About this mod
Solve your bullet sponge game balance issues by killing nearly any actor in the game with one tap to the head (if they have one) from any weapon. A scripted solution with no compatibility patching needed (or even possible).
- Requirements
- Permissions and credits
- Changelogs
This is a quick and EZ switchable solution when you just want to slap something switchable into any game to do more killing, but that flexibility comes with some exceptions. The alternative is to use something that static hacks actor head condition bodypart data but that can create significant conflicts.
Configuration Menu
Configure and start headshotability with the [ .SKK Headshot any actor ] aid menu item given to the player after vault exit. Default settings are all disabled until YOU enable them:
(1) Headshots [ Enabled | *Disabled ] applies to hostile actors only by default, switchable as much as you like.
(2) Player is headshotable [ Enabled | *Disabled ] switchable as much as you like.
(3) Everyone is headshotable [ Enabled | *Disabled ] includes non hostile (neutral, friend, ally) actors, removes Essential and Protected state. This includes companions, settlers and quest bound actors so use with care as NPCs can headshot NPCs in this egalitarian world. Once an actor has essential or protected state removed it can not be re-applied by this mod as it does not keep track of them for performance reasons.
(4) Pop a [ HEADSHOT! ] notification [ Enabled | *Disabled ] to reinforce your dopamine hit. Switchable as much as you like.
Performance
This builds a cache of all headshot managed actors (which holds them Persistent) rather than releasing and refinding them when they unload/load to provide better real time combat performance. You can see the number in the menu screen [ managing NNN actors ]. Hundreds is fine, thousands could affect a potato/xbox ;) so if you think it is slowing down, just disable headshots in the menu to clear the cache then re-enable it. How EZ is that ?
Console Commands
To exclude a specfic actor from headshots add a keyword in the console [ ObjectReference.AddKeyword SKK_HAAProtected ] or xEdit or GetFormFromFile script.
To avoid another menu item, console commands can be hotkeyed or turned into an MCM JSON thing:
cqf SKK_HAAManagerQuest "SKK_HAAManagerQuestScript.SwitchEnabled" 1 ; values [ 0 | 1 ]
cqf SKK_HAAManagerQuest "SKK_HAAManagerQuestScript.SwitchProtectPlayer" 1 ; values [ 0 | 1 ]
cqf SKK_HAAManagerQuest "SKK_HAAManagerQuestScript.SwitchEveryoneIsMortal" 1 ; values [ 0 | 1 ]
set SKK_HAAShowNotification to 1 ; values [ 0 | 1 ]
A full MCM configuration has been created Headshots kill any actor - MCM Settings Menu
Nearly any actor/weapon considerations
(1) You still need to penetrate any head armor, of course.
(2) Some combinations of low damage weapons and insane high base health/resistance actors with no armor may need two hits. Most actors with 1,000 base health will only have 4 head health to cripple and die.
(3) Humanoid actors are all OK, but the head hitbox from some actors can be tricky e.g. dogs only register in the top of head. Radscorpions and Mirelurk Queens have headparts but do not register headshots outside of VATS which provides something to run away from if you dont aimbot.
(4) Actors that do not have a head e.g. Handy robots and Turrets can not be headshoted. Protectrons are specifically excluded as their massive glass dome head would start broken/missing on destruction state and I prefer my Protecton settlers to start whole.
(5) Actors that are created/spawned/resurrected within the player's active cell will not be headshot managed until the player moves out of that cell as there is no sensible trigger event to detect them (magic cloak effects are unreliable for this). This should only be Glowing One resurrect and jump-scare mods.
(6) Actors that are configured to be Ghosted (Preston on the balcony), Invulnerable (kids) or DeferredKill (some scripted fight scenes) can not be killed as it takes too long to detect and disable those super-rare edge states.
Compatibility
This works by finding actors on player movement and applying a spell which reduces actors PerceptionCondition by 98%, then monitors each actor for perception OnCripple event to kill them. It does not touch base forms or actor health in any way so it will work with any actor that has PerceptionCondition, any weapon that deals damage and any other damage management mod that either adjusts actor health/body data or damage multipliers.
It will deliver unpredictable results with any other solution that manages actor headshots, unless that specific function can be switched off. Example: Commonwealth of Decay only headshots ferals, to headshot anything disable COD headshots in the settings holotape and use this in place.
Nexus PC manual installation
Install this mod at any point in any game as it is 100% new scripts making no changes to anything static in your game so has no load order considerations. Archive contains both ESP and ESL options, only install one of them. Yes you can ESL flag the ESP.
Copy SKKHeadshotAnyActor.esp or .esl and SKKHeadshotAnyActor – Main.BA2 to your ...\Fallout 4\Data directory and add to Plugins.txt, or enable in the Bethesda mod menu, use a mod manger or however you organise.
If headshots are set to [ Disabled ] in the menu then no scripts run and the mod could be removed from a savegame if you are happy to accept potential conflicts from load order changes in a save game. I am not.
As this is published after November 2019 it requires Fallout4.exe 1.10.162.0 (or later) or equivalent workarounds.
Amusing Observation
This has the lowest endorsement rate of the 70 SKK mods published on nexus due to being in a collection.
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If you have read the comprehensive solution description and articles but still need support,
best to use the SKK Mods Discord channel discord://discord.gg/tgKNT77DC8
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