses, and minigame reset mechanic can be customized. Requires F4SE and MCM.
This mod sets by default that your character sucks at hacking. You can try to hack any level computer without perks, but you'll likely fail (5% chance of success, a little higher if you remove duds). Read and learn how to play the Hacking Minigame more effectively here

Without perks, you have one guess and 20 possible passwords will show up on the terminal. Intelligence no longer affects number of possible passwords.

Perks and Password Count:

With Hacker (Rank 1), you gain one more guess and fewer passwords will show up on all lock levels.
Novice terminals now take considerably less skill to hack.


With Hacker (Rank 2), you gain one more guess and even fewer passwords will show on all lock levels.
Advanced terminals now take considerably less skill to hack.


With Hacker (Rank 3), You gain one more guess and even fewer passwords will show upon all lock levels.
Expert terminals now take considerably less skill to hack.


With Hacker (Rank 4), lockout time is decreased by 98% and even fewer passwords will show up on all lock levels.
Master terminals now take considerably less skill to hack.



Terminal Security Detection:

This is a new hacking mechanic (on by default). You now will be punished for resetting the hacking minigame (start hacking, leave terminal, activate terminal again to reset minigame). As you reset the minigame, the terminal will begin to detect that you are hacking it and will implement security features. You will have to wait to bypass them. 

Hacker perks help to reduce the time it takes to bypass this. 



Base Game Records Altered::

1. Hacker perks (to remove gating)
2. Tutorial message for how long you are locked out (for consistency)
3. Dialog conditions for not having enough skill to hack a terminal (for consistency)
4. Close to Metal perk (Nick Valentine's companion perk; add guess and reduce lockout time by 98%)

(There is a new dialog if you access a Novice terminal with no perk (same dialog as trying to hack Master lock terminal without Master perk in vanilla).


Mod Configuration Menu:

Installation

Requires F4SE. This mod will not function without it.

Requires Mod Configuration Menu (MCM). This mod will not function without it.

Manual: Put files in Data folder wherever you installed Fallout 4

MO2: Just download through Mod Organizer or install through archive. Activate in Left Panel and activate plugin in load order.

If hacking doesn't change, save game, reload save in same game session.

Compatibility

Fully Compatible

Remote Hacking 

Player Curses During Lockpicking and Hacking 

Not Compatible

Any mod that edits the Hacker perks. Load my mod after it, otherwise you may have gated hacking. 

Any mod that edits Nick Valentine's perk (Close to Metal). Won't break the mod, but best to load my mod after it.

Be Exceptional, You Are Special, and Hot Diggity: These all use different functions for the base hacker perks, and my mod depends on detecting vanilla hacker perks. My mod won't function with these.

Recommended Mods

Hate hacking? Change the MCM settings. You can make it easy (you dirty cheater you)

Still like this mod but your character or you in real life sucks at hacking? (I'm bad at it too, why the hell did make this mod to punish myself lol)  LOOK BELOW!

Nick Valentine can hack. Apparently he can hack up to Master, but he can get locked out too. Hacking is hard!

Heather Casdin can hack! She begins only at novice, but every 5 terminals, her hacking level increases

The Machine and Me - this mod's companion can hack too! Not sure how it works, but she also increases in skill apparently

Known Issues

Issue 1: Since you can hack any terminal now, you will often hear your character say they can't hack it. Appropriate if you've got no hacker perks or even a low rank one, but debatable when you have Expert Hacker and you're hacking a Master terminal. Not something I'm going to change/fix.

Issue 2: When you're locked out of terminal, and you attempt to hack, the terminal will still detect your hacking attempts if you have the Terminal Security Detection feature on. I have no way to workaround this codewise (can't identify terminal lockout in code), so you'll have to be careful or you'll be waiting even longer. Not something I'm going to change/fix.

Issue 3: Under certain conditions (such as  new game), you won't receive my custom perks which means my mod won't function. Current fix is to save your game and reload that save.  This issue should be resolved, perks are added based on detecting if early main quest (leaving the vault) is completed.

Issue 4: Mod added terminals may have permanent lockout if you fail the minigame. I'm unable to consistently reproduce this issue, but it is possible. I'm unsure what the problem is so I may be unable to fix this. This does not apply to my Terminal Security Detection feature, just the vanilla terminal lockout mechanic. Theoretically, you could set the MCM lockout time to -10 and it might fix it. Haven't tested this.

Future Plans

None except possible bugfixes

I had thought about creating a "hacking pick", similar to how lockpicking has lockpicks, but its tricky. I'd have to create a craftable item, find an appropriate model + texture, add it to leveled lists, handplace a few around, etc. It's more trouble than its worth, and personally I like that you can hack without a "pick". Still, I thought I'd throw the idea out there.

Additional Notes



Here's an interesting argument by Phphones regarding logic and mathematical problem with progression of difficulty with longer passwords

Special Thanks

Thanks to phphones for inspiring me to create this mod with his excellent mod Ultimate Lockpicking

Thanks to Greslin, Red, and Theodore E. Bearington on the GreslinGames Discord Server for their help with navigating Papyrus and the Creation Kit

Thanks to F4SE Team for F4SE

Thanks to Bethesda for Fallout 4